The Top Floor Flat

This weekend I decided to take advantage of the lovely weather on Saturday, firstly because it was possibly one of few remaining nice days we’ll get this year and secondly because it had been a while since I had done a long London walk. From the Top Floor Flat, it’s easy to get just about anywhere in London, it just takes a bit of time if you do it on foot. Up for a lengthy stroll, I started towards the centre of the city, walking through the gloriously autumnal Hyde Park and onto Oxford Street.

Oxford Street is the best known place for high street shopping, and though it’s not the home of the famous Carnaby Street (around the corner), Harrods (south west in Knightsbridge) or Fortnum and Masons (close enough but technically in Piccadilly), just about every major department store can be found somewhere along the streets; and it’s also home to the incredible Selfridges – which is so much more than a department store with its high street fashion, designer accessories, toys, electronics… even musical instruments.

Although I was lured into the out-of-my-price-range Selfridges by the ornate window displays, I had really made my way to Oxford Street with the intention of seeing the famous Oxford Street Christmas Lights. Every year, the entire street is decked out in incredibly ornate lighting displays which twinkle overhead while thousands of visitors gape upwards from street level (thus blocking annoyed shoppers behind them). The turning on of the lights is a annual affair, during which some minor celebrity talks about Christmas, the corporate sponsor, and flips the lights on.

This year’s lights were absolutely fantastic; and though it still feels too early by a good few weeks to start thinking about Christmas, it did go some way into getting me into the holiday spirit. Now if only there weren’t so much temptation in the form of handbags only metres away from the lights it would be an absolutely perfect outing!