In Between Days

I love the relaxed days in-between Christmas and New Year's Eve, when the world is in slow-motion, particularly in London, where the contrast between this time and everyday life is so marked. 

And so I share with you some glimpses of these past few days.

Dulwich and Forest Hill on the twenty-seventh:

Somerset House terrace on the twenty-eighth:

Perambulations around Clerkenwell on the twenty-ninth: 

And now the build-up to the end of 2013/beginning of 2014 begins...

Wishing you all a very happy New Year.

Christmas Come and Gone (Happy Christmas to You)

Hope all my lovely readers had a very happy Christmas and are enjoying the Boxing Day wind-down. 

Now, after counting down the last few days to Christmas (here and here), in all the excitement and busyness of the day itself, I didn't manage to get a photo of my actual Christmas Day outfit. Oops! Rest assured, it was red and green, despite the fact that my original dress plans were superseded when I decided to rug up warm instead, especially with a Christmas stroll on the cards. So I ended up in a jumper and wool skirt, rather than the resplendent 1980s party dress I was intending to wear... 

However, with pen, pencils and paper, and leisurely Boxing Day time, I decided to make up for my lack of photographs and sketch you a cartoon Christmas greeting and interpretation of my planned but unworn outfit, with a tree much larger than the one I actually have. The joys of artistic licence.

Happy Christmas again, dear readers!

It's Just Around the Corner Now...

There's absolutely no mistaking it, those Christmassy colours are out in full force now...

Just one more sleep to go...

Outfit details - 

Cardigan - gift from a friend

Skirt - Beyond Retro

Belt - with dress from Sunday Up Market, Spitalfields
Hair ribbon - John Lewis haberdashery

Hat - charity shop, via my mother

She's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

The festively coloured outfits are out...

Two sleeps to go...

Outfit details -

Necklace: second-hand market at Wilton's Music Hall

Cardigan - United Colors of Benetton 

Skirt - Beyond Retro

Shortest Day

The shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, the first day of winter... 

However you look at it, the day has a wonderfully cozy feel to it, aided this year by the rain that's been falling all day here in London. I went out with my umbrella for a wee walk, which took me up to Angel in the quickly fading daylight hours. 

While I was there, I snapped some pictures of the Christmas lights, which are simply bursts of small lights shimmering up in the bare, wintery branches of the trees. Islington have had the same decorations up for the past three Christmases at least, and I just love them. They are so simple and pretty, and I rather approve of the fact that they've found a good thing and stuck with it. 

Second Sunday

Today was one of those lovely Sundays, with the weather cool (but not too cold) and bright as I headed down to meet a friend and her dog at Columbia Road Market. I picked up a Christmas tree - my first one ever since I moved out of my family home! - and then we headed to the Owl and the Pussy Cat pub for lunch and mulled wine.

My wee tree (and it is a wee tree, for my wee flat) is now up and decorated - an appropriate activity for the second Sunday in Advent.

The first Sunday in Advent involved a meal in the pub as well, come to think of it. The Cat and I headed to Kew for his birthday outing, which involved a scrumptious roast in The Greyhound on the Green, some live music, and then on to Kew Gardens' after-hours illuminated trail. We had an enjoyable time wandering around the gardens after dark and looking at all the lights and the fire garden. It wasn't quite so sparkly and magical wonderland-ish as we had anticipated but we had a nice evening, nonetheless.

What might the third Sunday in Advent bring, I wonder?