NEW YEAR’S DAY PARADE (n.) Annual walk around central London by 10,000 participants demonstrating the local council’s ability to remove 85 tonnes of street rubbish before the procession.
Dr. Johnson’s London Dictionary for publick consumption in the twenty-first century avail yourself on Twitter @JohnsonsLondon
TRAFALGAR SQUARE CHRISTMAS TREE (n.) Gift from Oslo that doth is displayed in London bedecked with single rows of lights that make the specimen resemble a rocket rather than a celebration of unity at Christmas.
Dr. Johnson’s London Dictionary for publick consumption in the twenty-first century avail yourself on Twitter @JohnsonsLondon
O2 ARENA (n.) Tent erected for the Millennia that lost a King’s ransom, that has transmogrified into the largest broadsheet for a purveyor of communications.
Dr. Johnson’s London Dictionary for publick consumption in the twenty-first century avail yourself on Twitter @JohnsonsLondon
It is that time of year when the media publish lists. You know the sort of thing: recommended books, best Christmas puddings, annual weather data and gongs to people you’ve never heard of. So I thought I’d list the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree donated by the people of Oslo.
Common name: Norway Spruce
Scientific name: Picea abies
Symbolism: Greek mythology devoted to Artemis, goddess of the hunt and the Moon
Common title: The Queen of the Forest
Height: 70ft
Age: 70 years
Sourced location: Nordmarka, a heavily forested area north of Oslo
Felled: Mid-November
How long we’ve received the tree: 76 years
Lights: 500 halogen bulbs
Lighting ceremony: Thursday 7th December
Number of branches: Well over 100, just guessing!
Needles: Pointy evergreen glossy dark green, less than 2 inches long
After Twelfth Night: The tree is taken down, and turned into mulch, which is then used in gardens around London
The story behind the tree: The tradition of cutting down a tree and putting it up in Oslo’s Universitetsplassen is a long-held tradition. So sacred is it, that even when Norway was occupied by the Nazis during the Second World War, members of the Royal Norwegian Navy snuck back into their own country to cut down a tree each year, bringing it back to London for King Haakon in exile there. (now THAT is a Christmas film waiting to happen). Today, the tree symbolises not just what Britain did in the war, but also a respect for democracy, human rights, peace — and solidarity between the two countries and cities.
It never fails to amaze me the uses that the London cab can be put once it stops ferrying passengers around. Here is another in the occasional series of novel uses for cabs.
Ronnie Mitchell was a London cabbie as well as a mechanic back in the 70s. He later opened Stable Taxis Garage with his wife, Edna. They quickly built a reputation for their unique ways of running the business and their generosity towards their customers: London’s cab drivers. Ronnie passed away in 2020 aged 92 but lives on in the name of this roving restaurant – Ronnie’s Black Cab.
His grandson Jamie, who also worked in the garage before pursuing a career in catering, has transformed a black cab into a catering waggon cooking Ronnie’s favourite dish – Pie and Mash.
CabbieBlog 