This Starts a s a Rant but Calms Down and Gets almost Jolly.....

Everywhere you look Christmas trees and decorations are springing up - it started even in November!!! I think its a sign of the times, people are looking for some joy and colour in a world which feels very hard and austere at the moment... and its true - life for a lot of people is hard, and I worked for many years in a social welfare setting that often sent me home appreciative of what I had - especially at Christmas time. The television is still full of adverts for luxurious presents and supermarkets showing tables groaning with food - totally unrealistic even in a good year - but this year, while every bit of press scaremongers us into thinking the world is ending- we will all die of hypothermia or starvation - we are still encouraged to buy buy buy.. and celebrate this festive season with greed and gluttony - it feels obscene - yes this is a rant - and I am well aware that many - too many- people are in fuel poverty and food prices have escalated beyond commonly acceptable levels - and I want to go out there and riot but nothing changes.. I don't know what the answer is or what to do about it.

This video go kart is doing the rounds and its real - its a tear jerker, sad, but I know real families living like this and not just at Christmas - we are a fortunate family - we have each other and are canny - we are not too materialistic, but we still told the grandchildren that Santa was finding presents expensive this year and goodness me what must the heating bills be like at the north pole - and for that reason this video broke my heart... but well done Sam Teale for bringing a real side of Christmas on show. I'm pretty sure we all have people we wish could sit round the Christmas dinner table with us - worse still its hard to believe that in a first world country some people cant afford a Christmas dinner - let alone presents....

So, on a lighter note although I never start Christmas too early I have decided to be a bit less bah humbug and embrace a little bit of Christmas cheer - starting with a visit to the Neapolitan Nativity at Auckland Castle. It was a good start - even Dr Fred who is bah humbug all through Christmas without fail - was impressed. Displayed in the soon to be Faith Museum next to the castle this giant 4'5m x 2.5m tableau showcases the Adoration complete with trimmings, cherubs, animals, troubadours, inn keepers markets, and general life in 18 century Naples/ Bethlehem. It is absolutely fabulous. Made up of over 400 figures, animals and objects it depicts town and life scenes in incredible detail. Each piece is hand made from wire, hemp, straw, and clay - all hand painted beautifully.

From the toothless hag sat trying to warm herself, the children dancing in the inn to the chap hidden in the wine cellar its a glorious riot of colour and energy. There are fine ladies and gentlemen, musicians, hunters, street sellers - food, rocks, cacti, and much much more. In the middle of all of this explosion of life sits the heavenly family - Baby Jesus in a manger and mum and dad surrounded by the wise men and shepherds who visited this new born king.

You don't have to be a believer to enjoy this story and the fantastic art portraying it - it really is worth a visit. I have spent at least an hour just finding amazing details to look at. There are only a few such enormous Nativities in the world and we are lucky to have one right on our doorstep in Bishop Auckland.

Then we went to look a the 'O Little Town of Bishop Auckland' lots of local buildings cleverly made out of gingerbread on display in the Auckland Tower - a really nice idea put together in a interesting unusual way. We finished our visit with a ginger bread man and mulled apple juice and headed home to a cosy fire and some Christmas card writing - Christmas is on its way - a time I hope for joy and fun - laughter and friends - and while I know this will not be possible for everybody I'd like to think that most people will find a way to maybe leave the worst of the world behind for a few hours...

Alesund

Our final destination stop was Alesund. This is a very pretty town in southern Norway built on a peninsula. All the houses are painted pretty colours and a lot of the architecture is all very Art Nouveau based. This is because the town itself was completely burnt to the ground In 1904 by a fire for which they never found the original cause. The whole town had to be rebuilt and this became a huge National Effort and a lot of prominent and up and coming architects flocked to the town to stick there 20 pence in. Consequently the town is very heavily Art Nouveau which was very fashionable at the time. There is this wonderful Museum just off the harbour which is a very beautiful Art Nouveau house. It has amazing panelling, doors, wallpaper, and it's all furnished with beautiful art Nouveau Furniture. It also house a collection of of enameled Art Nouveau Trinkets,boxes, spoons, jewellery, very very beautiful. There is an interesting collection of old books and paintings a...

Isle of Bute

Another Landmark Trust tick - this time Ascog House on the Isle of Bute - stunning as always... a very comfortable warm accommodation for the usual 8 suspects. This time we had a wee tower house for Dr Fred and myself - a lovely bedroom up the stairs with a big window and a bathroom al to ourselves - having said that all the other bedrooms in the big house were large and serviced by two bathrooms so there was no hardship for any visitors! The grounds of the house were very extensive with ponds and secret passages - hidden paths and we even spotted a deer late afternoon - there were lots of old features - ornate staircases and a lovely hidden door which I did a quick sketch of. Bute provided quite a lot of entertainment as well - the weather was kind and we did a a muddy wander down the south of the Island taking in St Blanes Monastery and Kilcannon Bay. The views were spectacular and it was fabulous to be out in the fresh (and it was fresh on the tops) air and we...

The Blue Dot

Excellent evening spent at the first Blue Dot festival held at Jodrell Bank. Clever use of the radio telescope as back drop for the main stage... there were some major teething issues which hopefully will addressed if this event happens again - mainly access and parking.. it was a nightmare approach to the festival and fortunately as we were only doing one night we decided to ditch the car and chose to walk the last mile and half into the site... what a relief as if we had queued we would most certainly missed Public Service Broadcasting which was one of the reasons we were going.. anyway we caught them and then enjoyed fantastic set by Underworld - danced much of the night away in the rain - my trusty solfest poncho almost kept me dry.. it was a splendid evening and the telescope looked brilliant when lit up when it got dark. There was a rather fab "installation" called a luminarium, lack of site information - another hiccup meant we were really lucky to catch it just ...

Planet Ruby Starrs

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