Eccentric Amblings and Ramblings From Gnat Bottomed Towers

 .....thirty years ago I was quite busy.👰 I don't wear my heart on my sleeve, but we make a good team. We have a little GBT celebration planned for next month. Arilx

 Last Saturday my poison of choice was a pint of Easy Living. I was rather taken with the different taps in the pub. Have a great weekend folks. Arilx

A short stroll away from Walthamstow parish church is the small Ravenswood industrial estate....or to be more precise a former industrial estate. You know that you're not going to have much luck finding tiles for your bathroom or a new carpet for your lounge when the units now look like this.... Now they house retail units that you're unlikely to find on any mainstream British High Street and an independent brewery to boot [I can vouch that the beer was rather good!] and this............perhaps you have encountered the rather extraordinary outlet which is "God's Own Junkyard". It was originally set up by the so called Neon Man, Chris Bracey [who died in 2014]. He created all manner of incredible artworks from discarded neon signs and gave them new life. There are many examples of his work to be seen on a large number of famous films. He also collected signs and an array of  other movie props which would have been thrown away otherwise once filming had finished. Th

Mosaics made with handmade tiles and impressed details by members of the Walthamstow community. All ages and all abilities. Public art for all to enjoy in public spaces. They are the brainchild of Maud Milton from ArtyFace and there are many of her projects to be seen across London. As a last minute thought I'd googled mosaics for this area as I was meeting my friend Lovely Grey the next day and she's a keen mosaicist. She now sells her own works as Heartfelt Mosaics. I think I struck gold with these ones💗 Just a few from those on display outside Walthamstow School for Girls. More to come about what else we got up to when we were gadding about. Arilx

 This brick knot sculpture is a hangover from when the building behind it was an office owned by the Redland Brick company in Reigate. It was actually constructed in their yard in Horsham and was a devil to make. At the centre you have metals rods and a concrete core and then the whole thing was covered in a thin brick skin. Quite a feat I'd say and very eye-catching. We saw it earlier this year when we took TYM out for a spot of lunch one Sunday when he was living in the town. Hope you have a fabulous weekend. Arilx

It's 1170 and you're standing outside this church in Castle Frome, Herefordshire. At this time St Michael and All Angels is still a fairly new church having only been completed 30 odd years ago. Your neighbour told you that they've finally finished and installed the new font so you've wandered up to take a look. This is the sight which greets you. A carved masterpiece mounted on a plinth of human figures combining the religious scenes and mythical beasts that you've seen on the church over at Kilpeck. It's the same men who have chiselled out all those astonishingly intricate patterns. The Kilpeck font is charming with its clasped hands held in front of its belly, but this is in a different league. It is on a scale the like of which you have never encountered before....its enormous size and depth of detail leaves you feeling awed and flabbergasted. Reach across the centuries 850 years and the effect is the same. I have been fortunate to see several fonts on my tr

I promised many months ago that I would share a photo of the completed wizard kit I finished last December. We finally got our act together a couple of weeks ago and here's the finished article. It looks like we're in a woodland setting....I'm actually crouching under a venerable old oak just across the road from us. I sneaked the kit over in a bag and threw it on as quickly as possible whilst the coast was clear....mission just accomplished and then our neighbours strolled past with their dogs. I wouldn't want them to think I was weird or anything 😈😁 Arilx

You could sum up the past few days as a flurry of meeting different friends and feasting. It's all been tremendous fun, but no details to share. Hand on heart I am equally grateful that there was no dancing booked in either as I think I might have melted into my mask😳😵 Not being a natural born lover of heat I've learnt strategies over the years to help me manage it and I mainly stay indoors when the mercury soars, but it's been lovely to sit outside in the warm evenings. Somebody else is not so keen either, although he is a bit of a noodle and does tend to head out to the garden border at the hottest time of the day nor will he stay downstairs where it's coolest. He always has a favourite spot to sleep which he favours for a week and then proceeds to ignore it a few days later. Some of his chosen snoozing sites have been a little inconvenient.....behind the bedroom door and on the stairs are never going to be good choices when you're a black cat and it's dark.

There seems to have been a lot of weekend dancing here at GBT and a goodly chunk of  other stuff that isn't suitable for this space. Our latest excursion was to perform at the Floral Fringe which we have been to many times before. Until last year it was always an early summer festival with an emphasis upon plants. This year it's changed location to a delightful combination of meadowland and woodland and the focus has shifted to the Autumn. Mythago were always a bit at odds with the rather Country Living feel it used to have, but joined by a purple clad bunch of drummers called Stix and many visitors dressed up to the nines in their Steampunk finest we blended in seamlessly. It was the first of the much warmer days so we were grateful for the coolness to be found under the canopy of the trees. With a couple of hours to wait before our slots I enjoyed a leisurely wander, sampled a local cider called Silly Moo [we're going to be performing their first wassail for them in their

A little floral loveliness to brighten the beginning of my favourite month...September and the sunshine has returned! The topper is in the Sussex village of Cowfold. I spotted it on our outward journey and Mr GBT parked up for me to get a photo on our way home.  Arilx

 "Keep it under your hat" is just one of those phrases we trot out without giving it a second thought. I learnt recently that archers used to keep their spare bow strings under their hats to keep them dry. A wet bowstring was of absolutely no use to them. Have a great weekend. Arilx

 If I was one for living in the great outdoors under canvas [which I'm most definitely not] this would undoubtedly be my tent of choice. Its painted decorations are inspired by the Macclesfield Psalter dating from c1330-40. If you'd like to take a peek at the original and slightly bonkers illuminated drawings they're on the link here  https://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/illuminated/manuscript/discover/the-macclesfield-psalter/section/theme   I was lucky enough to see this at Michelham Priory last weekend.  Arilx