So, I’m supposed to in some way acknowledge the festive season with Christmassy things. I’ve never been keen on Christmas. This year I’m not celebrating Christmas at all.
There’s an interesting posting on the Sense of Place blog, from someone who has similar feelings about Christmas. Feeling unwilling or unable to join the festivities is perhaps more common than we acknowledge, but was recognised in a recent piece on the BBC website, on people who choose to be alone at Christmas. The comments underneath are as interesting as the article itself.
Here on this website there are a few reasonably seasonal pages from previous years, vaguely festive, as much as I could manage. I thought I’d highlight those instead, as I can’t manage similar this year.
‘Last Christmas I gave you my …’ — page on old pantomime badges, and the memories they’d brought to mind.
Christmas 2011, a month or so after this site went more ‘blog-like’, I included a short celebration of the Christmas tree. I haven’t got one this year, which is a bit of a shame, as having a tree was the only bit of the traditional Christmas I did like. Still, I’ve got a roof over my head and many people haven’t, so I’m counting my blessings.
Also in 2011 I included a page on the solstice.
A fairly festive offering from years back: Christmas Day 2005, a short wander around York. The Christmas Day walk became traditional. The way you end up making your own traditions, as a family, or as a couple.
I’ve just been looking at photos taken on Christmas Day last year. There were many. The usual things. The kind of things I often put on these pages. The ‘ghost sign’ for Trident motorcycles, for example, on Piccadilly. And just underneath it, graffiti on a gate. It seems rather poignant now, and sums up 2014 for me. I hope you, dear readers, had a better one.