Dr John Hawkins

Welcome to my bit of the Maison de Stuff, home to a huge load of pictures, and my daily blog.

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Recent Entries:

Wolstonbury Hill and New Year's Eve
Back to London
Magor
Abergavenny
London to Bristol
Boxing Day
Christmas Day
Christmas Eve - Brasserie Zedel
Regency Cafe
Day After (?) The Winter Solstice
Avebury Winter Solstice
Sushi and A Christmas Carol
Monday
Andrew
Snowy Heath Again
Snowy Heath
Thursday
Christmas Concert
Tuesday
Snow
Frosty Morning
Saturday
End of a Hard Week
Dishwasher Broken, Soup Ladle Sabrage and Dragon Fruit
Wednesday
Tuesday
Monday
Sunday
Not Quite a Wild Camp
Compression Sack and Christmas Tree
Thursday

Wolstonbury Hill and New Year's Eve

[Saturday 31st December 2022]
The girls spent the daytime with Japanese friends, and I headed down to the South Downs for a windy/rainy walk around Wolstonbury Hill, and lunch under a tarp. Back home for the evening to see in the new year with Chie and Erika.
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Back to London

[Friday 30th December 2022]
Drove back to London today, and thankfully the drive was much quicker and easier than on the way to Wales - we left the hotel at 10am and even with a stop for lunch in Reading we were back home by just after 2pm. That gave me enough time to head off to the heath for a walk afterwards.
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Magor

[Thursday 29th December 2022]
I went for a short walk in the Usk Valley near our hotel in the morning while the girls availed themselves of the swimming pool at the hotel. For lunch we headed to Magor to meet Bec, Dave, Jessica and Louise, and then after that back to their house for most of the remainder of the day.
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Abergavenny

[Wednesday 28th December 2022]
Headed to Abergavenny where we spent the afternoon with Robin and Robert, although I neglected to take any photos!
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London to Bristol

[Tuesday 27th December 2022]
We'd decided to head to South Wales for some of the bit between Christmas in New Year, and to break up the journey we stayed in Bristol tonight, at the hotel with views of the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The weather was grim and the driving was awful, but it was a change of scenery at least!
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Boxing Day

[Monday 26th December 2022]
I went for a short walk to the heath in the afternoon while Chie and Erika were visiting friends in Kings Cross. Later on in the evening we went to visit friends in Haringey, but I didn't take any photos.
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Christmas Day

[Sunday 25th December 2022]
Christmas Day, mostly at home, but with a foray out to the Pineapple in the middle.
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Christmas Eve - Brasserie Zedel

[Saturday 24th December 2022]
Went for lunch at Brasserie Zedel, where we had originally booked for our wedding anniversary at the start of December, but had to postpone as Chie had been ill at the time. In the evening Erika constructed a gingerbread house and before bedtime set out the things for Santa.
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Regency Cafe

[Friday 23rd December 2022]
Chie was very keen to have a breakfast (albeit at lunchtime) at the Regency Cafe, and today was their last opening day of 2023, so we headed there in the daytime.
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Day After (?) The Winter Solstice

[Thursday 22nd December 2022]
The solstice is actually a single moment in time, rather than a whole day, which happened just before 10pm last night. I'd heard Stonehenge would be observing the solstice at dawn this morning, i.e. the end of the longest night, so assumed that would be the case at Avebury too. As it turned out not a huge amount seemed to be going on, probably not helped by the fact it was grey and damp around sunrise and there wasn't much to see.
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Avebury Winter Solstice

[Wednesday 21st December 2022]
Once more to Avebury for the afternoon / evening / night to mark the winter solstice.
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Sushi and A Christmas Carol

[Tuesday 20th December 2022]
Chie went out for the evening. Erika and I ordered in sushi and sat on the floor eating it while watching the latest remake of Dickens's A Christmas Carol.
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Monday

[Monday 19th December]
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Andrew

[Sunday 18th December 2022]
Went down to Deptford to see Andrew, for what was supposed to be a gathering of a number of his friends, but in the end nobody else but me could make it.
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Snowy Heath Again

[Saturday 17th December 2022]
Another stroll on the heath to enjoy the surprisingly amount of remaining snow.
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Snowy Heath

[Friday 16th December 2022]
Went for a walk on the heath, and was surprised to see how much snow was still left lying around from Monday.
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Thursday

[Thursday 15th December]
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Christmas Concert

[Wednesday 14th December 2022]
Went to see Erika's (short but sweet) school Christmas concert in the afternoon.
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Tuesday

[Tuesday 13th December]
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Snow

[Monday 12th December 2022]
It had snowed overnight, and a decent covering was left in the morning.
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Frosty Morning

[Sunday 11th December 2022]
Woke up early this morning to see the frost and mist on Hampstead Heath.
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Saturday

[Saturday 10th December 2022]
Chie was on the mend but not yet 100% so I took Erika to her Japanese school in the morning instead, and stood in for the duties Chie had been volunteered for (helping out with a sale of old books). After school finished, Erika and I went for lunch nearby and a bit of clothes shopping. Later on in the day I had a walk to the heath around sunset.
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End of a Hard Week

[Friday 9th December 2022]
Chie was just about well enough to get out of bed for a bit finally today, so I took the opportunity to rewards myself for my very hard work with a very quick visit to the Pineapple.
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Dishwasher Broken, Soup Ladle Sabrage and Dragon Fruit

[Thursday 8th December 2022]
To top off a rather grueling week (Chie had flu or something so I was taking care of her while doing absolutely everything around the house in addition to my full time job) the dishwasher broke. In the evening I tried to lift my spirits by sabraging a bottle of ESW with a soup ladle, and Erika had a sudden craving for dragon fruit.
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Wednesday

[Wednesday 7th December]
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Tuesday

[Tuesday 6th December]
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Monday

[Monday 5th December]
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Sunday

[Sunday 4th December 2022]
Quiet morning at home, lunch at the Pineapple, then a short walk on the heath in the afternoon.
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Not Quite a Wild Camp

[Saturday 3rd December 2022]
Attempted another wild camp this evening, but ended up giving up and going home as I ran out of things to do by about 7:30pm, wasn't particularly tired, and felt a bit daunted by the many dark hours which lay ahead!
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Compression Sack and Christmas Tree

[Friday 2nd December 2022]
Received a compression sack for my new sleeping bag / quilt today. In the evening Erika decorated our Christmas tree.
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Thursday

[Thursday 1st December 2022]
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