Yesterday I moved on to Jill's in West Peckham - a tiny little village, about 45 minutes drive from Bromley. It was sad leaving Caroline and Derek - but a 'threat' of a visit to NZ in 2013 makes it a bit less testing.
After lunch, Jill and I strolled into the village in bright sunshine -
It consists of this church, a pub and a church hall with a huge village green. Lovely. While we were walking, I pointed out this tree to Jill -
I've seen so many like it, and have tried on many occasions to get photos because it intrigues me. Early on my visit, I'd been told (and probably correctly) that they were rooks' nests, but Jill tells me THESE particular 'nests' are, in fact, mistletoe. And she could tell that, because the rooks' nests (which we're going to look for on our travels down to Brighton later today) are flatter and at the top of the trees.
If that's the height of mistletoe, no wonder I haven't had many opportunities to stand under it. I'm considering the possibility of camping under this tree, to see if my 'luck' changes - but alas, by the time we got back to the house (about half an hour later) the clouds had covered the sky and there was a real chill in the air. By 4.30 pm it was dark - and that idea is now definitely on the back burner.
I came across another stack of Christmas tree stands in my travels and so have added this picture to give a better idea of what they look like. I remember an old bucket with bricks, covered with Christmas paper and countless trees on jaunty angles from my childhood - not any more, it seems!
And for those of us who never managed to get to Santa's grotto, Anna and Sebastian allowed me to take a photo of them emerging from the 'secret trees' just before getting there.
Yep - no wonder Santa needs so many beers and Christmas cakes left out for him on 24th in NZ - the heat must be unbearable for him in the antipodes.
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