Winter windows and other seasonal treats

Lots of Christmas and other seasonal decorations around the area, including in Telegraph Hill SE14 as part of an Advent windows initiative with new ones being unveiled on each day during December - some of them very elaborate.

London skyline in Erlanger Road SE14

Waller Road SE14 -  Covid nativity scene

Bear on a bike in Erlanger Road SE14 - actual bike and life size bear!

Love, joy, hope, peace - Erlanger Road

Happy Chanukah!

Elsewhere, the first Santa spotted was this one in St Johns on 1st November! Well I guess normal rules have been suspended for this year.

The once (and possibly future) Nunhead Museum & Art Gallery in Gellatly Road SE14 has this fine temporary construction complete with Action Man Xmas fairy:

As usual several Nunhead houses have gone the extra mile with lights - this one in Carden Road SE15:

Covid never far away from our thoughts - this 'Christmas is Community' billboard in Malpas Road now has apparently added graffiti - 'Christmas in Contagious'.  The original posters didn't have the 'contagious' word, but as well as this one another in Queens Road has similar graffiti. Anyone know whether this is a genuine graffiti response or whether in fact it has been added by the poster creators?  - cynical me wonders at the suspiciously on brand use of colour. Think the poster is the work of Jack Agency who do music posters as part of the BuildHollywood brand.

Christmas Meerkats of Nunhead Grove

As in previous years, a couple of houses in Nunhead Grove SE15 have brightened up the area with their Christmas decorations. Favourite feature for me is the Christmas hat wearing meerkats.

The display put me in mind of Les Back's excellent piece about Christmas lights, Fairytale of New Addington: 'At the heart of this story is an ordinary miracle. In contrast to the glitzy consumerism of the supermarkets and shopping centres that profit from Christmas, this is a spectacle of community — a gift given for free in hard times'

Transpontine Christmas Trees

'It's coming on Christmas, They're cutting down trees,

They're putting up reindeer, And singing songs of joy and peace'

Peckham Square

Waterloo station

My favourite so far - a 'tree' made of books made of trees in Goldsmiths library- the sharp eyed
may  spot Derrida's Of Grammatology, Jameson's  Postmodernism and Fanon's Black Skin, White Masks
contributing to the festive cheer!

Fairytale of New Cross

The Telegraph pub in Dennetts Road, New Cross (or to give it its full name in honour of its former incarnation, 'The Telegraph at the Early of Derby') hosts lots of musical and other social events, including a popular open mic night. Last night Malcolm and Catherine, the landlord and landlady, sang their own version of  the Pogues' Christmas classic: 'the Fairytale of New Cross'.



The lines include 'The girls from the Telegraph Community Choir still singing Galway Bay', and indeed the said choir will be singing Carols at the pub tonight at 8 pm. Also tonight, the Winter Solstice Night of the Beasts Parade will be heading off from the pub at around 5:30 pm.