Porty People and Places

As Christmas trees appear all over Portobello and bus loads of shoppers return from the city centre laden with bags, for which they have paid a 5p levy per bag, the saddest and quietest shop in town is this.

This shop reminds me of toy stores from my distant childhood full of treasures and queues of excited children. The silence and the lack of trade here is, sadly, a zeitgeist.

Actually, this shop does do a roaring trade in the summer with buckets, spades and Portobello Rock - such sales today are but a distant summer dream this chilly St Lucie's Day *

Cheltenham blippers might see similarities here with the Bath Road Corner Shop?

Wikipedia suggests * Saint Lucy's Day is on 13 December, in Advent. Her feast once coincided with the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year before calendar reforms, so her feast day has become a festival of light.[1][2][3] St. Lucy’s Day is celebrated most commonly in Scandinavia, with their long dark winters, where it is a major feast day, and in Italy, with each emphasizing a different aspect of the story.

In Scandinavia, where Lucy is called Lucia, she is represented by a person dressed in a white dress and red sash with a crown or wreath of candles on her head. In both Norway and Sweden, girls (or sometimes boys) dressed as Lucy carry rolls and cookies in procession as songs are sung. It is said that to vividly celebrate St. Lucy's Day will help one live the long winter days with enough light.