Changing Change

When the competition was first announced for redesigning our coins I fully expected to hate the result. The brief was to come up with something which better reflected a "modern Britain" so I was anticipating something trite and trying far too hard.

I have to say that I like them. The split design is innovative without trying too hard and means we can retain a degree of consistent heritage with the heraldic imagery we've had on our coins for the last ever.

It's also kind of fun that the press and others are already having fun with the images whether that's referring to the new Pound Coin design as the "Jigsaw Box" or nicknaming a Twenty Pence piece as a "Lion's Arse". The nicknames are something which has been lacking since decimalisation in 1971 so I hope that some stick, however crass.

As ever change is not without some controversy. It's a shame that there's no specific design for Wales as while we lose the old Two Pence Prince of Wales feathers. Britannia's loss is something else which some papers have been wailing about. However - the existing coins are not being withdrawn. They can last for decades so Britannia Fifty-pences will be around for a long while yet. I'd also be surprised if we don't end up with Britannia appearing again. Perhaps on a redesigned Two Pound coin using the brilliant new Britannia design currently appearing on the Mint's collector's coin for an ounce of silver. One thing which does puzzle (rather than bother) me is the fact that words have been chosen for the value in each case rather than figures. It will rely on everyone using them knowing English, at least for those few words.

Here we go a wassailing

I'm not really one for New Year's resolutions, but I think I'll make a small exception - I really must keep up with this blogging lark a lot more...

Anyway. Christmas is over for another year and to officially mark the occasion a bunch of us joined many hundreds of others on the South Bank of the Thames for Twelfth Night festivities performed by the Lions Part company.

Starting with the Green Man of holly coming from a cutter on the Thames, we the crowd were then led in the traditional wassails or toasting of the people, river and nearby Globe Theatre to bring luck in the coming year.

With a golden biscuit (gingerbread sprinkled with gold glitter) as an interval snack we were led next to the Mummers play. This was a strange mix of old stories and music interspersed with modern jokes and a cast of characters ranging from old Father Christmas and Saint George to the villains Beelzebub and Turkey Sniper. By this point Messrs. 0 tra la la?, TDB and M decided they couldn't see much through the crowds and accidentally "fell into the pub". W and I soldiered on though and were treated to Saint George's fight with Turkey Sniper, his resurrection by tooth extraction!

More images from the festivities are here on Flickr.

Nominative Determinism

I recently dug out a book on local history for where I live. The very first paragraph has it that one interpretation of the name Sydenham is "the drunkard's settlement".

Go fig!