Promptvent - Day 11
25 days of winter prompts to thaw your writers (ice)block - and this year it's all about being Cozy.
Hello and welcome to day 11 of Promptvent!
If you’d like some wintry musical inspiration whilst you write, why not try listening to ‘Gaudete Instrumental’ by Celtic Vision in ‘Celtic Christmas Carols’ on Spotify.
Listen to me read the guided invitation via audio below or if you prefer to read the transcript, that is also available for you underneath the audio.
Welcome back to our Promptvent village advent calendar where you find yourself standing once again before the cozy Christmas window.
Bundled up in your warm woolen mittens and thick scarf, you are eager to to know what wintry word of the day awaits you. What world will you step into and discover today? You lean closer, and can feel the eagerness in your fingers as you pull off your mittens and reach for the iron latch on the window, lifting it with care.
A vibrant square opens up before you, with Christmas lights galore covering the sky and leading towards a huge Christmas tree in the middle, decorated with huge baubles as big as boulders. There is an ice rink circling the tree and families and friends cling onto each other as they skate around the rink. On the edges of the square, dozens of cute cozy wooden cabins with different names on them, ‘Handmade Crafts’, ‘Churros and Chocolate’, ‘Santa’s Lucky Dip’, ‘Bratwurst’, ‘Mulled Wine’. It is a comely local Christmas market full of joy and delicious delights.
The red wreathed door to your left slowly opens, inviting you further. You step through the door, and join a small crowd listening to a brass band play carols in meticulous red and green suits. They are playing the trombone, trumpet, flute, drums which such effortlessness, and a singer suddenly begins to sing ‘We Wish Ye A Merry Christmas’ in a rich and deep baritone voice.
You immerse yourself further into the hubbub and pass by some cozy cottages where customers are sitting and eating sumptuous warm meals, hot pots steaming with vegetables, sausages in think white bread with sauteed onions and thick and creamy soups. The smell makes your stomach rumble and you decide to get a hot mug of soup to accompany you around the market.
You stop at a stall selling handmade wooden crafts and notice the most beautiful Christmas tree decoration, it features an object that is personal to you and gives you such joy to see it. You turn it in your hands and a stream of memories from days gone by rises up to meet your minds eye. This will be perfect as a new addition to your decorations.
You pass a merry go round and watch children laughing and licking toffee apples, pretending to gallop with the golden painted horses. Oh how you used to love that ride. You pass another stall of handmade leather bound books with gorgeous patterns on the front. Two robins nesting, a rabbit burrowing in the snow, children sleighing, and one featuring a Christmas market much like this one. You open that notebook, the paper feels thick and good quality and stop in your tracks as you notice this one has been written in, there is one word in large cursive script written at the top of the first page.
It reads: MARKET
You try to buy the notebook but the seller tells you that it’s not part of their stock and for you to take it as a gift, you thank him by buying a handmade wood carved pen and find a cozy bench next to a brazier blazing bright. You take a moment to soak in the festive spirit that abounds around you. You really feel the magic, despite a challenging year - you embrace the joy that wants to be let in. Then you pick up the pen - and write.
Market
I am trying to remember a Christmas Market I went to many years ago . Was it the location in Cathedral grounds and a town full of architecture teaming with history , who I was with or the chimes of gaiety ? The goods lovingly made or chosen with care by the stall holders optimism for sales and interactions with people full of excitement . It was most likely a mix magically composed for the season and that particular night . A perfect dynamic created . I am going again with a different friend to enjoy the dark , the fluttery lights of Christmas , the sounds and smells to delight with a friend who feels equally optimistic . An evening adventure with a hub of others with expectation of the same . What a way to finish the working week or to celebrate the weekend . Marking less days to the holidays and often enwrapped with family traditions .
I can’t eat any of the typical delights in the food : mince pies , sausage rolls or meats served on chunks of bread . I could taste a new cheese , but could enjoy mulled wine warmed up . I fancy that . My friend is really restricted but will love it if I taste something and show her the texture , encourage her nose to fill with the glorious aromas . That’s her senses fulfilled and such a generous trait . What will stand out is the creativity , colours and items produced . Artisan’s work shown off at its best with Christmas characteristics in styles maybe never seen before . Bath products and handmade soaps , old fashioned sweets stored in jars . People singing , exclamations and laughter . All that too look forward to this coming Friday night .
What I remember was daytime markets in Greece . Stalls full of often limited products . Not like the one or two vegetable stalls on Salisbury market where you chose your purchases from a favourite person . I did have a favourite egg lady and I loved how she folded an egg tray over and tied it carefully with string enduring my 12 or 15 eggs arrived home intact . I really appreciated her skilful efforts and her easy manner . Other stall holders were indignant at my needs for insufficient amounts that they presented them without payment . I mostly came away with huge bag brimming with oranges , spinach , apples, carrots , juicy cabbages and lettuces. In late spring I was weighed down with tomatoes , courgettes , apricots , early peaches , cherries and strawberries . Sumner was watermelons , more tomatoes , huge bulging cucumbers . How I carried it all home was amazing . I refused to buy a trolley , now I rarely shop without one . The markets in Greece were a way of life and made the diet rich in variety and so affordable . I miss the quality, such variety and abundance . I don’t miss the crowds of trolley wheels bumping into the backs of my legs . I will always miss the smell of souvalakia cooking. Also the seasonal variations where Halva or baby chicks added yet another dimension of diversity . The market was a mission often but as the crowds faded it was easy to appreciate such hard work for selling their wares . Many stall holders had driven for miles from surrounding villages and some had actually grown their own produce . The hard working ethos shined through .
PromptVent Day 11
Market
It must have been fun to skate across the River Thames to shop at markets that were set up on the thick frozen ice. The winters of 1813 and 1814 were known as ‘The Little Ice Age’, when the old river froze solid. Frost Fairs were held as folk made the most of it. Whole oxes were roasted that fed up to 800 people and pop up pubs appeared so they could enjoy a few ales with their friends. Hopefully, there weren’t too many broken bones as they drunkenly slipped their way home. It is said that the last fair lasted for five days and included fox hunting and even an elephant was paraded up and down. Definitely severe cases of animal cruelty. Frost Fairs had been held before the 1800s on rare occasions. The Thames did freeze again in 1963 but only in parts and du to changes in the river architecture and global warming, it is unlikely to freeze again.