Fireworks in the Bedroom

Just looking through some photos we dowloaded recently and found these shots taken on (or near) bonfire night, when most of the UK sounds like a warzone for a week or so.

These are shots of the bloke's house two doors down, taken from our bedroom - a good excuse for a humourous blog title at least. It acts as proof that my earlier comments about the availability of industrial strength fireworks were accurate. This guy had a few of his mates over for a bit of fun at 9pm on a rainy Sunday night... what a nutter. Still it made for some spectacular viewing from the boudoir.


To give some indication of scale, that's a proper full-size tree to the left




And that's the roof eaves to the top left, so we're talking fireworks that shoot a couple of hundred feet into the air here (we reckon)


The show went on for about 20 minutes.... more than enough time for Keezee to perfect his time exposure technique for fireworks photography

Frosty

December is winter-time in the northern hemisphere of course, and the cold weather has been hovering around for quite a few weeks now. But things got interesting earlier this week when we awoke to -6 on the trusty kitchen thermometer (which Keezee had strategically placed outside on the window ledge the night before).

It was a very frosty morning and seeing as though we haven't had any snow yet, this is the next best thing. Check it out.....



Brrr.... Compare the garden here with some of our photos from last summer! (see below)





Winter driving tips - buy an ice scraper and the de-icer spray - they really work! Another nice-to-have is anti-freeze in your window cleaner.... we bought this but didn't add it in time - d'oh.


All geared up for it.


Caiti's thinking pose

The School Nativity Play

This is a first for our blog! Our first attempt to post a video.
Please enjoy "Away in a Manger" from Lucy's School Nativity Play (as seen on YouTube).

If you're new to this, all you need to do is click on the "Play" button below.




The Nativity Play was a corker. Plenty of laughs and tears, even a birth - something for everyone really.


Some of the stars from the Dove team posed for the paparazzi after the show

Unfortunately, one member of the audience became a little unruly and had to be removed from the auditorium (you may hear the start of the commotion in the video). We won't say who it was, apart from pointing out that much drama could have been averted if her parents had have remembered to bring a bottle of milk.

Surrey Hills

Here's another chance to make amusing comparisons with English place names that are also used in Australia.... today we're visiting the picturesque Surrey Hills.

In Sydney it's spelt "Surry Hills" (apparently an unknown person put the 'e' in Joey John's pocket) and if it wasn't for the spelling you wouldn't be able to tell the two apart I'd say. They're both hilly, trendy and full of interesting pubs. I do believe the spelling is the same in Melbourne and what's more, the Minogue sisters are often spotted in both places visiting the nightclubs and boutiques.


These pics were taken in autumn, as you may notice.


For the geography buffs, we're actually at Denbies Hillside on the North Downs.



The scenery is lovely when the sun's out.


Rush hour on Crown Street.