I Am Only Making One Post Today,

it was Diana's day off, 

and as usual took way too many photographs! Christmas jumper on, 

and we were out, 

into a grey chilly day, we meet Steve and Kai at New Beckenham station, and soon found our way to London Bridge, 

where Christmas was in full swing, 

these Santa's from the local fire station collecting for charity, 

crossing the road we arrived at the church, 

now just a short walk downstairs, 

and the market stalls began,

we were at Borough Market, we had visited there many times before,

but is is always nice to visit again, 

looking at various produce, 

I was tempted with a huge pork pie, 

but we stopped here for three slices of cake,

on a different note, fresh fruit, 

and from the sea, 

a huge selection,

and there they were, tubs of cockles and mussels, 

I was hoping the stall would still be here as I had not eaten breakfast, 

so a tub of cockles it was, 

but for Diana, 

it was paella, 

both Steve and Diana went for the seafood one,

for myself a bubbly, 

at the usual stall,

'Cheers!',

as Steve and Diana tucked in, 

and then I saw them, 

chestnuts, 

a bag full selected and paid for, 

we carried on looking at produce, 

it must take an age, 

setting all of this up in the morning, 

this was the stall we bought the chestnuts from, Hickson & Daughter,

next one of the many cheese stalls, Steve bought 3 different cheeses, 

all that was lacking was John Cleese! (click the blue link for the sketch),

we continued our walk, 

where I noticed these gourds, 

and these unusual sweet corns, 

apparently from Thailand, well we were in the Thailand stall,

which explains, 

the insect lollipops, 

I gave them a miss, 

more sweetcorn, 

and freshly squeezed sugar cane on offer, 

as well as insects by the gram, 

we wanted to walk along the Embankment, so past the Shard, 

and into Hayes Galleria, 

Kai, 

and Diana,

posing by the huge Christmas tree,

we decided on a coffee, 

which was a tad bigger, 

than we expected, 

'Cheers!', with a coffee, 

and here is the video of my jumpers flashing lights, 

back out, 

for a couple of me, 

by HMS Belfast, which we explored in September 2010,

time to look at the stalls along the Embankment, 

this looked intriguing, 

we had not seen this one before, 

making these, 

we had some of these a few visits ago, 

wax covered cheeses, 

in all manner of flavours, 

time for a pose, 

and then back to the Christmas stalls, 

lots of sweets, 

hair bands, 

Christmas action novelties, 

and candles, 

a quick look at Tower Bridge, 

then back to the stalls, 

this one a florists, 

we had walked to the end of the Belfast, 

the Walkie-Talkie in the background, 

almost opposite the Tower of London,

a pose by the Christmas tree, 

then the girls, 

well Steve and myself just had to!

tea lights in cup and saucer, 

we walked across Tower Bridge, 

looking back to the Shard and Belfast, 

and made our way under the underpass, 

passing some of the early remains of the Tower building,

as you might expect, lots of tourist shops in the area, 

past a florist which seems to have had a good day, 

and into the street that runs alongside Charing Cross station,

past one of Diana's favorite shops,

yummy!

past the cross, 

and the station, 

we made our way to Leicester Square, 

where Diana, Kai and Steve joined the queue to go inside the M & M store, 

I waited outside, 

looking around, 

at the different sights, 

looking inside the store, which has three floors of M & M's!

so many people inside, 

purchase made, and they were on the way out, 

and here we are, 

at the start of Chinatown,

a quick pose from Steve, 

as usual, 

this is where we are eating, the Golden Dragon, 

our order arrived, 

'Cheers!',

Peking duck with pancakes, 

sliced crispy pork,

shredded chicken, 

chicken feet, 

dim sum and bean sprouts, along with 4 portions of egg fried rice, the meal including a house red was £140.00, 

we were so full, next shopping, 

in some of the many oriental food shops, 

on the street, 

like this one, 

how about these, 

for sale in here,

we did not stop at Mamasons, 

but I did stop at the shop, 

that had so many brightly coloured goods on sale, as well as a army of waving cats!

we looked into a few pubs, but they were all so crowded, 

past St. Martins in the Field, 

and Charing Cross station, we finally settled on Gordon's Wine Bar, 

where they had a rather novel Christmas tree, 

tables either side of the central walk way, 

and here we are, 

wine ordered, 

Steve did the honours, 

'Cheers!',

we ordered a cheeseboard for 4, 

we had the choice of some 40 or more cheeses,

orange juice for the girls, 

although we were outside, it was warm as a heater above us was on, the bill including a nice bottle of wine, (not the house red), came to £85.00 which considering where we were seemed reasonable,

a pose by the steps down to the seating area of Gordon's, we caught the train back from Charing Cross, to New Beckenham where we said our farewells to Steve and Kai, 

a walk home and past the Christmas tree in Foxgrove Lodge, what a great day we all had, arriving home it was feet up for a Deadliest Catch, followed by a couple of Bangers & Cash before we were off to bed.