'December! December! & Disaster At Battle'

Santa arrives in Battle!

Well folks, its DECEMBER and now thoughts of the 25th can really start to kick into gear. I have so many festive fantasies that go through my head at this time of year you can't imagine and not all of them involve being trapped in a lift with a beautiful Mrs Santa either! HA HA

No, I may be as keen on the opposite sex and a festive version of Leslie Phillips but Christmas is about TRADITIONS and CUSTOMS and FUN and GIVING and I love all of those things! While I must confess I could use WAY more cuddles than I get most of the year it is so easy to get into a happy mood at this time of the year just by opening your eyes to the festivities around you, tapping in to your inner child and remembering that sense of wonder you had as a kid, and just TALKING TO PEOPLE.
How in the hell have we lost the art of simple communication? I had a very disappointing day in Battle yesterday because my beloved (but temperamental - like his owner) camera developed a fault and would not allow me to take a single pic or get any festive footage.

Road Closed For Christmas Claus!

I went to Battle nice and early with a mind to walk out into the countryside from there and get some lovely autumn pictures of the gold, orange, green, red and yellows that our trees and bushes are full of at this time of the year. Sadly, once up to my knees in mud, the cold seemed to get into my camera and he started playing up. Giving the camera a rest I returned to the centre of Battle and then started getting some pics and film of the decorations about the town. Suddenly, the camera packed up on me for good and an error message which said 'Card not initialized' came up on the screen. Try as hard as I might by doing the usual things (removing the batteries for a while, cleaning the card) nothing could bring the camera back to life and so I was left without a chance of capturing Santa's arrival and the subsequent spectacles!

Was I fed up! This year seems to have been somewhat ill-fated for me as far as getting the most out of Christmas goes. I had to miss my favourite Christmas Fair this year again because of a clash of date with a pre-booked writing festival in London and yesterday I missed another lot of Festive Fayres to go to Battle! Good job I'm determined to enjoy Christmas, eh!

Aah, cute!

I DID meet some really nice people yesterday. Had a long chat with two ladies in one of the shops there and both were very sympathetic. Jill even tried to help sort me out by seeking advice on the Internet from her tablet and finding me an alternative card to try. In the end though I didn't want to risk wrecking her card for her so I accepted defeat graciously. Jill did promise to send me a few pictures from the day though and it is her pictures you can see here today. THANK YOU JILL.

I also met some people at the bus stop and we all had a jolly good laugh swapping Christmas stories and talking about old films. The bus we were all waiting for was held up by the arrival of Santa and his entourage so I did at least get to see that part of the fun. On the bus home there were two really naughty kids who kept clambering about all over the place and swinging off the safety straps. When they got off everyone in the bus moaned about them at which point I piped up that I would not be visiting their chimney this year now. "It just goes to show what they say is true doesn't it, Santa knows!" I said to much merriment...

Fun for the kids.

I will try and get back to Battle before Christmas and see if I can get my camera to play ball. Having sought out more help on the Internet at home I have now re-formatted the camera and card and both seem to be working o.k. again for now. I love my camera and hate HD because it takes up so much space on your hard drive and is so unnecessary for most of us. Can't replace my little pal though as you cannot buy non HD cameras these days. Oh well, I will just have to hope that my 'repairs' will keep him with me for a few more years yet...

Off on his next stop before The North Pole!

The big tree at night.

Merry Christmas! xxx

'Christmas Hampers'

The one thing I have always longed to win or be sent for Christmas is a whacking great big Christmas hamper! I don't quite understand why I feel that way because I don't drink very much (so bottles of wine or spirits wouldn't be much use) nor do I eat a lot of the stuff that would come with the hamper but there is just something irresistibly festive about the look of a giant whicker basket stuffed to the gunnels with exotic goodies!

I think part of my perception of Christmas hampers comes from my childhood. I recall that my mum used to be an agent for Kays catalogue when I was a kid and I often used to spend ages looking through the Toy section in the run up to Christmas dreaming about what I'd like to get.  Kays used to sell Christmas hampers as well and there would always be a few pages of pics. Reading through the list of all the goodies you could expect to receive in each version of the hamper really used to get my juices flowing! With ever so Christmassy pictures of tinsel and baubles amongst the hamper contents to make them seem even more desirable I suppose I have grown up with the vision of the Christmas hamper being the ultimate gift...

God, what a dream I must be for those marketing moguls who deliberately dream up such tactics to instill in people all the stuff mentioned above!

Whatever, if I could afford to do it I would always send out a well stocked Christmas hamper to my friends and loved ones at this time of year. I have been thinking a lot lately of how nice it would be if you won the lottery and was able to act upon a lot of the things that touch you in everyday life rather than simply have to shrug your shoulders and accept reality. There are so many worthy causes each Christmas that it would make me feel good to support and having the ability to make a real difference to someones life and enjoyment of the festive season would really make me feel even more like Father Christmas! I guess some of you will think that I have a 'God complex' but I certainly wouldn't want his job! No, for me, I'm all about being Santa, all about making a difference once a year and then letting the rest of the world try to work together to adopt my friendly attitude the rest of the year round. I don't believe in preaching, I believe in teaching...Goodness! That was profound! HA HA

Finally, don't forget that Santa will be visiting Battle in East Sussex later today to turn on their Christmas lights. He and his entourage are due to arrive at 1.50pm and I hope to be there to see him! If I manage to make it expect lots of pics of the festivities here soon...

See you there! Love Tony xx

'A Few Christmas Updates'

Now available from Amazon.co.uk!

I have now received my copy of 'A 1950's Christmas - tunes for a cool yule' and can tell you that its a wonderful collection of songs that is guaranteed to send you mentally back to the old days. The album has a very American flavour and thus has a slightly 'showbizz' feel to it but if you love those old B&W Marilyn Monroe films like I do you won't mind that. In fact, listening to it even got me dreaming about spending Christmas with Marilyn and how that would have felt. I am a sucker for anything that makes me think of 'the old days' at the moment and I saw an American lady who looked like Marilyn dressed in 1950's garb at this years 'War & Peace Revival' at RAF Westernhanger. Boy! Did I want to speak to her and ask her to dance with me but I didn't dare (as usual!)...

''

'Marilyn' in pink - Oh Boy! Oh Boy! Oh Boy!

Still, I love anything that brings Marilyn to mind and just seeing someone so beautiful who spoke like her (or at least how I imagine she would have sounded with an American accent) made the whole week really special for me! Thank you darlin' -whoever you are xxxx

I don't know, what an old romantic I am, eh? Getting all starry eyed over Marilyn Monroe just by listening to a 50's CD! It is VERY romantic though this double CD and if you are a bit of an idealist like me you can't help but get swept away by the sweeping strings and romantic lyrics of 'Christmas And You' by Dave King. 

Do yourself a favour and buy a copy - Ronnie Hilton's version of 'White Christmas' is also a refreshing delight as well if you are over familiar with good old Bing's version...

Lastly, don't forget that my favourite Christmas Fair takes place this Sat at St Clement's church in High St in the Old Town of Hastings. Sadly, I am called away to a writing festival in London on the day so I won't be able to be there this year (boo!). I will be sending someone in my place to buy up a lot of presents for my Christmas celebrations though so they won't miss out!

'Battle, East Sussex At Christmas'

Regular viewers of my Maybrick44 Youtube channel will already know that I am a little in love with the town of Battle in East Sussex. Not only is a place steeped in history with Battle Abbey and some very old quintessentially English buildings it is a place where both tradition and fun go hand in hand. 
The annual Battle Scarecrow Festival is always a must visit for me and the sight of Battle Abbey lit up at night by the reflection of the Christmas lights from an ENORMOUS Christmas tree in the middle of the market square is just so Christmassy it hurts!

As with a lot of things of late, the finances have been more difficult to come by for Battle and its traders to pay for the town's spectacular display of festive fun but they are are a determined lot in Battle and there is going to be plenty of Christmassy things going on there again this year.

November the 30th will see Santa pop in on his annual visit en-route to The North Pole. He is expected at about 1.50pm and his sleigh will be pulled by the Langton Loons, accompanied by the Kingfisher Band, the 1st and 2nd Battle Rainbows, the Beavers and a variety of cartoon characters. Outside on the Abbey Green there will be Candy Floss, photo opportunities, singing from local soprano, Lucy Ashton, and other attractions so it will be a fantastic afternoon!

Then at about 5pm, Santa will leave the Memorial Hall come onto the Abbey Green and switch on Battle's Christmas lights for this year! There will be fancy dress, best decorated shop window and best dressed business competitions as well. 

Various choirs, Lucy Ashton & her friends will also sing by the big Christmas tree on the Abbey Green and visitors will  encouraged to sing-a-long at 8pm as well.

It is sure to be a fabulously festive day of fun  and one I hope not to miss so why not come along and join me? If you see a middle aged bloke wearing a black cowboy hat (or brown if its wet!) with a camera in his hand that will be me. I love meeting new people so come over and say Hi!

Above is a little video I took of Battle myself a year or two ago. It doesn't quite capture the magic of the place but it will give you some idea of the layout of the place and with a bit of imagination I'm sure you will be able to envisage how the place looks full of Christmas shoppers with happy faces!