Eccentric Amblings and Ramblings From Gnat Bottomed Towers

 As a child I was taken to see Coventry Cathedral. It made a very strong impression which has stayed with me to this day...all that colour and beautiful glass. It's only taken me to the grand old age of 55 to return...had my ideas changed? No. In a word....stunning. In its history Coventy hasn't just had a single cathedral...it's had three! Admittedly the remains of the original St Mary's Priory are scant [not shown], but the parish church of St Michael's was upgraded to cathedral status in 1918 after the end of WWI. Tragically on 14th November 1940 it became a victim of the Luftwaffe bombing campaign and was very badly damaged. Post war some wanted it restored to its former glory, but instead the decision was taken to keep it in its shell like state as a stark reminder, but it remains hallowed ground and is as much a symbol of reconciliation as it is remembrance. It is poignant and thought provoking in equal measure. Traces of its former magnificence remain and the

 I like Mark's ethos.💙💚💛💜 Food for thought Seen in Hastings. Arilx

 Had I been a Royalist in the English Civil War and then captured I'd have literally been sent to Coventry for my punishment because at that time the city was a Parliamentarian stronghold. Thankfully here in 2022 I was able to visit of my own free will and I really did enjoy the time I spent there. Having known how badly it suffered from the bombing in WWII I wasn't really sure just how much of the pre war buildings would remain, but there's quite a few as it turned out even if some of the timber framed buildings have been moved from their original sites. The old and the new sit happily side by side. Sure it's got areas which are run down or not pretty on the eye, but I like that rawness and the energy of the new emerging wherever I looked. It's a vibrant place and I was completely in my element. Here's my little homage to it all with just a small selection of the many photos I took. When even the park and ride bus stop and its tiles look like this Coventry was

The Landing in Hastings is the work of a local sculptor Leigh Dyer. He worked alongside several blacksmiths who made the figurehead. It represents the prow of a Norman boat and incorporates a timecapsule containing letters from local people to be opened in 2066 marking the 1000th anniversary of the Norman landings. Enjoy your weekends one and all! Arilx  

 I saw these two items on separate days when I was away, but they seemed to be asking to be put together in a single post. Yes it's gruesome but it's also our social history and how our society dealt with those who took another life up to the 19th century. This rather weather worn piece of timber is all that remains of the former Bilstone Gibbet. It doesn't look much now these days sitting quietly off the edge of a lane leading into the Leicestershire village of Bilstone. From 1801 to 1818 it displayed the cadaver of John Massey who, during the fateful day in February 1800, had been drinking all day in the local pub and had then assaulted his wife Lydia walking home. She had fallen into the millpond and drowned. Immediately after his hanging his body was wrapped in chains and hung from a ring on the gibbet post to act as a deterrent to any other would-be murderers. In the Leicester Guild Hall they have this replica set of gibbet irons which served the same purpose. The orig

 Unusually for us we all headed off down to the coast last Friday. Brighton is an extraordinary place to visit, but I rarely head towards the sea if I'm there. It's also a pain in the neck to find parking [and very pricey], but this time we had prebooked so there was no bother when we got there as we had a deadline to meet this time. It was TYM's Masters graduation. There's not the same emotional connection to Sussex uni for any of us as there was to Chester. Originally he had been looking forwards to the change of continuing his studies down south after three years up north, but good old Covid put paid to that and he did the entire thing via zoom from his bijou bedroom. Many of the students were supposed to be coming from abroad, but with good reason they didn't want to get locked down here so they stayed at home. Nevertheless it was a special day to celebrate his achievement and the weather was glorious. We even went wild and had an icecream afterwards. I like thi

 Such has been life recently that I've seen and done much these past few weeks, but written little about any of it. Rather than skip about all over the place willy-nilly I'll rewind to the beginning of our time away and the first full day we spent in Leicestershire. It always takes me a day or so to find my holiday head so I have a simple plan for the first day to get me into the swing of things. This time we just stepped out of the front door of our cottage and followed the local walk instructions. I don't know the area at all so it was all new to me and as we pottered round the route I captured anything which caught my fancy. Before we got going we nipped up the road to have a poke round the nearby village of Packington....church related of course... This most peculiar bench end was my quarry in Holy Rood church. It's 14th century and that's where the trail runs cold. One of the ladies setting up the tables for the coffee morning said it's thought to symbolise

Evening...the wanderer has returned from a hot, but totally brilliant weekend away at the Tewkesbury Medieval Festival performing with Mythago. Despite the heat we managed to dance and it was lovely to spend time with some of our very new members. Most of the time I forgot to take any photos....was too busy socialising, but on the Sunday morning Mr GBT and I sneaked down to the holding area for the parade early to nab a space for the rest of the side so that at least we could wait in the shade until it was time to be off. The parade is one of the highlights for me because it's a real community effort and all sorts of people and groups are involved. It spans all ages from the little tots at nursery to the motorised scooter jousting knights. The list of participants mentioned that there was going to be medieval tents and a medieval banquet in amongst the mix....I was intrigued to know how they were going to achieve that....as you can see yours truly wasn't going to let it rest an