Professor Hardbottle wrote to point out some simply marvelous images from the 2006 Great Race of London at the Dickens Christmas Fair (San Francisco).  A race for the princely sum of £5,000 Sterling using pedaled vehicles of marvelous style attracted apparently few entrants, but those of a very high quality indeed – but as is the case with many such endeavors, apparently all did not go perfectly smooth as demonstrated by apparent Mummy attacks and close encounters of the tea trolley kind.  Oh, and the most stunning ‘flight pack’ above from Professor Flocknocker – very Steampunk indeed! All in all, it looked like a wonderful event (though, I’m not sure who won!).  In fact, I’m quite sorry not to be able to attend the whole Dickens Christmas Fair shebang in general – it sounds delicious!  (Also, I found this image of Ms Havisham and her adoptee, Estella – I thought it was a wonderful photograph, though I do not know the story behind it, or which Fair it was taken at.)

(Please note, it turns out the previous image I used, showing Professor Flocknocker in a rather impressive rocket pack, wasn’t freely available to use – and I’ve removed it at the wishes of the photographer.  The image above is by Flickr user sgilpin80.)