Weekend Not So Mini-Variety (2)

CHURCH LINK :  NO MORNING SERVICE 

SERVICE STARTS AT 1800

Today's service is due to be live and ON-LINE.
 Click on this link (here),

which will take you to the YouTube page.

Then click on the page for today's date.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Thrown Out Of  'Spoons

S Fowlers was Ryde's only department store, family run, neatly located at the top of Union Street.

It had been thoroughly refurbished to include a magnificent spiral staircase ...

... at the top of which was located a quality and popular cafe. The store was right next to the town centre's main alighting bus stop. Depressingly soon after the refurb, in 1991 there was a fire in the rear part of the shop, followed in a few short months by notice of closure. Then, in a similar style to many town centres, the property was taken over by Wetherspoons and the rest, as they say, is history.

As the rules (current at the end of last week!) allow a "gathering" before or after a funeral the fbbs, the fbbs two sons plus sister Jane's youngest little boy and his wife duly assembled outside 'Spoons.

I am sorry, we only have one table of six and that is already in use.

OK, we will have a table of two and a separate table of four.

You cannot do that as you have declared a party of six. I am afraid we cannot serve you. You will have to leave.

What utter twaddle!

So two 75-year-olds and their bubble set off down Union Street to find provender pre-funeral.

Fortunately "Sub" hoved into view ...

... with a table for six and a hearty welcome.

When fbb last "Subbed" he was terrified with a barrage of incomprehensible questions to which he just gibbered fairly incoherently and pointed fearfully at various dishes of mysterious stuff; but this time No 1 son did the ordering (and the paying!) and the fbbs did the chomping.

So a mega and very fruity raspberry to 'Spoons and a joyous hurrah for Sub!

No Gripe for Eype

Actually, to reflect the correct pronunciation, it should be "No Greep for Eype (i.e. eep)". The village is in two minuscule parts, Higher and Lower, a mile or so south of Bridport; and the village has a suburb called Eype Mouth a k a Eype's Mouth according to some authorities,

Think not of candy floss, chip shops and flip flops, Eype Mouth is just a beach ...

... with the obligatory Immobile Homes Park just back from the cliff edge.

But the fbbs were more interested in the facilities available just off the Bridport by pass.

After a non-stop drive from Lymington the old folks needed some "light relief" so the opportunity to P in both senses or the word was more of a necessity than a desirability. The weather was a typical Dorset monsoon with the added delight of high winds and fog, so there was some concern as to whether the knife and fork (or even a teacup) would be available. The WC would have its usual aura of unreliability in today's unprecedented circumstances.

But the essentials were open ...

... as was the caff - including the sit-down bit.

Mrs fbb had supplied a flask of coffee and a nana ...

... to which fbb added a bacon sarnie at £2.80. The caff was not busy (quelle surprise!) but the sarnie, cooked to order, was fresh and utterly scrumlicious - so scrumlicious that the old man wolfed his down without recording the feast photographically. But that gives an excuse for a return visit, does it not?

Strongly recommended if you are at or passing Bridport - but, sadly, not accessible by public transport without a lengthy walk from town.

A Swiss Surprise

fbb is a bit miffed. No 2 son lived and worked in Switzerland for a couple of years, dwelling quite close to the back door of SBB Hauptbahnhof (front door shown above).

But he never told fbb about this:-

It doesn't look much from the air c/o Google Earth, just a typical railway box of a building (bottom left) ...

... but from the street it is "something else" all clad in copper!

Note the tram to get thee scale. And it isn't even a proper cuboid because one corner leans out a bit - artistically.

It looks stunning at night ...

... and the copper slats can lift up to reveal extra windows ...

It's a signalbox, innit? But almost beautiful. Contrast and compare with the former establishment at Birmingham New Street!

The tease picture arrived via a Tweet.

Santa Special North East

Good to see Go Ahead's Kriss-Muss offering trundling around ooop noorth. A similar tweet was published by occasional correspondent Peter who lives in greater Southampton.

fbb thinks that Peter was visiting relatives far away - either that or Go Ahead's festive driver had taken a wrong turn somewhere. Peter also adds that the Santa bus was received excitedly by his grown-up daughters. "They've been well brought up!" he opined.

Here is the bus's "official" photo ...

... but still with very low passenger numbers on the top deck!

There will be more variety tomorrow for the extended weekend.

 Next Mini blog : Monday 21st December 

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 fbb's Alphabetical Advent Calendar 

Most of our so-called   CHRIST  mas  traditions come from  sources well removed from the Bible's Nativity story.

First and foremost the majority date back to the pre-Christian pagan midwinter festival.

Feasting

Carols (carol - a dance in the round)

Mistletoe

Holly

Ivy

Tree

Decorations (as in hall-decking)

Lights (candles to ward of the evil spirits)

Yule Log

Mince(d meat) Pie

Father Christmas (the Green Man who became the Father OF Christmas) ...

... and later gained a red cloak.

Then there's Clement Clark Moore's poem "The Night before Christmas".

Jolly Santa (an elf!)

Famous Femerell Forced-entry

Bag of Gifts

Reindeer (but NOT Rudolph**)

Santa's corpulent shape

Then Charles Dickens gave us:-

Snow

There were some VERY cold winters at about the time that Charlie-boy wrote "A Christmas Carol" but, in fact, snow is more common in England in June than on 25th December!

** Rudolph arrived very late in the tradition oeuvre as a story book in 1939 ...

... followed by the song.

Now, don't get it wrong, your blogging septuagenarian is not the Bah Humbug of Dickens - the old boy enjoys all the traditions. They are fun, delightful and, well, traditional - they are Kriss-Muss.

But they are certainly NOT part of   CHRIST  mas ....

... so much not so that it makes a nonsense of the "celebration's" name.

Very sad - because the gift of the Saviour of the World, however ignored or even ridiculed, is exactly what we all need today.