Guess it must be Autumn...

...already!  Wow, where did summer go? <:s p="">

First frost of the year...

...not too bad, but I did decide to wear my gloves today...brrr! ;)


...and just for a change instead of walking through the woods I went up past the golf course, so I could better enjoy the crisp Autumn sunrise... ;)

Sweet Chestnut Hunting!

In Priory Park on Sunday morning, just Thomas and I, starting with a walk up to the top of the hill to visit the monument -

- showing him where Daddy used to go and play (*many* years ago) -

- (close up on the inscription - which reads "This Park was given to the corporation of Reigate by M and M Randal Vogan AD 1920 - To be preserved in it's natural beauty for the use and quiet enjoyment of the public")...it is certainly quiet, especially up there early on a Sunday morning... ;)

We crept through the woods, gloves and tongs in hand -

- (as they are *extremely* spiky) -

- and got absolutely loads...(much to Thomas' delight)...I had the nasty job of extracting them all from the spiky casings (although Thomas did help for a little while)...they are all sat in a big bowl at home now, waiting for someone to pop a little cross in them with a knife and cook them for about 30 minutes at 200 degrees...there just wasn't time yesterday!  Oh well...  ;)

Autumn Weather - That most awkward time of the year

Bah...here we are again, that most awkward time of year...boiling hot on the tube (not quite as bad as the sauna (he says with experience) at Oxted pool, but almost) and a combination of freezing cold (two frosts so far - here is Poppy the Beetle's roof as proof) -

- when the skies are clear and rain and wind most of the rest of the time...

At the moment I am employing a strategy of trying to avoid "outside" if at all possible, keeping my jacket in my bag, and then, just before I have to go out into the cold again, throwing it around my shoulders...but soon, I know, that cold the coat is supposed to be protecting me from will be too severe for any garment capable of folding neatly up into my rucksack...

One really lovely thing, though, is the smells of Autumn are also becoming more and more common (something I love), even today at West India Quay, one of the party boats was obviously having a log fire on board, and there is nothing quite like that to awaken those dusty thoughts of Christmas... ;)

*distant sound of rhythmically shaking bells* ;)

Eventful Weekend...

Crikey, where do I start...

One of the things you notice straight away when you leave the house with a tiny (although rapidly expanding) baby in tow is the number of people who sidle up to you (smiling) and ask the usual questions (name, age/sex(usually assuming the wrong one)/location birth weight), make some cooing noises, assume a wistful look and then walk off in a manner that suggests they are now surrounded by an invisible blanket...

On Saturday, when we took Thomas to Oxted leisure pool, we experienced a slightly different phenomenon...after all getting changed into our costumes (Thomas in his little waterproof swimming nappy with a picture of Disney's "Nemo" on the front) in one of the spacious unisex family changing rooms (with nappy facilities), blowing up his little yellow floating chair and parading down towards the water...I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that every single eye in the place was on us as we waded into the warm water, the unspoken group assumption being that as soon as baby met pool there would be a colossal screaming down of the place and we would (red-faced) turn tails, get dry and go home again...in actuality he *loved* it (although we did sort of suspect he'd be okay, as he happily hops in the bath every night with one or other of us - the purpose built baby bath only ever saw water the once)...all in all I suppose we spent about 25 minutes splashing around, Flyingpops even managed to do a couple of lengths in the sensible bit of the pool, while Thomas and I played in the wave area, and he only nearly drowned got ducked the one time, ironically when we were in the shallow end (and he didn't even get upset about that, just blinked his eyes a couple of times and got on with sucking the water off his fingers and staring around at the spectacle)...

Saturday lunchtime we spent at my folks, eating home-made soup and garlic bread, meeting potential new pet, Greek rescue dog "Bobby" (who is so laid back as to be almost horizontal)...then in the evening we went to Vodqueen and Uncle Scammell's house for a last-minute family party (which Thomas managed to pretty much sleep right through)...

Sunday morning we nipped over to Tesco to do the week's shop, Thomas got cooed over at the checkout by a sweet elderly couple, we pack up the car, just pull up at the Hookwood roundabout waiting for a gap in the traffic, Flyingpops commenting on the debris left by an earlier accident and how dangerous it is (despite the new traffic lights) and, as if calling down an accident upon us - **BANG** - Poppy the Beetle is shunted forwards - someone has crashed into the back of us!

I fly out of the passenger seat and wave both Flyingpops and the Fiat that has collided with us to the side of the road, peer through the back windscreen to make sure Thomas is okay (in typical Thomas fashion, he is still fast asleep - completely oblivious) and when the driver of the car behind clambers out (rather red faced) it's only the husband of the elderly couple from the supermarket...the wife is rooted to the passenger seat looking absolutely mortified, covering half her face with her hands...

Anyway, despite the initial shock and violence of the noise of the collision, there isn't actually much damage to see, the boot still opens, the bit of glass that fell out of the light from the number plate slots neatly back into place...leaving just two small scratches on the bumper, but we swap insurance details anyway and go our separate ways (amid many apologies and blushes)...

After dumping the shopping at home (and giving Flyingpops a cuddle) we head to Reigate and take a lovely fresh constitutional around autumnal-themed Priory park, stopping to score some sweet chestnuts to roast later on in the oven and I tell Flyingpops the names we used to call all the different hills (Bluebell, Break-neck etc.) to comments like "You took a sledge down that??", showed her the storm drains we used to play in (to looks of absolute horror) when we were kids and then we stopped for a drink and a shared four cheese pizza in the little cafe (which was a very messy, but satisfying affair)...

Sunday afternoon Thomas would not settle down, so in between putting things into roast or steam Flyingpops and I both spend time walking around jiggling him until he stopped whimpering, then put him down for 2 minutes, then picking him back up when the complaining resumed...but we could hardly moan ourselves as we'd had such an easy ride for all the rest of the weekend...

Sunset time Redhill

Oh well, that's it...over the weekend local sunset time crept (it moves by 2-3 minutes per day) sufficiently backwards that I now conclude my bus journey through Redstone Hollow in almost total darkness, so Autumn is definitely upon us (even though British Summer time doesn't officially finish until the 25th October - when the clocks go back I'll be sat at my *desk* in the pitch black)...I don't normally mind this too much at all (as, of course, there is Christmas to look forward to), but this year I'm really loath to wave goodbye to the summer sunshine (probably because we've only had a couple of very short breaks to actually enjoy it)...

Anyway, we're going to have a go at getting out to show Thomas the trees starting to change colour on the weekend (and probably take some pictures too)... ;)

Central Heating - On already...!

So much for the Indian summer! Apart from a minor blip (when Timmy and Gayle were lucky enough to have booked in to tie the knot) the weather really has been totally miserable, so much so that over the weekend we decided enough was enough (even though we are barely into October) and attempted to put the central heating back on (and not a minute too soon either, from what I hear there have been several frosty starts around town since)...and annoyingly, it wasn't the simplest thing in the world to actually do either, firstly we discovered that the batteries in the combined thermostat/scheduling device had flattened, and then, thanks to them being out of the machine for too long, all the settings vanished, so I had to re-learn how to configure it (and it has a rather frighteningly counter intuitive, instruction-free control panel)...still not sure it's entirely set up correctly as we didn't get heat until about 10am on Sunday, but yesterday morning it certainly worked - I awoke to a wonderfully warm house, content to wander to the bathroom in the all-together without risk of freezing my nether regions, very pleased also that the thermostat was placed in the stairwell, as the whole house was equally toasty when it came time to drag myself downstairs to make Flyingpops' coffee drink...a good thing too as I am temporarily unable to locate my dressing gown! ;)

Roll on Christmas (my favorite time of the year)... ;)

The leaves are all gone...

Surrey in December in pictures...

Now. *This* is how the trees should be looking at the moment, well, apart from the berry trees, some of which are still looking wonderful -

- others of which seem to be loosing their berry harvest to rot, I'm guessing because of the warm weather...but what is *staggering* -

- is the sheer number of green leaves still on our local oak trees -

- this is *December*!

Green leaves - AWAY! Snow - you are summoned!

I need some nice winter pics! ;)

Brockham Bonfire 2006 - pics and video!

Was forbidden from taking the Mavica (probably wisely, as it can be a bit chaotic at Brockham on these occasions), so took these with Flyingpops' Z1...We drove down to Dorking mainline station and hopped on the bus (£2.50 return), it's a special service put on just for the occasion (X32) on creakingly old London buses which are *always* packed (and late), but it gets there in the end... ;)

Arrived in good time and started the walk up the lane towards Brockham Green (it was a clear night, full moon, and just a little fog coming from the river, perfect for fireworks!)...

- made it in good time (after making our voluntary £2 donation to fund next year) and worked our way almost to the front of the crowd to watch the guy being hoisted into position (video here), then the torchlit procession arrived -

- and proceeded to throw their flaming brands into the bottom six feet of the terrifyingly huge pyre (if you want to get an idea of scale, check out my day-time pic from last year!) -

- it was dry, and cold, so the flames leapt quickly to the top -

- setting off the thousand odd fire-crackers concealed inside the guy (video here), then, the wind changed direction slightly and (as happens every year) -

- covering the crowd in burning embers causing a minor panic from the organisers (video here), after everyone was evacuated from the danger zone they began the ten minute countdown to the firework display -

- which was, (again) as always, *extraordinary* (got a terrible video of some of it, but thankfully a nice pic or two (imho ;)) -




- then wandered back to the bonfire, for one last look (was too hot to stay close for long though -

- and then back home (got on a bus right away!)...

Great night... ;) More pictures here, if you are interested... ;)

Shots from 2005 here...

Autumn in Surrey

A study in pictures (taken on Sunday last)...