He stopped on his way to have a chat with a car driver and enquire about some children in that family and then he saw two big children called Margaret and Rosemary whom he remembered as having been particularly difficult when they were younger. Rosemary claimed that it couldn't have been her because she wasn't in the village when she was young whereas Margaret wisely said nothing (there is always this year, after all!). Then he was off, up the hill towards Victory Hall. But, like the rest of us, he's not getting any younger and his memory failed him. He walked right past and it took a running young escort to go after him and bring him back.

After that, Santa settled down in a specially prepared igloo and the children waited outside until, one by one (in most cases) they went in to tell Santa what they wanted when he came on Xmas Eve and get a little something to tide them over until then. I heard him ask one little girl if she wanted an elephant . She shook her head and said 'no' but he insisted 'I've just got one left!'. She turned and walked smartly out. He offered a group of three, a bicycle. There were no takers. He said it was a special, one wheel cycle, which he'd taken the wheel off, to make it a safety cycle. This lot were made of sterner stuff and held out for a tractor.

The rest of the Bazaar was producing a strange variety of animals together with some pirates and (I think) a few aliens as well. I noticed some stalls seemed to have brought their own customers , particularly those which had sweets on. When I came away, children were still arriving so I guess Santa must have been very tired when he came away. And still with 21 days work to get through!