Birthday Stash and London - Picture heavy

Yesterday we ventured to London, not for Christmas shopping I hasten to add. How anyone can do that is beyond me, and I used to come down from York for that purpose but with the increase in internet shopping and stores realising that they can have branches in other towns theres absolutely no reason in my mind to out yourself through that. We did venture into Oxford Street late afternoon thinking that the fact that it was pedestrianised for the day it would be better but we couldn't get out fast enough. The pedestrianisation just seemed to have increased the volume, no doubt the intention of the businesses.
We "did" Borough Market in the morning where, if you like cheese and olives, you can have a huge lunch on the samples. Plenty of other choices but not in the same volume or as free with samples. The Lactose intolerant among us managed to find a few unusual things so it was a success. Unlike our lunch at Pizza Express where the menu suggested you asked your waiter if you had any dietry requirements. The reply to our query was theres no one here on a Saturday who knows so all you can have is salad, without dough balls!
Our next stop was Tate Modern to see their latest installation in the Turbine Hall slides by Carsten Holler . My DH was brave enough to queue and travel down one of the small slides, the larger ones required a timed ticket and the queue was huge for those.


















Finally the weather has provided enough light for taking pictures, above is a Vase of Orchids donated to the Birthday stash by my SIL. I'm told they should last until the Christmas Tree goes up. The next photos are of the wool related presents I was lucky enough to receive.
Guess what next years project is going to be. A friend has volunteered lessons but after the first one she may rethink, I'm not the most patient of people.










Some very nice sock yarn from Piece of Beauty and a book to tell me what to do with it.


Not wool but an essential for winter my Fab boots from Duo that actually fit round my 41cm calf!










Not Birthday but arrived this week. The right hand wool is the Posh Yarn Sock club offering for December, very rich and perfect for this time of year. The green is some lace which I bought off Ebay to have a go with!