14 December - Hunting the Christmas trees

Today we continued the search for decorations and markets by heading to St. Pancras station and a wonderful, novel Christmas tree.  It’s sponsored by Hatchards booksellers and is not only visually appealing but also a treat for the ears.  Each little cubby has two buttons which start audio excerpts from novels.  Each cubby has different novels, so if you had the time and patience you could spend hours enjoying this literary tree.

From there we ventured across the street to Kings Cross Station to enjoy their decorations.  Harry Potter fans may recall that this is where Harry and friends started their journey to Hogwarts on track 9¾.    Their Christmas tree reflects this and also features a Christmas carol singalong area, complete with upright piano.

Across the way from the tree is a sweet little decoration on the ticket machine.

We left the station and made our way to the Kings Cross Christmas market. Of course, directions vary depending upon who you ask.  We first found the Lower Stable  market with little tents set up in a narrow alleyway, some food some jewelry, and lots of ceramics and items for kids. From there we found the Lower Stable tree (somewhat underwhelming) and the neon Christmas tree (ditto). We wandered around some more and found the Kings Cross Canopy Market.  There were lots of food stalls and many interesting craft booths.  I nearly bought some lovely earrings (yay willpower!) and tried to buy a cannoli, but after waiting about 15 minutes for the vendor to finish with the customer ahead of me, it turned out that he couldn’t get a wifi signal which was serious, because he didn’t accept cash.  Okay, 500 calories saved.

I had brought a festive green silk blouse to wear but had forgotten that it had French cuffs and needed cufflinks.  I remembered, though, that there’s a cufflink shop near Leicester Square. (I know, right? A cufflink store!) So off I headed.  I found the store and started browsing, I was hoping to find some holiday themed cufflinks, but got a case of sticker shock.  Most of the cufflinks were priced in the £79 to £300 range.  As I slunk toward the door, I noticed the sale rack and found the perfect ones – gold elephants to remind me of my time in Kenya. Mission accomplished.

Back to the flat for a quick bite and to change clothes for our night out.  We had theatre tickets but decide to head out early to visit Covent Garden.  Great Christmas tree (which you may remember from Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean), street entertainers, great lights and the usual collection of vendors you find at Covent Garden market.

Off to the theatre to see Backstairs Billy, a show about Billy Tallon, the Queen Mother’s favorite aide who was her dance partner, gin supplier and party planner but was best known for his powerful sex drive, which saw him bring young men back to Clarence House for late-night trysts.. It stars Luke Evans as Billy and Penelope Wilton as the Queen Mum. You might remember her as Lady Crawley from Downton Abbey.  We arrived early so went to the Terrace Bar (predictable, right?). It turned out to be a fascinating place.  On the wall over the table where we sat was a plaque memorializing the fact that it was at the Duke of York’s Theatre that actors and actresses met in 1929 to decide to establish British Actors Equity.  Ultimately, the play was very enjoyable, though the first act dragged and had me getting quite sleepy.  Happily, the second act was wonderful and made up for the first. The play is set in 1979, as the disclaimer poster in the lobby notes, and reflects the attitudes of the day toward homosexuality (let’s just say it’s not very charitable.) The street outside the theatre, St. Martin’s lane, is decorated with lovely lights.  Note: only comedy masks, not tragedy.

Back to Leicester Square and home.