Images taken on a stroll on Sunday afternoon.
I was looking for something that would sum up “Climate Friendly” which is why I took a photo of the bicycle on the back of the canal boat. With no further inspiration, I snapped the bridge amidst the autumnal trees, then a brightly coloured dandelion-type flower on the way home, where I couldn’t resist taking another photo – this time of a beautiful squash I bought at the farmer’s market on Thursday. It looks too good to cut into at the moment.
The photography workshop I attended yesterday was at Lacock . The whole village is owned by The National Trust and the Abbey was the country home of William Fox Talbot, one of the pioneers of photography. In August 1835, Talbot made the earliest known surviving photographic negative using a camera, of the latticed window in the south gallery of Lacock Abbey.
The Abbey and the village have frequently been used as film sets for Harry Potter (Abbey) and Cranford (the village).
We popped into the Abbey grounds to take some photos … can you see the wooden shed to the right of the Abbey in the photo below?
The shed was in fact a camera obscura. I knew I’d get to use Latin at some point! It means darkened room. Set into the side of the shed was a hole with a lens. I went into the shed and closed the door and there, on the inside wall, was the projection of the Abbey … amazing stuff. Adjusting my camera I took this shot … although someone suggested I could have just photographed the Abbey upside down anyway!
Well, we weren’t invited to this wedding, but we slipped along anyway to take a few photos. As she is an old school friend of the bride, Miss Dancing WAS invited, so I took a few of her too. Beautiful location and beautiful bride. We wish the happy couple a wonderful life together.
At the street party on Saturday we were just ambling along when we came across this pleasant, well-spoken, charismatic young man.
Imagine the scene… he is standing there holding a plastic glove aloft …
He tells us that he will put the glove on his head ….
Surely this pleasant young man can’t want to do anything quite so, well, silly? Well yes, he does and, not only that, he informs us that once the glove is upon his head he will inflate it using only his nostrils … and he does! Do you need super-hero lungs for this? Does it hurt? Well he keeps on inflating the glove until it explodes with an almighty bang, leaving a puny elastic band around his neck.
Thankfully the shock of that has made him realise he must be sensible now as he has picked up a tennis racquet. He must be about to do something much less crazy …. balance it on his chin whilst uni-cycling perhaps?
OH NO – he is going to put his whole body through it! Yikes! Looking at him I really don’t think he is going to be able to do this one. There must be a catch. Er, but there isn’t. He throws one arm into the air and kind of holds it in a frightening position, with it swinging loosely and aimlessly and then the squeezing and writhing begins. At one point (possibly this one) he announces “Congratulations, it’s a boy!”
Like this lady, I can hardly bear to watch him …
He seems to be quite calm about the whole thing and is not phased by the heckling of this young man … At the point where he has the racquet around his waist, I am panicking … what if he can’t get it off?
Needless to say, he gets out of it, with a bit of pushing, adjustment and squirming … and then is ready for his next feat – aided and abetted by Oscar, a young onlooker from the crowd…
Helped by two sturdy men, Tom mounts the unicycle and pleads with Oscar to throw him the juggling club … only Oscar is really quite small and has to make several repeated attempts to fling it into the air high enough.
At last he does it and, after much tension and hilarity, Tom is juggling on a uni-cycle (on a slope!) amidst a completely enthralled crowd.
