Diana Did Not Have To Start Work,

until 10.00 this evening,

there will be a couple of overnight shifts due to the Christmas rush, back to the morning, as Diana was home all day we decided to go out to London and visit Borough Market as we had ne been there for some time, as it happens we had been there many times before, and as usual I am only making one post today, you guessed it, too many photographs!, onto the train to London Bridge,

arriving at the station it did not look that Christmassy,

outside hanging in space,

a skeletal half man, I guess you would call it,

on the other side of the street a second half man,

 looking back towards the first,

above the precinct lots of mini lights,

we made our way towards the market,

passing The Barrowboy And Banker,

and the church at the rear of the market,

there are a number of entrances from the station, this one,

or this one,

but we decided on the big one!

a quick pose by the tree,

it was packed, being a Monday I thought we would avoid the crowds, but no such luck,

we started looking at the stalls,

home made sweets,

and cakes,

I mentioned it was packed, and it really was,

only a couple of nights ago we were watching a New Tricks, a part of which was filmed in this spot,

a salt beef sandwich, that will do for myself, 

the end of a 30 person queue, I decided against it, the similar for a pot of whelks, 20 plus people in the queue,

we carried on walking,

and looking at produce for sale, 

we were on our way to Diana's favourite stall here, 

the one that has two enormous paella pans on the go,

looking at the produce,

you would never think it was mid winter, so many exotic fruits offered for sale,

and some good 'ole British pies,

a quick pose,

this reminded me of the lavender farms we visit in the summer,

we found the paella stall, another queue of 30+ people, so we decided to eat elsewhere,

oh dear, Diana was so looking forward to the paella,

on our way out,

we passed the cheese, 

and dairy food stalls, 

it strikes me that with all of the free samples,

you could actually have a pretty good meal without buying anything!

we made our way past the Shard, 

and London Bridge tube and railway station,

the Shard on our right,

Hays Galleria on our left, as it happens we have visited here more than a few times before,

a quick pose,

or two, 

or three!

inside there were a number of stalls,

selling handicrafts,

we passed the centre piece sculpture,

for Christmas, 

this eatery had been erected,

a jewellery stall,

caught Diana's eye,

and nice some of the goods on display were,

we had decided to eat at the Horniman, but alas no tables,

so a walk along the embankment and a look at some of the Christmas stalls,

a pose with H. M. S. Belfast, the battleship grey of the ship matching the weather,

there were so many stalls,

selling handicrafts,

and foods,

we were tempted by so many, but we really wanted to sit down out of the drizzle to eat,

the aromas of cooked food was so tempting,

but we resisted and continued to look at the stalls, this one with Christmas tree decorations,

perfumed tea cup candles,

this one looking really nice, tea candle mobiles,

so many moving table Christmas table decorations, 

this one with a moving train as well!

I just had to take a photograph of Tower Bridge, but it looked so plain,

so I spruced it up a tad,

we carried on looking at the stalls,

as we made our way towards Tower Bridge, at this point there were some stalls to sit at, but it was still drizzling with rain,

so we carried on walking, I was tempted with the German bratwurst stall, but resisted,

we turned around and started making our way back to the Horniman,

in the hope that by now a table was free,

Rudolph sans the red nose,

and we were in luck the bar/restaurant area had thinned out, 'Cheers!',

from both of us, we waited for our food, looking at the time we placed our order we had been waiting 30 minutes, as it happens a couple who arrived after us had eaten their starter and were starting on their main course, I went to the counter to ask where our order was, and was assured it would be here soon, we gave it another 10 minutes by now the two eating their main course had finished paid and left, we decided to make a move, with numerous apologies our money for the food was refunded, but why does this sort of thing always happen to us?

we made our way back through the Galleria,

and into the lower part of the railway station,

for a little window shopping,

then upstairs to the platforms,

next to the station,

lots of building work going on,

we had now decide to eat at O'Neil's in Beckenham,

we had plenty of choice of tables, it was not crowded at all,

for a change a rosé, 'Cheers!',

our food soon arrived,

a huge burger for Diana, there was the option of a larger one!

scampi and chips for myself, the bill came to £21.00, half the price of the bill at the Horniman! 

arriving home it was reveal time,

a lip liner and a liquid lipstick, never heard of one of those before, but there it is, after Giant Lobster Hunters and Battlebots, Diana was off to work, 

for myself feet up for Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, absolutely superb special effects, and thoroughly enjoyable if you like fantasy movies, and I do! after which I was off to bed.