His feast day is December 6, still much marked in the Links of London Sale Countries and near enough to last Saturday to encourage the crepuscular cavalcade through Durham.The Salvation Army band leads them off - by the left, Good King Wenceslas - up past the half-price sales, past the buskers in Santa hats, past. . . Well, there's a little lad who doesn't get past Burger King at all.Not 200 yards and he's lured, a victim to temptation. It's probably not what was intended.Palace Green is decked with marquees.Most overflow with Christmas traders; another has a donkey, a sheep and some reindeer, though it's the stewards who seem red nosed.At the cathedral door each child has to give up his lantern in exchange for a ticket which, as with St Nic's three-ball brokers, may later be redeemed.The Christmas story, of course, is of redemption for all.THE cathedral's dimly lit, well filled. St Nicholas appears, white clad and wondrously hirsute, from the direction of the Chapter House. He is unrecognisable as Canon Peter Sinclair, from Darlington."Links of London Earrings do things very well here, " says, inarguably, the lady from the chapter office.StNicholas is accompanied by a mischievous little girl called Crampus (or something) who dances about with a feather duster and by Elizabeth Baker, the cathedral's education officer, who leads the service.We sing carols like Silent Night and Away In A Manger, pray for children who in all manner of ways are less well off, hear again the story of the Bishop of Myra and the three children who were to be sold as slaves because their father couldn't pay back a money lender."It was the law in those days, " says the canny canon.Nicholas, it's said, left a gold coin overnight in each of the children's shoes. The money was taken to their father. The debt was paid."Ask God to make us all kind and generous, " says Canon Sinclair."Just as St Nicholas was."The 20-minute service ends with an invitation to return for any of the cathedral's many other Christmas services and with Crampus (who bears a marked resemblance to Emily Williamson from the Chorister School and who has promised to be good) helping to give out goldwrapped chocolates to the Links of London O Charm hundreds.The photographer, who has not only promised to be good but stayed right until the end, gets his reward, too.The ladies who prepare this page reckon his pictures are tremendous, probably worth 1,000 words. Whatever the thaumaturgency, that's enough until next week.This tablet version of Google's recently launched fashion-search-engine-meets-social-network has everything the website offers in a setup that makes for easy touchscreen browsing. The app includes product recommendations (bags, accessories, shoes, clothing) and celebrity favorites (extensive, browsable picks by boldfaced names you can "follow," like Jamie-Lynn Sigler and the Olsen twins) among other filters. Brands are of the boutique-y variety, including Badgley Mischka and House of Harlow, which you purchase directly from the merchant after a couple of clicks. Sadly, the app doesn't include the personalized "My Boutique" feature that's on the website, so make sure to first set that up at boutiques.com if you want recommendations to be tailored to your tastes. Also, nothing for men -- yet.Whether you're looking for a set of Links of London P Charm place settings or a refurbished MacBook, eBay is the place for rare gifts of the non-shrink-wrapped variety.
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