Advent Calendar December 5th

I was looking for something for the advent calendar last night when the news of the attack at Leytonstone station came in and I was distracted by more important matters. As I said at the time I went to school in Leytonstone. It is still one of the nicer bits of the borough, facing Wanstead Flats, the Hollow ponds and the start of the ancient Epping Forest. 

I took this photograph last year just after Christmas on a bright frosty morning when it was cold enough that the ice of the biggest Hollow Pond had started to freeze. Some winters in England 50 years ago were so cold  that the ice froze thick enough to enable schoolgirls to walk across to the islands. Adults know that such folly should not be contemplated.