David, that is one of the very few houses that you have posted that I cannot like
It looks a bit like an electricity sub station. Really boring. I loved all the others though!

Sara, those modernist lines (the design itself is about 100 years old from Germany) really do seem to polarize people. I love them myself and would be only too happy to live in one, but the British councils in the 30s onwards disliked them so much the first large estate was built at Dartington Hall (where I first got to know them in 1968) as it belonged to the trust. There are some scattered around the country but more in Germany and Holland.

I have a collection of Hampstead Garden Suburb gardens today to last me the rest of the week if I took nothing else, but will add them all as I go along.

Hibiscus shrubs are popular locally, but I haven't seen this species (Hibiscus schizopetalus) in any garden but my own.
Is it familiar in other parts of the world?

I've never seen anything like it!

hmmm explosives .. could have been interesting

That is so lovely Auntie. I looked it up and apparently it is
native to tropical eastern Africa in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique.We have hibiscus here in abundance, almost a weed, but not that one.

Anyone reading my blog will know my quest for a pre-1963 graphic warning sign like the one just off my road till about 2005 which I forgot to take a photo of. I've been collecting every other example of the old signs for 2 1/2 years and the only red triangle warning signs I'd got were a graphic one missing a corner and a text one until this weekend when I finally found a perfect example using Streetview. The black paint has worn off making the pictures look red while all the red paint has worn off the triangle, but with a coat of paint it would be like new.

Are you ever tempted to take the signs, SatG?? I can just see you with a screwdriver shinnying up the pole ..


Another shot from the road trip

Good day! My first visit over this side of Funtrivia.I like all your pictures. Here is one of mine.
One of this year's hybrid Mallards in our park.

Welcome kidder, good to see a new arrival here. Jill, us purists only really appreciate signs in situ, like my train tickets (I think you remember that!) which only count if you go and get them yourself from the stations rather than somewhere else, which go in a different set. In fact if you ask nicely councils usually give the old signs they remove to the first person who asks them, they have no use for them and was offered one large direction sign recently I had no room for, and only remembered later I knew someone online who did collect them and puts them on his garden wall. I did buy one small one like mine though just for a record and may put it up somewhere outdoors although will probably last a few days round here before it's been liberated.

Here's a very nice new house just gone up in Hampstead- this is really a 1970s design and very unusual to see nowadays

Kidder welcome! That duck photo is just gorgeous!

Love the duck too! Welcome Kidder

I like that house but I do wonder about houses with flat rooves .. where does the rain go .. or snow in London for that matter .. and isn't there some insulation benefits from having a peak?

Rooves .. hmmm. Why does that seem odd when I read it back? Another one like 'gaol'!

Thanks for the pelican post, Jake! Theit bodies almost look in reverse to our .. ours with the black body and white tips on the wings. We have a lake nearby which I'm hoping will have lots on it when other flood waters receed.

This is Diesel, my neice's dog.

If anyone knows the song The old Bull and Bush here it is in Hampstead, taken for an online friend who moved to Australia in 1974 and hasn't seen it since.

Pero's bridge in Bristol. Named after an 18th century slave, the bridge is known locally as the 'horned bridge' because of the two horn-like structures which act as counter-balances when the middle section (right of picture) is raised to allow ships through.

we splashed out ...

The Tata Nano, cheapest car in the world when it was first launched last year.

That looks fun, Copago, and that Tato Nano looks pretty good for a budget car! (I wonder when they'll make them available for Europe???)

I had fun with the boys yesterday trying to make gigantic soap bubbles. It's harder than it looks and capturing one on camera before it burst proved to be beyond me. Here's a shot of a fledgling bubble in the making ...

Mishka enjoys a little light reading.

^^HA!

Cool bubbles!
And how much did the car cost, Zorba? I bet it was less than the jet-ski

I'm running out of generic photos .. must get my camera out again! Another truck.

I don't think the Nano is up to EU safety standards, plus they probably don't want it to undercut all their own models so will make sure it can't be driven here.

These are the North Downs (yes, they go up) in Gomshall in Surrey.

We are proud to announce the adoption of this little Black Ball of Fur.
Her name is Sadie and she is just three months old. We adopted her two weeks ago from a Society that helps distressed and abandoned animals.
She is a whirlwind and it makes me tired just watching her run all over the place.
She is going to grow up to be a huge kitty we think.
She definitely is keeping me on my toes.
Ren picked the name for her and her middle name is Shaunne after our Vet.
I just thought I would share with you all the good news.
Thank you again for all the lovely Sympathy posts.
PF

I love all the animal pictures! Diesel and Mishka are beautiful

And PurpleFan, how nice that there's a new addition to your household! Sadie is adorable, what a cutie

Welcome to Sadie! She's beautiful, PF!

Sadie is absolutely adorable, and Mishka looks totally engrossed!

Here's a shot of the rear of U2's recording studios in Dublin - a very unprepossessing building indeed. When the black door is open everyone knows the lads are in session, when it's closed like in this photo then we know they're not around. They're currently on tour, hence the shut door.

Hello Sadie! And I'm glad they've got the Nano to Europe but as usual we always pay more...

Here's a garden along the pavement in Hampstead

Cake, anyone?