The Big Smoke

I celebrated the start of 2012 with a lovely friend on the Embankment, looking across the river Thames at the fantastic firework display at the London Eye.
It was a truly brilliant way to see in the New Year, being extraordinarily mild with just a little light rain. We parked near Smithfield market and walked through the city to the river. There were hundreds of thousands of people all soaking up the atmosphere and having a jolly good time.

I rather like the impressionistic feel to this image, which was one of only a few I took, because due to the still, humid atmosphere, the sky filled with smoke, and the remaining fireworks were lost in pea soup fog, reminiscent of London before the clean air act of 1956 - so I am told!

Today we spent the morning sawing and splitting logs from when the tree surgeons cut down several trees back in the autumn.
We spent the afternoon enjoying our labours to the full by snoozing in front of the fire.