Cold and dark

This is one of the favourite times of the year. We ordered our first load of logs of the season and have been lighting the fire in the evenings. The clocks haven't changed yet, but it is darker later in the mornings and earlier in the evenings.
Lots of social engagements this week, with the girls both on playdates on Tuesday and then two friends of Flo's coming over Wednesday. Their mums arrived after tea, cueing an unscheduled G&T or two. On Friday evening I organised dinner out with 10 mums from school. We went to the Old Town to the Thai bookshop I've mentioned before. They opened just for us, having been closed for renovations for 2 weeks, but it didn't take long to realise they were woefully unprepared for diners. Despite us having emailed our orders ahead, the day before, they still took more than an hour to appear. No matter, as it was lots of fun.
Saturday was a mixture of torrential rain and bright sunshine and, after a lazy start involving pancakes and papers, our friend Adrian came over to take some family photos of us. He knows what he's doing as a professional photographer, one of his photos recently included in an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London. While Rob and I were a tad uncomfortable at taking direction, the girls were absolutely in their element, posing for pictures.
 In the afternoon, Ruth and Pete arrived for the weekend from sunny north London. We had a hugely enoyable dinner and then watched the massive fireworks display, taking place just outside the window, celebrating the anniversary of the Battle of Hastings.  For reasons that escape me, I have no photos of the fireworks. Or Friday night's dinner. Or Saturday night's dinner.
Sunday was another corker weather wise, cold, but sunny, and we enjoyed a lovely long walk along the seafront, to the Fishermens' Museum, around the Old Town and then to lunch at Dragon. Here is Ruth enjoying Scarlett's elite bumper car driving skills.