Bullets from Paradise - December

December 12
Christine thought about Nicholas in winter, when the puddles along country roads were sealed with sad scabs of ice and mud.

Every day at noon she walked along the dirt road, breathing in the crisp wintry breeze, an antidote to the office air turning stale inside her lungs. Fists in her pockets and careful not to splash any dirt on her clothes, with tiny steps she walked forward. Every step brought her further away from her desk; a desk like all the others set in rows on the third floor. The Airspace Building was the last of a conglomerate in the North-South industrial zone that she reached by train every morning. Her best friend Sad Julia worked close by, she assembled components for electronic equipment. The factory was only a couple of hundred metres away but they worked different shifts and never managed to spend their breaks together.

Christine walked slowly but with certainty. Her gaze scraping the white sky, her eyes thirsty for pale sunlight. Slowly she walked leaving behind her the VDU display, the client database and any sense of duty for the company that she hated. The walked away, turning her back on the office to spend her lunch outdoors, her ears aching from the cold.
The road she walked along was a service road that lead from the industrial area where the office building was, to the airport. The road ran between the small airport runway and a concrete canal in which a shallow watercourse, choked by thriving waterweeds, flowed in a straight line. All around lay frozen fields; at one end a huge dung heap spread its malodorous scent, she pinched her nostrils closed when she walked past.
Meanwhile, aeroplanes took off and landed continuously. The small jets gleamed high up in the sky, she felt a stab of envy for the airborne planes, which only reminded her of how heavy and earth bound she was.
In the airport car park a street vendor sold roasted chestnuts. They were hot and wrapped in a paper cone. She shelled them without taking off her fingerless gloves, her fingertips turning black from the coal, her tongue rolling the hot food in her open mouth. She sat on a concrete bench and raised her eyes to watch the steam rise up in to the grey sky where the aeroplanes soared.

December 3
Just wondering which PJ's you're gonna bring along: the combat variety or, perhaps, the little Teddy Bear number? I just bought a pair that has a print of a girl asleep, drifting on a cloud ... Hope you're enjoying your holiday, sigh! Think of me some time, working hard. And try to write more often if you can. Knowing you're thinking about me gives me that extra boost to get everything ship shape!

December 7
I left seven months ago and if feels like yesterday. I’ve been here seven months and if feels like forever.

December 9
If you bring your purple sleeping gear you’ll be totally coordinated with my purple silk sheets! But tell me, how ARE you these days? You must be getting a little bit excited about your trip? Me, I have days I can’t wait and days where I panic. My flat has really come together, it’s comfy, cosy, kooky. You’ll even have your own wardrobe and bathroom. By the way, since you said that the amount of money you’ll collect from the sale of your Prelude will determine the duration of your visit, I’m enclosing an approximate price list of your most commonly expected weekly expenses. Got to dash, now. The spring/summer eyewear collection has just arrived and I’ve got to take a peek! By the way, Monday 6 was a special day in Switzerland. We celebrate St. Nicholas; it’s the day that by tradition, people buy a Christmas tree and decorate it with burning candles. Another weird coincidence I just discovered is that the part of town where I live belongs to the church of Saint Nicholas! Well, got to go. Please be kind enough to let me know when I can reach you over Christmas and New Year as I’d love to catch up with you before you go to Lake Eildon. Think of me, unlike you this year I’ll be working over the holidays - saving my annual leave! Oh, I almost forgot: on Thursday we’re having our annual company dinner at Dolce and Gabbana’s restaurant in Milan. Needless to say it’s the in place to be seen, all the fashion crowd and wannabes hang out there. Of course the food is going to be terrible - never eat at a top model’s restaurant!

December 19
Funny you should mention J.B. and Stevie, as a matter of fact we were dancing to these funky brothers right here right now, at my official house warming-come-Christmas party, last night! Seems that in spite of living at opposite ends of the world we still manage to do things in sync: see the same movies, listen to the same tunes... uh, uh. Yes, my party was a blast! Out of the 40 people I invited, everyone showed. I even had my very own gate crushers, two mysterious young dudes in baggy trouser and woollen caps who just spent the evening sitting in a corner rolling joints to the delight of my guests...

At 2:00 am we pumped up the volume and got down and boogied, moving some serious air... Feeling a bit shaky today as a result but in good spirits (ha, ha). Though, as I strutted my stuff dancing with Julian, who not only is a very handsome interior decorator (he said he absolutely ADORED my eclectic decorating style!), but also one of the best dancers I know, I was thinking about you. Since this one was such a success maybe I'll throw another party when you get here, so you can meet all my groovy friends AND I'll have someone here to help me clean up the mess!!!

You can always tell a successful party by the debris the following morning. But where on earth did I get the idea of filling huge bowls with peanuts? The peanut shells were all over the joint, in piles on the sink and the tables, in ashtrays. Like strange little pyramids of food left behind by some tribal people... Oh boy, what a mess! And the floors! I made four champagne and brandy punches and bought a brick of Tuborg Special Christmas Beer. We drunk it all but in the end, I still ended up with a whole heap of presents too! A huge pot plant, bottles of wine, champagne, cognac, oriental tea and a bunch of coloured balloons that are rolling around everywhere, on the TV set, under the chairs, on my desk next to the keyboard...

I love being popular but most of all I love having special people in my life. I reckon I'm a fortunate chick, for all the excellent people I have around me and when you come and be part of my life for a while, life is going to be absolutely perfect!!!

PS: I sent you my parcel of special gifts, which you should have by Christmas and I'm enclosing a very special X-mas card, I made just for you, to this e-mail so you've got to click and have a look. Enjoy!!!

December 20
It’s Monday morning at the office, and I hope you had a good long sleep and are feeling on top of the world again. I hope you’ll check your e-mail box before Tuesday so that you won’t have to call me at four a.m. as we had agreed. I think it’s silly, though you are welcome to call me any time at all but since you’ve been partying hard, I think you really need you beauty sleep. Why don’t you call me later in the week, say on the weekend or after you get back from the cricket on Boxing Day? In the meantime I look forward to an e-mail with your flight details.