November 2013: An overstuffed walrus, a tiny Venice, and an autumn woodland

[iguana]

I was back from Vietnam in time to enjoy the last couple of weeks of autumn, visiting the Horniman Museum; walking along Regent's Canal; and of course finding time (ho ho hurrr okay I'll get my coat) to watch the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary episode at the cinema.

Horniman Museum

Making the most of my final day of holiday booked off for dealing with jetlag, I decided to visit the Horniman Museum, which has a pretty nice public park/gardens in addition to the museum itself.



Here is the obligatory photo of the Horniman walrus, overstuffed by a taxidermist who had never seen one. There were also a lot of other interesting artefacts around, including the evolution of the elephant with skulls of various preceding species on display.



I want to go back at some point when the sun is out, because the gardens held this interesting sundial along with one where your own shadow told the time. There was also a small petting zoo!

Regent's Canal

I met up with my friend Becky in Camden and after lunch we walked along Regent's Canal to Paddington, which is rather picturesque. On the way we encountered Little Venice (really little Venice), and a floating book shop, which I wish I'd had a look inside.

Doctor Who

I got the bus into Bromley to watch the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary episode, which was being shown at the cinema there. While I was expecting to be sitting virtually alone in the cinema (like when I went to see Back to the Future, or when Emily and I went to see Ghostbusters, neither of which I apparently wrote up O.o) the cinema was actually packed with other Doctor Who nerds.

Admittedly most of them were teenagers who'd never seen any classic episodes grmbl mbml humbug, but even so it was pretty cool to be with a bunch of fellow fans. Everyone applauded when the episode finished.

Autumn



Having Elmstead Woods nearby is absolutely fantastic, especially since I've started working from home and usually go out for a walk there instead of commuting or at lunch time. I've been using it to get more to grips with my camera, too. I was particularly pleased with this shot at the time after discovering how to set the colour balance manually to better capture the autumn colours.