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A friend of mine, Paul, suggested that we go into town to take pictures of the Christmas shopping on the last Saturday before Christmas. I hadn't been back in England for long, and was itching to use my Camera, so I readily agreed and we headed into town.
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| The old and the new. The Quays Shopping Centre and the Ancient City Walls seem uncomfortable in each others company. |
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We parked up on the outskirts of downtown and walked in past the brand new Quays shopping centre and found there was a market operating beneath the Old City Walls. A jazz quartet was playing and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.
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| Under the City Walls, the canopies of a small bustling farmers' market add a flash of colour to the gray of the architecture. |
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| Scones and jam, examples of homemade goods for sale at the farmers' market. |
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We spent a while taking pictures of the market before heading up the stairs to the top of the city walls for shots from above. Working outside the masonic hall was a very interesting man. He took a break from the construction he was working on and chatted with us about photography. It's not every day you meet a construction worker who says he would like to take up photography so that he could take pictures of flowers.
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| He helped build the oceanography building, and he would like to take pictures of flowers. The interesting Londoner we met atop the city walls. |
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| Paul in action, photographing a stall at the farmers' market. |
Our walk then took us through the city centre proper, where Paul dropped into a camera shop to buy a new lens and we both dropped into a pie shop to buy lunch.
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| Underneath the glare of the heat-lamps, the pies from which we chose our lunch. |
Then it was up into the the centre of the centre, the pedestrian precinct.
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| Commercial Santas hand out fliers. |
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And it was here that we encountered our second market of the day. A special German market was operating, selling barbecued sausages, chocolate-covered fruit, hot chocolate and, of course, German Beer.
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| German Sausages at the German Market. |
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| A vendor of Santa Balloons and Christmas Hats. |
By then the cold was starting to get to us and I'd filled up my memory card anyway, so we decided to head back. It wasn't the most exciting photographic project every, but it was nice to get out with the camera again.