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.

The end of 2019

Before we enter the next decade I like to take a few minutes to reflect on the past year. Although the Christmas season started well, illness within the family spoilt some of the planned festivities. A mixture of flu (daughter and sil), sickness virus (son and granddaughter) caused havoc with plans. Christmas day was illness free and  I had a relaxed but festive day with my son and dil who stayed with me until they returned to Leeds on Saturday to then become ill. Everything went downhill on Boxing day when my daughter was hosting for the family. Her 5yr old couldn't stop being sick. The 2yr old's temperature had now risen to 39 deg and my daughter began to feel unwell. I went over early to help and somehow we managed to get a meal on the table for those well enough to eat it. The following day was worse as it was obvious my daughter had flu and her husband was also unwell. Fortunately my granddaughter had stopped being sick and just needed to rest. After sorting them out I took the youngest grandchild home with me as he needed more looking after and his mum and dad weren't up to it. With some relief I returned the 2yr old to his dad and his other grandparents yesterday whilst I had a day off to go and visit my brother and his family in Hampshire. It was so nice to be in an illness free zone. As a consequence of my Florence Nightingale impersonation I have not had time to catch up on any blogging or photographing a suitable New Year's Eve photo. I took these of Eros at Piccadilly Circus just before Christmas. Usually, at this time of the year, the statue is surrounded by security hoardings to prevent damage by New Year revellers.
2019 has been a mixed year but mainly good. The inevitability of aging means more loss this year -  a dear friend who I first met 47 years ago and an elderly aunt with whom I shared many happy family moments.
Travel is a big part of my life in retirement and this year I travelled more in the UK than abroad enjoying a number of previously unknown UK highlights which were on my bucket list. I was able to wander around the Isle of Man,  explore the  Eden Project, jump on the Giant's Causeway, visit the Isles of Scilly and find my way around The Hermitage, St Petersburg. I enjoyed another long distance walk with my wonderful walking companions around a section of the South West Coast path. Another notable event was spending a couple of fabulous days with Andrew and R from Melbourne. My 'Above the Underground' challenge continues. I did better this year and managed to visit and post about 20 stations. Of the 270 different stations on the underground I have now photographed and written about 113 of them. Still a long way off completion but as long as my legs keep moving I aim to complete this challenge
As another year ends so a new one begins and I am hoping it brings with it some hope for the future of our planet and stability for our political situation. Thank you to each and everyone of you who read my blogs and take the time to write your wonderful comments. To all my friends who I have met on my travels and I know follow my retirement adventures via my blogs - may I wish you all a happy and healthy 2020.