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Art Vandelay's avatar

Darker, wetter, getting harder to make myself go out - grateful for the comforts of home. But "Sheffield carol" season begins in a local pub this Sunday, a lovely social tradition enjoyed even this far north of Sheffield on the banks of the Tyne. Light, warmth and music worth leaving the sofa for.

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Lia Leendertz's avatar

Can you tell me more about this tradition?

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Art Vandelay's avatar

There's a helpful guide here - https://tradfolk.co/customs/customs-customs/sheffield-carols/ - in the north east there are some villages which have outdoor carol singings, and in Newcastle itself there's the chance to sing them indoors by the fire at the Cumberland Arms in Byker on Monday evenings in December (with a piano!)

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Lia Leendertz's avatar

amazing, thank you

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Anne's avatar

Amazing! I didn’t realise it went on outside Sheffield. Have a great time!

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Kathryn James's avatar

Magical fairy lights, delighting my inner child.

Frost glittering in the torchlight on our dog walks.

Fires and candles to warm our bodies and spirits ✨️

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Emma Bennie's avatar

I made my Christmas cake on stir up Sunday and the smell of it cooking wafted through the house. Now tucked up in a tin ready to be fed this week.

Bracing walks by the sea with the beaches empty of people. Saw a seal pup tucked away in the dunes

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Rosamund Saunders's avatar

I too love Lamb’s Conduit Street in Winter and the cosy Lamb for its beautiful glasswork and selection of ales.

The clear blue skies this week are sharpening the black, leafless branches but the grass is vibrant green.

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Wendy Turner's avatar

A succession of crisp, clear frosty days where you could taste and smell the cold. My signal to finally tuck my tulip bulbs into their pots.

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NICOLA PURCICOE's avatar

those are the sort of winter days i like. i have been planting up pots with dwarf iris for a bit of spring colour

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Claire Maycock's avatar

Blue lights always make me feel chilly!

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Angela Blay's avatar

The winter jasmine is providing much needed blossom in our garden 🏵

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NICOLA PURCICOE's avatar

lovely to have something that flowers throughout this time of year. i bet it smells gorgeous to.

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Angela Blay's avatar

It really is 😍🏵

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Anne's avatar

Christmas lights twinkling in service stations on the long journey down to Cornwall to see our friends.

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Claire Maycock's avatar

Busily decorating the house as dear friends are visiting us this weekend to kick off the festive season. It's lovely to unpack ornaments that I chose with departed loved ones whilst listening to gentle, seasonal music.

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Cathryn Thompson's avatar

Watching deer in the field where they are just about to start building houses, wondering where they will all go. A lone fox crossing the road in front of us on a nighttime drive, slinking away as we creep past.

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Maria's avatar

Have you any idea where the deer will go ?

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Cathryn Thompson's avatar

Hopefully they’ll move on, sad though that green spaces are disappearing 🙁

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Maria's avatar

Yes it is very sad!

Is there surrounding land for the deer to move on to ?

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Cathryn Thompson's avatar

Yes, I think there will be, but quite a bit further on.

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Lee Roberts's avatar

A couple of frosty mornings, clear starlit nights with Orion reigning over the pre-dawn skies.... the heating on full.... our silver birch stubbornly hanging onto the last of its leaves.... christmas lights and trees popping up around the neighbourhood. I've given in to my festive cravings and started watching Christmas films, playing the music and baking mince pies!

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Nancy Hakari's avatar

I love this!

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Aster's avatar

Spent a blissful Thanksgiving morning wrapped in blankets on the sofa. Midweek, swarms of little earthquakes rattled the house. Early sunsets attracting epic crowds along the cliffs.

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Nancy Hakari's avatar

We had a 6.3 @ 8AM Thanksgiving Morning! Definitely captured our attention! Seems that no damage was done. Something to be thankful for right off the bat.

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Hannah Woolven's avatar

The seasonal viruses have taken hold and my home is filled with tissues and fug. Outside the early frosts make everything sparkle and the stunning morning skies are the only thing tempting me from beneath my duvet.

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Anne's avatar

Hope you’re all better soon!

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Nancy Hakari's avatar

I agree with Anne. I hope you all get better so you can be out in that frosty air!

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Chris Kenneford's avatar

Well, the Town Council seems to have decided that our lovely silver Christmas lights need to be replaced with a mixture of red and orange this year.... Grrr. At least they're not blue - which we've had before and which made the town look like the scene of some horrendous traffic accident!

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NICOLA PURCICOE's avatar

agree about blue christmas lights, especially flashing ones which the people across the road put up.

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Nancy Hakari's avatar

oh my...that does not sound attractive at all.

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Maria's avatar
6hEdited

Red, gold and silver are seasonal

Not blue

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Karen T-O's avatar

Lucky to get a glimpse of a Sparrowhawk today, just before the rain arrived.

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Maria's avatar
3dEdited

How would you describe a sparrowhawk? I don’t know how to recognise one

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Susie Thomson's avatar

Looking up from the washing up at just the right moment, the sun was shining on the trees in the garden and the buttery yellow leaves were glowing and alive. So beautiful.

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Jackie Salmon's avatar

I picked my girls up from school on Wednesday and we drove home the long way through the countryside. It was just about sunset and the sky was black and orange. V atmospheric with the leafless trees and driving rain. I love November ❤

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