Santa and snow!

We had a visit from Santa and a snow storm at the same time…..as we were enjoying afternoon tea at the Petersham Hotel in Richmond! For many years my daughter and I have had a Christmas afternoon tea, usually in a central London hotel but this year we decided to stay local because of possible transport problems. There were not many people in this hotel so it was a nice quiet atmosphere and amusing to have the Santa visit and several snow( foam) storms outside. The view from the hotel is down over the river Thames towards Twickenham, a view made famous in a Turner painting ‘ The view from Richmond Hill’. 
The reindeer were not so lifelike…see extra… in the background you can see the river and a nice sky just before sunset.
The food was OK but not the best of afternoon teas, but the price was half that in some hotels and it was enjoyable to have time to catch up with news without grandchildren! 

This morning I went to the last aerobics class with a teacher I have known and been to her classes for over  20 years…she is now retiring ( probably 60 but does not look it!) and everyone who regularly went to her classes is very sad. She was always so cheerful and did 3 classes on a Wednesday morning , which varied from the most energetic at 8.30 to the much less so at 11.30! I usually went to the 8.30. Her music was always good and she played lots of ‘ older’ pop music for the routines of which we knew the songs! So far she has not been replaced so we wait and see.