On our way home from a delightful Sunday lunch in Maida Vale, Steven and I passed this bit of landfill-bound Christmas ephemera (here they would call it tat) this afternoon... The hands really got to me. This particular box was sitting atop the wall of someone's front garden on Elgin Avenue. There were a few other cardboard boxes strewn about, and while I felt curiosity regarding their contents, I was also a little scared to look inside...
About a week ago I went into Lisboa Patisserie and asked when they were going to start making king cakes (these colorful cakes that are only made at Christmastime). The guy behind the counter looked puzzled, so I said, “you know, those colorful cakes that you only make at Christmastime,” and he said, “oh, you mean Bolo Rei?” I replied in the affirmative and he informed me of the 2008 Bolo Rei production schedule. Then as I was on my way out he shouted, “OH! King cake! Bolo Rei! I get it! I never heard that before...”
I got dinged for not blogging today... So that will be my New Year’s resolution for 2009, and why not get an early start?
I’ve actually got quite a bit to blog about, and not all of it will necessarily be here. I set up a separate blog for writing about urban stuff ages ago, and even wrote a couple of entries for it (which I never actually posted). And on top of (or perhaps overlapping) that, I’ve been working on something which might wind up being called either “Love Golborne” or “Discover Golborne.”
I will keep you posted!
Any of you (Maggie, Suzette, Lauren?) who’ve experienced the joys of prior TreeQuests will appreciate what a special experience the first reconnaissance outing in a foreign country must have been... I won’t go into too much detail here...
Suffice to say that this picture is false advertising. Sure, it’s charming as heck, but this was just the first stop, and, well, let’s just say that the gloom and cold rain matched the mood of certain members of our party (ok, member). Chris, our driver, had mistakenly passed the closer place (the one that didn’t pre-net their trees) - but we tried to put on a good face and say we really wanted to see the reindeer, the bull, the pigs, the chickens, the medieval abbey ruin, the pretty Gothic farm buildings, and stuff.
Since we had already traveled so far, we decided that instead of dropping Steven at the Farnham train station (at his request, don’t ask), we would proceed to Alice Holt Woodland Park (under darkening skies). WHEW! Thank goodness! Supposedly it’s a very pleasant park with scenic walks and things, but most importantly, we found ourselves deciding between three equally lovely specimens, any of which would have made the perfect Christmas tree.
Note to expats: bring your own rope or bungee cord - they don’t help you here.
Or get your friend to borrow the scuba school Jeep (another disaster narrowly averted - thanks again, Chris!).
After that it was pretty much smooth sailing. We stopped for a lovely cuppa with Jane, David and Charlie. Much to David’s chagrin, Chris mesmerized Charlie by getting 99 points playing Bopit (Chris also happens to know that Bopit only counts up to 250).
The tree is now up and mostly trimmed. Stay tuned for pics.
This is just a small portion of their New Bond Street Christmas window display...
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