It was 21 degrees Celsius in Chicago yesterday, I heard from my sibling. Close to freezing here, in London, but the sky was lovely.
 I'm slowly 'defrosting' with a bowl of hot soup soon to be followed by a coffee. Old coffee from the back of a cupboard has to do, I forgot to buy some. And the letters to post didn't make it to the postbox and are back at home. Again...

Now, I've just read  the news about this year's Turner Prize winner: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/turner-prize-2012-elizabeth-price-spartacus-chetwynd-paul-noble-luke-fowler-095155475.html . I am slightly relieved that it didn't go to the artist who produced a picture of an imaginary town built of... turd. Anyway, there are societies who have had to use any materials available to build their dwellings or make fire. I am not the first to point out, that it's just a matter of convention what we perceive as nice and what as disgusting. As a matter of fact, it's all part of life.I didn't go to see Turner Prize nominees' works at Tate Britain earlier this year, but I must admit, I peered in through the glass door while waiting to see  Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde and noticed the turd townscape from the distance!

Temperature today didn't pamper me, if I may say so, but the blue sky made great background for a few nice snaps around Earl's Court and Ravenscourt Park tube stations.

 The van driver told me the dog usually takes his seat while he is unloading, and that he loves posing for the pictures. Just as well, I love taking them! :-)

 Photographed on a cloudy day, Earl's Court Station would be less appealing, I'm afraid, unlike a wrinkled woman, maybe....

Have I mentioned The Ark Building in Hammersmith? The interior was just awesome, but as it remained unused, they demolished it all and then made ordinary floors like in any other office block. What a shame! The exterior was spared, so you can still see the shape.

 I always enjoy the classical music greeting passengers at Ravenscourt Park Station!

 Kings Street, Hammersmith: a Japanese restaurant lunch box deal:

Sunset as seen from Westbound Platform at Ravenscourt Park Station:

High Wycomb and Hell Fire Caves

Someone I know has just moved to High Wycomb, I just heard over the phone. That prompted great memories of a Sunday out there with friends a few year ago. Those days, most weeks, I used to prepare an itinerary in advance, e-mail it to friends and then set off in a big Land Rover to see and explore whatever we could en route. That day we visited the amazing Hell Fire Caves, a picture postcard village of West Wycomb, Church of St Laurent, where we only looked at the spectacular Golden Ball (it was closed) and The Dashwood Mausoleum. It was a cold day so after the caves we had some hot beverages in the little local cafe. I still remember feeling far from good after consuming something that was served to me as mocha coffee. But that was a minor misfortune in this exciting day. At dusk we stopped in Windsor and had a lot of laugh trying on all sorts of hats at  Edinburgh Woolen Mill shop near the castle.

Before my bedtime let me just add a fruit-eating squirrel (through the window pane, so as not to frighten it):

and the sunset view:

Good night!

No snowman making today!

Let me start with a few pictures from yesterday morning. It looks similar today, but there is a significant difference which, I'm sure, you'll be able to spot later, when I add today's pictures.

A friend e-mailed me on Friday suggesting that we could meet up to make a snowman today. That's not happening. No snow, just very cold and beautifully sunny. Please see below and spot the new breed: a tree cat! May be related to a vegetable lamb to be admired at The Museum of Gardening History next to Lambeth Palace...

'Our Man in The Middle East' has supplied me with a few pictures he took while driving through the centre of Riyadh last Thursday.

Winter cold strikes here as well as the desert!

December has started appropriately - there is still been some frost outside. The sun is coming through the grey layers and all begins to look better. Beware! Winter cold is arriving everywhere.Yesterday, 'Our Man in The Middle East' invested in a proper goose feather duvet and pillow yesterday and this morning reported that the purchase proved useful! No pictures to illustrate his recent report, but I can share some from his recent desert trip to the dry lake.

BTW, it didn't take long for the sky here, in London, to go grey again. There will be a few more pics of the exterior, taken at the platforms in Ravenscourt Park and Turnham Green; we sometimes knickname the latter one "Rotten Ham", the ham that turned green. Did you also notice how soon it happens these days? In the past, if you bought a some nice piece of cold meat, you could keep it in the fridge for much longer and it would a bit dryer, but still tasty and aromatic. Now, once you open the packet, you'd better eat it up quick or it will get slimy, shiny and greenishly-rainbowy in colour... ( I hope you are OK with my use of the language, I know I have full support from one of the EFL methodology gurus. At one of the IATEFL Conferences he was encouraging us, non-native EFL teachers to be creative with words and not to dare form adjectives almost whenever we fancy. I wish I remembered if it was Jeremy Harmer or Adrian Doff. I doubt it was someone else.)


Anyway, going back to my Saturday, I'm glad I used the opportunity to see a new exhibition on a famous English writer of Polish descent at The Polish Cultural Institute in Ravenscourt Park. I read his biography a few years ago, but, I must say, the compact and informative form of the exhibition had an impact on me. Credits to the person who prepared it. To me, it gives just enough facts and comments about his life and work set in the historical context  to make it approachable for an average visitor, whether Polish or English, or else. 

 As the Richmond train was coming first, I decided to hop on and then change at Turnham Green, instead of freezing on the same platform.

 Piccadilly Line trains from Heathrow normally do not stop between Acton Town and Hammersmith, so many people who travel farther, change there from the snail District Line to speed up the journey.

The District Line train emerges slowly in the distance:

Good night!