12 of 12 (v5.0) - December

(My End of Year 12 of 12 review is here!)

Late posting, but I'm here now! I came to add the photos, and found I had 15 followers who had joined this Blog. It wasn't that big last time! Most I know in person or through 12 of 12, but some were just "how the hell do you know me?" - no bio, foreign names I didn't recognise... so I blocked a few. If the remaining strangers see this, could you say hi/how you found my Blog? Cheers!

Anyhoo - more than 12 photos because I'd already spent ages cutting this lot down and some of them were "well this is my photo for 12 of 12, but this shows you the whole thing", etc.

I took the day off work, and had a wander around London - so here we go (no timestamps - it's late and I want to go to bed)! Thanks for the Christmas wishes (those who left comments) - hope you had a lovely holidays too!

1) Starbucks, The Strand, London

Reading Stratton's War by Laura Wilson. I liked it throughout, though the ending was a big flat for me. I liked DI Stratton, the main male character, anyway. And of course, the featured Starbucks.

2) Covent Garden, London

Funky cider van!

3) Apple Market, Covent Garden, London

Christmas decorations from the roof.

And a bigger picture of the indoor market, with the sunken area where there's a cafe and more shops.

4) Covent Garden, London

Funky hedge reindeer.

Bigger picture:

5) Covent Garden, London

The Pearly Kings and Queens!

6) Covent Garden, London

There was a big Christmas tree there, with a pressure-sensor pad in front of it. When people stepped on the pad to kiss under the mistletoe, the lights on the tree lit up! It was called Merry Kissmas.

Bonuses:

The mistletoe:

The tree lit up as some people kissed (using bokeh for the soft look):

7) Leicester Square, London

Off to the cinema to see what I thought was the third of the Steig Larsson films, only I'd had a blonde moment and forgotten it was the second one... well I'd seen the cinema say the third was coming soon, but as it's a second run cinema, that could mean a while off, and they were still showing number 2. The Prince Charles shows films that have finished elsewhere (and so the license is cheaper), as well as cult, indie and old films. They have theme nights and sing-along shows too, pretty nice place.

8) Coventry Street (I think), Leicester Square, London

Wandered out afterwards, and checked out HMV nearby - grabbed a load of books!...

Book pile from HMV (taken at home, later):

9) Piccadilly, London

The horses in the fountain near the Eros statue.

10) Piccadilly, London

Cool Britannia window display (I forget the shop - Lillywhites, maybe?

11) Piccadilly, London

Night time in the circus...

12) Regent Street, London

Several photos walking up the street:

Bokeh shot (above) of these lights above the street (below):

Zoom zoom!

Little walkway off to the left, leading to some bars and things:

Back on Regent Street, the banner for Veeraswamy, restaurant which featured in the book I was reading in photo 1 (the police station in the book was bombed, and the Veeraswamy staff offered them tea).

Bonus: my flat, Lewisham, London

Jelly candle I bought in Covent Garden Market. Smells lovely.

Bagel with home-made jam from a colleague - yummy!

Thanks to all for reading, and to Chad for organising. Everyone else's are here!