If November was dark and rainy, December is starting off very mild and even sunny sometimes. And it’s getting pretty Christmassy!
On upper Well Street, the florists are bringing out their Christmas bestAt St Paul’s church, the yellowed leaves are a nice mix with the trees on the tree lot.And this Turkish kebab place on Kingsland Road is accidentally festive!
Check these daylight hours, though! By 3pm twilight creeps in and between 4 and 4:30 it’s just like night time. Yesterday I was thinking that, if I were working, it would be properly dark by the time I headed home. I’m not sure if other years have been so dark but they must have been. There’s just more cloud this year…?
Is it really December?
However, December has lots of promise. I started jotting things down on one of my quickly drawn up calendars – I like to do this on paper and revise it almost daily. And this week there will be two workshops (one a serious mental health one, and one a fun Christmassy one) two family visits and there’s company coming over for dinner, if Susanne doesn’t succumb to her threatening cold. And Hackney is having a Festive Lights event, marking the first night of Chanukah and turning on the lights of the Christmas tree. I love lights and candles so I’m in!
Venice’s houses can be beautiful or ugly, clean or dirty, elegant or rough, crumbling or pristine…there are many versions. Each street level building is protected at least at its windows and often also at its doors. The variety of the doors and windows and their coverings is incredible. So I did photograph quite a few.
Venice is built on the water. There are many canals that come from the sea into the city. And that’s interesting too since there is a smell of the sea around you – quite comforting.
Venice has more than 150 canals dividing the city into over a hundred little islands.
Venetians are completely at home on the water. They speed about in their boats, often standing rather than sitting, hopping in and out. This reminds me of how much at home the motorbike riders are in Naples. Yes, there are streets but there are no roads. You walk about on car-free lanes and alleys, moving about across bridges that connect the various bits of ground from canal to canal.
Just another day in Venice – commuting?Boats line one of the larger canalsBoats line a small canal
The bridges are interesting and varied. As you get closer to the centre, they become crowded with people taking photos of themselves, of their friends and family, and of the scenery. This is prime selfie territory.
The bridges are simple or fancy, wood, iron or stone – no two are alike, or so it seemsI definitely don’t want to cross THIS bridgeAnd the tourist bridgesAbove all, the canals can be extraordinarily beautiful
When work needs to be done, there are the work boats. They pick up garbage, they repair bridges, they deliver goods, they pick up sick people, and they run water taxis. Everything is done by and on the water. If you ever wonder why prices are so high there, it’s good to remember how difficult it was to get everything and everybody everywhere!
Working boat – delivering construction materialGarbage boatAmbulance boatDelivery by cartLaundry aross the canal
Then there are the gondolas. They are a staple of Venice and I’d imagine that many young men – and sometimes these days, women – who know this is one way to earn a living in a city that relies on tourism and boats. For 80 euros you can ride in a gondola for 40 minutes. The gondola is meant to hold four people but can stretch to six. Each one has pillows to make the journey more relaxing and luxurious, and each gondolier is happy to tell you something about the city, and to take your photo!
Gondolier waiting for business
At home on the smaller canals…and on the largeHappy to take your photo!Photo shoot left, Gondolier right –Â
One was the tree pruning in front of our house, the second was my aunt’s birthday.
When we first moved in, we were told about the enormous tree in front of the house. It’s apparently four or five hundred years old and, as such, it’s protected – it can’t be chopped down. However, its branches covered a lot of airspace – perhaps four or five houses wide, taller than our four storey house, and some branches reaching to the middle of the busy road.
Spring time growth, as viewed from the front stepOnly just starting to get leafy, the tree dominated the street
The tree is protected but so are humans and buildings, and it was clear that those branches would soon be poking someone’s eye out or creeping into the rain gutters and roofs. It’s been three years and the tree had remained as is. We grew to love watching it bud, flower, and then dwindle during that time. During the summer, the leaves were so resplendent that we couldn’t see across the road any more. This was offset by this flat never becoming too warm during hot days.
Late last week, we noticed that there were some Parking Supension notices and we wondered if our tree’s time had come. A couple of days passed. On Saturday morning, we noticed three small trucks parked outside and a police line tape at the middle of the road to stop traffic on our side. Ominous.
We expected that one to two meters of each branch would be pruned. What happened felt like slaughter. The very first branch was cut back to just a stick. Every branch and twig with leaves was gone. And so it continued. At the half way point we thought perhaps they’d leave a canopy but the men climbed higher and higher and within a few hours the tree was a ‘skellington.’
Those lovely branches and leaves gone and I have to confess I felt bereft. Friends assured me it will grow back but I’m certain that hundreds of years of growth won’t be replaced in weeks and I don’t expect to see leaves this season. Then, if I do, I shall consider them gifts. It will grow back for sure but a shadow of its former self.
My new robots’ viewTree from the other side of the road – scene of slaughter
No more birds, although the butchers left two nests – thank you. And thanks (no thanks) to damaging the palm trees that have been there for more than a hundred years, thanks to Loddiges.
Down another street I found a Phlegm piece that I hadn’t seen before. This one was interesting and it’s too bad that the day was dull and the detail isn’t apparent. Each little house in the painting is done on ducting that sits like little boxes on the wall. It’s a very clever use of the architecture. I tried to imagine Phlegm, who I had actually seen painting in Toronto, figuring this out and feeling pleased with himself. It really works!
Phlegm’s clever architectural-friendly piece and a close up
I checked out a few other pieces today but that’s it for now. There will be more days, I hope.
Poignant piece from Ben SlowLove Love Love on Hanbury Street
