Signs of Spring

 Out for a walk this week in Kent I was surprised to the lambs out in the fields, but then it has been a very mild winter here, so far.

Celebrating

Yesterday I met up with V who I have known for over 50 years. We first met in our hall of residence on our first day at college. In our second year we shared a flat together and have been friends ever since. To celebrate her birthday next week we went to an exhibition (Picasso and Paper) at the Royal Academy on Piccadilly. It was a very good exhibition with many drawings and paintings I hadn't seen before. I was surprised by his sculptures (didn't know he had done any) and the collages using different types of paper.

Afterwards we went to the Wolseley for afternoon tea which was a real treat.

They were happy to replenish the cakes and sandwiches as often as we wanted as well as fresh pots of tea.

We were there for 3 hours chatting, eating and people watching.  Very impressive head wear.

Winter Lights

This week is the 'Winter Lights' festival at Canary Wharf in Docklands. Here are a few of the exhibits.

This was one of my favourites. At first I couldn't work out what it was and then realised the droplets of water were illuminated and created words.

Canary Wharf

Views of the Thames from Canary Wharf just as the sun was setting this evening.

 I loved the way the last rays of the sun turned the windows to gold.

 Canary wharf is part of Docklands, with its numerous financial skyscrapers. I had gone to look at the 'Winter Lights' installations which opened yesterday. I will show you the lights in my next post.

 It was a beautiful evening, just perfect for water reflections.

Update

Thank you for all your kind thoughts. The family are finally all recovering from the flu, chest infections, sickness virus etc which have proved so debilitating since Christmas. I have been staying at my daughter's but have now returned home although I will go round most days until she is totally back to normal.
Sadly I had no time for blogging. Last year I managed to visit and write about 20 Tube stations for my 'Above the Underground' challenge and I was hoping to complete even more this year. I visited and photographed East Ham station before Christmas and it has taken me this long to write about it. If you want to read about East Ham click here

New Year's Day Parade

Still hectic here. My daughter is making a slow recovery from flu  and with her husband also ill I am on call to look after the grandchildren. I am hoping things will improve next week. I did take a couple of hours off, though, to watch the start of the New Year's Parade. I was there early before the parade began. I prefer to mingle with the participants rather than watch from the sidelines.

There are participants from all over the world, making it a very colourful parade.

The pearly kings and queens lining up for a photo.

A musical group from Columbia.

Costumes awaiting their owners return.

Rolls Royce cars waiting down a side street ready to join the parade.

Mini cars and donkeys getting ready to take part.

These were the crowds waiting for the parade. Too much for me. I had seen enough of the parade to satisfy my curiosity. There were many other floats that I hadn't seen but that can keep for another year.