Nice to see and hear the sounds of "Punk Gothic Christmas", AA, with all the Aardvark touches we here have come to the Magic Theater again and again have come to expect.
This is Christmas as many of our ancestors remember it- I suspect, AA, dark and cold with lots of crosses and relics and candles and statues taken up and taken down depending on who the Tudor Monarch of the Year happen to be. Of course Christmas was long ago turned into a big deal for kids and not it's original idea of helping out the poor in the bleak Mid-Winter. There likely was lots of preaching before any wassel bowls could get any crumbs from the landlord's larder.
Merry Christmas to all I say, and a Cheery Solstice Wingding to all the good folks at Aardvark Festive Images. Tiny Tim says hello.
Ah... Tiny Tim the one time son of Bob Cratchit and world famous falsetto ukulele player, hope he is over his bout of rickets and preparing to tiptoe through the tulips again next year Doug... bless 'is little soul! Its only about 8 years ago I stopped going to Christmas Eve midnight mass at the 800 year old Oude Kerk ("old church") Amsterdam’s oldest building slap bang in the middle of the famous Red Light District. It was the wonderful cotrasts that kept me going back every Christmas from 1998 - 2005 a perfect Christmas venue.
Part of the Oudekerksplein, the square surrounding the church, is used bymostly African prostitutes who offer a restricted but comprehensive variety services from behind the fabled windows as rumour would have it. The square also features a bronze relief of a hand caressing a breast that was set in the cobblestone at night by an anonymous artist. The place has certain life and energy and everybody in the square from the upright Dutch protestant congregation in boots and furs... to red underwear clad African ladies chancing the chill air outside their places of employment add to the festive scene of goodwill without any sign of conflict or animosity from any quarter whatsoever. I have always thought of Amsterdam's Red Light District as an X-rated adult version of Disneyland, the throngs of tourists are both sexes and all ages, there is nothing furtive nor hidden about it at all.
I spent my first Christmas in Amsterdam in 1977 having flown there from Saudi Arabia after 6 months camping in the desert on a maximum culture shock trip.
'Those were the days my friend, oh yes those were the days'...cue Welsh lass from the valleys with guitar.
A very Cheery Solstice and a Merry Christmas to you and yours too Doug
Third time is a charm they say :
ReplyDeleteNice to see and hear the sounds of "Punk Gothic Christmas", AA, with all the Aardvark touches we here have come to the Magic Theater again and again have come to expect.
This is Christmas as many of our ancestors remember it- I suspect, AA, dark and cold with lots of crosses and relics and candles and statues taken up and taken down depending on who the Tudor Monarch of the Year happen to be. Of course Christmas was long ago turned into a big deal for kids and not it's original idea of helping out the poor in the bleak Mid-Winter. There likely was lots of preaching before any wassel bowls could get any crumbs from the landlord's larder.
Merry Christmas to all I say, and a Cheery Solstice Wingding to all the good folks at Aardvark Festive Images. Tiny Tim says hello.
Ah... Tiny Tim the one time son of Bob Cratchit and world famous falsetto ukulele player, hope he is over his bout of rickets and preparing to tiptoe through the tulips again next year Doug... bless 'is little soul!
ReplyDeleteIts only about 8 years ago I stopped going to Christmas Eve midnight mass at the 800 year old Oude Kerk ("old church") Amsterdam’s oldest building slap bang in the middle of the famous Red Light District. It was the wonderful cotrasts that kept me going back every Christmas from 1998 - 2005 a perfect Christmas venue.
Part of the Oudekerksplein, the square surrounding the church, is used bymostly African prostitutes who offer a restricted but comprehensive variety services from behind the fabled windows as rumour would have it.
The square also features a bronze relief of a hand caressing a breast that was set in the cobblestone at night by an anonymous artist. The place has certain life and energy and everybody in the square from the upright Dutch protestant congregation in boots and furs... to red underwear clad African ladies chancing the chill air outside their places of employment add to the festive scene of goodwill without any sign of conflict or animosity from any quarter whatsoever. I have always thought of Amsterdam's Red Light District as an X-rated adult version of Disneyland, the throngs of tourists are both sexes and all ages, there is nothing furtive nor hidden about it at all.
I spent my first Christmas in Amsterdam in 1977 having flown there from Saudi Arabia after 6 months camping in the desert on a maximum culture shock trip.
'Those were the days my friend, oh yes those were the days'...cue Welsh lass from the valleys with guitar.
A very Cheery Solstice and a Merry Christmas to you and yours too Doug