Newer Christmas Traditions

London Calling
December 19th

Albert Hall singalong last year

For as long as I can remember mamma and pappa would drive us into London to see the Christmas tree from Norway in Trafalgar Square and the Christmas lights in central London, back in the 1970's London really stood out for Christmas lights compared to other towns in the UK.  These days all towns now dress up for the season to encourage shoppers to visit and I love the twinkling lights.

From the time our own children were old enough to appreciate traipsing into London, John and I too took the yearly Christmas visit to the capital but we began by taking the children to the theatre in the week before Christmas.  We were lucky enough to catch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Oliver, Starlight Express, and the Lion King to name but a few.  In more recent years there has been less theatre and more sing-alongs at the wonderful venue that is the Albert Hall.  This year after having visited and sung to our heart's content for the past 6 years we decided to miss it and to try our hand at the theatre again and we were not disappointed.

We sing along with gusto

The wonderful Albert Hall,
to read more about it click here

Photo taken from the internet shows
Robert Lindsay as Scrooge

For two shows only this year the talented Robert Lindsay took the lead role in the London Musical  Theatre to play Scrooge in a Christmas Carol.  It was unlike anything I have ever seen before.  It was neither a narration of Dickens' well-known story nor was it a theatre production or even a musical. 

We had seats in the stalls, it does not do it
justice here, but we could see their faces very clearly

It had a full orchestra, a choir and lead singers who acted in a pared down way with no props.  The story unfolded beautifully but still allowing much to the imagination.  Lindsay was beyond brilliant, his comic timing, his expressions and his perfect Scrooge voice made it a night to remember.  John not known for overdoing the praise could not thank me enough for organising it and said how marvellous the whole thing was.  A snippet of the review from  Musical Theatre Review   says:

In the mix are waltzes, syncopated numbers, patter songs, wistful lyricism and more. And Michael Starobin’s  imaginative orchestrations make imaginative use of instrumentation to bring out the many moods the piece requires.

It goes without saying, given the cast list, that everyone at the front of the stage does an excellent job.

Robert Lindsay as Scrooge is nimbly charismatic – both funny and moving – and the fact that he may not be the industry’s finest singer matters not a jot in this context.

These old theatres have so much detail

There is, however wonderful, singing from Glenn Carter (has he ever done the Commendatore in Don Giovanni?) as the imposing Jacob Marley, from Sophie-Louise Dann as hilarious Brummie Mrs Fezziwig and from Gemma Sutton as the crystalline-voiced Ghost of Christmas Present. And Tobias Ungleson is a bit of a show stealer as Tiny Tim.

The whole performance (directed by Shaun Kerrison) is, in a sense, a joyous celebration not just of Christmas and a time-honoured iconic story, but also of musical theatre itself.

We left the London Lyceum, usually home to the Lion King on a real Christmas high.  Bring on the rest of the week and Christmas, we are READY...

Decorations by Seven dials, Covent Garden

Mistletoe and baubles in the market at Covent Garden

Oxford Street

♥  We are on Christmas countdown, have you much to do? 

Scandinavian Market

A little piece of Scandinavia all over the world 
December 6th  

Nisse were to be found
in all shapes and sizes

Every year without fail I journey into London around the last weekend of November, just for one thing...the Scandinavian Christmas market.  I have always visited on a Friday but for several reasons could not do so this year and waded into town on Saturday. Also for reasons out of my control, John, my husband,  was dragged along with me.  Dragged because he's not a shopper as such and also we had a late night Christmas 'do' the night before and really the last thing he wanted was to visit a market, but he knew it meant much to me so he came along.

Elk burgers for sale at the Scandinavian market

Hamburg is the largest of the Norwegian Christmas markets around the world outside of Norway and over the course of it's few days has around 30 000 visitors.  In comparison, the London market is quite a bit smaller but comprises of not just the Norwegian market but that of the Swedish, Danish and Finnish too.  The Norwegian church and the Finnish church are only about 10 doors away from each other with the outdoor market running along Albion Road from one to the other.

Rye bread and smoked salmon smørgasborg

Here at the market local London business with a strong Scandinavian heart come and show their wares and tempt us with food from the Nordic countries.  Elk and reindeer feature heavily as the photo shows, elk burgers were on offer and a Scandinavian market would not be right without some smørgasbord.  And the Swedes had boxes and boxes of sweets for pick and mix.  Anytime we cross the border from Norway to Sweden, the first stop my children want to make is the enormous Swedish sweet shops.  Really they are HUGE!

Swedish godteri (sweets)

The Scandi Kitchen was also present which always pleases me, I try whenever I can to visit their cafe in London and have my 'fix' of Norwegian cafe culture here in our capital, I may also end up buying one or two food bits each time I visit to take home too.

The Scandi Kitchen selling their food wares

Somewhere to sit and eat all the Scandinavian food

We met up with our dear sailing friend Alasdair, owner of the only boat chandlers in central London, a treasure of a find if you are after an unusual shop with a very long historic story.  Arthur Beale was established over 400 hundred years ago and supplied Shackleton with rope for his many adventurous endeavours, the shop still has the original receipt and a telegram asking for more rope to be sent out.  You should follow them on Facebook or Instagram if you are interested in either boats and sailing or indeed if you enjoy seeing snippets of history, it's pure pleasure.  Alasdair has a great affinity to Norway having sailed there many times in his beautiful wooden Vertue boat.  Alasdair even spent a few years at evening school learning Norwegian just for the fun of it, not many can say they have done that!

Arthur Beale stand at the Scandinavian market

The funniest moment of the day was after John had been fed, hangover required food and quick, when he suddenly realised where we were and what was on offer to buy, he said, "Why on earth are we here, it's like walking in to our own home the minute December 1st arrives."  I did laugh out loud as I looked around at all the nisse for sale and the sea of red around us.  There were too many people here at the market on a Saturday and spotting the queues to gain access to both the Norwegian and Finnish churches I turned to him and said it was time to leave.  Coming on a Saturday was not the same as visiting on a Friday, I shall not make that mistake again.



But there was a buzz in the air and it was wonderful to hear the Scandinavian languages above the hustle and bustle of the day, I had my Scandi fix and I was happy that we had been.  I may not have bought anything other than food, but that was not for me the point of the visit, I just love soaking up a bit of Scandinavia when I can ♥

A sea of red ay the Scandinavian Christmas market

Nisses were to be found everywhere at the Scandinavian market

♥  Have you been to any of the numerous 

Christmas fayres around at this time of year?

Christmas bauble

December 8th

London bus bauble

My sister moved to the USA three years ago and this great book by Mille Masterton landed on my door mat last month.  The two became connected, why?  Inside among many quirky fun projects was a Christmas bauble of a London bus.  As I love Christmas so much and my sister is no longer in the UK, I thought this would be a great lift pre- Christmas gift for her.

Great book with some quirky fun crochet project 

The pattern instructions were clear and it was incredibly quick to hook up.  Two red bus pieces were made with htr and each of the windows, bus board name, radiator grille, and lights were made separately and then sewn on to the front of the bus.  Both bus pieces were then crocheted together with dc and gentle stuffed with a small amount of toy stuffing.  Wheel and wing mirrors were cleverly then made once the bus was complete. It could not have been simpler.

Crochet Christmas bauble, London style

Inside the same book there are other cute Christmas makes too, take a look...

Teeny stocking

Adorable mistletoe

Small Christmas puds

So here's hoping she will like it...

A gift for my sister who lives in the USA to remind her of  home

...and in the mean time, I spotted this London skyline cushion in the book too, 

think this could be my New Year project!

♥   If you are on the hunt for a new 

crochet book, add this to your Christmas wish list   ♥

Summer in a nutshell eclectic style

September 2nd

September!  Can you believe it?  Until last week I thought the summer sun had forgotten to show it's face.  I am sooo not ready for it to be autumn, despite the fact I love change of seasons and could only live in a country that has all four, I do feel this year summer has somehow passed me by.  When I mention this to others they laugh and say we've had a good summer, so where was my ray of sunshine?!!?!?

Cornwall

Love Cornwall but it gave us nothing but grey skies this year

Can't beat a good bit of south coastal
bunting to make it feel like summer

The newly refurbished Art Deco Lido was a hit with us all

The whole place had great lines

Even the changing rooms were stylish in their line

Leaving the mainland behind it
looked like the sun was about to shine!

Scilly Isles

I love me a sandy beach

So few people on the islands it was great 

Yet again British bunting, gotta love it! 

Agapanthus the flower of the islands and
our boat out there in the harbour

We saw so many pods of dolphins and porpoises this summer

They tend to play at the bow of the boat, we often
hear them when we are down below even before
those on deck can see them, they communicate
with each other all the time
as the sound travels through our hull

Crochet and knitting featured heavily this summer
and as we were to leave the Scilly isles it looked
like the sun was about to shine there too!

Devon

Plymouth has so much to offer the tourist

We caught up on some history
and good food whilst here

A novel bar at the marina, love the quirkiness of it

On our final day of sailing (and crocheting)
the sun was threatening to come out

Norway

I can always rely on Norway to provide summer
sunshine, something to do with the gulf stream
I believe, oh how wrong I was this year!

The normally refreshing lake swims were cold
but did not stop us, although perhaps it did
shorten the time we were in the lakes each time  

In our final days it threatened to shine with sun...

...and on the last day it did!

At home in mamma's garden

Mamma's shed, typical Norwegian style

I dashed here and there soaking up the sights and sounds
which always feel so very much better in the sunshine

You are never more than 10 minutes away
from water in Norway, be it lake, fjord or sea

One sunshine day out of 20 is not bad, right?!?

Stay-ca-tion (home)

Being away so long meant that the veg patch was neglected

The leeks instead of being eaten now look like show pieces

Wild and windy walks were the order
of the stay-cation part of our holidays

Whilst we also  spent some fun days in the capitol, London,
here is the inside of the new London Bridge concourse,
we were part of a project group to see how the signage
was and if we could locate things easily, it was a fun day out

Loving the lines of architecture at London Bridge

We had lunch at the Shard

Saw the view of a grey London, but loved
spotting all the iconic buildings

View from the Shard

Evening strolls in the capitol were colourful

But it's always wonderful to be at home...

Now the final days of the holidays, we are chilling and
hanging out and the weather has finally turned beautiful for us!
Maybe we should have stayed at home all the time?!?!?

Joining in with  Amy   after a summer break, showing you the five places I have hidden myself away this summer.  Hope you have had a great restful summer as well.   

Hopefully normal blogging will now resume although I still feel a little travel itchiness...

do keep popping by however as I have lots to share in the coming days and weeks,

 love having you here with me.  

♥  Wishing you all a wonderful September  ♥