Season's Greetings

We wish you all the compliments of the season.

A Christmas Crazy Golf course from our travels

All the very best for the festive break and good luck throughout the year ahead.

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The worst Christmas trees of 2016

A fine selection of the bad and ugly Christmas trees spotted this festive season.

During the festive season I've been engaged in discussion and competition with Marc Bazeley and Dan Paynton as to who has seen the worst Christmas Tree on their travels.

The Christmas tree that started the spotting - on a back street in Stockport. On the 9th of November

Among the dregs and dross of what passes for seasonal decorations we've noticed some common themes, most notably the erection of metal railings imprisoning the tree. Some of these barricades have also carried signs bearing that most traditional of greetings 'WARNING DANGER OF DEATH'. And while we may scoff at that message, at least the trees seen with that sign have at least had lights put on them!

So, after not much consideration our top three worst Christmas Trees of 2016 are as follows

In Chorley Marc found this delight.

The tree of Christmas past by the look of it

In Chale, near Ventnor on the Isle of Wight Dan snapped this beauty.

I think you'll agree this sums up Christmas perfectly

Dan quite liked the look of this sorry affair I spotted in Cheadle Hulme's Oak Meadow.

Lots of barriers

The best of the rest...

Not a bad tree per se, but while in Bolton I had to frame the photo like this to make it as ludicrous as possible.

Nothing says Christmas like some portaloos

And speaking of ludicrous I have no idea what was going on with this 'tree' in Stockport!

Interesting use of some street furniture

A selection of the others spotted by members of the newly formed Awful Tree Spotters (ATS) club.

Another railing, sorry Christmas tree, in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport. This one is in Adswood Local Centre

Marc's local Christmas tree in Askam. Glitzy

A Christmas tree in Barrow in Furnow. It doesn't look real

Neither does this one

This Christmas tree on a roundabout in Bramhall in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport looks like it's had a bit too much of the Christmas spirit

One of the first we spotted pop up in an odd location. Plugged into the street light too

  

One of the DANGEROUS Christmas trees in Cheadle Hulme

The little brother of the electrical Christmas tree above

The dark tree of Handforth

Ipswich Market's Christmas tree is bright. But it's also almost mostly hoarding

Wellingborough's effort is a bit of a spit and sawdust affair

The Christmas tree in Newport on the Isle of Wight looks a little bit lost

Northampton's Christmas tree is a big 'un. No decorations though

I spotted Stockport's Christmas tree just before it was lit

Emily spotted a couple of Christmas trees while in Vienna, Austria. However they don't count as they're actually nice.

Elegance and class

A little over the top on the decorations. But better than nothing

And while it's not a Christmas tree I'd like to finish this post with this lonesome decoration on the seafront in Felixstowe.

Related blog posts:
- Christmas Trees

Opening Hours over Christmas and New Year

On a wander around Cheadle Hulme Emily and I spotted this sign in one of our local shops. Some handy information to know.

This sign is a gift that keeps on giving

And people say my handwriting is bad!

Anyway, 'Happy Max' to everyone.

Related blog posts:
- Christmas

This Christmas tree is beyond ludicrous

I've seen some sorry excuses for Christmas trees dotted around the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport in recent weeks. But this one on St Petersgate in Stockport town centre is truly ludicrous!

This tree wins Christmas

Related blog posts:
- Christmas Trees

Happy National Christmas Tree Day 2016!

A visit to Christmas Tree World in Cheadle Hulme.

To mark the occasion we popped round Christmas Tree World at Lion House Farm in Cheadle Hulme to buy our first real Christmas tree. Marvellous.

The perfect sized tree for our new place. Great service at Christmas Tree World too. And you get to see ducks, geese and chickens on the ponds next to the trees

Related blog posts:
- Christmas tree
- Cheadle Hulme

Inflatable Santa Claus

Spotting a MASSIVE inflatable Father Christmas.

This has got to be the BIGGEST inflatable character I've seen on my travels! He was at Star City in Birmingham.

What a GIANT inflatable Santa Claus!

Related blog posts:
- We Sell Xmas Trees
- Wacky Waving Arm-Flailing Inflatable Tube-man
- Inflatable Advertising
- Inflatable
- Airdancer

We Sell Xmas Trees

Driving home from work the other evening I had to take a detour through Luton town centre and spotted a sight that brought a smile to my face. I knew I'd have to head back in the daylight to get a snap of me next to it! And so I did.

You can buy Christmas Trees at The Windmill pub on Gipsy Lane in Luton

Looking at my Facebook Year in Review 99.9% of the photos show me next to, on, or inside something ridiculous! Long may it continue.

In a little hut at Brynbuga Castle in Usk

Having a whale of a time in Worthing

On some sort of podium in Nottingham

Celebrating Bedfordshire Day

Another day, another mascot

Related blog posts:
- Airdancer
- Christmas
- Christmas Tree
- Wacky Waving Arm-Flailing Inflatable Tube-man

Gluten free at Honest Burgers in London

A great meal out at Honest Burgers on Pentonville Road.

Even though I have Coeliac Disease I do enjoy eating foods. While living on a strict gluten free diet can be hard going at times I find that I am able to eat a varied diet, albeit mostly on shop bought and made from scratch meals. Not necessarily a bad thing.

What I do miss, and something that impacts on Emily, is the ability to dine out easily. There are so few places offering gluten free meals that are safe and suitable for people with Coeliac Disease.

That's why until yesterday evening the last time I'd eaten a meal outside of my flat was on the 21st September. Almost three months ago!

I've had Coeliac Disease since 2008 and I'm still adventurous in my eating habits, so it's really disappointing that we've not been able to find anywhere suitable to have a breakfast, lunch or dinner on our travels.

So, it was brilliant that last night I got to go out for a meal with Emily and my brother Christopher.

The last place I'd dined out was Honest Burgers on Pentonville Road in London when Emily and I had an Oktoberfest Burger for lunch on Miniature Golf Day. And we returned to try the new special burger on the menu - the XMAS BURGER.

A proper Christmas dinner. Don't forget the beer

It was delicious.

And filling.

Especially when you factor in the tasty Rosemary Fries that come with each burger.

Plus the sides we ordered too - coleslaw, salad, two portions of onion rings (they are massive) and a portion of chicken wings. It was a real feast, served by knowledgeable staff in a nice venue and location.

The Christmas Special Burger consists of a beef burger, smoked bacon, deep fried brie (it's breaded in gluten free crumb and poppy seeds and deep fried in clean oil), cranberry sauce and rocket.

It was honestly a very tasty burger. I love the theming the team at Honest Burgers add to their specials too

We ordered so much food I had the meat sweats, not helped by the very insulating Christmas jumper I was wearing. In fact I had to strip down to my t-shirt in order to finish the food. It was nice to be full and bloated by excess, rather than the discomfort, pain and illness caused by eating gluten!

The only gripe I have about Honest Burgers is that they charge you an extra £1 to get a gluten free bun. A small price to pay I suppose to ensure that you don't get cross-contaminated, but still a tax of sorts on those afflicted by Coeliac Disease.

Apart from that I cannot wait for my next meal out. Let's hope it's not another three months until I feel safe enough to venture out for some food.

Related blog posts:
- Gluten Free
- Coeliac
- A gluten free meal at Honest Burgers in London

Links:
- Honest Burgers website
- Honest Burgers on Twitter
- Honest Burgers on Facebook

Christmas is definitely over then

The sad sight of abandoned Christmas trees in the New Year.

The sad post-festive season sight of a selection of Christmas Trees ready for recycling/chipping

This year there were two Christmas Tree Mazes in London - one in Vauxhall and one on the Southbank. Unfortunately the Southbank one was closed on our visit.

Roll on Christmas 2015!

Or perhaps there will be some 'festive fun' over the summer...

Back in June 2012 I competed in a Christmas Tree Throwing Competition at a fete in West Berkshire! Great fun, but hard work.

Launching a Nordman Fir at the Yattendon & Frilsham Village Fete. It was quite an agonising experience!

The Christmas period also seems to start earlier each year. For instance I bought and ate my first Mince Pies in September this year!

By the look of these trees I've seen that are well past their use by date, the 'season of goodwill' has continued long into the summer as well.

A browned off Christmas Tree in Luton. In April

Dumped in Hastings and looking very un-Christmassy in May

Check out the Recycle Now website for more information on recycling your Christmas Tree.

Related blog posts:
- Christmas
- Christmas Tree Maze at the Southbank Centre's Winter Festival
- Christmas Tree Maze at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens
- Fun and Games at the Yattendon & Frilsham Village Fete (including Christmas Tree Throwing. In the summer!)

Gluten free Christmas sandwiches

The hunt for an almost elusive festive sandwich.

As a recipient of the British Sandwich Association's enewsletter I recently completed an online survey about sandwiches, in doing so I was entered into a prize draw in which I won a £5 luncheon voucher.

The very first Luncheon Voucher I've ever seen. A gift from the British Sandwich Association

With this new found wealth I began to think what I could buy with it. As someone with Coeliac Disease my choices of safe lunches to eat while out and about are very limited. Some supermarkets and coffee shop chains have gluten and wheat free options, albeit not with the most exciting of ingredients (think basic ham, cheese, egg, chicken with very little added to them, apart from a bit of salad).

As the festive season was upon us it got me thinking about whether any brand had produced a 'Christmas sandwich'.

I put out a tweet to the big players that I knew normally have gluten free sandwiches / free from sections to see if they were tapping into the Coeliac Pound this year.

I tweeted Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose, M&S, the Co-Op, Pret, Starbucks and Costa and I'm happy to report that most replied. Unfortunately all but one of those that came back to me were not selling a gluten free Christmas sandwich. But they did make a point to say that my suggestion had been noted.

A Turkey, Bacon & Cranberry Gluten Free Wrap in Costa

The one place I could sate my hunger for a Christmas sanger was at Costa, as they were stocking a festive gluten free Turkey, Bacon and Cranberry wrap.

A combo of Christmas treats from Costa

After work on Christmas Eve Emily and I popped into the two branches of Costa in The Mall Luton to see if we could find a gluten free wrap. Unfortunately they didn't have any in the St George's Square branch, but we were in luck at the other shop.

The gluten free Turkey, Bacon and Cranberry Wrap from Costa was good. As was the Christmas Cake slice. Both were well priced and in-line with other products for people on 'normal' diets. That's a nice touch

Unfortunately Costa doesn't accept Luncheon Vouchers (but I've heard that some supermarkets and restaurants do) so we had to spend real cash money for my gluten free wrap and cake. I wonder if the British Sandwich Association will notice that 'spike' in sales from my Coeliac pound being spent - it's a rare occasion for me to be able to buy gluten free food from a takeaway or restaurant in Luton. It's worth noting that because I could eat, Emily decided to purchase a sandwich and cake too - I wonder how many manufacturers and retailers consider the impact selling gluten free products (or not) has on their bottom line?

Thanks go to my fellow gluten free blogger Kevin Gollop of Gluten Free By The Sea who also let me know that Costa and Starbucks were doing the Turkey wraps.

Fingers crossed there will be more interesting gluten and wheat free sandwich options for Coeliacs in 2015.

Related blog posts:
- Coeliac
- Gluten Free

Links:
- British Sandwich Association
- Costa
- Gluten Free By The Sea

Gluten free Lebkuchen Christmas Biscuits

Baking some treats from the Gluten-free Baking at Christmas book by Samantha Stein.

One of the Christmas food items I've missed most since being diagnosed with Coeliac Disease is Lebkuchen. They are a tasty glazed - and sometimes chocolate-coated - gingerbread biscuit from Germany.

With my German-heritage I remember receiving hampers from relations in Germany and my favourite item was always Lebkuchen.

As there are no commercially available gluten free Lebkuchen in the shops I haven't eaten any since Christmas 2007.

I heard via twitter that fellow coeliac Samantha Stein (aka The Happy Coeliac) had included a recipe for gluten free Lebkuchen in her 'Gluten-free Baking at Christmas' book! As an early Christmas present I bought the book and it was delivered in time to get baking before the big day.

The Gluten-free Baking at Christmas book by 'The Happy Coeliac' Samantha Stein. The book contains 20 festive recipes

Emily is a great cook and budding baker and looked forward to cooking the Lebkuchen. As recommended in the recipe the dough mix was prepared 24-hours in advance an left overnight in the fridge so that the flavour could intensify.

We had to hunt for some Christmas-shaped cake cutters, but managed to track down a set in M&S so we could make the Lebkuchen festive.

The end result was a batch of very nice Lebkuchen and a very happy coeliac. As well as the glaze we topped some of them with melted dark chocolate. They really tasted of Christmas.

Gluten free Lebkuchen biscuits

You can buy the 'Gluten-free Baking at Christmas' book by Samantha Stein on The Happy Coeliac website. Check out the gluten free Lebkuchen recipe on the site too.

If you sign-up for free updates from The Happy Coeliac you will also receive a free 40-page eBook 'Gluten Free For Beginners'.

Related blog posts:
- Coeliac
- Gluten Free

Links:
- The Happy Coeliac website
- The Happy Coeliac on Twitter
- The Happy Coeliac on Facebook
- The Happy Coeliac on YouTube

London Skittles at the Hampstead Lawn Billiard and Skittle Club

Report from the Minigolfer's Christmas 'Do' 2014.

Crazy Skittlers

This year our annual festive jaunt took us to The Freemasons Arms, home to London's last remaining Skittle Alley and the historic Hampstead Lawn Billiard and Skittle Club.

Emily playing London Skittles

After reading about the game some years ago and a visit to the pub after a Hopping tournament in 2012 we made the booking to play a game of London Skittles in the basement alley for our Christmas tournament.

Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd launches into action

With reigning champion Emily leading one team and multiple-time former winner of Christmas shenanigans Brad captaining the other the other players were picked by number before we got straight into playing.

'Squire' Richard throwing a little off course

Emily led the proceedings and with a choice of three different 'cheeses' stepped up and scored an end of 5 with her three goes to get the competition underway.

A pair of 'Cheeses'

The winner's of the team tournament were 'Lemony's Lobbers' who defeated 'Team Frugal' with a scoreline of 178 to 176!

Lemony's Lobbers - 2014 Christmas 'Do' Champions. From l-r Jon Angel, Steve Gow, Alan Norman, John Moore, Emily Gottfried, Richard Gottfried

This year's losers and runners-up, Team Frugal. From l-r Paul O'Connor, Chris Jones, Brad Shepherd, Trevor 'Lord of Smeeth' Robertson, Richard Linden, Seth Thomas

The overall individual was once again Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd with a total of 44, having been the only player to score a double-digit end in the two-hour tournament. Newcastle's John Moore and Surrey's Steve Gow tied for second.

The Big Cheese - Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd

Baby Bel - Alan 'Stormin' Norman

Our instructor for the evening, Pete, was a great coach and referee giving us plenty of hints & tips and history of the game and venue. We also learned some of the terminology of the game for good shots, bad shots, pin layouts and more.

The final scores

We'd definitely play again and recommend London Skittles at the Freemasons Arms as a great night out.

The Freemasons Arms, Hampstead

Check out the Hampstead Lawn Billiard and Skittle Club website for more information on London Skittles and for booking enquiries, as well as some videos showing the game as it was in the 1930's and as it is now.

The Lawn Billiards game that forms part of the club's name is a long extinct sport, but you can still view Lawn Billiards artifacts in the club's alley.

While one team is throwing, two of the opposing team's players act as pin setters and cheese returners

Emily readying herself for a lob

Richard preparing for a shot

John Moore getting in the swing

Five scored

Pin setting and cheese rolling

Chris 'Stretch' Jones on a leisurely stroll up the alley

Trevino in action

Big Al in full flight

Jon Angel with a great shot up the middle

  

Alan 'Stormin' Norman throwing a cheese

London Skittles team competition results

London Skittles individual competition results

Minigolfer's Christmas Shenanigans Hall of Fame
2014 - Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd - London Skittles Individual Championship
2014 - Lemony's Lobbers (Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried, 'Squire' Richard Gottfried, Alan 'Stormin' Norman, John 'Big Al' Moore, Jon 'Occasional' Angel, 'Big' Stevie Gow) - London Skittles Team Championship
2013 – Emily ‘Lemony’ Gottfried – World Boules Le Noël Champignonship
2012 – Brad ‘The Fist’ Shepherd – Riverclose Worlds UnProfessional Minigolfer's Darts Championship
2011 – Brad ‘The Fist’ Shepherd – Rivernear Worlds Professional Crazy Golfers Darts Championships
2010 – Brad ‘The Fist’ Shepherd – Christmas Minigolf 9-Hole Putting Green Sudden Death Challenge
2010 – Keith 'Doc' Kellard & Jon 'El Pato' Angel (Team KJ Choice) – Sim BIG Golf Par-3's of the World Doubles Challenge
2009 – Brad ‘The Fist’ Shepherd – Christmas-themed Crazy Golf at Devonshire Square
Before Records Began – Lionel ‘The Spoon’ Bender – Crazy Golf Contest

Links
- London Skittles at the Hampstead Lawn Billiard and Skittle Club
- London Skittles on Facebook
- The Freemasons Arms, Hampstead

Related blog posts:
- Report from the Minigolfer’s Annual Christmas Shenanigans ‘Do’ in London 2013
- The Minigolfer’s Annual Christmas Darts ‘Do’ 2012 in London
- Crazy Golfers Christmas 'Do' in London 2011 - Darts Tournament at Rileys Victoria!
- The Minigolfers Christmas 'Do' 2010
- 2009 Christmas Crazy Golf Challenge at Devonshire Square
- A London Pub & Jumble Sale Crawl
- Another New Game Played - Northamptonshire Skittles
- Behold...
- Tenpin Bowling