Bloggy the Beefeater!

 

So I managed to get hold of a new outfit for Bloggy. And something to add to his

growing collection of costumes. I can't remember who suggested it but one of 

our readers said that they'd like to see Bloggy all decked out in a Beefeater

Yeoman of the Guard outfit, the uniform of the Guards at The Tower of London.

And being such a crisp clear day it was the perfect opportunity to use The Tower

and Bridge as the perfect backdrop for a few pictures on Wednesday morning,

the very day just before our Covid National Lockdown which starts today (Thurs 5th).

Unfortunately the grounds of The Tower were sealed off to the public due to the 

current pandemic and only pre-booked ticket holders were being let in for tours

of the grounds, which was slightly disappointing as I was hoping to get some 

pictures of the real Yeoman Beefeaters.

But The Tower of London is a fascinating as well as historical fortress. It's hard

to believe that the central White Tower was first constructed in 1066 soon after the

Battle of Hastings. But of course the nearby Tower Bridge is not quite so old.

That was built and completed in 1886. 

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.