Christmas was different in the U.S.A.  There were so many Christmas trees outside, and the Salvation Army stood at the street corners in the biting cold, ringing a hand-bell and collecting money in little cauldrons for the poor.  On Christmas Eve we went to a cinema where there was a spectacular Prologue, with the stage decked out in purple and gold – not the usual red and green of Christmas, and a choir of women in purple cassocks and huge white Eton collars singing ‘Holy Night’.

With the intolerance of youth, I found it hideously vulgar.