Santa's Sailing into Town!

Legend has it that Santa climbs down your chimney, to deliver Christmas presents to good children. Despite most homes not even having chimneys...

FACT is, Santa's big red belly is actually floating across the high seas, probably from China, with hundreds of thousands of gifts inside those neatly stacked, multi-coloured metal containers...

LARGE

Am I Shanghai, here? No, at the UK's second largest container port, half an hour before "sunrise" (no sun, let alone 'rise') - yes, first train out to Southampton and a mizzly wind-blown bitterly cold wind trying hard to stop me getting my shots.

Standing in Mayflower Park, without any other soul to be seen, this misty drizzle diffused the distant colours nicely. Those far-off cranes are over a mile away and are 400 feet high. The Washington Express here (registered in Washington DC) was the only big container ship to come into port when I was there, aided by a tug both fore and aft.

I also snapped the Isle of Wight ferry going out in near darkness. I used my very old and very fast Nikkor 135mm f2 lens. I took no tripod or zoom lenses with me today, just fast primes. I was also after street shots, with both wide and with this 135mm, but basically chickened out, as usual. Southampton has all its Christmas chalets in town and I had hoped they'd provide loads of opportunities.

After this rather lovely blue hour it just paled and lightened into a miserable flat grey. From this point onwards, my shots just weren't worth taking - which is no doubt the opposite to everyone else! By 8 a.m. I was SO cold, despite having a heavy coat on, I retreated into the city centre to Wetherspoons for a good breakfast.

And, oh, also a secondhand DVD of This is Spinal Tap, the iconic satirical rock mockumentary which I have not seen for years - for a pound from an 'entertainment exchange' shop. An early Christmas present from the Avid Lensman, to the Sarum Stroller! How kind is that?!