A very Betty Christmas

Betty was not as omnipresent in the year's Advent Calendar as in some previous years, partly because I was a little worried about repeating myself too much, but also because most of my Betty pictures are stored on my laptop, and it ended up that a lot, I mean A LOT, of my posts ended up being created on my phone or my table (I know, first world problems!).

I definitely have a bit of "a thing" for Betty Boop, I suspect it is that in my view she is a bit like cream cake (for those of us of a certain age in the UK) in as much as she a she is  "Naughty but nice". for all the "Do boop a do" there is something about her that retains a level of innocence amongst the sexiness. 

There is certainly an idea that she never goes too far, sure there are the short skirts and all that, but there is an obvious limit; and limits are important, I remember back in my cross dressing day talking to my then teenage daughter about just how high a hem line was acceptable, and I came up with the fingertip length limit. i.e. if the hemline was higher than her fingertips holding her arms straight down then it was too short, I think we all agreed that this was reasonable, then my wife looked at me and asked if I would stick to the same limit ~ I rather had to agree, and have stuck to that ever since. I suspect that Betty sometimes might be just above that.

Let's be honest this post isn't really about anything I have to say, the words are not important it is just an opportunity for some gratuitous pictures of Betty!

So if you felt short changed before I hope I have now made up for it!

Advent Calendar XXIV

 

It's Christmas eve, in many places I know this is in many ways the bigger day than Christmas day itself. The Germanic ideal of Christmas says that there should be snow, a log fire, a tree and lots of warming treats. Here in Malta we have none of those, as Pooh might have said here it is a blustery day!

It has been far too windy to follow our original plan and visit the old capital of Mdina, it is built on the highest point of the Island, and I fear we might have been blown away.

Being Christmas Eve we wanted to do more than sit in the hotel lobby playing Uno, so we braved the elements and had an excursion into Valletta. A visit to St. John's co-cathedral never disappoints and it was wonderful to be able to introduce somebody who'd never been here before to this baroque masterpiece. As you walk in through the rather austere entrance the sheer shock and awe of the interior hits you. 

I know of nowhere else that treads the boundary between magnificence and gaudy quite so delicately. I don't think there is a single surface that is not decorated, gold leaf is everywhere, polished marble abounds, paintings and sculptures are everywhere. Of course the major art work that brings people is the Caravaggio "Beheading of St. John the Baptist" but there is so much more that is magnificent, I often feel that the "Baptism of Christ" by Melchiorre Cafa is under rated, and maybe if it were anywhere else might get more attention. The only thing missing is stained glass. The only windows are small and set high, a reminder that this was also built as a defensive position.

As Christmas eve draws towards it's close it means tomorrow is Christmas, it also means that my Advent calendar only has one more post to go, it has been fun writing every day, it has of course also been a challenge, but I hope it has been worth it.

Advent Calendar IX

 

After last night's concert I was musing about the passage of time, and how it only feels like a few weeks ago that it was 2023 and now we are almost at the end of 2024, some sympathetic souls pointed out that I have had a busy and eventful year so it should be no surprise that time has passed quickly, other less sympathetic but more realist pointed out that it is a factor of age! We all experience aging differently, many of my contemporaries have varying health problems, many are grand parents, some are embracing retirement while others again are resisting any pressure to retire. Some will have a comfortable old age as their accumulated wealth (for many based on the outrageous increases in property value) while others will struggle to keep the wolf from the door. I'm not sure that I fall into any of these categories but I do know that I plan to grow old disgracefully! 

Punishing the tyres at the Lotus test track
in August this year 

A couple of years ago I bought myself a new tuba, my rational was that I have probably got up to another twenty playing years left, I wanted a decent instrument to spend that on, not an old one that I had to work around ~ and I had lusted after this particular instrument since it was first introduced. There comes an element of "If not Now, the When?". I am finally solvent and am in a position to buy myself these sorts of thing every now and then, what else am I going to use the money for? I have to accept that there are activities that I can do now that I won't be able to for much longer. This is very much the same rational that got me started in motor sport. Next Month after only my second season of sprint racing I will be collecting my second first in class trophy! This isn't as impressive as it sounds as there are only three of us in the class, and the chap who actually won the class, came third overall in the championship and is only allowed one trophy! 

I am looking forward to another season next year, we still have to decide if we will carry on with the same car in the same class, or buy a new (bigger engined, more powerful, faster) car and step up to a more populous class. We don't need to decide for a while yet. However I am thinking of replacing my current road car, I have an inoffensive SUV, it does everything I need a car to do, it is comfortable, has acceptable performance, and an enormous boot (trunk for my transatlantic readers), yet it has failed to endear itself to me, and it drinks petrol at an alarming rate, often slipping down to around 20 mpg. Now I no longer need something like this for work I think it is time for a change, yet I am struggling to make a decision ~ I have always wanted a sports car and have never had one, maybe this is another case of "If not Now, then When"

What I do know is that I still have plenty to look forward to, regardless of age we all have plenty to look forward to, and for me that is a large part of Advent as we look forward to Christmas, whether you are just looking forward to some time off, seeing family, sharing gifts and celebratory meals, or whether you are also looking forward to celebrating the birth of Christ and the message of hope that goes with it whatever our age we all have something to look forward to.

And a Happy New Year

 We returned to the UK in time for New Year, with a short chance to reflect before another set of celebrations. One of my reflections is that I'm really not very good at packing. It doesn't seem to matter much whether it's for a long holiday, a short break, or just an overnight at a friends place, I always seem to get it wrong. I will often stay over night at a friend's place to allow me to have a drink, it has become a standing joke that I always leave something behind, a toothbrush, a sock, or a sweater there always seems to be something.

Valletta Christmas Tree
Maltese Parliament building on the right
Burger King on the left 

Last year when we spent Christmas in Malta I took all the wrong clothes, I was expecting it to be much warmer so didn't have enough sweaters or a warm jacket with me, so I spent much of the week either too cold or too warm (in my UK overcoat!). This year I thought I would do better packing lots of sweaters, warm skirts and tights. Of course that meant that this year Malta enjoyed an unseasonable warm Christmas! I could really have done with some shorts and a light weight jacket. But this last trip I managed worse than just not anticipating the weather.

After unpacking I realised that instead of the two pairs of jeans I thought I had packed I had actually brought one pair of jeans and a pair of jeggings, hardly the end of the world, until I put on the jeggings and the zip broke, then when I put the jeans on instead, a small split opened up so neither were wearable. This ended up meaning that at least one of our expeditions to Valletta was spent looking for a new pair of jeans ~ yes Valletta does have a Marks & Spencer and yes I did buy a pair of their jeans. Even this was not the end of my inadequacy though. I also managed to forget to take a pair of proper shoes for Christmas day.

I had packed a nice pair of court shoes, then unpacked them so I could wear them the day before we flew off, but forgot to repack them afterwards ~ so I was faced with either wearing trainers for Christmas lunch or having to buy some more shoes. Once again I opted for the expensive option and bought some new shoes, they are lovely, but being new did manage to run up a small blister on my toe. I find it hard to believe that at the age of 64 I might ever learn to get any better at packing, but maybe that should be my new year's resolution ~ to learn to pack!

It's all getting Better

 

Quite a few years ago now my Vicar asked a group of us "What does Christmas mean to you" once we got through all the usual rather trite answers around things like "it's all about the children" or simply a good party, we started to think about our answers a little more thoroughly. Of course from a religious view point Christmas is when we celebrate the transcendent made manifest - or if you prefer, when Christ was born. 

Nobody knows exactly when Jesus was born, but we may be reasonably sure that the 25th December is not the birthdate of Jesus, of course it may be, but the chances aren't good! Indeed until the Fourth Century there was no such festival as Christmas! (follow the link to an interesting article on the origins of the festival). I think it is fare to say that the celebrations of  Christ's birth became attached to other older festivals. Gradually aspects of those festivals became incorporated into how we celebrate, the feasting and present giving from Roman Saturnalia, the Christmas Tree and holly from Germanic Yule and Mistletoe from the Scandinavian God Baldr. 

All of his is very interesting (well I think it is!) but is not really to the point, for me the point is that what Christmas really means to me is not the meal, the party or the time with my family; it is not the carol singing the Christmas Concerts or the Church Services; indeed it most definitely does not mean the decorations, the presents, and the over indulgence. These are all ways we celebrate not the cause, not the true meaning. In many ways I am celebrating the birth of Christ ~ but, just like the Early Church Easter is the much greater cause to celebrate, Easter was the conclusion, Christmas is not even the beginning! I could argue that Christ's ministry is more of a beginning than Christmas, we should be celebrating His Baptism, the moment when He an others started to understand the import of what He was or what He was to do. Or we could argue that what we call the "Old Testament" all signals towards Christ and His sacrifice, so maybe the beginning is even further back in history. We could even argue that as God is outside time, and is omniscient then His whole plan has been from before the beginning and after the end of time itself.

But the question was a personal one, what does Christmas mean to me?

For me Christmas is the point when everything starts to get better, from the birth of Christ we have hope, we don't know what He is going to achieve for us, and we will not understand it all for a long a time, but we do know it gets better! Historically and theologically the intertestamental period was a bad one for God's people, it was with Christ's birth that things started to get better. My personal journey of faith also started at Christmas! It was my wife's drive to host the "perfect family Christmas" that drove me back to church, and through that to find faith, so for me it was definitely the point when things started to get better!

As I said earlier Christmas became attached to older festivals, the thing all these festivals have in common is that they are at the coldest, darkest most miserable time of the year, mostly on or around the shortest day. Of course after the shortest days come longer days, after mid winter comes spring, these are all about hope. As the days become longer and warmer we are reassured that spring will come, and will be followed by summer and autumn. We will again have plenty, we will have harvest, we will have warmth and comfort. In our less agrarian world we have become detached from all of this, so it's good to remember that even not that long ago a family would have to store most of their winter supplies for months. This would be the time in mid winter when they would break out a few extras and celebrate that they were half way through, the days would start to lengthen, the end was in sight ~ it was all going to get better.

I'm hoping that the same can be said for the World this year, certainly my Country has hit a big low right now, but I'm hoping, and praying, that this is the low point ~ our shortest day and longest night, that from this point things will start to get better. We now know that vaccines for this virus are coming on stream, we are learning more about the virus itself ~ and knowledge is power! For me I know that I have a couple of tough months ahead, but I also know that by March my work will be picking up again, I hope that with our increased knowledge and the spread of the vaccines my bands and orchestras will start meeting again. I know that as things get warmer and safer I will be able to see my family and my friends again.

This Christmas maybe we can't celebrate how we want to, or how we are used to, but maybe this year more than ever we have reason to celebrate, not because things are good, but because we know we have reached the point from when they are going to get better

Happy Christmas

Advent Calendar XXIV

We have reached Christmas Eve and it suddenly feels as though it has come upon me all too quickly even though by doing this Advent calendar I should be prepared. We have yet to decide whether to attend midnight Mass locally or watch it on the BBC from Croydon Minster, one of my own local Churches.

Malta is a primarily Roman Catholic country, and of course that is reflected in the churches, some of them do have regular services in English, but apparently not midnight Mass. We may choose to go to an English service in the morning and watch from the apartment tonight.

Yesterday I showed photos of the nativity scene from Valletta, after visiting there we went to Lija, where the tradition of living cribs started with their Presepju Haj.

A representation of a whole village is constructed, and then peopled with local volunteer actors as tradespeople, blacksmiths, millers, carpenters etc. Some livestock adds even more colour and reality. At the center, or culmination of your visit you come across the Holy.
Family.

I felt that this was rather moving, and got across the nativity situation so much better than most of our model, rather glamourised crib scenes.

I didn't take any photos myself as it felt intrusive and as they are all volunteers I'm not sure the actors would have wanted me to, so these are stock photos. 

Advent Calendar XXIII

Here in Malta Christmas is still very much a Christian festival, of course as I showed yesterday there are all the lights and decorations. Even in the middle of the Mediterranean we have lots of stalls selling mulled wine and ginger bread, but we are also offered more traditional Maltese celebratory dishes, timpana, imqarets etc.

There is also a reminder of what we are celebrating, it us not just the churches that display a crib scene but all of the towns and villages, and most homes will have a crib next to their Christmas tree. These photos are of the main on in the capital city Valletta. It is in the main square near the prime ministers residence, the Opera House, and the Foreign Office. 

Advent Calendar XXII

Arrived at our destination to find lots of Christmas decorations around, lots of public buildings with lights, and generally the whole place looking very christmasy, (if that's not a word it is now!)

I'm so looking forward to spending time on my favorite Mediterranean island at this different time of year, I've only been here in summer and autumn before. 

One thing is for sure, I won't be having a white Christmas, possibly a rather windy one but definitely not white.

All today's photos were taken in Valletta yesterday evening. There's a tremendous variety of lights and decoration a winter fayre and Christmas Market all in a space no bigger than a square mile.

Advent Calendar XX

This is a special one for UK readers of a "Certain Age". For many of us when we think of Advent one of our first thoughts will be the Blue Peter Advent Crown. For the rest of you Blue Peter is a children's magazine show on the BBC, with an emphasis of learning, making and doing stuff. One of the many things they always did was their Advent Crown, made of tinsel and old wire coat hangers it exemplified the concept of making.

I think pretty much every show one of the presenters would make something, then while the glue or paint was drying they would pull a perfect example out from under the table and say "Here's one I made earlier". Well I am now on holiday, so this post is a bit of a "Blue Peter" ~ in as much as it's one I made earlier.

Advent Calendar XIX

I've played a lot of music in the lead up to Christmas, as I am sure every other musician, amateur or professional has. Like wise I am sure that a lot of them, like me, have played Sleigh Rode a lot as well. Well today's post is in honour of all of those musicians, the ones who have entertained you in concert halls, church halls, community centers, and getting cold, wet, and uncomfortable playing outdoors.

Advent Calendar XVIII

It's getting close! But, is it feeling a lot like Christmas yet? I'm not at all sure that it is here, it just feels cold wet and grey. I suspect that it is this feeling that inspires so many to decorate their houses, when I was growing up our decorations were always indoors, then at some point (I think in the 1970s) a few houses would start putting some lights in a tree or window, now it feels as though almost every other house is festooned with lights ~ some to greater effect than others!

This year for the first time I have noticed that whole communities are putting up Christmas lights, there is a residential road near me that even has Christmas lights on all of the lampposts! (The photo is not of that community, but filched from The Telegraph)

Sometimes I find myself yearning for a simpler time, but in all honesty it was probably only simpler because I was young and my parents did the worrying. Sure they were worrying about some different things, but at least we hadn't got into competitive Christmas Decorations!

Advent Calendar XVII

 

Another Nativity scene, rather different to yesterday's. this is from a couple of years ago, but it's still good value!

Advent Calendar XVI

There are many nativity scenes, painted, models, and even a few photos now. This is one of my favorites ~ no angels, no cute lambs, no wise men; just a watchful father and a worn out mother.

The artist (I'm afraid I've forgotten who) also understands what was meant by the "no room at the inn" bit. People like Joseph and Mary would not have stayed in what we would recognise as an inn, they would have stayed with friends or family. Modest houses at the time would have been single rooms with living, working and sleeping space all overlapping with space keeping animals safe and secure.

The inn referred to would have been the raised platform on which people would have slept and eaten, when not using the roof (Hence Deuteronomy 22:8 ). With lots of family staying in the house there would not have been space for childbirth on the platform, so they would have moved down to the floor, where normally the animals would have been kept, hence the stable.

Advent Calendar XIII

As you might have noticed the results of yesterday's election came as a bit of shock to me. I shall now try to put it behind me, after all the sun did rise this morning and it will again tomorrow. As the polls were drawing towards their conclusion last night the Croydon Brass Band combined with a local choir led by a good friend.

As I think the photo shows I thoroughly enjoyed myself, playing a bit of sleigh bells as well as my more usual conducting.

We hope to squeeze one more playing opportunity in before the new year, all else being equal we will be going outside and playing some carols in Croydon on Monday evening.

We have already had one outdoors caroling experience last Saturday when we played for the switching on the Christmas Lights for South Norwood ~ I know we get all the glamorous jobs. It was very nice to be part of an event supported by all of the local councillors and the Mayor of Croydon ~ so we had to take advantage and get a photo of the Band with the Mayor.

Advent Calendar VII ~ Am I the First?

Am I the first?

Am I the first transgender conductor of a brass band? Am I the first trans conductor of a concert band? I don't know, and maybe more to the point I don't care! Whether I'm the first or the forty first doesn't matter. I just want to do the best I can. I want to make good music, entertain people and help the members of the bands enjoy making music. I don't want to be a trail blazer, I don't want to be a celebrity because of being trans, I don't want people to come and listen to my bands because they want to see the freak! I want them to come because we make good music.

The photo shows me conducting Croydon Brass at Stanley Halls earlier this year, this afternoon we will be playing for the switching on of the Christmas lights at South Norwood. We have already played one lot of "Christmassy" music for a "Deck the Halls" event, and on Thursday will be playing our final performance of the year, again at Stanley Halls as we do a joint concert with a friend's choir.

Now I'm conducting the Allegra Concert Band as well as Croydon Brass I've been prompted that it's about  time I changed my tag line to include conductor, so today I have done just that.

Not really very Christmassy I know, ~ but the music will be, which is more than can be said for tomorrow's concert with the LGSO! tickets are still available here, or on the door tomorrow

Advent Calendar VI

There is some sort of natural affinity between brass instruments and Christmas, we always seem to be wanted for every Christmas event. This is lovely, but it also means that I tend to get spread a little thin at the moment. There are a few Christmas performances from other bands that I would love to go to, just to listen to somebody else play, but they all seem to coincide with stuff I'm already doing.

I remember my Father, a very keen sports fan, always said he'd rather be doing than watching, so could easily end up missing a football international (his main sport) in order to play golf. I'm a bit like that with music, I'd rather be playing or conducting some carols than listening to the LSO!

In the mean time I have performances on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday I'll actually be playing with some members of my Brass Band for the switching of the Christmas Lights......... at South Norwood (not quite as glamorous as it sounds) and then on Sunday I'm out with my Orchestra the LGSO ~ This is going to be a fabulous concert with a wonderful orchestra, I just need to decide exactly what I'm going to wear. I won't be playing the piano but on this occasion I may take my inspiration from Betty!

Advent Calendar IV

I thought I would be really hard this year to find some new Betty Boop pictures to share as part of my Advent Calendar, but having just done a Google search I have found quite a few new ones! Maybe there is a renewed interest in Betty, I know the appeal for me is very much around the idea of being naughty, but not dirty, sexy without being sexual.

I rather like this one, It is quite sophisticated Betty, nicely dressed (I would like that dress) with a stylised tree and a teasing glance over her shoulder. What's not to like.

I also feared I might have got a little heavy the last couple of days!

Advent Calendar III it's cold outside

These are not lyrics we would expect to be written today, but it is of it's era and justifiably won an Oscar!

This came to mind simply because this morning (Monday) it was so cold! I had left half a cup of tea in my van and this morning it was frozen solid ~ I had to scrape all the windows, inside as well as out. Fortunately at the moment I'm working on building a new fence so the cold didn't impact on my work. It is winter and it is meant to be cold, in some ways I feel as though we haven't had enough cold the last few winters ~ I suspect that many of the pests and diseases that are impacting on our gardens now ~ fuchsia gall mite; box moth; kerrier blight and all the others seem to have been proliferated these last few years since we have had mild winters.

What has all this got to do with Advent ~ well not a lot really as one thing we can be sure of is that Christ was probably not born on the 25th December ~ not least because they had a very different calendar back in the year 3 B.C. But we do associate Christmas with snow ~ "White Christmas" has a lot to answer for ~ robins perched on garden forks in the snow, and all the rest. Yet it is highly unlikely that we will experience snow at Christmas the odds are currently 6-1 for snow falling in London on Christmas Day.

One of my favorite snow scenes, it's worth a good look!

Advent Calendar II

Christmas is great fun, and Advent calendars were created to heighten the excitement as we approach the celebration itself. Tiffany's have introduced an Advent calendar costing $112,000 this is the extreme but there are plenty of others that are extraordinarily extravagant, conspicuous consumption at its worst.

Maybe this is a good time to pause and think about Advent and Christmas, use Advent as a period of preparation not just for celebrations but for life, to think about what Christmas means to each of us, and how we can live up to it's message. That message may be different for each one of us ~ for me when asked about the meaning of Christmas I will usual say that "It is when we celebrate the transcendent become manifest" ~ but then I am a poser!

Surely if Christmas has a unifying message then it is very much just that! A message of unity, of giving without expectation of receiving, of (as the angels put it) peace among men!

Somehow at a time like this conspicuous consumption feels particularly gross, so how about instead of the fizz calendar, the jewellery calendar, or even the grown up chocolate calendar, try something different.

How about trying the Food Bank Advent Calendar?

I only heard about this yesterday morning on the radio, each day lists an item of food needed by food banks, instead of consuming it you donate it!

Now I am enraged that here in the UK we need food banks because people in work can't afford food, because of the delays in paying benefits, because successive governments have chosen to victimise people for being poor rather than supporting them ~ but that is the situation we have so this year as well as writing my own advent calendar I will be donating to my local food bank.

For more information look here a good article from last year in the i or go to the Trussle Trust