As Soon As I Posted The Blog,

I was out,

into a cold bright blue sky day, I should say that today I am only making one post, because, yes you guessed it, I took too many photographs and it has taken some time to make today's post,

onto the number 54 bus, and as expected,

the windows steamed up, so no photographs along the way,

in Blackheath village the florists next to the station entrance open,

with a nice display of plants,

like theses cyclamen,

it sort of looked good, the 09.31 I normally catch to Dartford which connects nicely with the next train delayed, and then it got worse,

the 09.34 failed to arrive, evidently due to the railway workers being on strike the previous day, the trains were not where they should have been to start this morning, long story short, instead of two trains it took me three trains,

to arrive here in Gravesend,

there was still a touch of snow on the ground at the bus stand,

thankfully I did not have to wait too long for the 483 to the hill at the bottom of Duncan's nursing home,

it was a lovely but cold day, 

the pathways still covered in snow on the way to the home, so a walk in the road it was, Duncan was in fine sprits, we chatted away until his lunch arrived, after saying our farewells it was time for the walk to the bus stop,

the rose bushes that looked so nice in the summer at the home now covered with snow,

my bus will be here any time now, the good news was that the trains were now running on time, but with the longer journey this morning I was late arriving at Blackheath, 

a quick look in the stationary shop next to the 54 bus stop,

if you want different cards this is the place,

I was soon going past the snow covered Catford cat,

Peter Pan's pond mostly covered in ice,

just the area around the fountain clear of it,

I decided to walk through the park on my way home,

opposite the mansion a winter fair,

I took the path behind the pool,

and there it was,

completely frozen over,

the sun was getting low, giving some of the trees a nice glow in the sunlight,

in the distance the pedestrian park entrance,

the sun starting to set,

I noticed this on the park gate that stops access to cars, LIT! there are free, magical illuminations, 20-22 December in the park, for more details have a look here,

I continued walking towards the snail mail box, then turn left and home, I just beat Diana as it happens to arrive home, a quick cup of coffee and we were out,

on to a 227 bus on which we meet Steve and Kai, and this is where we were going, Lightopia at Crystal Palace,

it is a display of you guessed it, lights, 

some abstract,

like this one,

others with a theme,

the magic circus,

Diana with a Jumbo,

the girls though about the dodgems,

but the lure of the Waltzer was too much,

Kai Diana and Steve,

I just had to take a couple of photographs of them,

on they went,

having had a ride on one of these in my youth, I decided not to repeat the experience, lets just say it did not end well for my stomach!

everybody sat and waiting for the off,

and off they went, 

and now out of the ride,

Steve was fine,

but the girls were a little dizzy,

and here is a video of the ride, the loudest screams were from Diana, closely followed by Kai!

Kai wanted to be near the ground,

Diana was up but a bit unsteady on her feet!

we continued past this huge illuminated tree,

towards a few flowers,

which by shear happenstance,

were next to a hot drinks stall,

so a hot chocolate all round,

looking back to the rides,

some of the light displays had theme,

I am guessing Around the World in 80 days,

having said that I do not have a clue as to what this one is about!

this one was a representation of the Crystal Palace,

which went through,

a number of colour changes,

again I am not sure what this one was, I will have to brush up on children's story's,

but I did recognise the dragon in the distance,

I had another look, but still not sure about the story, if there is one,

in the distance also a huge flower,

and a display,

of huge crystals,

and here is the dragon,

which had a movable head,

and fearsome it looked too,

we stopped for some liquid, (beer for the boys), refreshment, and a burger and chips,

this looked like fun, if you beat on the drums,

the flower changed colour,

I know what these are,

bees!

big ones,

with a few friends,

I was not sure what they were on,

until I looked at this view,

a huge acorn,

looking back,

and then through,

the avenue of hearts,

a moving display of lights,

it looked so nice I made this short video it, but you really had to be there,

we then started walking past some of the animals,

some mythical, like this winged rabbit, what fairy tale does he come from?

a lion I am guessing,

well it has a lions head anyway!

but what is this? the body of a horse, spots of a leopard,

and the head of a chicken!

this one looked sort of scary,

with those blue eyes,

I get this one a stag,

and a phoenix, 

I am not sure about this one at all,

one from the abstract school of art I guess,

next a field of lights,

that continually,

changed colour,

we continued walking,

past a bauble Christmas tree,

and some Christmas figures,

a soldier,

and a slightly, for myself, scary snowman,

looking back,

and then forward,

I sort of thought,

of Alice in Wonderland,

is there a story,

about a fairy in the crescent moon?

I have to say it was bitterly cold, so cold in fact we all said it was time to warm up, so we cut our visit short,

and made for the nearest pub to warm up, we chatted away, and then made a move for our homes after saying goodbyes to Steve and Kai who had very kindly treated us to this evening, many thanks indeed,

arriving home it was time for another advent calendrer reveal,

some moisturiser, we had a small snack as we watched a New Ticks before and a Have I Got More News For You, before we were off to bed.