West Ealing by night

Apart from the calendar with little opening doors revealing chocolates or other treats, the word 'Advent' isn't often used these days. Like Lent, this time of year is an opportune moment to reflect upon the spiritual side of one's nature; the more so when darkness falls so early and there's so little daylight. Below: Kingsley Avenue (not so much an Avenue as a Circus or two Crescents back-to-back).

Below: outside the family home, Cleveland Road. Spirit of Place.

Below: The Avenue, from the junction with Argyle Road. The parade of shops on the left is called Castle Hill Parade. There's no Castle, nor any Hill. To the right, the Drayton Court Hotel, where Ho Chi Minh once worked.

Right: the Drayton Court Hotel from Castle Hill Parade.

Provincial public houses blaze,
Corporation tramcars clang,
On lighted tenements I gaze,
Where paper decorations hang,
And bunting in the red Town Hall
Says 'Merry Christmas to you all'.

- John Betjeman, Christmas, 1954

Left: St Stephen's church ["kiedyś to był kościół, teraz to flaty"] and an illuminated tree standing outside a house on North Avenue.

I have taken to shooting at night with fast prime lenses between f/2 and f/1.4 wide open, with auto ISO and shutter between 1/50th and 1/125th sec. This gives more pleasing results than the kit zoom (maximum aperture f/3.5).

Right: house on Rutland Gardens, all lit up for Christmas. If Danes have their hygge, Britons have Xmas. Artificial cheer to lift the spirits on these dark, damp days. Walking around suburbia by night is made more pleasurable when the little lights are twinkling outside, and within the warm houses, through the net curtains.

Below: police patrol car on the corner of Gordon Road and St Leonard's Road. Stay safe!

This time three years ago:
Smog starts getting to be a big problem for Warsaw

This time four years ago:
Snow in December: A memory or figment of my imagination?

This six years ago:
A muddy walk along ul. Karczunkowska

This eight years ago:
Ul. Trombity - a step closer to dry feet?

This time nine years ago:
Matters of style

This time ten years ago:
Real winter hits Warsaw

This time 11 years ago:
This is not Mazowsze, no?