Thicker than water

Snow snow snow... the city is transformed. Flying buttresses of cathedrals are traced out in white; wrought iron railings and slender rowan branches bear their own thickness of snow, like negative doubles laid over.

Yes, there were snowstorms to walk through, but today - before it turns to ice - the snow created a beautiful cityscape.

Yet families are kept separated, countries apart. Or kept together, but in the wrong county, figuring out how best to spend an unplanned Christmas on the spot. Plans are being made and adjusted and re-adjusted.

Thoughts of families enduring reminded me of a sculpture by the very fabulous Liam O'Neill. At the weekend I saw it dusted with snow for the first time. The white really outlined the four figures, harmoniously snuggled in together.

The sculpture is called 'Family'. Of course :-)

Back on the air

Caught up with family ever so briefly last week. And though we were mostly too busy playing/eating/talking to take pictures, I did take some snaps when we went to feed the swans...



Back in London, I scoped out the National Gallery's exhibition on Fakes, Mistakes and Discoveries, filled with the behind-the-scenes techie side of art, and the faking thereof. Very CSI :-)

The weekend was a perfect mix of sleep catch-up and venturing out into the Outside World: antiques and fecky shops on Northcote Road and Merton Abbey Mills Market. We caught the tail-end of Balham's Summer Festival, arriving in time for Imagine the Beatles. A gorgeous sight: London folk, young and old, smiling in weekend sunshine, blasting out the 'Nah nah nah na-na-na-nahs' of Hey Jude. As though summer would never end.



Alrightey then, time to put on Pot #2 and get back to wordey work :-)

Absolut Pleasure

Lovely evening with friends - we met at Waxy O'Connor's (quirky Irish bar), then on to Satsuma for a beautiful Japanese meal.



And then it was time for the Absolut Ice Bar. In a Ronseal kinda way, it's a bar, carved entirely from ice. And not simply carved, but artistically sculpted - within the ice are octopi and fisshies and coral. Even the drinks glasses are carved. Visitors are given a thermal cape and get 40 minutes to explore the place and sample the delights.



Emerging from the Ice Bar, life felt very warm indeed. Garlands of lights draped the street, giving Mayfair a positively Madeiran feel. We sat out in the sultry evening, chatting and laughing, savouring a zingy cosmopolitan. Then home, for it was a school night after all.

Lovely birthday. Thanks to my family and friends for the oodles of good wishes; you made the day supertreaty.

All my love XXX