Roundabout Sheep

... or Beezles, as they are properly called.

This set of 'sculptures' form an attractive installation on a rounabout, just outside the small town of Bicester.

I have wanted to offer a photograph of this group for quite a long time, but it was easier said than done. The models of the animals and their shepherd are easily visible from a car or bus as one approaches the town from the south. However, I had to risk life and limb to get a picture from terra firma. The installation is on a large roundabout serving dual carriageway roads, including one from the M40, and another that is the Bicester by-pass. Trucks thunder by, and there is an almost ceaseless stream of cars. None-the-less, I managed to get the job done on this cold and frosty morning.

Cold and frosty morning? Indeed so! I first woke up briefly at about 5 am, and looking out of the window saw a reasonably thick pristine layer of snow on the main road, and snowflakes falling, lit brightly by the sodium street lamps. Much, but not all, of the snow had melted by the time we got out, and for most of the day the sky was virtually cloudless.

It's actually my birthday today. To celebrate, we went out to lunch at Cabbages and Condoms, the Thai restaurant that I described on Saturday 17 November.

The place-mat promises what this restaurant will not do to you!

Here is the inside of the restaurant to complement my shot of the outside last time.

We really enjoyed the food (and a good bottle of red wine). We had starters of prawn and pork toasts and chicken satay, followed by a beef and a pork stir-fry with quite different sauces. The restaurant really went to town on the carving of some vegetables in each of the four dishes we ate. Very classy and very tasty!

Now we are reconsidering the home-made cassoulet, with duck legs, that we had planned for this evening...