At the end of the park sits this long railway tunnel which we would shout and echo our way through on the daily trek to the swimming pool. Passport to Leisure. Cola Cubes. The ‘No Cycling’ sign used to be on a pole and we naturally assumed it meant ‘No Cycling On This Pole’. A rule we would strictly abide by. Oxtail soup. Marathons.
Other exciting things that happened on the other side of the tunnel were the fireworks on Bonfire night and the fair. Frankie said relax and we did as we were told. Waltzers. Wall of Death.
I’m not being miserable – it’s the sun in my eyes. I’ve tried this as a painting before, but blowing up a 4 inch early seventies photo to a metre square doesn’t produce the best results, and the girl in the poncho attached to my arm is even more miserable. I mean the sun is in her eyes too.
Painting in landscape means you can’t see my lovely trousers that actually hooped under my feet. Fine until I started growing. I’m hoping this photo is out of my system now.
Moving on…
My old old phone had a no megapixels camera but took some great photos. This captures the movement of my reluctant sitter’s hand as she waves and screams ‘No Pictures’. This was early on in our relationship and I have ignored her pretty much since then. See 008 and look out for Weymouth and Christmas.
In other news, I have managed to put all the boards up on the wall in a grid, including the unpainted ones. All looks very daunting but I’m glad I’ve got that out of the way.
I have also run out of printing ink.
It all started innocently enough with a goldfish. A friend was added to prevent loneliness and it soon became clear that the small plastic bowl was not going to accommodate it’s residents. Enter the 85 litre, filtered, illuminated and heated glass palace. Complete with stand that doubled up as cupboards to house all the chemistry.
Two little fish were never going to fill out their new home so a trip to the garden centre was inevitable. Ghost Koi. If you buy them young enough you don’t need a bank loan and they look stunning all lit up indoors. For about five minutes. Then you have to find someone with a pond and a plastic heron.
Soon after the goldfish did what they do best and another trip to the garden centre was needed. It was time for something a bit more exotic and after much research and/or a quick chat with the fish man, Lake Tanganyikan Cychlids were chosen. A beautiful selection of colours and stripes swam around in harmony for a while. Territories were picked and fought over, bigger fish got bigger, and half chewed carcasses were fished out. As it goes, this type of fish doesn’t like newcomers to the tank, so for what seemed like decades the last remaining biggest hung around motionless, staring.
Mercifully, it moved on, blocking the toilet on it’s way out, and the palace was passed on to a friend. This photo was taken in those innocent days when the originals, ‘Fishy’ and ‘Fanny’ lived briefly in splendour.
I wasn’t going to post anything this weekend. It’s Easter and we’re too busy! Unfortunately, an overindulgence of chocolate, an extremely disrupted sleep and a pile of bed clothes to wash means I am house bound and sickly child sitting.
Every two years we descend on the lucky ones living under Farnborough Airport’s landing path to enjoy the air show for free. This photo was selected from many many duplicates of planes I’ll never remember the names of.
Other places to visit in Farnborough are PC World and McDonald’s drive thru.
