Happy Boxing Day to the Commonwealth countries of the British Empire. For those who are not acquainted with Boxing Day, from someone who often wondered why our Canadian neighbors held boxing matches on the day after Christmas, I am ready to admit the error of my ways.

After making friends with Canadian snowbirds in Arizona and taking some trips across our northern border, I learned the truth about Boxing Day. It is a public holiday in the United Kingdom and many other Commonwealth countries, including Australia, Canada, and New Zealand on December 26th. Disclaimer: Being an American Revolutionary, I am a British traitor. I won’t guarantee that the information I gleaned from the web about Boxing Day is accurate. Please correct any errors you find in the comments.

In honor of Boxing Day, I am featuring images captured from various journeys to the few countries of the Commonwealth that I have had the pleasure of visiting. I begin the photo gallery with a visit to Niagara Falls where three major waterfalls on the Niagara River separate Canada from the United States. The image above was captured from the top of Skylon Tower, an observation tower at Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

Ontario and Newfoundland are especially fond of celebrating Boxing Day with an ancient tradition called Mumming. In some places, mumming takes the form of a folk play or farce, a lighthearted performance that brings laughter and joy during the Twelve Days of Christmas. In Canada, however, mumming is characterized by its playful pranks and elaborate costumes. Groups of mummers, their faces hidden behind disguises, roam neighborhoods, engaging in playful antics and surprising unsuspecting residents.

Boxing Day is a day when people traditionally give gifts to those who are less fortunate, such as servants and tradespeople. It’s also a day when people watch or play sports, such as football or rugby, and eat leftovers from Christmas dinner.

Another observation tower is in the nearest major city in Canada to us in North Dakota, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Winnipeg is some 220 miles (356 km) from Fargo. In the last few years, we’ve made a few trips across the border to Winnipeg and to other cities north of the Great Lakes. One of the most impressive places to visit in Winnipeg is the Human Rights Museum. We spent a full afternoon there and finished our museum visit at the top of the tower for some beautiful views of the city.

Near Winnipeg, Lower Fort Garry is now a popular tourist destination. Visitors can explore the fort’s buildings, which have been restored to their 1850s appearance. Several interpretive exhibits tell the story of the fort and its role in Canadian history.

But why is it called “Boxing Day”? Some say it’s because people used to give boxes of food and gifts to their servants on this day. Others say it’s because of the “Christmas box,” which was a box of money or gifts that employers gave to their employees.

Near the Tower of London, Tower Bridge crosses the Thames River. The iconic bridge is often confused with the previous London Bridge which is now in Arizona (long story.) Tower Bridge opened in 1910 with great celebrations.

On Boxing Day, traffic on the bridge often consists of shoppers wishing to take advantage of deep discounts offered by merchants, or maybe they are on their way to one of the many sporting events like horse racing, rugby, or cricket matches. I imagine that the UK embraces this post-Christmas holiday with warmth, cheer, and a touch of British eccentricity.

The arch in the image above allows rail traffic to pass above the city street in this area northwest of the Tower of London. There are many restaurants and pubs in this neighborhood. It was a quiet evening when I took a photo walk along this street.

Boxing Day is celebrated on December 26, the same day as Saint Stephen’s Day, a Western Christian feast day that commemorates the first Christian martyr. Eastern Christianity celebrates the day on December 27. Saint Stephen was one of the seven deacons chosen by the early Christian community in Jerusalem to distribute food and aid to the poor and needy.

Over the years of cruising the Caribbean, we’ve visited two island members of the British Commonwealth. Early in the morning, our ship arrived for our visit to Tortola in the eastern Caribbean. They once said the sun never sets on the British Empire, we’ve yet to visit Australia or New Zealand where the sun was most certainly shining when this image was captured. In Australia, Boxing Day is the second-busiest shopping day of the year, after Black Friday.

When the sun rises on Tortola’s Boxing Day, many restaurants offer special Boxing Day menus featuring traditional Caribbean dishes. By the time nightlife comes alive, Boxing Day celebrations often feature live music from reggae bands to steel drums.

Another Commonwealth island is Grand Turk in the Caribbean. Apparently, there isn’t a lot to do on the island except go to the beach. The day we were there, two cruise ships disgorged thousands of passengers. From my perspective walking along the pier, we decided we’d go shopping instead. Maybe we could pick up a special gift for Boxing Day. The islands celebrate Boxing Day in typical Caribbean style. In the Bahamas, for example, Junkanoo Carnival is a multi-day celebration held every Boxing Day through New Year’s Day. Junkanoo is a highly anticipated annual celebration.

In Nova Scotia, Boxing Day is much more relaxed than much of the rest of the Commonwealth. The holiday is a time to unwind after the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season. Shopping on Boxing Day is apparently not a “thing” in the province. Both Christmas Day and Boxing Day are designated retail closing days in Nova Scotia, which means you can expect almost every retail outlet to be shut down for the two days. If you must do something to celebrate the holiday, the Boxing Day Dip in the icy cool waters of the province will probably suffice.

Boxing Day, in French-speaking Montreal is known as le lendemain de Noël. The city celebrates Boxing Day with retail sales events, outdoor winter activities, and continuing the festive spirit of the holiday season.

Just a few steps outside our Holiday Inn, a pedestrian mall features shops and stores catering to Chinese residents and tourists alike. Coming off our Transatlantic cruise still missing our lost luggage, we didn’t have nice warm jackets like most of the people we saw. Our outdoor visit was limited by our ability to withstand the cold in only the replacement clothes purchased in warm and sunny Rio de Janeiro. By the way, I don’t know how to translate Boxing Day into Chinese in any dialect. Sorry.

For my friends and readers who live in the Commonwealth, I wish you a Happy Boxing Day, in whatever way you celebrate it. Oh, I almost forgot my Boxing Day gift for our Canadian neighbors. I hope regifting is OK. I am regifting Justin Bieber to Canada. Enjoy.

John Steiner

London, England.

One of the first things we noticed on our first visit to London was the iconic red phone booths that have become an instantly recognizable sign of British telephone systems. Like the box in the image above, in the age of the ubiquitous cellular telephone, many of the boxes have been repurposed, in this case, to become an artistic floral design booth.

According to Sir Gordon Bennett’s website here, the original design first appeared in 1921, but the boxes now found are typical of a later design released in 1935. Though popular now as a British icon, there was some controversy, especially in more rural areas where the boxes were eventually painted in more muted colors befitting the landscapes in which they were placed.

On our walk about London, we passed several of the repurposed phone boxes, but this one near Hyde Park contains a functioning telephone. As I approached the box to check it out, I imagined it was another non-working symbol of an age gone by.

Inside the box, I found a more modern design phone than I expected. The heavy-duty telephone features the ability to accept credit cards as well as coins. Today, the red boxes are here to stay, but with many and varied functions, not just decorations as in the opening photo. In my research for this post, I found an article discussing the varied ways these iconic boxes have been repurposed.

The red phone box will likely continue to play a role in British culture, even as its primary function as a public call box diminishes. The boxes are a reminder of a bygone era, and they have a certain charm and nostalgia that appeals to many people. The red phone box may eventually become a purely decorative object, but it is also possible that it will find new ways to be useful in the 21st century.

On this All Hallows’ Eve, a night of magic, when ghosts and goblins roam, it is a time to let loose and have some fun and leave your fears at home.

John Steiner

London, England.

A quick note for Cellpic Sunday followers. This weekend, we are visiting friends and out taking fall photos. I will likely be behind in checking this post for comments and shared links, but I will be responding as usual if a bit tardy. Now, on to the topic for today…

Shortly after visiting Buckingham Palace (we didn’t get in, the King was in residence), we walked around the area. As we traveled down Birdcage Walk across from Saint James’s Park, we spotted two mounted police officers. There was a bit of a line of cars backed up behind the officers as the opposing lane had some traffic. As this photo was taken, the first car in line had the turn signal on and was just getting ready to pass the officers.

The Metropolitan Police (The Met) have a long history of mounted patrols. The Mounted Branch of The Met boasts an extensive and illustrious heritage tracing its origins to 1760. Its origin was primarily aimed at addressing the challenge posed by highwaymen in the city of London.

The mounted branch is a close-knit team with a wide range of responsibilities. They conduct high-visibility patrols in London, which helps to deter crime and make the public feel safer. They also escort the military and the Royal Household in central London, which is a key counter-terrorism role. Additionally, they play a vital role in anti-violence and priority crime initiatives across London.

They also engage with the community, which helps to build positive relations with hard-to-reach communities. The Mounted Branch also specializes in crowd control at sporting events, demonstrations, public order events, and state ceremonial occasions such as Trooping the Colour. Finally, they care for and maintain the horses and tack, which is essential for their work.

The high vantage point and versatility of Mounted Branch officers make them a valued police resource.  The Mounted Branch has a horse strength of approximately 110, with 117 police officers, plus police staff across seven sites. A normal tour of duty for a Mounted Branch officer consists of a patrol of three to four hours. You can find more information about the Mounted Branch here.

About the photo: This 12,000 x 9,000-pixel image was captured with my Samsung S20U. I had lots of pixels to play with so I started by cropping it into a pseudo-panoramic image. It was lightly raining and the skies were shrouded in clouds. To emphasize the hazy nature of the atmosphere, I used Adobe Lightroom to create a gradient mask from the upper left to approximately the middle of the image diagonally. That put the sky and trees in the right background in the gradient area. I then used the dehaze function to actually increase the haze by moving the slider left instead of right.

From there, I exported the file to Luminar Neo and tweaked the image with structure. I noticed just a slight amount of motion blur in the image so I used the Supersharp tool with “Motion blur” checked to increase the sharpness of the image. You can click on the image above to view it in 2K HD via my Flickr site.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s acceptable as well. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, and, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

London, England.

Kensington Palace is a royal residence in London, England. It is located in Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The palace has been a residence of the British royal family since the 17th century and is currently the official London residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, The Duke and Duchess of Kent, and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent are also based in the palace’s royal apartments.

Shortly after William and Mary assumed the throne as joint monarchs in 1689, they began searching for a residence better suited for the comfort of the asthmatic William, as Whitehall Palace was too near the River Thames, with its fog and floods, for William’s fragile health. In the summer of 1689, William and Mary bought the property, then known as Nottingham House, from the Secretary of State Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham, for £20,000.

William and Mary commissioned Christopher Wren to remodel the house, and the work was completed in 1696. The palace was renamed Kensington Palace in their honor. You can find out more about the history of Kensington Palace here.

Kensington Palace is a popular tourist destination, and it is open to the public for tours. The palace is also home to a number of museums and galleries, including the Orangery, where you can relax for an afternoon cup of tea. Don’t expect to see any of the royal family and their apartments are obviously excluded from the tours.

The statue at the main gate of Kensington Palace is a statue of Queen Victoria. It was sculpted by Victoria’s fourth daughter Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, and erected in 1893. The statue is made from white marble on a Portland stone base.

The statue of Queen Victoria at the main gate of Kensington Palace depicts her at the age of 18, wearing a long gown and a crown. She is seated on a pedestal, with her right hand resting on a globe. The statue is located next to the Princess Diana Memorial Park near the main gate of Kensington Palace. Commissioned by a committee to be a gift to the people of London, the Queen’s daughter submitted the work anonymously. The presentation was unveiled on the occasion of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887.

About the photo: One might say it was a typical London day when we visited the park. It didn’t rain, but the clouds looked like they might decide to let loose with a shower. Though I captured several images of the palace, I decided to feature the statue of Queen Victoria at the main gate with the palace in the background. I made it a panorama so as to include the entire moat around the statue.

Captured with my Samsung S20U, I put together two images from within Lightroom Classic using the Panorama tool and then after basic edits, sent it off to Luminar Neo for final adjustments, all minor tweaks. Click on the image to view it in 2K HD on my Flickr site.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s acceptable as well. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, and, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner