Shotover

A notice says these were saxon hunting woods. The same can probably be said for a lot of these lands, but here in Shotover, near Oxford, you can still believe it.
Trees that are fallen remain fallen and left to rot...
Trees hang out at all angles.

Good Friday

In the middle of Broad Street, Oxford, surrounded with tarmac, the martyr's cross is where Bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, and Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, were burnt at the stake for their beliefs.

Madam Tussauds

Famous people we met on a recent family visit to Madame Tussauds London ... Paper Wraps Stone!
Waterloo is not worth arguing about!
Its the blue cardie does it for me.
Taking Britney's Award before she notices.
That Hurts!
Oops, sorry Nicole!

Oxford Folk Festival - Morris

It was a bit of a suprise to pop into Oxford and find Morris Dancers.
But then I realised it was the Oxford Folk Festival and there were thirty or more different morris groups dancing.
I did enjoy watching this dance called the Belligerent Bluejay! It ended with them all throwing away their sticks in a final frenzy.

Istanbul Art Trip

My wife has just been on an art trip to Istanbul. It was rare chance for her to sketch Whirling Dervishes and Belly Dancers.
Whirling Dervishes
Belly Dancer
Street Scene
From a window.

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!

South Nutfield 6 - Roadsign

This signpost has changed. The number of fingers are the same but there has been a change of emphasize. The places are unchanged but the names given are quite different .

Crab Hill House -to- Crabhill House
Bletchingley, Godstone -to- Bletchingley
Outwood -to- Outwood, Smallfield
Redhill, Reigate -to- Redhill Aerodrome
Nutfield Stn, Nutfield -to- South Nutfield

Nutfield is part of Tandridge district council now, and so the emphasize is now on other places within that district rather than those outside where people passing through might really be wanting to go. So perhaps this is partly district council exclusivism and partly a desire to stop South Nutfield being used as a rat run. But the most curious change to me is the direction to South Nutfield, as this sign is in South Nutfield.

Do they no longer feel that they belong?