Out & About

Some of you might be missing the icy conditions we’ve become used to here in Britain. Well, there are some places in the world where that’s never a problem. This week marks the start of The World Ice Art Championships, a month-long international ice sculpture competition held annually in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Ice Alaska is one of the largest annual ice art competitions and attracts about 45,000 visitors from all over the world. For the first two weeks, spectators can view the sculptors at work, before they compete to win the opportunity to travel to Vancouver for the Winter Olympic Art Festival Ice Sculpting event in 2010.

If you’re attending this events, send us your photos or add a comment below.

Tomorrow is Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday as it’s officially known. So you’d better make sure you’ve got enough flour, eggs and milk to toss up a tasty treat.

If you’re feeling sporty, as well as hungry, there are also plenty of pancake races going on around the UK – including the Parliamentary Pancake Race in London. Head down to Victoria Tower Gardens at 10:15am to watch members of Parliament race against the members of the press.

Lastly, Shrove Tuesday marks the last day before lent, so let us know what you’re thinking of giving up this year.

It’s Friday… and what better way to celebrate than by planning a ridiculously fun weekend. Here’s our pick of the most exciting events coming your way tomorrow.

If you’re a real foodie, you’ll love the Santa Cruz Clam Chowder cook off in the USA. Arrive early at Santa Cruz beach to see the 40 competing teams concocting their creations, which are available to taste from lunchtime onwards. [Read more…]

Tomorrow sees the start of the Slaithwaite Moonraking Festival. Every year the village celebrates the 19th century tale of smugglers who were caught retrieving their loot from the local canal, but escaped arrest by claiming they were raking in the ‘fallen’ moon from the water. 

Traditionally, home-made lanterns made of willow and tissue paper are paraded around the village in a procession on Saturday night. This year’s theme is ‘Lunar Landings’, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first person to step on the Moon.

If you’ve been Moonraking before, send us your pictures. Or visit this year’s from 14-21 Feburary.

Valentine’s day is approaching fast. There are lots of gift ideas on our website, and you’ve got until midday on Wednesday to order in time for the big day. If you wanted some entertainment for the weekend as well, look no further. [Read more…]

The 37th annual Hong Kong Arts Festival is fast approaching and promises the best in international and local performing arts. A meeting place for creative minds, the festival hosts groundbreaking works of opera, theatre, music and dance, expanding the cultural horizons of both artists and audiences. [Read more…]

This weekend is your last chance to see the Forever Exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The V&A’s John Madejski Garden hosts the videowall installation, which projects graphic animations that are responding to an ever-changing soundtrack.

The installation comes from Universal Everything, a design studio of an ever-growing network of designers, artists, musicians, producers and programmers. Their digital design system will create unique sounds and images every day, forever. Well, until Sunday at least. Who knows what happens to it after that.

Chinese New Year is one of the most important holidays in the Chinese calendar. To celebrate the dawn of the year of the Ox, lots of events are taking place across the UK. On 1st February, there’s a traditional parade in London’s Trafalgar Square. There are also free events in Birmingham’s Chinese Quarter.

While if you’re further afield, there’s an event at Edinburgh’s National Museum of Scotland on 8th February, showcasing traditional Chinese music, dance, calligraphy, art and animation.

With celebrations going on all over the place, we didn’t want to miss out. So we’re offering free UK delivery to all our online customers this week. See our website for details. (Your order won’t be delivered by Ox though, van’s are much quicker.)

There’s bound to be a lot of celebrations across Scotland this weekend to mark Burns Night on 25th January. The event celebrates the birthday of Scottish author and poet, Robert Burns, best known for writing Auld Lang Syne.

A traditional Burns Supper usually consists of cock-a-leekie soup, haggis and Scotch whiskey. This year is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, so expect some extra special celebrations. To find out more about the event and the man himself, take a look here.