Festive season- family , friends , food ....thoughts with those in the northern floods

                                  Milky sun in a streaky cloudy sky provided wonderful conditions for a Hove seaside walk today  (official Boxing Day) . And we were not alone in striding out with the dog; three generations and a small ball. 

                                    

                                  

         

                                    

                                    

                

All the while I was strongly aware of friends ,colleagues and thousands unknown to me , struggling against the waters that have burst banks in Lancashire and Yorkshire, bringing a hasty end to festivities. In some places, Christmas was ruined before it began. For others, formal holiday has given way to urgent volunteering or made real the truism that in some roles, you are never really off duty. 

I am very appreciative of a blowy bright , sun in the seaside sky day with my father and eldest son .

The week has seen a succession of festive meals , friendly gatherings and walks. Merry the dog has been living up to her name, enjoying the company and attention. 

                                   

     

       Another walk.......another ball chase for Merry 

      

    

    And it's just as well we have Merry to walk , because like most at this time of the year , we have been enjoying too much tasty food. 

    Roasties and Yorkshires for everyone 

                     

    Parsnip&hazlenut roulade for the three out of seven veggies at Christmas dinner 

                              

                               

    Father Christmas and Snowdog & Snowman atop the Christmas cake 

Mind, on Christmas Eve Eve the wind blew and the rain poured . My first choice colour was especially seasonal . 

                                 

And then on Christmas Eve the stockings were filled by the hearth and we didn't have anyone under 24 in the house! At what age do you stop the stocking tradition? 

                                 

I hope you too have spent time with loved ones, sharing food ,games, gifts and a cheering glass of something tasty. And perhaps you will have shared a visit to the panto or theatre. For us, we had consecutive days of festive treats . On Boxing Day we were blown away by Pirates of the Caribina in Flown at Brighton's Dome - a mash up of circus skills, original music and tastes of storytelling . It was a total delight an an awesome spectacle from dedicated , talented , highly trained performers with a passion for their art and considerable mastery of physics and geometry . 

 

    The stage set for Flown 

And as if that weren't enough , Sunday 27th saw us in Chichester at the Festival theatre enjoying their Youth theatre production of A Christmas Carol. This brilliant story telling production was pacey, packed with puppetry, terrific acting and marvellous singing. The enthusiastic house showed noisy appreciation for the show and we were delighted with our West Sussex jaunt. What's more we returned to be treated to a home cooked meal by my visiting son and his girlfriend - tasty and spicey and nothing required of us at all! 

    The stage set for A Christmas Carol

I am now preparing for an end to a challenging year of too much loss ; thank goodness for the love of partner, family and friends. Thank you all.  I am weighing up how well I did with my resolutions, conjuring up my new ones and anticipating the next year. I hope any readers have also enjoyed a fine Christmas time , and will have a wonderful New Year. 

The week before Christmas

                                      

                             

An uninterrupted view of the West Pier is once more on view, now that the i360 works have moved land wards.  This week has produced some wonderful seascape moments for those of us lucky enough to enjoy daily dog walks along the promenades of Brighton&Hove. Intermittently, the sun has shone gloriously; the wind has howled sporadically, and now it's lashing down with rain ! Nonetheless it is unseasonably mild. I applaud the world's climate change conference agreement at Paris last weekend. 

  

                               

On Thursday we saw blue skies . Merry , a happy dog at any time , enjoyed the low tide sand and the sunshine. 

                                  

         

Against this backcloth of unseasonal weather , Christmas preparations have been well underway with presents of flowers , the delight of opening Christmas cards and catching up on news, and the arrival of a handsome Christmas tree. It's funny how my embrace of social media does not dent the joy of the analogue Christmas card ritual ! 

                                  

 

                                 

     

The week has seen quite a bit of early festive eating too, not least of all on Monday night with the surprise arrival of friends for dinner whom I was expecting on Wednesday! Don't ask how that happened . Suffice it to say that I took full responsibility for the mix up and atoned with the preparation of a meal from scratch using what we had in the larder and fridge! Two tapenades accompanied by avocado ,tomato & mozzarella salad , were followed by pasta with a choice of puttanesca and smoked salmon / cream cheese sauces , and meringue and compote, with cheese to finish. It went down well and I was exhausted ! 

To cap it all , when i was telling some London friends this tale over supper in Victoria the following night, it turned out that our Brighton friends were not only known to one of the company ,but were now related by marriage. It's a small world! 

Thursday night provided an enjoyable night of Jazz at Smalls once more. As ever,  the house band were superb ( Piers Clark, Steve Thompson , Mark Edwards) this time supporting Alex Garnett (Sax) and Freddy Gabat (trumpet). Every tune was brilliant but I'll mention Sonny Rollins' Doxy and Steve's singing of Pennies from Heaven, as standouts! 

The festive season provides a lovely reason for merry making, but in our family it's also the season of birthdays. So Friday night was a 30th birthday celebratory meal for the middle one of my offspring (Joe) on the eve of the much anticipated top of the Championship Brighton&Hove Albion v Middlesbrough clash , here in Brighton. A wonderful night was succeeded by triumph for Boro and much happiness in the Thompson clan. ( Against anyone else, I'd be supporting the seagulls!) 

Like so many , our family is scattered and so our Christmas celebrations have begun early, with a northern visitation over the weekend from two excited young grandchildren and their mum, fitting us into their busy schedule. More food, and also old fashioned games delighted us all. I can really recommend "Bird Bingo" as great fun for all ages, and a card memory game proved a great favourite - unsurprisingly age was no aid to success! 

I'm conscious that travelling , present buying and spending time with people you see too seldom can be stressful as well as delightful ,so I'm already appreciative of the visitors we have had so far, and the fun and joy they've brought. Let's hope the next week continues to be full of more of the same! And spare a thought for those for whom this will be a sad or trying time, my own father so recently moved and bereaved, amongst them. 

    Merry (at) Christmas! 

Routines,rituals and traditions

Every Sunday morning is comfortingly enlivened by the dependable @EastLondonGroup posting of this wonderful painting "Sunday Morning ,Farringdon Road" by Cecil Osborne which is part of the Brighton &Hove City art collection (though not currently on public display). I and the many others delighted by this regular posting, go through the ritual of retweeting it.  The ELG collection of paintings has become very widely appreciated through this modern medium. 

When I lived in East London, another routine was the visit to Colombia Road's fabulous flower market. 

Last Sunday I rose early to make the journey and to gather up a box of rich red Amaryllis , roses , poinsettias and Ilyx and to revisit favourite old haunts and characters. It's nice to be remembered and to gather up the wintry floral treats that have become part of our pre Christmas rituals. 

                                   

 

   

                         

 Lily Vanilla's delicious no meat sausage rolls and coffee were a treat after the journey , and then a further delight was to find my favourite busking musician, Brooke Sharkey,  serenading the flower buyers. I'm pleased to be making a small crowdfunding contribution to her next album. 

                                  

As if all this pleasure weren't  enough , I then visited two of my grown up offspring in Southeast London and played a bit part in my daughter's first purchase of a Christmas tree , and the start of her own Christmas routine . And then it was back to the seaside and a bit of flower arranging. 

                     

              

                        

                      

       And so the Christmas preparations are well underway and present buying is something that I seek to snatch opportunities for......alongside visiting art exhibitions and other delights. 

After a London meeting midweek , there was a chance to get to the National Portrait Gallery and see the Giacometti (1901-66) portraits exhibition, recommended by my artist brother .

                                  

                         Diego (G's brother ) in the Living Room, Stampa, Switzerland, 1922

           

                                  

                                      Annette 1962 

The exhibition gave insight into Giacometti's development as a painter and sculptor, and I had to buy the exhibition catalogue to learn more than I had time for. 

I also went into see Simon Sharma's "Face of Britain" and was delighted to see two fantastic women painters' self portraits. Laura Knight 's is so bright and modern ; indeed it's amazing to think that both these portraits are over a century old . 

 

                                   

                                       Dame Laura Knight's self portrait - 1913

 

                                   

                                             Gwen John c1900

After this cultural nourishment it was time  for a bit of early evening mother/daughter shopping, suppering and a quick revisit of the awesome Ai Weiwei exhibition, that we have both appreciated previously. 

 

AiWeiwei is cut from the Chinese version of this art book (top) and yet he features in the West's version .

                                 

This weekend the Royal Academy has been open all night and I've read of visitors lying under the chandelier serenaded by an opera singer at 3 and 4 in the morning ! 

                                

After a lovely time , we parted and I left the bright lights to return to the seaside. I hope this mother daughter jaunt  becomes a regular feature , not just  of Christmas preparations . 

Back in Brighton the city is gearing up for the festive season too. And on Friday Penny and I enjoyed another regular feature of the pre Christmas cultural calendar - the Kate Rusby Christmas concert . A wonderful folk singer from Barnsley, Kate has made the south Yorkshire  pub carols her own in a number of lovely albums ( most recently ,'The frost is all over" ). Most years she does a concert tour, accompanied by wonderful brass and rhythm sections. The concert at the Dome did not disappoint. Against a backcloth of crocheted stars (made by Cloud9decor, Sheffield) Kate and the "boys" sang and played their hearts out, with many of us joining in on the choruses. 

    Kate Rusby and Damien O'Kane 

A final tradition of this time of the year is the Santa run along Hove seafront. It was a treat to walk down with my dad on his 85th birthday to cheer hundreds and hundreds of Santas running along the seafront . I don't think he had seen anything like it. Nor had he had a Santa stop and hug him out of the blue as my friend Barbara did; a lovely moment ! He enjoyed chocolate birthday cake later too! Oh and two brass ensembles in one week was a real treat! 

Finally, the week ended with early festive meals with friends, and the tradition of crucial Christmas shopping . What a view with which to end it ! 

                                  

Kindness

    Early morning New Church Rd , Hove

As I set off to London on Wedsnesday I saw the the beautiful warning morning sky. I wondered what it warned. 

In fact I experienced it as a pink sky smile, a celebration of several days hard, rewarding work, supporting my dad into the new, next phase of his life. 

Tuesday night was his first night in a new home in his new City . It was a big move. 

After collecting essentials from his for sale cottage at the weekend , and having had He-Van's experts move furniture from his room in our house, it only left us to hang pictures, make the bed and tune in the radio. Sadly, the TV ariel was defunct and required a mender (tomorrow).

    We transformed dad's new home from this to this. 

Naturally, it was stressful and poignant - he is giving up the known and the past for the new and a future. He was widowed in February and will always be grieving. We talked about this life change but dad didn't want to dwell too much on the loss. Instead, we focussed on independence with security and support. We reflected on the conviviality and sustenance on offer - and the opportunity.  

                       

  Eartha sees the empty chair at the dining table as an opportunity too! 

As I rode on the bus on Wednesday I wondered how the first night's sleep had gone . Visiting in the evening , all was well. The TV was working , the liver and bacon had been delicious and I was treated to a convivial glass of red. 

And then on Thursday,  the NHS came up trumps - dad's eye appointment of Monday has led to the booking of dad's cataract removal early in January ! The future prospect of him being able to see is exciting.

This week we have experienced such kindness , responsiveness, respect from everyone from whom  we have needed help and expertise - whether they were from  public, private or voluntary organisations. 

Such behaviours were exactly the sort of thing that Cristina Odone and I had in mind when we met at the Legatum Institute on Wednesday to talk about  values-led organisations and parenting schemes. 

                                  

                                      Cristina Odone 

Core values were also a central concern for Maria and I as we reflected on the future impact of the Stuart Hall Foundation . We discussed the challenge and opportunity of her Programme Manager role and the importance for the Foundation of having explicit values underpinning behaviours and supporting  shared purpose and ambition. 

                                   

                                                   Maria Amidu and her Brompton 

My Friday evening was spent with my brother, and before going to the National Open Art exhibition at Pallant house gallery, we went to enjoy the wonderful singing and spirit of the sung evensong at Chichester Cathedral. 

                                        

                                        

                                       Glow of lights and John Piper's Tapestry always soothes and inspires

                                       

                                       

                                   

                                       First candle of Advent 

          

We followed this nourishment with feasting on the Open , arty conversations , and sneaking a look at David Jones wonderful self portrait. And then we headed over to see dad in his new home.

                                   

                                      Dad and Helen 

Fish and chips assuaged Pip's and my hunger ; dad was too well fed to even sneak a chip! ( A great sign) . Then , 4 days ahead of the BT promise , we were able to set up the phone . Dad is now connected to the world again. 

The kindness of strangers , including a range of social care and health professionals, has made this week's move positive and possible. A big thank you!