Sledging!

It's snowed! So once again BRITONS must panic, abandon their cars and walk everywhere (which is confusing to me, 'cos if so many people can walk when it's slippery and cold, why don't they walk all the time?).

We took a bus to Richmond Park to enjoy the pistes there:

The local youth showing their ingenuity

Pudding-head!

The cats have had a good festive season...

Christmas Eve Starlight

In a gap between rain last night, nipping out to sprinkle the Reindeer Dust (a higher percentage of glitter this year - we assume this is to help Santa land in the low-visibility weather conditions we've been having), we noticed that there was a clear patch of sky.

And then the clouds came back...

Putting the rabbit back together again

When I was an undergraduate some thirteen years ago, we watched an educational video in a "practical" physiology class. The reason it was a video was for animal welfare purposes: by recycling a video made in the seventies, various instructional things could be demonstrated without the need to unnecessarily dissect other critters. Anyway, in this video a much younger version of one of our lecturers took the fluffiest whitest bunny rabbit I had ever seen, anaesthetised it, shaved it, hooked it up to various life-support systems, and opened it up to demonstrate the workings of the contents.

At one point in the proceedings (I think it was at the point the lungs were removed) I had a sudden horrible realisation and turned to my neighbour and said "They're not going to be able to put the bunny back together again, are they?" Until then, I'd been kind of assuming that at the end of the demonstration, everything would be popped back inside the rabbit who would be stitched back together and given a carrot.

Anyway, the concept of not being able to get the bits back in the metaphorical bunny is something I frequently use when describing films. For instance, in The Departed, there comes a moment when you realise that there is no way out for certain characters, and a happy ending is impossible. So next time I'm watching a film and say "I don't think it's going to end well for the bunny", that's what I mean.

Pretty lights

Last night I went and hung around Southbank and Somerset House with Auntie C, and we accosted people with our cameras. She concentrated on people, and I aimed for long-exposure blurs:

My photographic mentor

Next time someone asks me what travel-sickness feels like, the answer is this!

The ghostly skater

Bundi and Beyond

After Karauli, we moved on to Bundi, a rather pretty (and friendly) little town. We stayed in the Bundi Vilas, which had (as we later discovered) amazingly helpful staff. Not only did they leave us in charge of the Rooftop Terrace Anti-Monkey Defence System (a rifle) when they went downstairs to retrieve more gin, but when Tim decided (in the best of colonial traditions) to take to bed with a fever, they arranged the doctor's visit, and offered to let us stay as long as necessary until he was recovered. In the meantime, I explored the town alone.

View from Bundi Palace

Lots of the children only knew the English words "Hello! Photo! One rupee!" but these two girls were polite and just wanted to see their pictures on screen.

Whilst Tim was ill, I made a new friend who fed me chai.

This is what he was working on. Can you see the signature?

...there it is! On the ear-ring.

The artist at work

The Motherlode!

After lunch, back in Bhanwar Vilas Palace one of the family offered to show us around the estate (and guesthouse, and polo ponies with a serious biscuit habit). But first, I went butterfly-hunting. 

I didn't find much in the way of co-operative butterflies (there were some beautiful swallowtails, but they kept their distance. What I did find, was a small hole in the ground which was jam-packed full of TEH CUTE. 

Mummy (I think)

Wibbly legs

Intrepid Esplorer!

Ohai

Three curious mongoslings, close enough for me to consider using my macro lens, with mummygoose keeping her distance and wondering when I'd let her back near her babies.