Rainy night before Christmas...

Truly horrendous weather today, with continuous heavy rain that has saturated much of the country and again precipitated flooding over many areas of southern England, just as people were beginning to recover from the November floods. The rain didn't deter the birds, with a large flock of greenfinches raiding both the feeders and the Cotoneaster berries, and a greater spotted woodpecker attacking the willow trunk.

Much of my day has been occupied with Christmas preparations - more shopping, tidying - all the usual stuff really. This afternoon Chris, Ben and I went into Peterborough to buy a few remaining presents and to see the lights. I have to say I was quite impressed, and took a few shots of them with my iPhone as I decided I didn't want to take my DSLR, especially in view of the rain.

This image is the first of my 'one street' series. It shows Cathedral Square looking towards the Guildhall. The stalls you can see are part of a Berber market which has visited Peterborough for the last few Christmasses. If you look carefully you can see one of the stall holders in traditional costume. The rainy paving reflects the lights wonderfully, and I also love the lady with the bright pink umbrella striding across the square and the dark shadowy shapes of the other shoppers, especially the young lady with stiletto heels on the left.

We became bored with shopping quite quickly and so retreated to the John Lewis cafe for cofee and hot chocolate. While we were sitting, watching the other shoppers in Queensgate, the whole centre was briefly plunged into darkness which caused a cacophony of squeals. Light was rapidly restored, but there was a further power cut while we were waiting at the till in Waitrose.

Unfortunately this second power cut disabled the exit barriers of the car park, and we were stuck for ages while an engineer came and opened them. Rather strangely some drivers started sounding their horns, even though it was quite clear that no-one could move.We eventually emerged into gridlocked traffic, and then crawled round to the station to pick up Alex for the last time this term. Aah, the joys of Christmas!