We've been to richmond before, but that was after we had the camera stolen so we couldn't show everyone back home how beautiful the place is. but this time we were prepared. unfortunately there's no real story to tell appart from "we walked arround near the river, then we took photos and walked some more, then we ate lunch and did some more walking before going home." so I'll just let the pictures tell the story mostly.
first up was the Farmers markets, which are on every saturday. it's not a big market but they definately have some excelent smelling cooked food and fresh vegitables that are second to none.
Check this out: nope, this is not trick photography, those mushrooms really are as large as pumkins (and yes, the pumpkins are normal size):
A random assortment of animals found arround the neighborhood:
richmond has a nice old stone bridge which makes for great photos.
to the north of the bridge (the direction the above photo is looking) is a few pubs and lunch places. our favorite is the White Cross, but we'll get back to that later. The boats you see in that photo can be hired out.
First stop was a cup of tea and scone for debbie and a salad for me:
A quick shot of me:
The south side of the bridge is mostly full of (very expensive) residential houses. they say a man's hous is his castle:
Now, as you probably know, I tend to be facinated by the more morbid side of life in London. everywhere you look there graveyards or memorials. every statue is a memorial to a dead person, it just seems to be something that permiates through daily life. One thing that is common in parks and is particularly prevelant in Richmond, are park benches with memorial notes enscribed on them. that's the way I'd like to go. don't give me a hunk of stone that will only get worn away and have moss on it. give me a park bench somewhere for people to sit on.
cheers Bill and Phil!
the tides tend to be quite large here - this footpath is completely covered during high tide.
Saw this and had to take a photo of it. it just appeals to me. Old stonework? check. Moss? check. rusting metal? check. cool angled photo opportunity? check.
We came across our first squirrel in a long time, he (she?) was busy running around looking for food and stuff (come to think of it, what else does a squirrel do?) - it took me about 20 shots to finally get him to stay still in any case.
And the flowers are starting to come back! So debbie had to go pick a dafodill: ahh the joy of spring!
... but then she got immediately distracted by her mobile phone...so I had a conversation with the dafodil all by my self...
Richmond certainly has its share of cool houses:
and debbie finally gets off her phone and triumphantly strides towards me holding the dafodil victoriously in the air.
then we came across the only set of flowers on the entire hill:
but of course that was an absolutely rubbish photo...... We were certain we could do better. so with much mud and grass stains later:
found a cool moss-covered stone gate:
Then got inundated by a bunch of squirrels. and about a billion-gazillion photos later we got these brilliant ones of a grey squirrel:
And these of a red one:
came accross these things:
apparently they're called "loggeries" and are designed to attract Stag Beetles but also support other "specialist insects, Frogs, Toads, Shrews and voles and birds such as Thrushes, Robins and Blackbirds" (or so said the notice strapped to a nearby tree).
yeah well, it happens:
So, by this time I was just about to explode from the need to go to the toilet so we didn't take any photos on the way back to the white cross. but after peeing, we had this delicious lunch:
I never tried cider before comming to England, but I totally understand why it's popular. if you have a heavy meal in a warm pub a cool refreshing cider just tops it off perfectly.
The white cross pub:
this walkway is also covered by water during high tide.
Don't believe me? well...
this is one of the reasons they have the Thames barrier to stop flooding during king tides.
I think this is a cormorant, but am not sure:
sometimes I like taking wide shots, like the following one, but I'm frustrated by the fact that it doesn't capture little things that really make the real life experience. if a picture is a thousand words; being there is ten thousand pictures.
Sometimes I just love looking at people go about their business. in particular I like seeing old people out and about and so the above scene caught my attention, but how could I take that whole picture and then have you skip over the parts that I liked?
Debbie wanted to go to the Odeon cinema to see what was on:
so I agreed, but got distracted by some old mossy stones:
and a monument in a churchyard nearby:
about this stage we were ready for a nap, so a short train ride later and here I am writing this blog while debbie naps.... typical :-). one of these days I'll have to get her to sit down and write one.... or so I keep saying anyway. :-D
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