Russian New Year - 14 January 2006

Went in to London to see the Russian New Year festival and especially the Kremlin Guard who were performing outside of Russia for the first time ever. The set up in the square for viewing when there are tens of thousands of people is totally inadequate so unless you are willing to patiently wait in the freezing cold and slowly worm your way to a vantage point, it is very hard to get a decent view. Still, it was an historic occasion and we had chosen to wait in the warmth of the National Gallery so we had to take our chances. At the end they used a laser to write Happy New Year down Nelson’s Column and although with to the eye it appeared to be there all the time, the camera, not enjoying persistence, saw a different image.

What an amazing privilege, to be able to view the fantastic old masters in the gallery for free, any time you feel like it. There was an excellent photographic exhibition where the artist had used a composition of an old master and re-interpreted it in a modern, Hackney, setting. Some of them were really clever.
We passed by Fortnum & Mason’s store and their window displays were a tableau of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. As one would expect, they were excellent. Unfortunately you have to ignore all the reflections in the pictures to get the effect.