Ilkeston - Christmas
Week
w/e 27 December 2009
All this week's pictures were taken
with a Kodak DX6490
The build up to Christmas has been going on for several weeks
(months?) now so here are a few more images all taken in Christmas
week itself. We'll start with a close up of some of the baubles,
beads and trinkets on the Christmas tree in St Mary's Church
that we helped decorate on Saturday morning.
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Meanwhile on the Market Place on Saturday a number of events
had been arranged to help ease the stresses and strains that
go with Christmas shopping. As well as the musicians (pictured)
there was also a Punch and Judy Show, a climbing wall, a birds
of prey display and further down South Street, a fairground organ.
Together with the "Santa Saturday" at the Erewash Museum
they were all part of Ilkeston's "Winter Festival"
weekend although bad weather caused the cancellation of a Lantern
Parade.
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 On
Sunday we were back in St Mary's - twice in fact. First of all,
there was the Lessons and Carols Service (left) in the morning
where the children also performed a Nativity Play. Then in the
afternoon just before darkness fell, we were back for the annual
Christingle Service (above). The church is normally packed for
this service but the snowfall and freezing temperatures meant
that far fewer people braved the elements this year. However
when the lights were dimmed leaving only the burning candles
to illuminate the building, those that did attend enjoyed a truly
magical atmosphere.
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  On
Monday we joined hundreds of other people and visited the Bramcote
Crematorium (left) and the Markeaton Crematorium (right) to add
our holly tributes to the fast-filling wreath-lined pathways.
This year we were also able to add some holly (above) from the
tree in our garden to our tributes to family members who are
no longer here to share Christmas with us.
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We thought we would complete our Christmas shopping on Tuesday
and Wednesday so as to avoid the crowds panic buying on Christmas
Eve but it seemed as though everyone had the same idea. It took
this lady (above left) almost five minutes to find a gap in the
traffic to cross Station Road in safety as almost every man and
his car rushed about their business. And on Wednesday, it was
chaos on the Tesco car park (top right) and in the store it was
shoulder to shoulder as people jostled their way around with
even more streaming in. There is supposed to be an economic recession
on but if the major companies declare that they have not done
as well as usual then I think the only thing they are being economical
with is the truth!
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We have a regular appointment every Christmas Eve at Peter James
Hairdressing on South Street but on the way we called in at John's
News on Bath Street were the staff were all sporting festive
headgear. At Peter James, the staff not only sport headgear but
also don fancy dress for the day and this is the reason for our
Christmas Eve visit. Each year they adopt a theme and in the
past they have been pirates, pop stars, nursery rhyme characters
and super heroes among others but this time the theme was the
emergency services. It is perhaps fitting at this holiday time
to remember the fire service, the doctors and surgeons, the police
force and all the emergency services that have to keep working
throughout the holiday period.
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With snow and ice still lying the temperature dropped even further
as evening approached but it did not deter a sizable crowd that
turned up for the seven o'clock Civic Carol Service around the
Christmas tree on the Market Place. The Mayor of Erewash wished
everyone a Merry Christmas and then Santa Claus put in a brief
appearance to distribute sweets and fruit before continuing his
global trip.
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We didn't leave home on Christmas Day and spent some quality
time with the family and on Boxing Day, although we didn't really
need to go out, a brisk walk through the fast disappearing snow
on 'Illy 'Oleys (above) into town enabled us to work of some
of those Christmas pudding calories. Some of the shops were open
but more had  remained closed
and there were quite a number of people about either looking
for bargains in the sales or just taking a walk like ourselves.
It still annoys me though that many take advantage of the absence
of traffic wardens and find it necessary to drive their vehicles
in a pedestrian zone (right) even though there is free parking
on the adjacent car parks during the Christmas period. But don't
get me started on that - I'm trying to chill out for the New
Year!
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