Covent Garden at Christmas

Without doubt, Covent Garden in London is a fabulous place to explore.

Not just at Christmas but at any time of year.

But during the festive period the market and shops come alive with the sounds, sights and smells of Christmas. Lovely period buildings and the stunning market are festooned with lights, Christmas trees and decorations. It even smells nice ! Cakes, coffee, doughnuts and hot dogs fill the air with their scent along with just a hint of pine from all the spruce trees.

Of course, for those in the building trade, no visit to the capital would be complete without taking in the architecture.

Mandie and Adrian thoroughly enjoyed investigating the upkeep and repair work on the buildings.

Although this post is predominantly about the ventilation and drainage of these listed buildings, it is pleasing that despite, what seems like a prevalence of “short cuts and building botches” the housing stock in the area is generally in fantastic condition. There’s an interesting camouflage of a full length ducting at the back of these buildings in the churchyard. It blends in nicely when viewed straight on, but view from below and the shine clearly gives it away that its not a brick wall.

Since the smoking ban it’s now a common sight to see folk outside many pubs, that don’t have a smoking area, in the street having a quick smoke. The fines for extinguishing cigarettes and dropping the butts into the street have really cut down the amount of “fag ends” strewen along the pavement, but is it still ok to store them into the street fixtures and fittings? I think not!