Happy 30th birthday!

My friend Pamsie turns 30 today. Last year I totally forgot her birthday, and it didn't go down well (ahem) so this year I thought I'd get proof that I've remembered.


Happy 30th Birthday, babes! See you for drinkies tonight xxx

Wordless Wednesday 3

Who was born on Christmas Day?

Humphrey Bogart, Annie Lennox and Dido were all born on Christmas Day.

Countdown to Christmas

The Christmas tree is up in London's main square, which means it's officially Christmas :-)



Each year since 1947, a Christmas tree has been given to the people of London from the people of Norway in gratitude for Britain's support for Norway during World War II. The tree is usually a Norwegian spruce (Picea abies) 21 metres (70ft) high and 50-60 years old. It is selected from the forests surrounding Oslo several months in advance.

The tree is felled in November during a ceremony in which the Lord Mayor of Westminster, the British ambassador to Norway and the Mayor of Oslo participate. It is brought to the UK by sea, then completes its journey by lorry. A specialist rigging team erects it in Trafalgar Square in the centre of London, using a hydraulic crane. It is decorated in traditional Norwegian fashion, with vertical strings of lights, using energy-efficient bulbs.

The lights were lit yesterday by the Mayor of Oslo and the Lord Mayor of Westminster. The ceremony began at 6 PM with carols sung by the Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields, accompanied by the Westminster Salvation Army band. Following gale force winds last night, this morning the tree looked a bit wonky, but it has since been propped back up.


The Christmas tree provides a central focus for traditional carol-singing. Last year over fifty different groups of carol singers from across the country took to the stage, and this year many different choirs will take part, singing to raise money for good causes.

The tree will stay in Trafalgar Square until 4 January, just before the twelfth night of Christmas, when it will be taken down for recycling. The tree is chipped and composted, to make mulch.

For more information, see here.

From Sinterklaas to Santa Claus

Sinterklaas is a holiday tradition in Belgium (and also in the Netherlands) which is celebrated on the morning of December 6 (St Nicholas's Day). In the days leading up it, young children put their shoes by the stove or fireplace and sing special Sinterklaas songs. Or, as my friend Sigrid tells me, they put carrots and sugar for St Nicholas's horse on their plates and leave them on the kitchen table overnight. If they've been good all year, the next morning he brings them presents. Sinterklaas wears a red bishop's dress including a red mitre, rides a white horse over the rooftops and is assisted by many mischievous helpers with black faces and colourful Moorish dresses, who are called 'Zwarte Pieten' (black Petes).


These are Sigrid's children, Marten as Zwarte Piet and Elina with Sinterklaas.



Sinterklaas is the basis for the North American figure of Santa Claus. It was during the American War of Independence, that the inhabitants of New York City, a former Dutch colonial town (New Amsterdam) which had been swapped by the Dutch for other territories, reinvented their Sinterklaas tradition, as Saint Nicholas was a symbol of the city's non-English past. The name Santa Claus is derived from the older Dutch name Sinte Klaas.


So the Dutch gave Santa his name, but what we know of his appearance owes much to the Americans of the 19th century. In a poem written in 1822, often referred to as The Night Before Christmas, but originally titled A Visit From St Nicholas, the journalist Clement Clarke Moore describes the "jolly old elf" in detail, from his plump tummy, white beard and twinkling eyes to the soot on his clothes and the sack of presents on his back. A year earlier, a book had been published called The Children's Friend, which described the red costume and magical ability to cover huge distanced in one night. Funny how these images from 19th century American literature and poetry have influenced how we imagine Father Christmas to look to this day.

Happy Sinterklaas Day to all those who celebrate it! I hope you've been good ;-)

Wordless Wednesday 2

Elena goes scuba diving

I'm not what you'd call a thrill seeker. The most exciting things I've done involve going on the Black Hole ride in Alton Towers back in 1997 (a 44 ft drop in total darkness - God knows what possessed me) and a few years later riding on the runway mine train at Eurodisney. I also once went on a hike in the Ardennes region in Belgium, which far from being a nice peaceful walk, as I'd expected, it involved a lot of scrambling up some steep and slippery (albeit stunning) hillsides. But that's about it. I've not done anything that could be considered even vaguely exciting since 2001 and I'm happy to keep it this way.

However, I'm proud to say that many of my friends are much more adventurous than me. Peter climbed Kilimanjaro last Febraury, and brought back some stunning photos which you can see here. Then just recently I found out that Elena has taken up scuba diving and has spent the summer diving around Greece. These are two photos of her and her diving partner from a dive at Fleves island off the coast of Athens last September. At the time the photo was taken, they were 25 metres below sea level.


Cool or what? The runaway mine train just doesn't compare.