Early October in Hyde Park....And British Summertime Ends

Above is once again my most recent video taken on a visit to Hyde Park earlier

this month, although the video cuts out after a couple of minutes being that

the photo card I used ran out of recording space.

What's odd though is that the Lumix Panasonic camera that I've used these last

few years, always had a video camera facility but I never took advantage of it

until this year. And clearly the quality and sharpness is a great improvement

compared to some older videos I made on my phone. Of course this short video

above was all done impromptu and hand held unlike the videos of 'The Mill Hill

Village Pond' and the 'Brent River' where every scene was pre-planned along with

the use of a camera tripod...in true David Lean style!

It's just a shame that in 2021, our second year of Covid, that I haven't been very creative

on this blog, preferring to play it cautious by avoiding crowd gatherings outdoors.

We can only hope that once we get through this approaching Winter that things might

improve next year.

And so with the official change of season this weekend we traditionally 

light the blog's fireplace.

Below: The Serpentine Hyde Park

Laying the Seeds for Next Summer

Our early October weather has been unseasonably generous this past couple of weeks.

And on one or two given days you might have even been mislead into thinking that

Summer was on it's way back around again. Days I often call false Spring days. But no,

Autumn is definitely here, looking at the burgeoning and rapidly spreading red

Virginia Creeper Vine all over our neighbour's back gardens.

So these are just a few pictures of our new side of house garden plot. Something that

has been an ongoing Summer project. And yet for early October it is looking unseasonably

colorful after adding in some Pink Cyclamen as well as some late Summer Chrysanthemums.

Although our hanging basket of Mint Herbs isn't being fooled by the season change and

has started to thin out a bit.

And probably the last job to do out there is to plant our Daffodil bulbs for some Spring

colour come next March or April when I hope to return to the Mill Hill Garden Centre with

some fresh ideas and some new plans for next Summer.  

Above is the center piece plant container that I built. And I dread to think how much

all this timber would have cost if I had bought it from the big Homebase Store in Finchley Road.

But thankfully I managed to retrieve it all for free from a large discarded

wooden pallet. 

Above and below as predicted, the rampant spreading of the Virginia Creeper Vine

has turned into an Autumn red.

Speaker's Corner Hyde Park

On Sunday I took a stroll down to Hyde Park and Speaker's Corner on a busy London

day that saw the return of our annual London Marathon where huge crowds turned

out to support the runners.

Of course Speaker's Corner was a bit of a no go area during the days of our lockdowns.

But I was pleased to see that things have quietened down and are back to normal.

But it's clear to see the changes at Speaker's Corner compared to the days I first visited

there when I first moved to London. There were some real characters. Speakers that

would command huge crowds, unlike today. And they would happily joust with all the

hecklers.

I remember how American tourists would regularly be shocked and outraged by

all the antics that took place there, while at the same time enjoying every minute of

what could only be described as pure theatre. And when you arrived there and saw all the

groups of clowns and hecklers, you knew that you were in for a good time. And it was a time

when all subjects and talking points were covered. But today Speaker's Corner seems to be

about one thing only, and that is the clash of East and Western religious ideologies.

Unfortunately a huge downpour of rain brought my filming there to an end so I moved

on down for another visit to The Serpentine for more picture taking.