The Second Part,

of our day out,

Diana had finished for the day, the trial was a new recognition shopping system, basically after you have uploaded the app.(what ever that is), and entered I presume your card details, you just add shopping to your basket or it might be trolley, I forgot to ask Diana which, and when finished just walk out! some time later the transactions appear on your telephone, so no more queuing at tills, apparently the cameras in the store recognise what you are picking up and adding to your basket, how amazing!

we were lucky, our river taxi arrived just as we did,

as a tug passed us,

a pose,

or two from Diana,

as we sped up the Thames,

passing all of the new developments on the way,

like these,

we were soon nearing St. Katherine's Docks Marina, where we spent a wonderful day back in September this year,

under Tower Bridge,

and past the Tower of London, to the Towers river taxi jetty, 

where we started our walk to Tower Bridge,

in the distance,

one of the "Beefeaters", or as they should be officially known, a 'Yeoman Warder of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, Member of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman Guard Extraordinary', showing a group around the tower,

a quick pose,

or two,

or three even,

one from Diana,

and another couple, 

from myself,

looking back at the Tower,

we started to cross the bridge,

the Shard in the distance,

and started our walk to the outdoor craft fair,

the Tower now on the far side,

we were now in the shade,

and it was decidedly chilly,

it was nice just to stand in the sun and feel its warmth,

these were what we had travelled to see,

craft stalls,

selling all manner of goods,

we had passed the building that was once the one that housed the London Council,

we continued our walk,

and there he was,

Rudolph, sans the red nose,

we came to some of the food stalls,

the lady here so talented,

making pies to order,

Diana had taken a video of her at work, but it is just to big to download, but I will try again tomorrow,

each section had 5 or 6 stalls, 

each section had either objects to buy or all food,

like these ones,

selling Christmas decorations,

the lamp in the middle having look alike snow falling all of the time,

each tea candle had a moving ornament above it,

a pose from Diana,

outside of a stall selling,

plates, cups and dishes,

the next section selling different foods,

then back to ornaments,

this one selling reproduction goods,

then back to foods,

the cheese stall, when ever I see a cheese stall I always think of the Monty Python cheese sketch,

moving on,

we looked at stall after stall,

we still have our glass ornaments to put on our tree,

and were tempted by some of these, but we decided we had enough at home,

there were so many stalls we had almost walked past H. M. S. Belfast without knowing it, 

into the Hayes Galleria,

which had we both agreed,

the nicest real Christmas tree we had seen,

also it was huge!

well I just had too!

a last look at the tree, and we were off,

to the shops on the way to London Bridge tube station,

this time a no sale,

after two tubes and a rail journey we arrived home, where it was soon time for our evening meal, 'Cheers!', and a bit of bad news, the book I was reading The Gardens of the Sun: Or, A Naturalist's Journal on the Mountains and in the Forests And Swamps Of Borneo And The Sulu Archipelago, by Frederick William Thomas Burbidge, first published in 1880, suddenly developed a huge printing error, which made it basically unreadable, which is a shame, especially as I did not start to read until after the 30 day returns policy had expired, so on to another book,

a modern reprint of the Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks: During Captain Cook's First Voyage in H.M.S. Endeavour in 1768-71 to Terra del Fuego, Otahite, New Zealand, Australia, the Dutch East Indies, etc. / edited by Sir Joseph D. Hooker. I should mention that Otahite is now known as Tahiti, and so far it is an enjoyable read, with no printing mistakes, yet!

on to our starters,

chicken satay skewers,

then a real treat, Diana had bought two wagyu steaks,

and I can say without a shadow of a doubt, this was the nicest steak I have eaten in so many years, and Diana agreed, the flavor and tenderness were both superb,

for dessert a almond and cherry pie with fresh cream, we listen to music for some time chatting away, eventually rounding off the evening with a New Tricks before we were off to bed.