The Hindu : International : Santa dream and reality

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 09, 2004

International

International

Santa dream and reality

By Patrick Barkham

LONDON, DEC. 8. Every year, the poor old bloke must assemble increasingly expensive gifts for ever more demanding young clients. So perhaps it was no surprise when a group of children on a day trip to Lapland were told that Father Christmas was too busy to see them.

What is more, rather than working with helpful elves and reindeer by a roaring fire in his cosy grotto, the Arctic circle's harassed Santa struggled with his English and was surrounded by dirty plates and ketchup bottles.

Faced with such a disappointing scene, furious parents, who paid £450 a person (about Rs. 38,250) to fly to Finland and endured a chilly two-hour wait with their children to meet Father Christmas, refused to leave his woodland grotto.

``The resort was picturesque and really got us into the Christmas spirit, with reindeer roaming around, sledging, husky dog rides and skidoos,'' said Hilary Hughes, 65, from Worcestershire. ``But that was where the fun ended.'' Mrs. Hughes said it had taken her three years to save enough money to treat her two daughters and four grandchildren to their dream Christmas trip.

Instead of meeting elves after a sleigh ride through the woods, overcrowding led tour guides to announce that Santa's grotto was out of bounds because of ``operational'' problems.

``As soon as the rep broke the news, all hell broke loose,'' said Mrs. Hughes. ``People were shouting and bawling while children began sobbing — it was almost a mini-riot.''

While some of the British tourists were eventually marched through Santa's cave, others met him in a grubby restaurant corner. ``When you think of meeting Santa, you think of him sitting down by a roaring fire while snow and ice cover the ground outside,'' Mrs. Hughes said. ``What we got was Father Christmas standing in the doorway of a restaurant between the kitchen and the dining area. Behind him were dirty dinner plates and bottles of ketchup. He did not speak English and just sat with each child for about 30 seconds. They were given stuffed reindeer toys but that was only to shut them up.''

A spokeswoman for the travel agency said there had been ``some difficulties'' experienced by passengers visiting Lapland on Saturday, and it would ``sympathetically'' assess claims for compensation.

According to Mrs Hughes, her two eldest grandchildren, Thomas, 10, and Millie, eight, were so upset that they no longer believe in Father Christmas.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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