London day

 The day dawned early : up at 8 am on my day off after little more than 5 hours sleep due to some upsets and crises in the night. These daffs were so cheery though, soon felt better and up to the task ahead.

These were my market day hyacinths: proper BLUE ones this time!
It was Miss E's birthday event and I took 6 giggly chatterbox happy teen girls on a coach to Marble Arch London to go shopping in Oxford Street for a few hours...
I had to leave them to it, so after much admonishing to stay together and keep your money and mobiles safe and phone me whenever you need me etc etc I left them to it and had some fun in H&M myself...

Rather ''me'' I thought and as I had one of those plastic token cards with funds on from a returned item from many months ago I had a treat with this fun blue jacket.

Love the stripe down the arm, ''such fun''.

I looked slim but the fabric was awful in this navy one.

Blue angora but I have a small fitted one , same colour from Monsoon in 1990....

Finally I settled down with my books and crochet and a pot of tea in the cafe at John Lewis:

Lovely view , even if the windows were filthy...

I remember the days when I was 17 and my aunt Yvonne showed me London and the Post Office Tower was one of the sights and the tallest in London..... aaah those were the days....

The cafe got busy but I must say thay let me stay- of course I DID drink a lots of pots of tea and ate a salmon bagel. The latter is NOT recommended, like a lady said in the queue: the coffee ( for me read tea) is fine but the food is atrocious! I should have paid heed because the bagel was like leather, tough, tasteless and just awful. And there was very little choice for lunch, the teapot dripped and dribbled but the tea was hot and sweet and I was warm and comfy.

I read one chapter of Epidemiology and then settled to some crochet. I kept getting texts asking for more shopping time from the girls so by my third pot of tea I had some banana cake.

Finally it was time to meet at Liberty's of London. My all time beloved favourite store.

I spotted some new carvings that I had not captured before.

I was amused by Dr Bones on a bicycle but can't see that it will encourage much cycling?

The ''pink worms'' marring the ceiling feather in the lift is a man texting.....It's his hands...

The elephants are for my sister who loves them.

We forgot to get a group photo!!!! I was now ferrying the girls back to Victoria to catch the coach home and 4 are on the escalator above me, and two on the one alongside.....?!

They had such fun but it was hard to capture...

At home the party continued with a HUGE cinema screen, lots of pizza and party foods and films watched from sleeping bags as they had a sleepover with films. Much giggling and chatting.

A festive egg tree at breakfast?!

Perfect snowflake crystals: not round but with points like a star:

 Part of the snow-flurries in Thame on Saturday 23rd Feb 2013. Tiny- 2mm across- flakes drifting down from the sky , delicately tumbling along and melting the second they touch your hand....

 I had to capture them on the fur of an old coat...

 Magic they were, soooo beautiful and intricate just like the snowflake creation game in our Jacquie Lawson Advent Calendar.....But in miniature and even more perfect.