Post boxes in London have festive knitted or crochet hats

 

Snow scene decorating a post box. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

This seasonal scene features the colours of snow white, Santa or pillar box red, and pine tree green - actually a brighter nearer emerald green. You can see snowmen, a conical green tree, a red hat, and a black and white hat.

This little scene is in Long Elmes, where the H14 bus stops outside the shops, just after turning the corner from the school and the storage warehouse. The H14 runs from Hatch End to Harrow bus station along this road.

More little scenes are on other boxes in the area. One is just off the Avenue, Hatch End. Another is in the Abercorn Road, the street from my former Stanburn Priary School leading to Stanmore.  These amusing and uplifting little scenes decorate the post boxes all over London, England, the UK.

In my previous posts I have shown other seasonal scenes. 

I am always on the lookout for something amazing and amusing.

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Buying Xmas cards from or for the UK

Need a card? What sort? Snow, snowmen, rooftops, churches, holly, smiling faces?

Snowman with carrot nose and smile. Cat. Church. Holly. Snow. On second glance I see the robin. The cat is looking at the robin. the robin is not fazed.

Santa and reindeer. The reindeer has a red nose.

Secular doves for New Year.

Or something secular. More modern?
Something which will do if it arrives or is delivered by you by hand after Christmas but before New Year?

A huge range of charity cards, conveniently listed by charity or by style and subject matter. For example, cancer. Victorian.

You can also keep a stock in your bag when visiting clubs, parties, events. If somebody unexpectedly gives you a card, you can slip into the bathroom and write their name on the envelope and inside.

Useful Websites
https://www.postoffice.co.uk/last-posting-dates
https://www.cardsforcharity.co.uk/shop-online/cards

About the author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Disappointment of the Day, Dick Whittington didn't have a cat! But you can see Pantomimes, Cinderella, robins and English Christmas Cake

Problem
I just learned from the Lord Mayor OF London's Lord Mayor Of London Show website that Lord Mayor of London Dick Whittington was a real person, and very popular. He was mayor three times. But he didn't have a cat.

Oh, dear, I just had to correct spell check - or my inattention. I found I had typed Duck Whittington. It's one of those days. What a dreadful thing to discover, just before London's theatre season when all the children are going to see pantomimes.

I cannot tell a lie. I'm the one who wants to reveal that reindeers don't really race through the sky. Santa Claus did not wear a red coat until the extremely smart artist drawing an advertisement for Coco-cola turned the green coat into red.

The Russians have Grandfather Frost.

If you want to see Whittington's cat, the cat's small statue is half way up Highgate Hill, not terribly exciting, unless you are a photographer.

On the other hand the Dick Whittington pantomime is typically English. In fact, pantomime is very English. Even though pantomime's favourite subjects include Cinderella and Prince Charming, which is French from Perrault.

You can visit a chateaux associated with Perrault in France.

I mustn't complain. Santa has universal appeal. So does Cinderella. Nobody minds that she isn't real. Children love the happy ending. Adults like the symbolism and the rags to riches tale. Aladdin is from the Far East. Disney has added a new dimension to Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
Here are some of the opportunities this year at London major theatres.

Also check London's suburban theatres such as Harrow Arts Centre, which has The Wizard of Oz from Dec 16-28 2017. Others theatres are at Watford, Uxbridge, Greenwich.

•  Aladdin at Richmond Theatre. ... 
• Cinderella at The Broadway Theatre. ... 
• Cinderella at Hackney Empire. ... 
• Dick Whittington at London Palladium. ... 

• The Flint Street Nativity at Upstairs At The Gatehouse. (A new one this year.)

• Jack And The Beanstalk at Lyric Hammersmith. ...
•  Peter Pan - The Arena Spectacular at SSE Wembley Arena. ... 

Christmas in London, England, would not be the same without Dickens, Christmas cards showing Victorian Christmas trees and snowmen and robins.

The supermarkets have started displaying Christmas crackers, invented in London, copied from the wrappers of French bons bons. I am reminded of the English poem, which ends Pippa's Song by Robert Browning: God's in his heaven, all's right in the world.

Here are the traditional items you can find already in British supermarkets, and they come from all over the world.

Iced Christmas cake.
The Christmas tree - a Norway spruce.
Stollen from Germany.
Yule logs from France.
Panettone from Italy and Spanish speaking Venezuela.

Places to visit:
Dickens House, London, England

Event lists for Pantomimes:
https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/whats-on/theatre/pantomime#9b6ZY92KLfubXXsA.97
https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/christmas-pantomimes-in-london

Supermarket websites:
http://www.marksandspencer.com
http://www.sainsburys.co.uk
http://tesco.com
http://waitrose.com
https://direct.asda.com/george/clothing/10,default,sc.html?cmpid=ppc-_-george-_-ggle-br-_-Brand-_-asda%20direct
https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/Christmas.htm

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Please look at my new website
http://www.luxurytravelforless.co.uk