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 !