Trees...and a lightening strike of an old and great..

Today I was on the way to Sheffield Park Gardens (in the sunshine) when I heard on the local radio that one of their trees has been struck by a lightening bolt in the brief winter storm last Thursday night.  It was 26 metres high being the 2nd tallest in the garden and 125 years old - even older than me :D

Whilst the sun shone gloriously all the way to the gardens it went into hiding the minute I got there!!

I must have somehow changed my camera setting to black and white.. hence the first picture.  However, I thought the building looked quite good in B & W... your views?

It really was quite incredible to see this.  The Head Gardner suggested that it had "exploded" when the lightning bolt struck.  The shaft of the trunk (on the right of the picture) had impaled itself into the ground!!  It was a good two metres long!

 Elsewhere in the garden, fortunately, all was calm

The gardens have many many trees and their structure is wonderful!

Having had lunch (Leek and Potato Soup and, I must confess, a chocolate brownie...naughty but very very nice) I headed off.  The light was really dull now but en route to home I made a detour to Ditchling Beacon.. the sun was coming out very occasionally.

There's one road across the top and when you go down the road on the other side it's very narrow - a speed of 20 mph is advisable!!

The views at the top are staggering.... and I will have to go back when visibility and light are both much better!!

So not a bad day out and quite rewarding.. lovely to get some fresh air and stretch my legs again!!

London... around Hyde Park and onwards..

Well, we were off to the first concert of 2012 and a great one it was too.

We left in the dark and arrived as the sun was coming up.   The wind was ferocious and bitterly cold but it was lovely to have very few people around in the park and just the wildlife and views to entertain us!

And, during the course of wandering around the park, we espied a lady clad in nothing but a swim suit and swimming cap coming out of the Serpentine in the freezing cold having been in for a swim!!  We were advised by a notice, that swimming was only permitted if you were a member of the swimming club and then you were restricted in swimming between 6.30 and 9.00 a.m.  Well...I have a self-imposed restriction on swimming in these temperatures from 12 midnight to 12 midnight!!!!

 Just as we were leaving the Park.... pity they were going away from us!

 Selfridges... a quite attractive building

 From the old to the modern...

One of Selfridges many interesting shop windows..

 Through the small gardens on the way to Wigmore Hall

So an interesting and rewarding walk in the park and an excellent concert with the Nash Ensemble.. we shall be seeing them, amongst others, over the next few weeks.... great!