So it’s been a few days and I’ve only got a few bits and pieces to share with you. As lovely as it is being with family on Christmas day, the day began ridiculously early with the clamour of present-hungry rugrats, wore on not a little tiredly and lacked a lot of the lustre, glimmer and shine that it has in Australia. In fact, the whole lead up to Christmas seemed very bah-humbugged and lacked a true feeling of festivity. I did get a Mag Lite torch from our hosts, my Auntie and Uncle, which will, no doubt, come in handy in future camping ventures.

Had a lazy day on Boxing Day despite another early rise. Since then Tim and I have blocked the door to our lounge room sleeping place with two large toy boxes, with our hosts’ approval. This allowed us to sleep in until about 7 or 8am without too much disturbance. There was a little snow Boxing Day afternoon, which was cool to see.

The day after Boxing Day was yet a Bank holiday in London, but we braved the close-to-freezing conditions and the falling snow to venture out to the hallowed ground which is Lords. Our tour guide was a passionate older man who had obviously attended and/or worked at Lords for a couple of decades at least. The 1 hour 50 minute tour was extremely informative and a great photo shooting session, hence the “Keep off the grass” IOTM.

Today Tim and I took a train ride through Victoria station to Leceister Square, with the preconceived notion of seeing Les Miserables at Queen’s Theatre mid afternoon. After discovering that a ticket worth AUD$85 would provide only a partly-obscured view of the stage, we canned that idea and went to Pizza Hut at lunch instead. Thereafter we rode the train to Wimbledon in the hope of catching a movie, only to discover it was not screening at all. A couple of coffees which were either mediocre or average were also consumed during the day.

I think I spent about as much money today in one hit as I’ve spent the whole time I’ve been here to this point. We’re off to France on Friday and I’ll be sleeping in an annexed outside room which may actually have no heating at all. This prompted me to take the step of investing in a 3-seasons sleeping bag for about £70, rated for comfort from 5 degrees C to -5 degrees C. Here’s hoping it’s not too warm for use in Australia during the summer time, otherwise it’s a lot of money to spend on a couple of isolated winter expeditions. Still, I do enjoy the odd backpacking or low-impact camping adventure, so maybe it’ll be a catalyst rather than a deadweight.