Merry Christmas everyone!

The belltower at St.Mary's, Redbourn where SWMBO has been ringing quite a lot over the festive period.
Have a great Christmas everyone, and thanks for reading this 396th post - and all the others!

Frozen pansies!

How do these plants survive being frozen to -10C or whatever?
Good icicles though?

Minus 10.4C

It was -10.4C last night but Poppy is quite happy in her rainbow coat - knitted by SWMBO.
She (Poppy that is) doesn't realise that it's supposed to be worn when she goes out.
Come to think of it, she hasn't even been out for quite some time...

Picturesque

Not our boat - but very picturesque all the same.

Night time in Westminster

I thought I'd try a few night time shots while I was waiting for SWMBO to finish her bellringing.
The combination of the cold (shaky hands) and the auto setting on the camera made it a bit difficult, but by resting the camera on railings or lamp posts to steady it, the results are just about acceptable.
Wouldn't it be nice to be a professional photographer who knew what he was doing, and what all those manual adjustments meant?

Last church of the day

This church stands in the 'front garden' of Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

Garden of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey.
Blimey, it was cold!

Saving Albert Bridge

Lots of major works going on to save Albert Bridge.
There is still pedestrian access over the river however - I tried it out.

More bellringing

We were actually up in London as SWMBO was doing some ringing with the Guild of Medical Ringers. The first church was Chelsea Old Church where Sir Thomas More rebuilt one of the chapels where he and his family worshipped regularly.

Chelsea 2

Looks like Mr & Mrs Shakespeare have moved to Chelsea.
Why can't they park their cars the right way round?
Priceless all the same.

Chelsea

This is "Boy on a Dolphin" by David Wynne (1975) which stands on the Chelsea embankment opposite Albert bridge. Rather than the sculpture, I think I'd prefer the car below...

Kensington

This is the famous (& expensive?) Bibendum restaurant in Kensington. The stained glass windows are copies of the originals and an appeal has gone out to locate them so they can be reinstated. Apparently they knew where they were until recently when they 'went missing'.

A rack of unused 'Boris Bikes'. We did see one in use during the day however.

Waterside Theatre Aylesbury

Last night we went to the new Aylesbury Waterside Theatre to see the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
The theatre has only been open for two months so we thought we should go and take a look.
As we arrived quite early, we went to The White Hart (Wetherspoons) across the road which was itself only five months old. Very impressive. Amazingly, I had some of my Wetherspoons vouchers with me so was able to get a discount of 50p per pint. The whole place was very comfortable and the food looked good too.
The theatre was 'splendid' with bars and toilets on all levels and very nice lighting in the foyer. There's a lot of wooden blocks used in the decoration so it looks a bit like a giant Jenga construction which could be about to topple over at any moment. The auditorium is very good with comfortable seating and (from what I could judge) good acoustics.
Although the stage seems large enough, my only criticism is that the proscenium arch is not really big enough! There were several members of the orchestra hidden from the audience, and I would assume that the sound of their instruments was also somewhat hidden from the audience.
Would we go again? Probably. It's a bit of a way to drive, especially in the winter months and at £24.50 the tickets are a little pricey. The main thing that puts me off is the £2 booking fee PER TICKET!

Redbourn fireworks 3

There we are. All over for another year.
It was a bigger and better display this year as we had been promised.
The weather was perfect with no wind at all.
Some years we get a donation made to the museum from the small profit made - fingers crossed.

Redbourn fireworks 2

The trouble with these organised displays is that you don't have the same fun you used to.
Years ago (when I was a boy!) almost every garden had their own display, and the first job on 6th November was to go round the garden and pick up all the dead rockets and retrieve the sticks - because they might come in useful, of course.
Now you have to go to Poundland and buy a huge pack of plant canes for £1 - how times change etc. etc. etc...

Redbourn fireworks

I usually watch the majority of the Redbourn firework display through the viewfinder of my camera - and this year was no exception.
What about a few posts showing some of my usual mediocre photos?