Wednesday 9th December 2009 – London at Christmas
Hi,
London in the past week has completely embraced the festive mood. There are reindeer, Santa hats and Christmas trees as far as the eye can see.
What presents will Santa bring you this year?
I went out for a wander around central London the other night to get some Christmas shopping done. Thankfully, festive madness hadn’t yet come to Oxford Street, which is London’s main shopping district. At the best of times it is a remarkably busy area. At Christmas time it’s no holds barred as Christmas shoppers desperately try to get their hands on what bargains they can find.
A Christmas tree in central London
Other parts of London are slightly more chilled out. There are giant Christmas trees at Trafalgar Square and the Brunswick Centre and there’s a colossal green reindeer at the Covent Garden piazza.
Several outdoor ice-skating rinks have been set up around the city. There is one at the Natural History Museum and another at Somerset House which is quite close to the pub I work in. I went down to take a look.
Emmet in front of the ice-skating rink at Somerset House
A couple of people showing off on the ice
The last time I went ice skating was in Central Park in New York when I was about 12 years old, so this time I left it to the brave, the not-so-brave and the apparent experts. There are always a couple of people who are really good on the ice. They smugly pirouette and twirl around the ice rink. There is something so satisfying about those one in 100 occasions when they get it wrong and end up flat on their face.
For me, a relaxed glass of mulled wine proved a lot more tempting than humiliating myself. It was nice to chill out and soak up the atmosphere.
The next couple of weeks will be manic. We’ve got exams this week and next, work in the pub will be nuts, and some friends from Dublin are over for a weekend to play a big gig over here too. They’re in a fantastic blues/rock band called ‘Scarecrow Disco’ so it’ll be great to catch them live.
Ye Old White Horse pub, where Emmet works
I will be flying back to Ireland on Christmas Eve (24th December), to visit my family in County Wicklow. For me it’s a pretty special time of year. It’s been a while since I’ve been home so I’m really looking forward to spending some time with my parents, my sister Megan, my brother Ruraidh and my Uncle Ian.
It won’t be long now…
Emmet
Question of the Week
Have you been ice skating recently? Is there an ice rink in your city? Are there Christmas decorations in any areas of your hometown?
Email me and you might see your answers at the bottom of this page.
