teeth of winter..

that's what these spikey things always remind me of..

surprise...

warm winter hasn't inspired me to take many photos....these were what faced me when i opened an upstairs window in 2006 after hearing strange dripping noises for a while...huge icicles from roof to roof!

flying over mountains...

new year's day : D

what a good start to the year...

Subways

New graffiti.. Pretty good. The inside was all black with a string of characters leading you through. Very dark spacey and fairy tale in one.

Stroll Around

Nice pond in a suburb, .innit mistah!

Fairy

On the tree, and a very late Merry Christmas ☆

Christmas Eve

Beautiful red Poinsettia and Christmas cake, heavy, dark, alcoholic and stuffed with dried fruit kind.

Winchester Cathederal

Pictures at dusk, leaving the Christmas Fayre.

Nearly Christmas

Oxford Street Uniclo

Funny that in the U.K. the sign is in katakana and in Japan it's in the English alphabet. The London one looked really funky.

Covent Garden Buskers

Two of a dancing and often comical string quartet, amazing that they can do all that and play so beautifully.

Fishing in the Freezing Cold

Over the Bosphorus Strait, last glimpse of Istanbul.

Bosphorus Strait

Looking from east to the west side.

Hookah Smoking

Relaxing in the evening drinking tea and smoking their water pipes.

Turkish Sweets

Were delicious, sticky sweet buttery pastries with lots of nuts. I was taking pictures in this shop, and when I  turned round and these two guys were waiting for their photo to be taken too!

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul

Huge, amazing it's so old, completed in 537 it was the religious focal point of the eastern orthodox church for nearly 1000 years..

Wandering Down

An Istanbul street at sunset.

blue mosque and moon..

still in istanbul, i saw so much in so few days. really is the crossing point between east and west, two sides combined in one very busy city.

Palace in Istanbul

Was absolutely gorgeous!

Sea of Marmara

Early morning in Istanbul.

Skating on Thin Ice

Another morning shot

Another morning in Southampton, riding past the golf course.

First Morning

At home in the U.K...

mountain shape city....

is what yamagata shi means in english, and indeed the city is surrounded by mountains..

rain was on the way....

sea of cloud..

it was beautiful..

paradise..

is the name of the run, and today it was, the sun was shining and hardly anyone around ; )

moon mountain..

in the distance...

at the top..

of mt. zao.. jizo-san, patron saint of travellers (or something like that), always pay a visit first time to the top in winter, eventually he'll be up to his neck in snow.

first snow...

always seems to come when i have to drive 40 minutes into the countryside to teach at kindergarten, this is an oddly designed public building, always like the way the snow sits on top of the silver ball and the red spirally stairway..

smell of autumn..

burning leaves in the temple precinct..

giant pumpkin...

i HAD to take a picture of this huge vegetable, in the supermarket, late at night, with people giving the messily dressed white girl with a camera funny looks.... taking pictures in a supermarket is not something we do i guess!

morning yoga class...

waiting for students to come..such a lovely room to teach in with the straw mats, sunshine and mountain views ; )

car rambling...

it's so much fun to go off up unknown tracks in the mountains....as longs as you don't get stuck..!