The Winter Solstice is upon us, the shortest day and the longest night. I'm with the plants and the druids on this one. Really it all starts here or rather begins again. Day by day the sun arcs higher in the sky and nature begins to stir. Admittedly it doesn't necessarily feel like that for a while so I can see why our pagan ancestors stretched it out with some wassailing and general revelry.  
 I took a stroll over One Tree Hill in Honor Oak Park and gazed towards the centre of London under brooding skies. Actually there's a good many trees; the park is a small survival of the Great North Wood which encompassed around 830 acres of Oak and Hornbeam in particular.
 The original Oak of Honor is gone as far as I know but this one is said to be over 400 years old: