A Bookshop during Christmastime

I found this picture on the Facebook page of the Wallingford Bookshop. I had to share it here, just because this window is so gorgeously seasonal, with the fox, the robins and the rabbit. The bookshop always makes wonderful window displays, but their Christmastime one is particularly gorgeous. I haven't been to Wallingford in months, haven't visited its bookshop in ages and I really regret not going there for Christmas shopping. We have a local bookshop which I love, but the Wallingford one always had a special place in my heart, as it made me discover indie bookshops in England.

Radio Times (because 'tis the season to be watching)

At long last! The Christmas edition of Radio Times is out and I bought it last Saturday. I never miss it, even though I don't watch much tellie and there are other TV schedules that are much cheaper. But this is a tradition here in England and the articles are always enjoyable. And we can always find one or two hidden gems, a movie or a TV special, which we would not have found otherwise. In any case, when I hold this, it feels like Christmas. And what a great cover it has this year, very lush and elegant.

Christmas Stories (to read, or not to read)

'Tis the season to be reading and I am full on reading Christmas stories these days. Old ones that have never read before, new ones, all sorts, all genres. There is one book, however, which I have been really struggling to work on and which I have left on the back burner for now. It is Christmas Stories by Everyman's Library Pocket Classics. I bought it six years ago I think, mainly for the cover, and I know I was a fool to do so. But I really loved the robin (not sure what the ladybird is doing there though). And it is an anthology of Christmas classics, so I thought I would enjoy some "true", "heavier" literature. But once I started it, I just found it a tad too dense, I don't know. So bacj in 2017 or 2018, I abandoned at the second story, written by Gogol. Maybe I should just go for the stories that seem interesting and abandon the idea of reading it back to back for now.

Thé et rouge-gorge

Non, ce n'est pas le titre d'un roman de Rafaële Germain. (Qui a semble-t-il étudié à mon alma mater dans la même faculté que moi et en même temps, mais je ne me rappelle pas d'elle du tout.) Je pensais mettre ici une photo qui illustrerait le mois de mars, comme il se termine. Je n'en ai pas vraiment trouvé, mais j'ai songé malgré tout à partager une photo qui capture un moment très plaisant passé en cette fin du mois. J'ai bu cette tasse de thé hier, dans la maison d'une amie de ma femme, musicienne amateure comme elle. Elles s'étaient réunies entre flûtistes pour pratiquer ensemble. J'ai passé l'avant-midi à les écouter, boire du thé et promener petit loup quand il s'ennuyait. L'amie en question est riche, en tout cas a un mari qui est bien nanti: leur maison est grande, ils ont un grand jardin, vivent dans un quartier cossu et, pour en revenir à ma tasse de thé, ont de la vaisselle dispendieuse. J'ai vu cette marque de tasse dans des commerces, elles coûtent toutes une beurrée. Je ne pourrais pas m'en payer un set, je me sentais hors de ma sphère plébéienne rien que de boire dedans. Et c'est une dame de goût: elle boit son thé noir, sans lait ni sucre.

A robin in the cold

I recently saw a robin in the morning, near the pathway on my way to the train station from home. A robin just like you see in Christmas cards and decorations and imagery. The only thing missing was the snow, but there was plenty of frost to make up for it. It felt very much like a sign of Christmas coming. Sadly I could not take a picture of it, not with the camera on my phone, which is slow, and the robin was as swift as it was shy, so I it quickly disappeared in the frozen shrubbery. So instead, I decided to accompany this post with a picture of the very first Christmas tree decoration we bought my wife and I. Which is a snowy log with... a robin on it. I hope I can soon see a real one again, on real snow.

Anticipation...

Bon, j'ai déjà utilisé cette photo, ou une photo semblable, mais elle est appropriée et on n'a pas de bonne photo de l'arbre de Noël. Mon père m'a appris aujourd'hui qu'il a fait l'acquisition du sapin que l'on décorera à Chicoutimi J'ai très hâte. Les sapins naturels embaument la maison, ce qui est bien sûr impossible avec ceux artificiels. Pour moi, Noël sent la neige, le sapin, la dinde et la bûche qui brûle dans le foyer. Alors, voilà j'ai hâte.