Coventry Christmas

Urban mistletoe

Right next to Coventry Railway Station are these two healthy globes of mistletoe. I've heard it's been a very good year for mistletoe, as with all fruits, but I've never seen it in a city before.

Nativity

I don't want to get into the current debate about how we celebrate Christmas, but it's interesting that this was the only thing I saw in the city today which portrayed the event it is about. It's a three-quarters life-size nativity, carved from reclaimed wood by a Polish craftsman.

Sunset behind big wheel

As Coventry's city fathers of the 1980s built an ugly shopping centre over the only city centre open space, the essential fairground rides have to be shoe-horned into the pedestrian precincts. At ground levels this makes getting about more difficult than usual (bah humbug!) but creates some interesting skylines.

There we go: the pagan, the Christian and the commercial angles of Christmas, all encountered in one short afternoon's stroll. Have a lovely Christmas, and I'll see you in the New Year.