Noël á Nantes.

Regent Street tries its best, but has no hope of matching the festivities that can be found in a certain little shed on Rue des Friches, Nantes.

Firstly, there's the tree. The label in the shop reliably informed me that it was a five-foot tree for 5.50€. Upon getting it home, however, and eagerly opening the box, it turned out to be about two feet tall. I assembled it and put it on the floor, where it's flimsy branches barely reached my knee. Pathetic. Luckily, with a bit of straggly tinsel, some lights and some deceptive photography, it doesn't look too bad: (the pictures all look better if you click on them)



I found these little fellows in Ikea. They're amazing. I think they're made from wool and stuffed with something or other. I bought a pack of ten of them, and hung them all over the tree, where they all look very content and snuggly among the branches:



On the wall opposite the tree, there's the shelving unit which has been adorned with more tinsel and lights. Battery powered lights from Wilkinson's in Horsham, at that. They only cost £1.99 - bargain! The trouble is, all the lights are LED things, so when you turn off the proper ceiling light, you can't see a thing. Christmas is all a bit impractical, really.



The Christmas lights and markets are all up-and-running in the centre of Nantes now. I'm going into the centre tomorrow night to see them, and will be sipping mulled wine in the (fake) snow to the sound of an accordion... Couldn't do that in Regent Street.