Trip 52

December 24, 2025

‘Twas the night before Christmas, the Londoners were stirring, but not dare a mouse. These folks had not realized it, nor bought their presents.

Selfridges is madness. All four floors, and the food halls are worse .

The shopping floors are super crowded. There are boutiques for each brand (four floors of them); the aisles are crowded. Did they just now realize tomorrow is Christmas?

Ralph Lauren has a promotion where you pickup a game card on floor one, then follow a trail, collecting stickers on three floors in their different departments for a chance at a prize. When complete, you get three tokens to use at a “claw machine” to try to grab a golden ball with a prize inside.

I got two balls out of three tries , my wife struck out. We sat down to twist open the golden balls in eager anticipation of what prize Ralph had in store for us! It was a coupon for a Ralph Lauren newspaper. At least we got to see most of the four levels of the store.

We’d purchased some food at M&S across the street, so it was time to get back to the hotel to put our goodies for tomorrow in the fridge.

We briefly step out to Oxford Street, then back to the quiet beauty of the park.

Amidst all of the hustle bustle of shoppers, there still those few sitting on the ground outside in near 0°C. Do not be so wound up in shopping you forget to have compassion for the less fortunate.

Wishing all a peaceful Christmas and hope you’re able to be with those you love and whom care about you. Peace is an elusive quantity whether personal or external. Peace involves more than just the absence of conflict; lasting peace must begin within the individual heart and mind before it can manifest in the world.

To those who foment hate, bigotry, racism and division in the name of their own aggrandizement, may you bear the weight of those crimes against humanity for yourself now, or in the afterlife.