Advent Windows #3

2025 Advent Windows #3

A couple more of Saltaire's Living Advent Calendar windows: The first is an ongoing saga now in its fifth year, a humorous take on the 'First Day of Christmas' song ('and a parsnip in a pear tree') by the 'Veg on the Edge' people, who maintain community gardens around the village. 

The second also makes use of the multi-paned windows in the smaller village houses, in homage to some of Saltaire's key features. 

Advent Windows #2

2025 Advent Windows #2

Saltaire Primary School's window this year is a silhouette of children playing in the snow, something I'm sure the majority of their pupils would be delighted to be able to do this winter. The simplest windows usually have the most impact. 

That's true also for my second image, one of my favourites this year with its uncomplicated, graphic Christmas motifs. The 4, I think, refers to this window's number on the trail map. In the village's narrow streets it's quite usual to find parked cars getting in the way of a clean shot but in many cases the reflection of the window adds value. This one reminds me of a quilt. 

Homing in on Christmas

2025 Advent Windows #1

Advent, the four Sundays before Christmas, is the time when the Christian church prepares for Jesus' birth and anticipates his coming again. The four central themes are hope, joy, love and peace, marked in our churches with four candles, one lit each Sunday in the run-up to Christmas. 

Fitting therefore that Saltaire's church celebrates these themes in its Advent window, a typically bold, clear and positive offering from them as part of Saltaire's 'Living Advent Calendar'. Regular readers of my blog will remember that this is something our village is quite famous for, started in 2006 and replicated since in other places. Our businesses and residents decorate their windows with festive motifs and a few are 'unveiled' each night from 1st to 24th December. It makes for a lovely walk around the village at night, especially as we get nearer to Christmas and there are more to see. 

Homing in on Christmas... and homing in on the church's window:

You can see them all online HERE. I usually photograph those I like best and have been showing them on my blog for several years.

Saltaire at night

Paris by night was wonderful to explore but Saltaire, my home patch, looks equally beautiful at night, particularly in the run-up to Christmas when there are sparkly lights everywhere.

The Victoria Hall is usually floodlit and now there's a Christmas tree on the lawn, oddly wonky at the moment for some reason. Maybe the wind has caught it. Compared with a few years ago, they do make more effort to light it and it looks lovely this year. 

'Don't tell Titus', one of the bars on Victoria Road, is always cosily lit. It used to be much bigger but had a refurb earlier in the year that has reduced it to half its former size. The shop units on Victoria Road do seem to have some difficulty in thriving. Perhaps they have too much competition from the busier bars and restaurants higher up the village on Gordon Terrace. When the students and day visitors go home and Salts Mill closes, this downtown part of Saltaire is a bit isolated. 

Even 'Cultures' looked quiet and that is currently one of the more thriving café bars. 

There are now only two or three actual shops on Victoria Road. RadStudio, which sells gifts and homewares, is bright and welcoming and always decorates the windows for Christmas. 

Christmas on the reserve

The trees and shrubs may have lost their leaves but, on the small nature reserve managed by Hirst Wood Regeneration Group, they have gained a sprinkling of festive baubles instead.

There were some volunteers diligently barrrowing loads of bark chippings from where they'd been delivered at the gate across to the far side of the reserve, so there weren't as many birds around as there often are. One of the resilient woodpigeons was, however, keeping guard. They're not afraid of anything, it seems! 

The trees are up!

With remarkable commercial restraint, Salts Mill waited until December to install and decorate its Christmas trees. As usual, they are lofty and magnificent. 

The Home Shop within the mill had a lovely selection of festive wreaths. Last year, most of the residents in my apartment building hung wreaths on their front doors. I felt a bit 'naked' as I didn't have one! This year I'm going to have to remedy that and put one up. These, though attractive, would be too heavy, I think. 

Home ground

Much as I enjoyed exploring Paris, it's lovely to be back on home turf. Since we got back, the weather here has been unpredictable, with a lot of rain and grey skies. There's quite an art to discerning when the bright, dry spells are going to appear, as it's obviously more pleasant to get my daily step count in when it's not actually chucking it down. In fact on a couple of days I didn't go out at all since it never seemed to get light, never mind dry.

Photographically speaking it's not been the best light; I'm always grateful for a splash of red or a spray of autumn leaves still clinging on. At least that cheers things up a bit. 

Most of these pictures probably need no explanation... Leeds-Liverpool Canal, walking into Saltaire, New Mill on the left, Salts Mill on the right, and the Victorian stable block (above left and below) where the horses that pulled carriages and delivery carts used to be cared for. 

 

Sojourn in Paris #9

Paris 2025 - Canal Saint Martin

I didn't know before this trip that Paris has a canal, the Canal Saint Martin, built in the early 1800s. In the mid-19th century about half of it was covered over, making it a tunnel, to allow the wide boulevards and public spaces now above it towards the centre of the city.  Some stretches remain visible and on our last morning we walked from our accommodation to the Gare du Nord along the side of the canal. It wasn't as picturesque as I'd imagined (I suppose I'd thought 'Amsterdam') and it was too cold to linger outside a café to take in the passing scene but it was still a pleasant walk. It was Sunday morning and there were lots of people about: families strolling, people with model boats, fishermen.

The cast iron bridges cross at frequent intervals and there are a few locks too. We only saw one boat in the distance, albeit we didn't walk the whole open length as we had to veer off towards the station. It's a good job we allowed plenty of time as the trains were packed and at the airport we again faced long, chaotic queues to get through border control. It was quite anxiety-inducing and we were worried whether we'd get to the gate in time for our flight, but we did. 

So now, home and beginning to turn my thoughts to Christmas, though before that I have another upheaval to deal with. A leak on the central heating system means they will have to remove some of the kitchen units to access the rogue pipe. It's not my responsibility, falling to the management company to deal with but since they've taken 22 months and ten engineers to even find the leak (and I found it in the end!), I can perhaps be forgiven for feeling a little sceptical. I could honestly do without it, just before Christmas, but it has to be fixed. Sigh. 

Sojourn in Paris #8

Paris 2025 - Cirque d'Hiver Bouglione

Probably the highlight of our trip to Paris was the circus on Saturday evening. It's years since I last went to a circus, so it was a novel outing. The oldest circus in the world, founded in 1852, it took place in a purpose-built theatre that looked inside like a circus tent. There were dancers and acrobats, a live orchestra:

and numerous different acts: jugglers, knife throwers, trapeze artists, a clown comedian, contortionists and so on. There were no animals, except for one beautiful horse performing carefully choreographed dressage. 

These three young women gymnasts, the Bello sisters, were amazing - though I was holding my breath so hard during the most amazing bits that I failed to take photos of those! At one point the girl on the bottom of the pile had her right leg over her shoulder, with the whole weight of the other two balanced on her right foot!! They must not only be strong but double-jointed too. 

THE most incredible bit for me was another contortionist, Asia Perris, who did the splits and then, very gracefully, in one elegant and smooth movement, stood back up without using her hands to push or balance, just sheer leg muscle power - she just slid down and then up again as though it was the most natural thing in the world! 👀 Sadly, I didn't get a photo of her either, as I was mesmerised, though there's a YouTube video HERE in which she does this move several times. Her control was absolutely incredible... though I do wonder what her body will be like by the time she's 70! 

Another jaw-dropping performance was Sara Nagyhegyi, who swung from a rope anchored only by her hair, tied in a tight bun! 

I took a couple of videos, don't know if you can watch them... 

The first one is Andrei Pogorelov on 'The Wheel of Death'.  The second is The Empress Troupe of jugglers.

The full programme of acts is HERE. 

The finale was an act that involved actual Parisian firefighters (Pompiers) in full uniform, with ladders and fire hoses that dispensed sparkly streams of light. Elite and fit gymnasts, they joined with some acrobats on the high ropes. Spectacular!

What a night! It was wonderful and I'm so glad we went. 

Sojourn in Paris #7

Paris 2025 - 59 Rivoli

There are, of course, numerous art galleries and museums in Paris but, with limited time, we decided to give them a miss. We did, though, find this space - 59 Rivoli - which was formerly a bank and then lay derelict for 15 years. Artists took it over as a squat in 1999, exhibiting art and hosting parties. It was legalised in 2006 (because the city authorities found it was the third most visited centre for contemporary art in the city). Now the six storey building gives studio and exhibition space to thirty artists and attracts over 70,000 visitors a year, who can view the art, see the artists at work and chat to them about their vision.

The spiral stair at its centre was wildly decorated, with a different theme on each floor. The gallery was packed with visitors, so that I did find it a bit claustrophobic and, with so much to see in tight spaces, it all felt quite overwhelming. 

We both agreed that we didn't like much of what was on show. Some modern art these days seems to delight in being jarring, fragmented, 'angry', shocking and a protest, regardless of the skill used to create it. There was little 'beauty' to be found in a cursory look, though I did find just a few pieces that I quite liked. I decided I prefer to be confronted with fewer sensory inputs if I'm to enjoy exploring an art gallery! It was, however, quite photogenic in its way, and full of odd things in corners. 

The paintings above and below were two that I picked out as being more to my taste. The top one is a social commentary with more than a little truth in it. The one below seemed like a competent portrait and I found it quite engaging. 

This geometric piece would have fitted quite happily into my colour scheme at home! 

Sojourn in Paris #6

Paris 2025 - The Seine and Notre-Dame

We crossed the Seine onto the Île Saint-Louis and then again onto the Île de la Cité, determined to see at least the outside of the newly restored Notre-Dame Cathedral. The broad river was familiar from the Olympics Opening Ceremony in 2024, which took place mostly along the water and its banks. 

My daughter had tried to book tickets for a tour of Notre-Dame. It says that up to 15,000 tickets a day are released but when she found there were over 900 people ahead of her in the queue online, we decided not to bother! Neither were we prepared to queue outside in the square, where there were also hundreds of people! We contented ourselves with viewing the exterior and reading some of the signboards that explained all about the renovation that has taken place at speed since the devastating fire in 2019. 

It was all quite interesting, though the crowds made it less than enjoyable. We all want to be tourists but wish all the other tourists were not there! 

Sojourn in Paris #5

Paris 2025 - Elegant Paris 

There is undoubtedly an elegance to Paris, with its graceful architecture, lovely little green parks, fountains and statues. On Saturday, we wandered through the Marais district towards the River Seine. We passed through the lovely Place des Vosges, a fashionable and expensive place to live in the 17th and 18th centuries (no doubt still is!). The oldest square in Paris, it dates back to 1612 and was unusual for those times in that it was planned all as a piece, with the buildings all in the same design. 

Constructed between 1624 and 1630, the Hôtel de Sully was a private mansion, originally built for a wealthy financier. It now houses the organisation responsible for France's heritage sites. I found these statues (sphinxes?) really weird! 

Along the banks of the Seine, elegant houses abounded. I'd have loved to see inside the one below - Hôtel Lambert - on the Île Saint-Louis. It's not an hotel but a private mansion, built in 1640, and bought in 1975 by the Rothschilds, who restored it to its 17th century splendour. Lately owned and renovated by Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani, a member of Qatar's ruling family, it recently sold for $226 million (around £170m) to a telecoms billionaire. (See HERE for photos of the interior)