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Diary – 2019 November
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All my diary pages going back to 2009
DRAWING & PAINTING:
2 November
The morning was very heavy rain, but by the afternoon it had stopped. We went to Blackheath Village for the firework display. As soon as we got off the train, we could hear very loud drumming music. Everyone was enjoying this drumming band in the high street. We made our way past All Saints Church and into the blackness of the heath. We kept to the paths where there were lamp posts but the inbetween areas were very dark.
We went to the fairground, very loud and full of neon lights. The crowds were increasing all the time. We made sure we trod carefully on the grass because of the downpours that morning. By the time we left an hour later it was getting a bit muddy underfoot.
Loud cheers went up when the fireworks started, with lots of noies of approval all the time.
Big explosions and a wonderful feathery starburst at the end, and everyone cheered and clapped again.
3 November
Another firework display in Victoria Park in north east London. The theme was the landing of men on the moon 50 years ago. There was music, songs and a poem narration.
We had the soundtrack of the lift-off countdown and then a big firework of the Saturn Five rocket lit up, with sparklers underneath for the flames. It rose slowly into the sky, pulled up by a giant crane. The show lasted 20 minutes and we all had a really good time. There were big crowds everywhere so it took longer to get back to the station.
4 November
Time for another inspection of the garden. The blackbirds are regularly eating the cotoneaster berries, which is why I have these bushes. The winter flowering jasmine is doing well this year.
I love it when the pond netting is covered in diamond drops! When I shake them off, the fish all come up for breakfast.
I went round with the camera to get some pictures of the brilliant leaves.
7 November
Today we went to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. This LED screen has ships and boats from all ages slowly travelling from right to left. The Seafarers room has some very big and very very old books of maps of the world. They are quite good representations for maps that are many hundreds of years old.
Lots of models of Tudor explorers' ships.
This case also has little models of people with all the supplies that would have been loaded on. There was a display of ships emblems and this one is my favourite.
We went into the Pacific Encounters room, with this giant wave made of wood. This is a stick map showing the positions of islands and curved sticks to show the currents. They were used so that the person could memorise the area before setting out to sea.
Then we went up the hill to the Royal Greenwich Observatory. We waited for the Time Ball to drop at 1 pm but it didn't drop! Here is the Shepherd Clock outside the Observatory, and at the base are the official measurements for yards, feet and inches, with a knob at each end on which to put the yardstick being checked.
The sun came out and we walked over to One Tree Hill with a good view over the city, and the colourful autumn trees.
9 November
Today is the Lord Mayor's Show. We saw blessing of the Mayor at St Paul's Cathedral, then nearby we watched some Morris dancers. After that we sat by the river to have our snack.
Then we waited nearby for the second leg of the parade to come past. That way there are no big crowds and everything is clear to take video of it all. We just love all the marching bands. They are spaced out between the other floats that their music doesn't get mixed up with each other.
Everything is very colourful in the parade. The truck has a model of Tower Bridge celebrating its 150th birthday.
These are the wicker figures of Gog and Magog near the front of the parade. They symbolise giant guardians of London.
https://lordmayorsshow.london/history/gog-and-magog
These chaps are dressed as muffins, and made us wish we had some hot buttered muffins right now! These men are "legal eagles" from the Worshipful Company of City of London Solicitors (=lawyers). They look quite stern, just what you want when you have a "case" to solve!
These people are dressed in fantastic costumes made from plastic rubbish collected in the last few weeks. Here is the purple "Binbot" made from 33 wheelie bins!
More rumbling and drumming.
When you see the big horse with the two big kettledrums, you know the golden coach is nearly here.
You can see the golden coach all year in the Museum of London.
Here is our Youtube video of the whole parade: https://youtu.be/3YJBcaonvf0
After the parade, we went into St Paul's Cathedral. There was organ music, a service of readings, and songs from the choir.
We saw this beautiful gold embroidered altar cloth in a glass case. The closer you look, the more detail you can see.
In contrast, our journey home was dull, grey and wet, but we were glad to be in the cosy train carriage most of the way home. This is the view from Blackfriars Station, which is on a bridge over the river. The red columns are the supports from the old Blackfriars Bridge.
13 November
We went to Kenley and walked up to Riddlesdown Common on top of the chalk hill. There were sheep resting under the trees. Some of them were Jacob's Sheep with splodgy dark marks. At the top was a good view over Kenley town and all the autumn trees.
This is the sheep drinking trough so maybe when we come back in summer, there will be sheep here. The grass was covered in thousands of these tiny stripy snail shells, looking like hailstones.
14 November
This is Sidcup Station. We noticed this old socket, left over from the days before trains had their destination on the front in lights. The station person would put a wooden board in the socket with the next train's destination on, then take it down after the train had left. That was very many years ago. We went on the train, and then a bus, to Gravesend. This is Gravesend clock tower.
This is the riverside park.
We had our snack by the river. The water was almost flat calm and light blue like the sky. The Thames is normally murky grey, choppy and swirling but not today. There was no breeze at all to disturb the water. The container ship passing sent a few gentle waves towards the shore.
There are lots of seagulls and swans here. There are big flocks of pigeons who sit on a nearby roof until someone throws some bread to the swans then they all take off together and swoop down.
16 November
While waiting for our train at Lewisham Station, we watched the River Quaggy flowing underneath the platform. Quaggy means muddy, as in the word quagmire.
We went to the Regent's Canal near King's Cross Station. This is Gas Holder Park, a small area with a circle of mirrored steel uprights with seats beneath. The mirrored ceiling of it is reflecting the grass area below. Some of the other gas holder frames have been converted into luxury flats.
We had a look at St Pancras Lock and saw some Eurostar trains coming and going.
These are the little shops near Coaldrops Yard, with lovely coloured Christmas trees. They are not real trees. They don't really need any further decorations!
We like the fountains in Coaldrops Yard, as they play tunes with the splashing water, sounding like marching feet or drums, in differing sequences at different times. I think they may be turned off when the weather is freezing, though.
17 November
This is the Holborn Viaduct which carries one road over the other.
These beasties are on the top, guarding the traffic and everything else.
We went to visit the rooftop conservatory at the Barbican Centre. It is an arts, music and theatre centre. The conservatory wraps around the theatre backdrop tower and covers it up with plants.
I like these Christmas cactus, they are easy to grow and we used to have some years ago.
Our favourite part is the ponds. There is a slightly murky double pond with the two ponds joined by a small "alley" waterway with a bridge over. Then there is the large clear gravelly pond near the cafe, which is really lovely, as you can see everything.
After our visit, we went along London Wall Road. This is one of the Salter's Hall Gates, dating from 1887, displayed in a small garden area between the big buildings.
We went to Leadenhall Market to see the Christmas decorations. Everything was closed so it was a bit empty, but we had a good time looking in all the shop windows.
I just love these Father Christmas stacking cups. These peephole gift bags give a hint of what is inside, unless of course the person has wrapped it in tissue paper.
Then we went to the Tower of London and watched the skating for a bit. By the riverside Tower Bridge was all lit up and the river was sparkling with all the lights from the buildings and riverside illuminations.
18 November
We have all been busy making a knitted park and knitted beach. The Tiny Teds were very excited as it is their own indoor playground. Brown Teddy has taken his brown Tiny Ted for a paddle and if you go to the knitting page, you can see what is under the waves!
23 November
Today we went on a journey to the Midlands. We got up in the dark and caught our train long before daylight.
This is our train at Kings Cross and it is still dark. As it became daylight, Brown Teddy noticed how flat the land is northwards of London.
Lots of flooded fields after all the heavy rain. We saw several fields full of solar panels.
We all went to a lovely garden centre and saw all the Christmas things. The lights are our favourites.
There is an area of farm animals for children to see. The peacock was in the pig's pen eating his dinner.
Back inside in the warm is this cold polar scene.
We just love the model villages every time, and all the chocolate lollipops! We had a wonderful day and got home quite late, on several trains and buses.
24 November
Tiny Ted now has a Christmas coat to wear during December, no doubt he will keep it on until spring or until someone makes him another one. He has decided to sleep in the Ipod Bag, he says all the colours are much warmer to sleep in!
27 November
A day of sorting, dusting and tidying. I got out my treasure sandwich boxes, to remind myself what I have, lots of interesting little things. I found these Christmas colouring books that I made last year, which I had forgotten about. They need some more colouring in.
28 November
I am very glad this lovely collared dove has come to our garden, he is quite bold to get the food from amongst the bigger wood pigeons, and of course he gets a few pellets thrown his way, so he can get them before the others. I hope he remembers where to come when it gets snowy. On our train travels, we passed the little rock garden on Elmstead Wood Station, where the rockery has all these little fairy houses made of coffee cups.
We went to London Bridge and then through Hays Galleria area, where we saw these Snowman figures along the riverside. The north pole star one looks like he has had a hit from a snowball, though!
Someone was feeding the swans and geese. This big crow was hopping round, hoping to get a bit. The lady threw him a piece, he ate most of it but the last bit dropped down into the river.
We went to Somerset House. This display is in the lower foyer, and the patterns on the glass keep changing and moving. We watched the skating for a while. The ice was wet, which is good news for skating speed but not if someone falls and has to carry on with wet trouser legs!
Before getting our train home, we had a look at the Christmas Market on the South Bank.
19 November
Today we are at Waterloo Station, which is all new experiences for Tiny Ted. We went to Kingston, where there are these wonderful fish pictures in the stone floor. Kingston has three fish on its emblem.
This is the Bentalls shopping centre and it was very busy.
Then we walked over the bridge and on to Hampton Court. We decided not to get the bus for the short journey but walk through Bushy Park. This cattle grid is to stop the deer from escaping the park.
It was a long walk but pleasant in the autumn sunshine. We eventually came to the Long Water which has big fountains at the far end.
Lots of the trees have mistletoe in them. The deer were all over one side of the park.
We sat in Hampton Court Rose Garden for our sandwiches. When someone threw just one little piece to one hooded crow, we were suddenly surrounded by about twenty of them. They were quite brave to come nearer when some bits fell on the path. This is a devoted pair as they stayed together the whole time.
Lastly we watched the skating for a while, and it was getting quite cold. We did not have to wait long for our train to come in, and we were able to sit in the warm for a while, before the train went back out again, to central London.
30 November
Today we went to the Petts Wood Christmas Carnival. Amongst all the usual gift and food stalls was this wonderful layout by the Orpington & District Model Railway Society. There were lots of mesmerised children watching everything very intently!
Lots of stalls and rides, music and crowds.
At 5 pm was the switch on of the Christmas lights and the tree lights, and then a firework display, which we watched from the railway bridge.
We really enjoyed the music from the band on the stage, singing good old sing-along tunes that everyone knows.
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