wagwaan?: Well, the weather outside is frightful...

... but at least it's nice and warm indoors. I have this song on the brain though:

It snowed really hard the other day (can't remember which day as I've lost track of time) and we still have about 10 cm / 4 inches out there - nothing like the 23 cm my brother's had in France, but we're going to get more this week apparently. I'm just glad I don't actually have to go anywhere! The news is full of stories of people stranded at airports etc, which is really not a nice way to spend the time. So, much as I miss my family especially at Christmas, it's a good job we are just taking it easy here this year.

I thought I'd post the pictures I took in London on Monday after my hospital appointment. First of all, I had no idea that the wonderful Persephone bookshop was round the corner, so that was a lovely surprise.

I had one or two of their books already, and as I had this one on my wish-list I decided to treat myself.

Entitled "Few eggs and no oranges", it is a book of wartime diaries by Vere Hodgson, and I'm finding it very readable indeed. That's a picture of the inside cover. Persephone books all have a dove-grey jacket and a gloriously colourful inside cover, each one different, each one a reproduction of a fabric or artwork matching the date of the book. In this case it is "'London Wall', a fragment of a Jacqmar scarf showing a brick wall as the background to the brightly-coloured slogans that were so much a part of wartime life."

The bookshop is on Lamb's Conduit Street, which is a lovely little road in Bloomsbury lined with lots of small independent shops. On looking for a link to give you I came across this really cool website where you can check out a 7 minute video about the shops on this street. I hope you'll have the time to take a look.

I liked this collection of panama hats in the tailor's window....

Well, as you can see, there was no snow on Monday, thankfully, but since then we've had our fair share as I said earlier. This is a picture taken out of my bedroom window yesterday morning:

...and it got thicker after that! Lovely and festive - if you don't have to go out in it.

Talking of being festive, last night we were invited to pre-Christmas drinks at a neighbour's house. Their place is so cosy and beautifully decorated for the season. We had drinks (mulled wine for those who drink alcohol, OJ for me), and also some delicious home-made mince pie. Mmmmm. They told us about a carol service at the local football club tomorrow, so I'm planning on going with them for a sing-song. Let's hope it's not cancelled - we can walk there, but maybe people who have to drive here will avoid going out in the snow. We shall see.

Anyway, that's it from me. I can't quite believe that this time next week Christmas will be all but over. How time has flown by!