esoterica | Wait until next year

December 19, 2016

Advent Calendar 2016: Days Ten to Nineteen inclusive

Best laid plans and all that. I thought a post a day of some murky black and white Christmas photo would be one way of responding to the lack of posts I’ve made this year and also a means of generally making me feel a little more festive. However, a bout of something norovirus-y, more work than is ideal in December (what happened to “winding down” and countless Christmas lunches?) and my recurring bouts of procrastination means those posts have, well, not really happened.

But in the spirit of completism, here are some more dodgy, blurry Christmas snaps to get the project back on the road. Not long to go now, eh?

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December 9, 2016

Advent Calendar 2016: Day Nine

Christmas cards have started arriving. I have good intentions each year, to write and send cards early, but inevitably ours go out at the last minute, if at all. I’m sure some years those I’ve sent haven’t arrived at their destination until the new year. Perhaps in that case I should just pretend they aren’t late, just very, very early.

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December 8, 2016

Advent Calendar 2016: Day Eight

I love the St. Paul’s Cathedral Christmas tree. I wonder about the logistics of getting a tree up there. Do they winch it up? Or do they haul it up the stairs and get it through the window? Probably something smarter than either of those suggestions. I like the sheer scale of the tree, but also how it is kind of homely too, like a grander version of the Christmas trees you see in people’s front windows.

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December 6, 2016

Advent Calendar 2016: Day Six

A day spent heading up north and heading back. On my way home I realised I had spent practically the whole day inside train carriages and meeting rooms. I could have been anywhere and it could have been any time. I had lost any sense of place or season. When I arrived home I was greeted by a group of carol singers. It immediately felt like Christmas. It immediately felt like home.

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December 2, 2016

Advent Calender 2016: Day Two

On my lunchtime walk I came across two guys delivering Christmas trees. One was having a fag and drew attention to the whole enterprise by wearing a kilt and branded fleece. I guess he was the face of the operation. The other was sorting through the trees, getting the right one out. He wasn’t wearing a kilt. They have obviously discovered their niche. I wondered if they were Christmas tree growers all year, preparing for the big rush in December, or if they did something else from January to November before joining in the festive commerce. Either way I guess this sort of thing is big business now. It isn’t enough for a workplace to just send someone out to buy a tree and some decorations. It is now a professional enterprise.

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Category: esoterica