Ash Sprinkling

Ash Sprinkling

On a clear, sunny day exactly eight years ago, my brother and I picked up our mother’s ashes from Steele’s, the funeral directors on Chesil Street, at the bottom of Winchester High Street, just past King Alfie’s statue, over the bridge by the City...
On the 16th Day of Advent, 2014

On the 16th Day of Advent, 2014

A WINTER WALK AROUND WINCHESTER, CHRISTMAS DAY 2012 Oh no, Santa’s lost his hat! We’d better come back this way later to see if we can help. Walking by St. Cross, just outside Winchester, St. Catherine’s Hill in the distance “Maybe Father...

On the 15th Day of Advent, 2014…

CHRISTMAS DAY 1987 AT THE JEBEL ALI HOTEL, DUBAI Who’s this, arriving in a Rolls Royce all covered with balloons? When there are no chimneys to speak of, how does Father Christmas, a.k.a. Santa Claus, arrive? Well, when I worked at the Jebel Ali Hotel in Dubai,...

On the 14th Day of Advent, 2014…

As I head out this morning to begin a week’s worth of school presentations of Charles Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL, I thought I’d share the little lexicon I distribute to help students understand the story a little better. This is also in the program...

On the 13th Day of Advent, 2014…

KING ARTHUR AND CHRISTMAS DAY According to Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte d’Arthur, the fifteenth-century romance of the semi-mythical English king, Merlin the magician called the nobles together on Christmas Day for a sign as to who was their rightful king....