Brief journeys - wintery greens and reds on the canal

I have not moved far from home this weekend.  It's been grey, damp and chilly out and that encourages the hibernation instinct in me.  I've also had work to do. But, in the interest of avoiding cabin fever, I did go for a little wander along the canals earlier today, looking for bits of green and wintery prettiness to combat the grey and cheer me up.

And I stopped for a cup of hot chocolate on my way home.  You can see the restaurant in the picture above - the George, a narrowboat that's been converted into a floating coffee shop.  They serve drinks and light snacks and I find there's something quite appealing about sitting all cosy at water level and enjoying a little refreshment. And they do make a yummy hot chocolate.

Unfortunately, I'm always struck by how little they've done to pretty the place up. There's nice wooden panelling and cute little tables with bentwood chairs. But that's as far as it goes.  It's otherwise quite tacky with grubby plastic flowers and horribly cheap cruet sets, swirly green floral carpets and blue and pink floral curtains... None of it matching or complementary.  And none of it charming, as even some of these things can be in certain surroundings. I took a couple of pictures inside but because I was a bit self-conscious about doing it, they are too blurry to use so I'll try again another day. Maybe then we can imagine how we'd overhaul it if we were commissioned to do so. That would be fun.

I do wish someone would wave a magic wand over the décor though. They have so much going for them including a novel location, on a main pedestrian thoroughfare, and it wouldn't take much money or effort to make it lovely.   A few cosmetic changes would do wonders for the ambiance.  And as a result, for their business.  I'm sure of it.

Anyhow, the hot chocolate was reliably tasty, I was one of only three people on the George so it was a peaceful interlude, and there was green prettiness galore on the walk there and back, so I'm happy. But now I have some more homework to do...

I hope you're having a lovely weekend whatever you're up to!