London, for the first time, has put up Ramadan lights to celebrate the holy month. I was able to go and see them near Piccadilly Circus, and in the daytime the lanterns, stars and moons shimmered and sparkled. I wasn’t able to stay until dark when they light up but I was delighted to see these wonderful lights celebrate a special month in a city as great as mine.
These purple crocus flowers are a lovely sight to see early in the year. I spotted these from some way away but had to go and take a closer look.
I love the vibrant colour against the lovely green grass.
Sign of Spring are approaching here in London and these swathes of daffodils are a happy and welcome sight.
With the winter days and nights being cold and dark there’s usually not a lot of motivation to do anything or go anywhere. To help with that Canary Wharf in London decided to hold a Winter Lights event, after a 2 years break due to the pandemic. I always enjoy art events so my sister and I decided to go take a look.
It was cold up so we wrapped up and went around to each of the 22 light installations. Some were really busy and it took us a couple of hours to get around to them all, but here are some of the ones I liked best.
My favourite was probably this giant floating Earth in the middle of water. I loved how it lit up in the dark.
I also really liked the glass elephants and the spinning top which reflected pretty lights around the room as it spun.
The coloured lights in the water creating shapes in the fog was fun to watch and the colourful benches were back too, always proving popular.
My sister and I enjoyed this event and it was a nice, free, family event that brought a bit of colour and creativity to winter.
Giant bubbles have appeared outside one of London’s famous landmarks – the Leadenhall building, also known as The Cheesegrater. The bubbles are an art piece called ‘Evanescent’ by design studio Atelier Sisu. The idea behind them is to entice people back into the city after the last few years and appeal to our childlike wonder and universal playfulness.
These bubble installations have been spotted in other major cities around the world too and I thought they were a lovely idea and were a pleasure to see.
Today is the last day of 2022. Reflecting back across the year, I didn’t have any grand plans at the start but it feels like it’s been an eventful one. I was finally able to travel abroad after a very long time and I managed to gain some new qualifications after a lot of hard work. There was also an addition to the family in my new little nephew. I hope the year was a fulfilling one for all of you, whatever you did.
Here are some of my favourite photos from the year gone by and as we move into 2023, I hope it’s a year full of good health and happiness, and everything we all want it to be. Happy New Year.
Today, 10 days after her death, is Queen Elizabeth the Second’s funeral. To God we belong and to God we shall return.
The Chelsea Flower show takes place in London every year, showcasing beautiful gardens. To coincide with the event, businesses in the borough of Chelsea and Kensington hold an alternative floral art show called Chelsea in Bloom. Shopfronts are decorated with pretty displays and this year’s theme was the ‘British Icons’, to celebrate all things British and the Platinum Jubilee. My sister and I went to have a look at what creative designs would be on display.
There were so many displays but here are some I liked the best. Some displays were truly creative, like this Spitfire one, and other’s really detailed like the emblem with the horse and lion.
I really liked the display outside the Royal mail, Postmen on ladders and a collection of the iconic red postboxes. And the biscuit Buckingham Palace was artistic.
One of my favourites was this Queen’s head outline in different colours, I thought it was simple but really pretty.
I thought the bus was iconic too, and I really liked this floral tunnel with top hats, pocket watches, teacups and cards. It was super busy so only managed to get a couple of photos.
These cakes on a giant cake stand was another of my favourites, I thought it was really creative and very British.
Here are some more icons, The Beatles and Elton John, and representing fashion, Vivian Westwood. I thought the upside down table, chairs and cakes was cool.
I really liked the giant 50p coin, simple and fun. Paddington bear made of flowers was lovely too.
Another of my favourites was the Mini Cooper on show. It was quite a big display with flower hearts surrounding it.
These are only some of the displays we saw, there were many more with floral archways and window displays. It was really nice to go and see these imaginative displays, especially after it was cancelled for the last couple of years. The winners have been announced on the website.
A bit late posting this but Queen Elizabeth celebrated 70 years on the throne this year. There were celebrations around the country for the Platinum Jubilee. I’m not a huge fan of the Royals but I think you have to respect the Queen for doing 70 years in her duty. Here are some of the decorations that I saw on my visit to London and around my local town.
I like the fridge with the Union Jack print and the throne and crown display, and I thought the giant party popper was fun.
Pall Mall had flags all the way down and the creative streetart was done in my local town centre.
There were lots of street parties and picnics in the park to celebrate, and I’m sure everyone enjoyed the extra days off work too.
In Holland park in West London there a place called the Dutch garden. The garden is called as such as every late spring/early summer hundreds of tulips bloom. When I heard about it I decided to make a trip to take a look; not only because I love tulips but who knows if I’ll ever go to the Netherlands and visit one of their famous tulip fields.
It was a really bright and sunny afternoon so I didn’t just get really hot, but unfortunately the flowers look quite saturated in my pictures.
In a nearby section there were other types of tulips and flowers too. This section was also a little less busy. I really like the sundial. And these murals are quite cool too, depicting people in old fashioned dress and how they might have enjoyed the garden in the past.
On my way out of the garden I spotted some wiseteria too.
The garden was really lovely, it was great to see swathes of tulips and just take in the colourful sight (also the sounds of a nearby quite loud peacock!).
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