Cardiff Bay at Night

We have just returned from a couple of days with some very good friends in Cardiff.. Lisa particularly likes Neil turners nighttime pictures of Cardiff bay, so I offered to take a few for her.. Not quite up to the standard of Mr Turner.. but it's a very pretty place by day and especially at night.. Thanks Lisa for taking me...

Selective colour at Chelsea Flower Show

Chelsea Flower Show

Chelsea Flower Show this week, and I thought it merited a look around... I was last here a couple of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it... This year I was looking forward to taking some pictures.. Chelsea seemed much more sombre this year. the gardens were less colourful, and there seemed a great deal of concrete around.. This was my favourite shot of the day and the one really good splash of colour... The sun was very bright and harsh.. so that's todays excuse for poor photography!




By far the largest crowds were for James May's plasticine garden. Everything in the garden from the ladybirds, to the potatoes, to the daisies, the poppies around the memoria (and come to think of it the memorial), the water feature and even some very poorly looking Koi Carp was made of plasticine.. the perfume around this area was NOT of sweet peas!! Apparantly James May got the idea leaving the pub one night (go figure!) and decided that instead of lazing about in front of computers the youth of today should all make a flower... and you know it looked great... No doubt there will be a TV documentary about it... you know what? I'll probably be watching!





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Best in Show and gold medal winner was the Daily Telegraph Garden.. I didn't think it was a patch on the Daily Telegraph garden that I saw here two years ago, but then we are living through tough times and Chelsea seemed to redlect that this year... in the gardens at least. The shops there seemed to be selling the usual expensive tat



This was the Cancer research garden... not sure how this garden helps research cancer , but I am ready to be enlightened!!



Does anyone realise that there are thistles growing in the garden...



Oh yes.. they've been spotted by the weed police . . . . .




The Eden Project garden was made by homeless people and people from prison... I thnkmaybe it shows!

Watering hole

Highgate Cemetery

About a year ago I visited Brompton Cemetery, and since then I have been wanting to visit Highgate Cemetery. The opportunity arose this weekend and I headed north. I arrived jolly early (as advised) abd waited for 45 minutes in the rain reading a rapidly sodden Sunday telegraph... at 11am theiron gates swung open (a little like Willy Wonka's fatory gates I imagine) and the tour party was admitted. That would be me then. A complete fluke of time and weather meant that I was the only visitor at that time... what a treat.

If you want to visit the Cemetery you should visit their website first



Highgate cemetry is the final resting place of about 169,000 Londoners. it opened in 1839 to provide burial space for Londoners who could no longr find room in the churchyards. In the mid twentieth century the graveyard fell into disrepair as the numbers of burials (and the income with them) dwindled. In the 1970s the land was purchased by a property company and it seemed as though the graveyeard would be lost. Enter the friends of highgate cemetery, who have worked tirelessly to save the cemetery and also to restore it to some of it's former glory. nowadays the general public are allowed in for an hour's tour, and you enter into a complete magical mystery garden.











The lebanon circle is at the highest point of Highgate Cemetery and is the most grand part of the Cemetery....



This Egyptian gateway leads to the lebanon Circle . . . It was designed as a 'marketing tool' for the Cemetery.. and certainly appealed to the Victorian love of mourning!





Accross the road from the Western cemetery is the (would you believe) East Cemetery and probably 50% of the visitors there come to see this grave... Karl Marx and his wife must be the most visited inhabitants.. and I couldn't leave without paying my respects

New member of the Rowson Family

This is Sidney - who is going to be best friends with Alfie (fingers crossed)



Rhianna's cat Lola had 4 kittens and this is Rhianna's favourite Mouse..


I am a little concerned at how much Rhianna loves Sid... I will have to lure her over here for lots of sleepovers - Hmmm I wonder who she will want to see most me or Sid???

Sunset over the Thames barrier

I suddenly found myself at a loose end on Saturday and as the weather looked promising headed East to Woolich to my old haunt behind the trading estate. I arrived there at 7 and stayed until 9.15 watching the colour of the sunset fading and the night colours emerging.. This is one of my favourite views of London and tonight it looked a beautiful city