Tuba Christmas and a call for ceasefire

Sue with her new eye joined me for Tuba Christmas in downtown Portland: 200 tubas playing Christmas carols at a lugubrious tempo with light hearts and flamboyant costumes. (See her blip for a wide view and my first extra for the full 200.) It’s an annual event here and in some other cities. I went once before, I think in 2010, and have wanted to go again all these years; but every year since then it has been raining (or Covid) and I gave it a miss. Today was perfect. 

We left shortly before it finished, our old bodies creaking after sitting on cold tiles in Pioneer Square for an hour and forty-five minutes (we went an hour early so we could find a place to sit). At the bus stop, we encountered a little ragtag Free Palestine march (see second extra) headed for the square we had just left. They had timed their march to coincide with the end of Tuba Christmas. I hope hundreds joined them.