Sunshine in Claremont Square

Welcome to the brave new world of Tier 4!

Before yesterday, we in England had never heard of a fourth tier (though Scotland already had one) and, if truth be told, it’s really just our old enemy lockdown in a flimsy disguise. The fake name is another example of this government’s disingenuousness.

The suddenness of its imposition has caught many of us on the hop, especially those who were planning Christmas celebrations with friends and family and who will be bitterly disappointed.

I have said often enough that Sunday is our shopping day. Well, not this Sunday. We had planned to do our Christmas shopping nearer the 25th and have decided still to do so, hoping that this will prove to be a good move despite Tier 4 disruption. Instead of shopping, we went for a stroll around our neighbourhood with a predictable destination.

Long time no see

We hadn’t seen the cats of Myddelton Square for a long time and I was beginning to wonder whether the occupants if the house had moved away. Today, we at last saw one of the pair, sitting in the sunshine, albeit within the room. He deigned to respond to Tigger with an eye-blink.

Chinese style Christmas decoration

In this nearby window, we saw this Chinese-style decoration. In the auspicious colours of red and gold, it makes an interesting contrast with the more traditional motifs around it.

Christmas wreath with cinnamon

Christmas wreaths continue to proliferate and we added quite a few to our “collection”. I’m not going to include all of them (you’ll be glad to know!) but this one caught my attention for being the only one I have seen so far that includes sticks of cinnamon (though whether real or artificial, I couldn’t say).

Myddelton Passage

We crossed the end of Myddelton Passage but didn’t go down it this time. This is one of those corners which I hardly knew before our Covid walks but of which I have become quite fond.

Church and trees

I looked back and saw that the church and its companion trees made a fine sight in the bright winter sunlight.

Luxuriant wreath

The wreaths we have seen vary greatly from the small and sparse to the large and complex. This was quite a luxuriant one and merited special attention.

Luminous reindeer

In the window next door, between the internal shutters and the glass, is this luminous reindeer. With one of these in his team, Santa wouldn’t need Rudolf to guide his sleigh!

Made of felt

I collected this wreath because it was unique. It is heart-shaped, which is already a little unusual but its main claim to uniqueness is that it is made entirely of pieces of felt. I wonder who made it.

And so to…

…Myddelton’s Deli! We bought our usual coffees and a little something else.

New cat on the block
Photo by Tigger

As we made hot-foot for home with our coffee, we spied a dark shape at a window. From a distance, it looked like a cat. We approached and found that it was indeed a cat, one that we had not seen before, a new cat on the block. We shall look out for him/her in future. No eye-blink this time but maybe later when we have become more familiar.

Coffee and custard tart

I thought we deserved a little extra with our coffee in view of Tier 4 and all the uncertainties. (Just an excuse, yes, I know…) So we had Portuguese custard tarts with our coffee. Very tasty and very moreish so we were right to buy only one each!

Including today, there remain five days before Christmas. Let’s hope there will be no more shocks or surprises during this time and that Christmas Day will be calm and peaceful.