December 24th - Christmas Eve

 Come and Join the Celebration.

This is the happiest carol of them all! It was written for children but grown-ups can sing it too.

I first heard it at Cotton Methodist Church in the 1980's where my late Father in Law had been a member since a small boy and was a preacher/lay reader in the Methodist Circuit.  Our two eldest children went to Sunday School there before we moved away and we always went at Christmas.

From wiki...........

Valerie Collison (born 23 March 1933) is an English organist and composer of hymns and carols.^[1] Her best-known work is "Come and Join the Celebration" for which she composed both the lyrics and tune. This was first published in Carols for Children in 1972 and is now performed in services throughout the UK. She also wrote "The Journey of Life",^[2] popular in English primary schools as part of the Come and Praise hymnal.

I hadn't heard this anywhere this year until I popped into the Co-op after my car boot visit last week and they had a small choir of about 8 ladies singing carols in the foyer. I sang it all around the shop!....quietly......didn't want to frighten the other customers.

When T was for Treats in November, I didn't mention another that sometimes happens - depending on circumstances................. A bunch of flowers for Christmas - something a bit bigger than the occasional £2 bunch from Aldi.

The pine cones, ting and fir-cone were from one of the pre-Christmas craft sales and they've been added to the Asda roses, chrysanth's and ornamental cabbage hearts etc. All in the biggest jug on the kitchen window sill for me to enjoy.

Thank you for comments yesterday, the home-made remedies have worked and I'm up to 99% now!

Back Tomorrow - briefly

Sue

December 23rd - The Best Laid Plans

Thomas Hardy managed to make this short poem rhyme and shows feeding the birds isn't a new thing.

Birds at Winter Nightfall

Around the house the flakes fly faster,

And all the berries now are gone

From holly and cotone-aster

Around the house. The flakes fly! - faster

Shutting indoors that crumb-outcaster

We used to see upon the lawn

Around the house. The flakes fly faster'

And all the berries now are gone.

Thomas Hardy 

The week has Not gone as planned. Due to the hours and hours of pouring rain from late Monday onwards I took Eldest Granddaughter home much earlier than planned on Tuesday - Luckily her Mummy was working from home. It took me over 4 hours to do the round trip that would normally take less than two to do . I had to go by main roads which is miles further (84 total instead of 54) rather than cross country but it was the only way to avoid serious flooding and even on the main A roads there were many places where the water was across the road. The extra traffic and roadworks didn't help. I got back just in time, as the flood water down the road from the bungalow had gone from a large puddle to nearly 6 inches deep in the time I'd been gone. 

(And yes you have read those times/miles correctly - it regularly takes 55 minutes to do 27 miles on our "wonderful", damaged, pot-holed, 30 mph limit, twisting, cross country roads between me and Leiston!)

I thought it was just lack of sleep - (don't usually mention health issues but the RLS prickly-ness has been much worse than usual) and having an energetic 7 year old here that had made me extra tired but after the 4 hour drive I was shattered and feeling very achy and worried about eldest daughter and the two grandsons coming up Wednesday evening as planned - wasn't sure how much flooding would be left and how I would be feeling. 

However H was determined to visit for a present swap so on Wednesday I dosed myself with my cold cure tomato and chili soup and Strepsils for the sore throat and lots of paracetamol, got the house back together and beds sorted and rested in between times to give me time to feel better.

They then came up early Thursday in daylight. Lovely to see my Surrey boys again, last time they were here was the summer holidays when everyone ended up sick. Since then the 7 year old has had hospital visits for some keyhole surgery and 2 year old  is now more of a little boy than a baby. Eldest daughter was full of cold - don't think she should have come up at all really and I wasn't 100% but luckily we all had a good nights sleep.

She headed away early Friday afternoon to meet up with her sister, sister in law and the other three children  before the horrible journey home to Surrey in the dark (worries me every time!)................ and I collapsed in a heap! .................before doing the tidying all over again while drinking hot lemon and honey and taking more paracetamol.

Between all the grandchildren stuff, house tidying, present sorting, cooking and list making for later, I managed to collect some greenery for the Solstice. From various places I 'stole' variegated Holly, ordinary Holly and Rosemary and from home Bay, Yew and Olive. I discovered the little spray of red toadstools in the Christmas decoration box but don't remember getting it. It was still labelled so I know it came from Smiths Packaging shop and cost me £1.59 presumably last year or the year before? They add a touch of colour as almost  all berries on the Hollies everywhere have gone this year.

 

I guess I'm not the only person still with things to do before more visitors, and other deliveries to make. I'm definitely hibernating in January.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

December 22nd - The Solstice and The Ogham Tree Alphabet

The winter solstice 

It's been over a year  since I wrote a post mentioning the Ogham Tree Alphabet. The only native British writing system devised 2,000 years ago using various notches on sticks. Each letter also corresponds to a tree and a month or a day of the year. My first post about the alphabet is HERE  after I found the book by artist Karen Cater.

The tree for the Winter Solstice is the Scot's Pine and I've been collecting photos of them.

Firstly in the village. I can see this one from my back windows. There are two planted on a green area in the middle of the housing estate behind . They would have been planted when the homes were built in about 1983/4 and are getting rather large.

At Needham Lake. This is a smaller and much younger tree, photo taken on a foggy day back in the spring.

And at Sutton Hoo when we were there in the early Autumn. Growing tall on the sandy soil there

These are the pages from the book that explain it all.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

December 21st - St. Thomas

 Thank you to everyone for comments yesterday - things have been a bit odd here and I'll explain at the end of the week.

Today is one of the feast days of St. Thomas  and there are two old sayings for this day. Although the second doesn't quite fit for this year as the true Solstice is tomorrow early morning.

Look at the weathercock at noon on St Thomas's Day and whichever way the wind blows from it will stay that way for the next lunar quarter

St Thomas grey, St Thomas grey

Longest night and shortest day 

In the past St. Thomas's  Day was a excuse for 'gooding', which involved  begging for food in return for a small bunch of greenery. In some places this was called 'Doleing'. The dole given was usually some flour for making bread with the wheat donated by a wealthy farmer and ground without charge by the miller.

St Thomas was also known as Didymous and Doubting Thomas - one of the first apostles. Details of his life after his appearance in the gospels are uncertain . He is thought to have gone as a missionary to India and to have been martyred at Madras. His special day now is usually marked on July 3rd.

St Thomas by Rubens from around 1612

Back Tomorrow

Sue

December 20th and a Winter Print Exhibition

I've been saving this post just in case of a shortage of time/ideas - that time has come! It's a bit of a Non-Post really.

 On the 24th of last month I had a trip out to visit a Winter Print Exhibition. This was being held in a Gallery near Sudbury in South Suffolk. Along with a miniatures painting exhibition.

It was in a different part of the county so some different artists to those who exhibit at the little art exhibitions I usually visit but it wasn't as big as I thought it would be.

Unfortunately only general photos were allowed, which rather mucked up my plan of sharing some of my favourites.

Third from the left below was a really good print of an allotment done in limited colours.

My favourite, which I couldn't do a close up of as I was being watched!, was a brown fox creeping through a snowy garden. Everything is black or white except the fox. It's the 4th from the left below on the top row, but impossible to see. I dithered over buying it but at £90 decided I'd better not and sadly the artist doesn't make greetings cards from her prints like some do - could have afforded one of those.

Bad light reflection on this excellent work below, which was on the stairs with no one watching me!

Loved the Goldcrest below

The gallery is in an old mill with the mill pond close by

Had to call in at a cafe/gift shop on the way  for breakfast - coffee and cheese scone of course! 

They had three Christmas trees in the cafe and lots of Christmas gifts in the shop, got Daughter some bamboo socks that she wanted for Christmas.

Picture of my cheese scone and coffee seem to be a regular thing!

I think I may have reached my limit for cheese scones for this year!

Back Tomorrow

Sue

December 19th -Bits and Bobs and a Poem

There was a special one-off Christmas  car-boot sale at Needham Market on Saturday and I thought there wouldn't be many people selling - I was wrong. Lots of people there and many, many second-hand Christmas decorations and house clearance people. I went round looking for green things for the Christmas tree for next year............plenty of gold and red and some  not-Christmassy colours like pink and turquoise but no green. I was the last of the big spenders - a whole 50p on these four small snowmen and angels. They look like glass from a distance but are much safer plastic. I've put them away for next year which will be a silver, white and green  year - if I remember.

After the boot sale I called in at the Sue Ryder charity shop, where they always have a good selection of all sorts. I found this rather nice musical Nativity scene in it's box. Once sold by Lakeland - probably for a lot more than the £6 I paid for it. It plays Silent Night by winding the star and is made of sturdy Olive wood so will OK for small fingers. 

There didn't seem to be any Nativity Crib Festivals anywhere in Suffolk this year which was a shame as I enjoyed seeing them all in Felixstowe last year and in Grundisburgh back in 2018.

************************************

The only edible left in the vegetable beds are the Purple Sprouting Broccoli plants. Only one is upright, the rest are taller and leaning away from the fence. I picked every purple and almost purple shoots off the upright plant and just about had enough to eat. They were delicious. The plants that are leaning are way behind and should produce some shoots later. I'm hoping to buy a sprout stalk for Christmas although I heard on the early morning radio farming programme a while ago that there is shortage of decent size Brussels' Sprouts this year due to the weather and those I've seen for sale so far have been grape size. Good for people who dislike them but not so good for preparing them for people like me, who love them.

******************************

I've not been following Strictly very closely this year but caught up with the final and I'm glad Ellie won. A good finale I thought. The weeks seem to have flown by so quickly. The Christmas Radio Times arrived but I'm saving it to look at nearer the time. I heard that Olly Alexander has been chosen for Eurovision for next year, unusual for them to pick someone already well known. Hope he does better than second from last which was where this years very weak entry ended up.

***********************

And finally another poem from one of my Christmas books.

 Somehow not only for Christmas

But all the long year through,

The joy that you give to others

Is the joy that comes back to you.

And the more you spend in blessing

The poor and lonely and sad,

The more of your heart's possessing

Returns to make you glad.

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-92)

Back Tomorrow

Sue

December 18th and Winter Reading

 Picked up from the library van last week were five books I'd reserved. Some others were on the way but hadn't arrived in time so they'll be waiting for me on the January visit.

I've already decided that January will be a quiet month at home in hibernation so these might only last me a couple of weeks but thankfully there's plenty to read on my bookshelves.

I'm so pleased that the earlier Donna Leon books are being reprinted as the library only had more recent publications until recently. I know I'll enjoy those and the other two crime novels but don't know about the Gabrielle Zevin book. 

Last month I  brought home these below and didn't read many of them. Just checked and it was actually only 3. Although I've used bits on the blog from the Christmas Carol book on the far right

The books read were the one by Ann Cleeves, The Castle by the Sea and The Memories of A Wartime Childhood. Why didn't I read the others? Well......... I started to read The Kitchen Front and it didn't sound right and after looking at the back of the title page discovered it was first published in the US - which explained the odd and wrong words. I got fed up with the one by Jessica Ellicott - it's written in a very weird pedantic way, like someone writing to a formula and the rest I just couldn't be bothered to get into them!

I eventually remembered how to get the DVD player connected up and watched Hope and Glory, which is a 1987 film about a boy growing up in wartime London. I really ought to watch some of my own DVDs again - maybe that's a plan for January.

Certainly no time for watching DVDs this week -it's a crazy hectic week with some overnight Nanna Duty, probably a visit from family and jobs to do including greenery collecting for the Solstice, presents to finish organising into bags and boxes as well as normal stuff like housework and shopping.

Many thanks for all the comments on yesterday's Joy To The World post . 

 

Back Tomorrow

Sue

December 17th - Joy To The World

 This is another hymn used in advent as it doesn't directly mention Christ's birth.

According to the book 'Best Loved Carols' compiled by Martin Manser, this was written by Isaac Watts when he was just 15 years old. After complaining to his father - who was a Deacon in a Southampton church - that the congregation seem rather lacklustre he was challenged to write something that would rouse their enthusiasm. The hymn is based on Psalm 98 which tells the world to prepare for the coming of the Lord.

That it was written by Watts ( who wrote many, many hymns during his life 1674-1748)is well known but most references say it was first published in 1719.

The melody is usually the 1848 arrangement by Lowell Mason from an earlier piece of music resembling G.F.Handel's  piece Antioch. Although other people disagree - the truth is lost in time!

This version is sung by a huge choir accompanied by an equally large orchestra. The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah

Back Tomorrow

Sue

December 16th - Christmas Tree Festival

 I didn't take many photos of the trees in the church at Stowmarket, there were more than usual and lots of people looking round. All were lovely and colourful. So many organisations in and around the town had decorated trees on the theme of Christmas songs and carols.

The church was full of school children when Pat and I arrived for the Osier café . They'd been brought in to see their tree and all the others. Just before we left someone started to play carols on the piano which was lovely to hear.

I always hang a card on the memory tree for Colin and it was absolutely covered with peoples memories of loved ones and the prayer tree too had hundreds of hearts with names of people who needed a prayer said for them.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

December 15th -Just Another Winter's Tale

Just Another Winters Tale sung by David Essex is another favourite piece of music although it's only played on the radio at Christmas and not very often.

It was written in 1982 by Mike Batt and Tim Rice and was released in 1982 and got to #2 in the charts in January 1983.

This is borrowed from wiki  - Mike Batt explaining how it came to be.......

1.   David Essex rang me late in 1982 - just after my return from Australia, and asked if I could write him a Christmas hit. It was already late October so we didn't have much time. I was due to be writing with Tim Rice the following day- and was hoping to develop my idea for a musical about the Aztecs...anyway so I told Tim about the David Essex request, and we started thinking of ideas. ... we wrote a bit of the chorus and two lines of the verse, and then when Tim had gone home I sat and worked on it, coming up with the finished chorus and the second verse lyrics.

I was a David Essex fan back in the day.

I think he still looks pretty good!

I can't sing along with this at the moment - too much talking with Rachel-in-Norfolk on Wednesday and yesterday with Pat C, my school friend from way back.

Today I'm at home alone  and will rest my voice all day........it will be very, very quiet............

Back Tomorrow

Sue

December 14th - Portmeirion Holly and Ivy

My Portmeirion Holly and Ivy 'Not a collection' hasn't grown since 2020. The first piece was the best bargain and came from a car boot sale way back in the autumn of 2017 for just £2. It wasn't meant to be the start of a collection!

But then the same year I found another piece- a small dish on a pedestal -  in a charity shop, then the next year a tea-plate from a boot sale and butter knives for a Christmas present. A year later and I found a big centrepiece plate from a boot sale again. Finally in 2020 I spent a few more pounds on a small custard/gravy jug and saucer which were in one of the glass cabinets that charity shops have for their special things.

Since then I've not seen another piece for sale at car boot sales or anywhere else - which is probably a Very Good Thing!

Some comments I remember because they seem a bit "off" and I definitely remember someone commenting, when I wrote about the first piece, that having special Christmas china was a "superfluous and unnecessary trend coming from the US". And of course they used plain white all the time - with Real holly!

I had to smile when the same person (I'm 99% sure it's the same person) commented elsewhere recently that they were getting their pieces of "T'was the night before Christmas" crockery out of the cupboard.

They probably didn't bank on me sometimes having a good memory for slightly snarky comments! 

But as it's Christmas they are forgiven.

Many thanks for comments yesterday about memories of Christmas decorations. Seems we all had something similar.  Apologies for not replying.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

December 13th - Old Decorations

 I have no idea where this Christmas tree decoration came from but it's old - they certainly don't make them like this anymore - it's exactly the same as those we had on the tree when I was a little girl.

I'm sure it didn't come from the time we cleared Dad's house - seems to have appeared more recently.

Back in the late 50's and 60's there weren't so many places to buy Christmas decorations - it was mainly Woolworths or the big department stores which we didn't have in small towns. Every year we would make those paper chains that loop one strip through another. They went from corners of the rooms to the light fitting in the middle. Then out would come the concertina/honeycomb paper decorations - a bell, a star and some round balls. They had to be clipped together with a paper clip to hold them open and folded very carefully on twelfth night. And there were always balloons.

We had a big beam across the middle of the room and as more things became available Mum collected some small sprays of artificial holly and silver leaves and similar bits and would pin them along the beam on each side. 

We always had a real Christmas tree which would start shedding needles almost as soon as it was brought in - shoved in a bucket of builders sand - always plenty of that in a builders yard. Mum had some very old tree decorations including clips that could hold proper birthday candles - although we never had them alight. There was always a problem with the lights - multi coloured- with bulbs that screwed in and had to be checked one by one every year to find out which one had failed.

I can remember how bare the room looked when the decorations came down but I expect Mum was glad to get them out of the way - she hated dust and old houses with wood beams and open fires produced plenty of that and once everything was put away she could get the the duster and polish out again.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

December 12th - Winter Trees

 O thought I!

What a beautiful thing

God has made the winter to be

by stripping the trees

and letting us see

their shapes and forms.

What a freedom does it seem

to give to the storms.

Dorothy Wordsworth (1771 - 1855)

When the leaves were on the poplars and limes over the road I couldn't see the new homes being built on the far side of the burial ground. Now the trees are bare and I can see the first chalet bungalow growing, the roof is getting done -  they've had to work in some really wet weather. I'm glad they only got permission for two facing onto the road rather than a small estate of nine which was the first application. There are enough new homes being built on greenspaces everywhere without building next to an historic church and graveyard. They've actually stopped building on new estates in nearby Bacton village because they can't sell the ones they have built.

I'm disappointed that the unused part of the burial ground between the trees and the new bungalow has been tidied so much. There have been people doing community payback there every Saturday morning for months. Whereas once I saw  partridges, pheasants, lots of small birds and insects and even a muntjac deer in the long grass and under the trees now there is nothing. I'd love to tell them that neat and tidy isn't always good.

(Just finished a small quirky book with a good story and bits where you have to smile. 'What Hetty Did' by J.L Carr. Worth looking up . People will like it if they like quirky but others will say it's just silly. Same man wrote the more well known ' A Month in the Country')

Back Tomorrow

Sue

December 11th - I Had a Quiet Saturday in Advent

December 9th was a quiet Saturday in Advent, which sounds as if it should be the first line of story but sadly it isn't!

Goodness, it was a wet day here on Saturday. Plans had to abandoned as the roads were awash again so it was a stay in and do not a lot day. I got a letter written to go off with a present and all card writing finished. 

Vaguely opening cupboards to think of something for my main meal........ the home made things in the freezer are down to a choice of aubergine and tomato pasta sauce, Thai fish curry or pizza topping and I'd had all of them last week.............I saw a small tin of value range tuna. Aha, I thought, tuna, pasta and broccoli bake. So I made a jug of white sauce, put the pasta on to cook, opened the tuna and looked in the fridge for the broccoli BUT there wasn't any - I'd bought a cabbage last week instead! I can confirm that a tuna, cabbage, carrot and pasta bake is OK but really nicer with broccoli. It made two portions - that was enough - although I have to say the second portion - reheated in the microwave was better than the first.

I finished watching the final Harry Potter film on Saturday night. It was the first time I'd watched all 8 all the way through. About time too after all these years. I'm glad I'm 68 years old and not 8 - I would have been terrified.

This was the most recent addition to tree decorations which came from the maker at a fair in the autumn  before all the November Christmas fairs. It dawned on me on Saturday

that there's another glass piece somewhere, because last year, from the same person, I bought a glass mistletoe sprig.....it's on the blog here.  I need to search for it among the bags...... in the box...... in the cupboard.

Here's another start for a story.................

Once upon a time when I had 3 children, animals and no time, I made a wreath for the door, Christmas puddings, a Christmas cake or two, the mincemeat and then the mince-pies and Christmas crackers with small presents inside specially picked for each person.

None of the above are done now. The front door is adorned with the swag thing I bought second-hand in 2021. I don't like Christmas pudding but made them because Colin, his Dad and brother loved them. Christmas cake is too sweet now - no one really enjoys it, half a dozen decent bought mince pies will be enough  and Christmas crackers can be found at car boot sales every summer.

Once upon a time I sent cards to many aunts and uncles, grandparents and parents - they've all gone - except for one Aunty. I bought 20 Christmas postage stamps and will have several left.

I'm feeling old!

Back Tomorrow

Sue

December 10th - Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel

 This is a proper Advent hymn and we sang this at church on the first Sunday of Advent. I have to say it seemed odd to be singing about Israel with all the horrors going on there, does anyone on either side care?

This version just says it's by a traditional choir.

Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel was probably written in the early C18. But it's origins are much earlier. From a series of verses or prayers called antiphons known as ' the seven 'O's' from way back in the Middle Ages. These were sung in medieval monasteries.

The words were translated from the Latin by John Mason Neale, one of the best known translators between 1818 -66. The tune is much older possibly from a plainsong chant.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

December 9th - Once a Year

 I had my once a year trip to the town centre of our county town of Ipswich earlier this week. Seems strange to say that as I used go much more often (I also go twice for the dentist but rarely go into the town centre at the same time). 

When Col went in to the Suffolk County Council Highways department office - usually once a week - I would sometimes get a lift in, especially at this time of the year when I was hunting for small presents for the children's Christmas pillowcases - long before Amazon and the internet of course.

Now the town just looks so sad, with so many empty shops, it's really depressing to walk round. This year it was the Samaritans second-hand book department that had disappeared since last year as well as the big names of Poundland and Wilko.  I do miss Debenhams at Christmas- it was always good to look round - long gone now of course.

As usual I went into the old church for my coffee and cheese scone for breakfast. It employs people with learning disabilities or getting back to work after trauma. They do Christmas bookings and there was a party of ladies all having a Christmas coffee morning and other tables laid ready for lunches. - Looking very festive.

One reason for going into town was to pop the cards for relations in the town into the Scout Post boxes and to tour the charity shops to see what Christmassy things they had for sale.

I found two books I'd not seen before, one is Christmas pages from Good Housekeeping magazine between 1922 and 1962  and the other is a old book of short Christmas crime stories. I was also searching for a Christmas mug, with no luck,  to replace the Christmas cup and saucer, that was passed on to a charity shop a couple of years ago because it was too big and heavy to lift when full.

In the Oxfam shop I bought a pack of  Christmas placemats for the grandchildren - they have a picture to colour on one side and puzzles to do on the other..

Then I went up the A12 to Woodbridge to call in at the theatre to pick up the book I should have got last week  (when it was too foggy to get there). I'd booked my ticket early enough to get this book included  and when I couldn't go I rang for them to hold it for me if they could (otherwise I could have had a credit note for another event.) They had kept the book for me so I ended up not being out-of-pocket after all as the book is worth more than the ticket price!

.

Then home on the small roads cross country and it was surprising to find many places with standing water - we really have had more than our normal rainfall this autumn/early winter.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

 

December 8th - Winter Storm

  Another December poem                                                 

                                         While I have a home, and can do as I will,

December may rage over ocean and hill,

And batter my door - as he does once a year -

I laugh at his storming and drink his good cheer.

Anonymous words from an old English song - found in a book on my shelves 'Autumn and Winter Days' by Rowland Purton

I looked on wiki for pictures of winter storms and up came this painting by J.M.W.Turner from 1842 and if it hadn't told me it was a paddle-steamer in a snow storm I'm not sure I would have known exactly what I was seeing. The full title is Snow Storm: Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth, Making Signals in Shallow Water, and going by the Lead

Artist	J. M. W. Turner

Turner was supposedly actually in the storm and said

I did not paint it to be understood, but I wished to show what such a scene was like; I got the sailors to lash me to the mast to observe it; I was lashed for four hours, and I did not expect to escape, but I felt bound to record it if I did.^[4]

Although some people don't believe it as he was 67 years old at the time!

Back Tomorrow

Sue

December 7th - The Wren

  A December page from 'The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady' by Edith Holden. The only poet called James Graham I could find was a C17 Scot - First Marquis of Montrose. Do wrens continue to sing in snow? Not sure about that

.

A few years ago I wrote about a rather strange old custom called 'Hunting the Wren' .This usually took place on December 26th when men and boys went shooting for all sorts of small woodland wildlife but specifically wrens. In another book (The English Year by Steve Roud) I've now found more. In Ireland, Wales, South West England and the Isle of Man the wren would be killed, then placed in a box or a garlanded 'bush' and taken round the streets by groups singing, dancing and playing instruments and collecting money in exchange for a wren's feather, which were considered lucky. The groups were called 'wrenboys' and some would also perform a mummers' play. 

A traditional song began with

The Wren, the wren, the king of all birds

St Stephen's Day was caught in the furze.

Apparently the idea that the wren was the king of the birds was known all over Europe and came from a folk tale. 

In a competition to see who should be king of the birds, the eagle flew higher and faster than all the others. But just as he was about to proclaim himself his victory, the wren, who had hidden in the eagle's feathers, popped out and flew a few inches higher, to claim the title.

Another old story explains why it was wrens that were hunted and killed.

 Somewhere in the past there was a battle which was about to be won when a wren flew down and warned the opposition, by pecking on a drum, that they were about to be ambushed. The enemies are sometimes 'the English' and in other stories 'The Danes' depending on where the story was told. 

Seems so odd that such a small, now much-loved bird, was so disliked in the past.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

December 6th - Driving Home for Christmas

 One of my favourite modern Christmas songs is Driving Home For Christmas by Chris Rea. 

This is the story of how he came to write it (info from the Guardian website)

Chris Rea, singer-songwriter

The story of Driving Home for Christmas is like a classic festive story. It was 1978, coming up to Christmas. It was all over for me: I was just about out of my record contract, and my manager had just told me he was leaving me. I just needed to get home to Middlesbrough from London, but the record company wouldn’t pay for a rail ticket, and I was banned from driving.

You do some crazy things when you’re young. My wife got in our old Austin Mini, drove all the way down from Middlesbrough to Abbey Road studios to pick me up, and we set off back straight away. Then it started snowing. We had £220 and I was fiddling with it all the way home. We kept getting stuck in traffic and I’d look across at the other drivers, who all looked so miserable. Jokingly, I started singing: “We’re driving home for Christmas … ” Then, whenever the street lights shone inside the car, I started writing down lyrics.

We eventually got home at 3am. It was so cold inside the house that the snow tumbled on to the doormat and didn’t melt. There was one letter – from PRS America. My song Fool (If You Think It’s Over) had been a hit in the US, so there was a cheque for £15,000. We went from being down to our last £220 to being able to buy a house. The song went in my old tin full of unfinished stuff.

Some years later, my career had turned around and [keyboard player] Max Middleton and I were testing two new pianos. We started joking around, playing this Count Basie-type thing. I pretended I was Nat King Cole. Someone said: “That’s a great tune, that. You should get it down.” I went back to my tin, and the words to Driving Home for Christmas fitted perfectly.

I’d never intended to write a Christmas hit – I was a serious musician! So initially, the song came out on a B-side. Then a DJ flipped it over and started playing it, so Max suggested we re-record it and add some strings. Max played the distinctive jazzy intro, we did a classic 1950s Christmas carol-type arrangement, and loved it. At first, it was another radio hit – but then it started re-entering the Top 40 every year.

*****************************************************************************

I love the idea of a musician having a tin of un-finished work - like  a crafter with unfinished objects and works-in-progress  and I reckon he's done quite well out of this piece since 1988! 

Back Tomorrow

Sue