Changing Seasons

EARLY MORNING ON HAMPSTEAD HEATH

So the Seasons move on and we're almost into early

Winter. And yet hard to believe that next week they're

switching on the London Carnaby Street Christmas lights.

Below are a couple of seasonal gifs, now that we're

into Halloween week. The second gif is from Stephen

King's horror drama 'Salem's Lot.'

 

Below: Some familiar gifs from a beautiful

tumblr called AUTUMN COZY

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On a recent rummage in a local Charity shop, I found half a dozen vintage plates

that were all part of the Beryl Woods Ware classic English crockery set. I didn't

think that they actually still existed. So I quickly went on to e-bay and low and

behold, they were still very much available and so I sent off for more, giving myself

quite a little collection now.

Obviously there's a nostalgic connection here because growing up in our home

this was the crockery set we used. And they were still in circulation up to the 1970's.

Originally first brought out in the 1940's and often seen in Schools, Church Halls as

well as many homes, they can still be seen today in many classic 1970 tv sitcom

repeats, as can be seen below on the set of 'On The Buses.'

As it stands I now own several dinner plates, some side plates, several tea cups,

a few cereal/soup bowls, a couple of egg cups and a sugar bowl and not forgetting

some saucers.

Of course back then as kids the only downside was when your turn came up to wash

or dry the dishes while having to miss out on your favourite tv show.

More fascinating information can be seen at..

THE VINTAGE KITCHEN STORE

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I was pleased to pick up this laminated and now framed map of the London

Underground. It allows me to familiarize myself calmly without having to

view the one in the local noisy Station while people are rushing about.

It seems like a must have in the home when you only use public transport.

I was hoping to visit more out of London places the Summer just gone. But I found 

myself juggling with regular Hospital visits along with bad weather or just too hot

weather. So I'm holding over a visit to a very exciting and historical City for next Summer.

But clearly a highlight last Summer was that nostalgic visit to Elstead in Surrey.

My little garden plot at the side of our house put on a good colourful show this Summer.

In fact there wasn't very much to do except the daily watering during the warmer periods.

Much of the bedding and flowers were planted the Summer before and simply came back

this year.

The only plant I had a problem with was the Hydrangea which seemed to spout more

leaves than actual flowers. I think this was due to my cutting it back last Spring, which

I wont repeat next Spring.

That big blue plant trough I made back in 2021 is still holding up. I literally put it all together

using lengths of timber from an old wooden pallet.

HALLOWEEN!

A few indoor pictures from this weekend's Halloween.

PICTURES I WISH I HAD TAKEN

Here's a wonderful Flikr page that I recently stumbled upon.  Called 'We Love England'  it

features some quite breathtaking images of our country.  Admittedly most of the pictures

here were captured in some of our most popular rural areas.  And it's even more understandable

now why England and the rest of Britain has always been a magnet for travelers.

I particularly love that top image taken up in The Lake District. Imagine being lucky enough 

to have that spectacular view outside your cottage window. It does slightly remind me of the

wild and hilly areas down in West Cornwall just outside St Ives. And as much as I'd love to live

in one of these beautiful rural places, I think I would always miss the busyness of our bustling

capital London, the place I was born.

For more of these wonderful photographs visit...

WE LOVE ENGLAND ON FLIKR 

Above:  Thatched Cottages - Tenpenny Cottage

Welford on Avon, Warwickshire.

( Picture by Andrew S. Brown ).

Above:  A Winter Sky and Frost in Oxford.

Oxford South Park by Oxford Brookes

Above:  A Frosty Winter Morning.

The River Devon in Hawton, Nottinghamshire.

( Picture by Mandy Williams ).

Here's a young Austrian Youtuber called Vanessa who's clearly fascinated by

England and all Englishness. The very subject dominates her youtube channel.

And in her video below she tells us what her favourite 7 things are that she

loves most about living in England.

I wont tell you what those 7 things are as I don't want to put off the busy bees

out there from skipping the video. Just to say that Vanessa's 7  favourite likes

didn't surprise me at all.

But for someone who is actually Austrian, she has a very strong American accent.

Vanessa's Youtube Channel

PIECE OF CAKE ENGLISH

So now it's official. England joins France and Germany for a full Lockdown. And our one is

due to last a minimum of 4 weeks, officially marking the arrival of the Covid 19 Second Wave.

This of course will take us then just 4 weeks up to Christmas. So it's going to be a strange old

festive time this year with many London events still undecided what to do this year.

One suspects that many of them will follow both the organizers of Somerset House Ice Skating

and Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland and just cancel.

But I cant help thinking that a Summer of hedonism plus the Government bringing in that

Super Saturday on the 4th of July really didn't help things along. And how British 

families chose to take their annual European holidays in the middle of a global pandemic, 

is just beyond me.

Am I perhaps being over pessimistic in saying that this pandemic wont be gone next year.

It's clearly going to be with us for some time yet.

Above:  Last night's Halloween Full Moon.

What a thrill it was to watch last night's Halloween Full Moon rise just outside my window

now that I have an unobstructed view of the night sky. And all thanks to the recent cutting 

down of a monstrously tall and wide leylandii tree just two gardens away from us.

What was notable about this particular Full Moon is that it was the first Full Moon since 1944

to appear on Halloween Night.

And it's just as the Moon first emerges on the horizon that it looks at it's largest as well as

looking somewhat gold. But as it gathers height in the night sky it brightens to a silvery 

white colour as you can see in my picture below which I took a couple of hours later.

Despite being made around 40 years ago, Tobe Hooper's classic horror flick

Salem's Lot is one of those rare horror movies that still packs a punch today.

So I couldn't resist making a gif of one of it's highlight scenes where Mr Barlow 

the Monster, makes a visit to the local Jail in search of fresh prey.

I've watched friends jump out of their skins when looking at this particular scene.

In fact I just watched it again on youtube with the sound on fairly high on my

headphones and it frightened the friggin life out of me.

Go on.  I dare you to do the same.

You can catch this scene on Youtube HERE.