England, Part 7

As the trip progressed towards the meat of Christmas our explorations dropped off and family time came to dominate. In the interests of completeness however I'm going to slap up a couple of posts, if only for my own pleasure and a vague future anthropologist's edification. Press on, before Christmas becomes yet another distant memory:

Consulting with Granddad (as this photo shows, he doesn't move much year to year).

Portrait studio time.
Off to Leicestershire, and the little brother:

Countryside: the real Britain in my estimation

Scenes like this always make me think of the short poem A Shropshire Lad by A.E. Houseman

Auntie Country Mouse and her number one fan

The hardscrabble yet prosperous town of Loughborough

Loughborough was once the heart of England's hosiery industry...

..and may well have the only piece of municipal statuary complete with an engraved tattoo.

Would you really want candy from a store so named?

Next up, part the last: greeting the new niece...