Fairly early in a drizzly morning of gloom seeping from still rain filled skies we set off for a shopping trip to Lyndhurst.
This was Vaggs Lane. The smudged trees on the left hand side were beyond the reach of the windscreen wipers.
Father Christmas now stands upon the Tiptoe postbox on Wootton Road.
The moorland alongside the A35 to Lyndhurst looked decidedly hazy.
The High Street did not look tempting for shoppers,
yet some stalwarts persevered,
even if only, briefly, to window shop.
A Big Issue vendor seemed to have given up on finding customers. (The Big Issue is a rather good newspaper focussing on the issues of housing and homelessness. The profit goes to the homeless vendors).
The postbox decorations outside the Lyndhurst Tea Rooms, where we brunched, were also serving a fundraising purpose, in an attempt to preserve the Foxlease Activity Centre, more information on which is given on the site at the bottom right of the banner.
The Fox & Hounds pub alongside featured seasonal window boxes and The Forage across the road strung a garland of baubles.
A black bird watched from above, no doubt rejoicing in the fact that it did not have to
dice with death walking across the road.
In the interests of conveying the nature of the weather I have resisted the temptation to brighten all these images.
This evening we all dined on Mr Pink’s crisp fish and chips, pea fritters, and Mrs Elswood’s sandwich gherkins. Once she had prised
her bread and butter pudding from the top rack in the oven, Jackie’s dessert was to follow. I finished the Côtes du Rhône.