Winkworth Arboretum

Twas a beautiful day today... lots of sunshine and reasonable temperatures.  Makes a nice change after the rain of the last few days.

I had some fairly boring shopping to do (replacement curtain rails and stuff!) so I was later getting out that I would have liked.  So I stayed fairly local and decided on a trip to Winkworth Arboretum.  I knew I would be too early for Autumn colour but there was evidence that the season was on its way.

Winkworth is basically a wood on a very very steep hill and, although I needed some exercise, it was a very energetic walk today.

Took a few pictures but the clouds had come over a bit...

The Boathouse

This goose was getting rather upset as a dog passed by!

Signs of Autumn..

One of the many steep flights of steps up/down some of the paths!

From a distance I was pondering if this new structure was a tree house... but it was a viewing platform.

And the views from it..

I'd seen signposts locally to the Wey and Arun Canal so, on an impulse, I tried to find it.  The sign suggested boat trips so I felt it would be well signposted... wrong!  I've been 'googling' to find I was very close to it... hey ho.. a trip for another day now!

Wind blowing and waves crashing

I popped into town to have my hair cut today... Stepped out the door of the hairdressers and got blown away.

I had a brief stroll along about 1/4 of the pier before the gales drove me back; but not before I took a few shots of the sea; strangely it wasn't as rough as I'd expected it to be given the high winds!

(In case you were wondering, the pictures were taken in colour!!)

The streets of London, and a musical interlude

Another concert at Wigmore Hall today, the first of the many after the summer break.

We took a different walk today and took in other sights.  It was a very dull grey all morning :(

Amazing how this street was decorated with plants... a really cheery sight on such a dull (weather wise) day!

The Royal Opera House (we'll be going inside in the not tooo distant future) :D

Covent Garden... never seen it so quiet (my daughter and I used to come up here quite often before we moved further south).. we were too early for it to be open.

Shades of piazzas with al fresco dining in  Florence :D (but not as nearly as hot or sunny)!

and... St Martins in the Fields at Trafalgar Square.  And while we were there the church bells rang - such an amazing sound of which I can never tire!!

This is the information plaque refers to the 'sculpture' below...

Outside St Martins in the Fields..

and inside..

This was moving.. :)

We were somewhat aghast at the amount of litter and rubbish in the streets.  OK I know it's Sunday and we were there early so perhaps the street cleaners hadn't been out but..... one of those occasions when I was ashamed to say it was my capital city!

The rain stayed away until about 10 minutes before we went into Wigmore Hall. - which makes the above picture rather appropriate to end on.

And the concert?

The pianist was a very talented young man - Charlie Siem accompanied, with great proficiency, talen and energy, by Itmar Golan

It's with somewhat irritating that the guy on my left was taking pictures with his mobile phone (thank goodness it didn't ring!) and flash being used by some people on our right!

And the programme was:
Dvorak - Four Romatic Pieces Op 75
Richard Strauss - Violin Sonata en eb Op 18
and, a list minute change from the scheduled item to,
Ravel - Tzigane - which was pleasant

But, somehow we didn't enjoy today's concert as much as we've done before.  At the end of one piece, I asked Pete (in hushed tones) what he thought? He felt it OK and that's as much as I ghouoght too.  So fortunately, it wasn't just me!!  Normally, at the end of a concert, I feel drprived because it's over, but today I didn't get that feeling... sad really because they are two very talented musicians!

Never mind, we have more concerts booked and also a trip to Paris in the very near future... hopefully today's rain will have exhausted itself and we'll have some very sunny Parisienne weather :D