Otmoor

Otmoor is a nature reserve a few miles north east of Oxford.
It is an area of wet meadows and reedbeds,
maintained by the RSPB (Royal Society for Protection of Birds). Lovely to go there on a day like today when white clings to everything. Better still when hundreds and thousands of starlings congregate and fly together before dusk.

A house with a view

My sister moved into a house with an amazing view over Bristol about two years ago. It needed and still needs a lot of work doing.
It has been a lot of hard work for her and her son.
Below them the Wells Road curves round with lights blazing towards Templemead Station.

This is my Great Great Grandfather who was born in a farmhouse on this same hill in 1837. My sister knew none of this when she first moved there. She was born in Leicester, moved to Surrey, then lived in places as diverse as Liverpool, Cumbria, Belize, Tobago, and finally Bristol - living on the same hill as her Great Great Grandfather, and Great Great GrandMother: Daniel and Eliza.

Cabot Circus Bristol

The Cabot Circus shopping centre in Bristol opened a few months ago.
We got there quite late when the crowds had gone.
The Christmas decorations were on a big scale.

Just click on the images to see them big. The last one needs it to get half an idea of the scale of the place.

Missed the fireworks

We should have gone direct to the viewing area, and not looked at the other sites.
crystal shops like this...
, party shops...
, lights
,more lights...

In the end when we did get to a tube station, an announcement kept repeating 'The viewing area for the fireworks is full. There will be no more admissions.'

We drove back to home just in time to hear Auld Lang Syne being sung in East Saint Helen's Street. Happy 2009!