Thursday, 27 December, 2018
There are two enduring memories of going to the west end at Christmas as a child and teenager. The beautiful windows, especially at Selfridges, and the magic of Liberty at Christmas. I’d have saved some money and off I’d go. I remember nothing of the window displays now other than they were beautiful, and so many of them. I’d always feel I could go window shopping on Oxford Street and not care if I bought a thing. The looking was even better than buying – since it was unlimited. Then Liberty always felt like a hidden treasure. Even today I know people who aren’t sure where it is or say they haven’t seen it.
This year I hadn’t made it down to the west end, ‘up west’ as they say. I made a plan to get there before the lights were turned off and I knew I couldn’t see it all in one trip. So I planned two. Part one would take me from Covent Garden to Chinatown, Soho, Regent Street, and Oxford Street. Part two would take me to Piccadilly, Bond Street, then New Bond Street, and up to Selfridges. Even then I wouldn’t see it all. No Trafalgar Square, no Marylebone…but that’s OK.
I don’t think I went to Covent Garden when I was younger. If I did, I don’t remember it. At any rate, it would have been a wholesale market and not that interesting to me. Now I know it really well and, although I put it low on my list because of the crowds of tourists, there are some things I do like about it and some shops you can’t find anywhere else – it is where the most concentrated collection of shoe shops is, so yes I do go sometimes. This time it was about the shops and the lights and the little inside courtyards I wanted to see.
Continue reading “Christmas Lights in London”