Lumiere night

Well, I don't suppose this weekend will be half as glitzy as last weekend, just thinking about it exhausts me! My bestie suggested we went to see the Lumiere Festival in London, in fairness to my old mate, she did offer me the choice of a couple of nights as the festival is on from Thursday until Sunday, me, in my wisdom, thought Saturday night would be the best option, dam fool I am, I have never seen so many people crammed into one place in all my life, and considering the scale of the festival, that meant there were literally thousands of people all wondering around looking at maps and cramming to see the exhibits. So, my girls, my bestie, her hubby and I all trundled into London on the 5.24pm train, lovely, we all got a seat, no probs. I think somewhere in the back on my tiny dusty brain, a little light must have pinged on, because even though I knew I would be with people who I know will look out for me, I put my white cane in the bottom of my ruck sack, one of the best moves I have made so far this year! We met my mates daughter and her lovely fella at Kings cross and made our way on the tube to Bond Street. I truly have never seen so many people crammed into a tube in all my life, seriously nose to nose with strangers, luckily no one seemed to have eaten garlic or spent the afternoon down the pub, although, I was starting to feel one of those dreaded panic attacks coming on, my partner introduced me to listening to music when I feel like that, so I signalled to my daughter that I needed her iPod and earphones, she passed me the iPod through the crowd but the earphone got left behind so she threw them over everyone's head and one of the little ear things hit me right in the eye knocking out my contact lenses, don't ask how, I honestly believe that someone somewhere was looking out for me because it landed on my bottom eye lash, I could feel it resting on the skin just below the lash, I put my hand up to catch it, knowing I would be totally buggered if I lost it on the tube, my hand got caught in my scarf which then hit me in the face, at this point, I knew it had gone, so with my free hand I tugged on my mates husbands arm and began to explain, but guess what? when I sorted myself out, turns out the scarf had knocked it back into my eye so all was good.
I dunno, maybe I am getting old, but people just seem so much more less tolerant of each other these days, people were trying to push their way onto a already over crowded tube before letting others get off, and at one point we had to hold hands to stop us getting separated. I suppose its a bit sad really that people haven't got time to look around themselves and consider others, I even saw a few new mothers and fathers with tiny new born babies wrapped up in their buggies, being propelled along at 11.30pm, in the freezing snow filled night, what are they thinking? Take the baby home, it doesn't give a shit about the pretty coloured lights, it wants to be warm and safe in its familiar surroundings, babies aren't a fashion accessory or a tool that you can use to push yourself forward in the crowd in order to get to the front to get the best view, however that said, I did get my stick out, and although I thought I would just use it while I was in the darkest parts of the walk I ended up using it all night. Most people got out of my way, or let me pass in front of them, a few tutted and tried to step over me, but I just hit their ankles...no, I really did!
We walked to Mayfair and saw some amazing displays, my daughter took all the photo's that evening, so the photo's I have on my blog have been stolen from her blog! (lifewithalicimo) The photo below is the first artists work we saw, Sanctuary, bird boxes, they were on top of a building and they even had sound effects, it was strange to hear birds singing in the dark!.....

Then we walked to a park, don't ask me where it was, I don't think I had much idea where I was all night, it was really hard to concentrate on where I was walking, steer myself through the crowds and keep my bearings, so I gave up and just followed the boss and her husband! The next two photos were taken in the park, the first one was called spinning night in living colour, it illuminated the night with all the brilliant bright colours, the second was called brothers and sisters, which was one of my favourites, I felt like I could look at it for ages.

I think from there we walked to Piccadilly,  the following photos were taken at points between Piccadilly and getting back on the tube at Charing cross, the first one is a little lane off of Carnaby street, the next one is called Shaida walking (and she was walking) the next one was called Piccadilly and had loads of pictures projected onto the side of a magnificent building.

The next three are called Les Lumineoles, they were fantastic, especially when they were moving and changing colours

Next two are Les Voyageurs, they were actually quite disturbing as they were perched on top of buildings. We didn't get photo of Keyframes, but on the side of a building made up of lights, there was this stick man running up and down the building, then he started jumping on a trampoline, when he fell off everyone gasped, it was really funny, people were getting right into it and it was really very clever, after a few minutes, another stick man appeared and they began chasing each other, it was a bit like when Jeremy Kyle is on TV, you know you should be moving on, but you just cant take your eyes off it! In fact it was wayyyyy better than any TV I've seen in a while.

Then we went to Trafalgar Square, I only remember seeing Plastic Island, which was exactly what you'd think it might be, loads of people were standing there staring at it waiting for something amazing to happen, but nope, it was a load of plastic bottles in a fountain!

Back at Kings Cross it had started to snow, so we didn't get the camera out anymore, but we saw Light Graffiti, which shone on everyone, and the snow as they walked past, Joining The Dots, which was very cleverly lit on the side of a building and lastly The Circus of Light which again was projected onto the side of a building, and told a circus story, I could have watched it forever, but my girls didn't like it and by then were ready for home. I don't think we have ever been on a outing into London and have not had to run for the train, so in traditional fashion we had to leg it for the train, there weren't many seats, although there was a lady whose handbag had clearly paid for a ticket on the seat beside her and she wasn't gonna move that bag for no one. we all got home safely and once again had a fantastic and memorable night thanks to my bossy best mate, who I thank from the bottom of my heart.

Sunday we get up to snow, as you know, if you have read my previous weather blog, snow and I don't get along, but I get the dog ready and stomp down the village to help my sister muck our her horses, then in my wisdom I decide to walk the dog over the fields as it was his first proper snow,

I dunno why that photo has moved to the side of the page, and I cant move it back!! Anyway, it has taken me all week to get over last weekend and here we are about to start another one!!! x