Today we set out to meet a couple of friends. First, though, we breakfasted at Jusaka, after which I took this photo of our favourite local building, the Angel hotel now repurposed as an office block.

Angel, Sunshine after rain

Next we caught a bus to Covent Garden, the location of this photo.

Seven Dials, Covent Garden

This crossroads is named, for obvious reasons, Seven Dials and, like much of Convent Garden, has been decorated for Christmas.

Because one of our friends is Italian and fairly new to London, Tigger thought a ramble around Clerkenwell might interest him. This is because in the 19th and 20th centuries, Clerkenwell became home to a sizeable Italian community and was popularly called “Little Italy”. Many traces of this remain, one of which is the Italianate Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer.

Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer Clerkenwell

We went along for a visit. It is lavishly decorated with plenty of figures of saints. My attention was attracted by the Nativity Scene.

Where’s the baby? (Oh, not here yet)

Atheist that I am, unused to the habits and customs of churchgoers, I at first thought that the figure of the infant Jesus had been stolen! Afterwards, I realised that no, it hadn’t been taken but, as is the custom in Catholic and High Anglican churches, it had not yet been placed in the crib and will only appear on Christmas day. While that has a certain logic to it, I suppose, in the meantime it leaves Mary, Joseph and sundry persons and animals gazing adoringly at an empty hollow in the hay.

On a table waiting…

On a table waiting…

On the other side of the church I spied these three fellows on a table, also gazing raptly at nothing in particular. Presumably, they will remain in this suspended state until January 6th when they too will be placed in the crib.

On the way out I noticed an interesting sign of the times: in the aisle stood an electronic terminal which the faithful can use to make donations by means of contactless bank card.

We also visited Saint Peter’s Italian Catholic Church which is even more Italian than the preceding one in the sense that its name board gives its name of the church (Chiesa Italiana di San Pietro) and the times of services in both English and Italian. This suggests that there is still a numerous Italian community in the area. How will this be affected by Brexit? Probably not at all.

This church has two Nativity Scenes, one outside in the porch:

St Peter’s, outside crib

and another more elaborate one inside:

St Peter’s, inside crib

And yes, in both, everyone was adoring an empty spot in the hay.

When we arrived, there was a baptismal rite in progress but the priest waved to us to say we could visit the church.

The district takes its name, Clerkenwell, from the medieval well that existed there and can still be seen though it is now inside a building. I believe it can be viewed by appointment or you can just catch a glimpse of it through a window. In medieval times, a “clerk” was a scholar or member of a religious house and the clerks of the name were possibly the members if the local Priory of the Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St John. This historic site can also be visited.