Far from the madding crown

 As the month whirls ever faster and people get ever more harried quiet souls like me retreat into spaces and places away from the noise and hubbub [I don't mind it some of the time so long as I have an escape route]. Over the past couple of weeks I've gently wandered and meandered in search of unfamiliar sights within familiar sites. These are my discoveries.

Once again the residents in our conservation area are running their Advent Calendar windows. Some are reruns of previous years, but one or two houses go all out in the corny cracker joke stakes. This one with the peas is so far my favourite💚

Another familiar festive entry on this blog is the annual Christmas decoration competition the town runs. This year's winner is a corgi in a stocking as you do. Children don't put limits on their imagination at this age do they. All the ones from previous years are put up again too so there's quite a collection in this one spot. 

What I hear you cry....only one topper. There are several out again, but many have been recycled [am pleased to see them doing that] so have already featured here before, but instead I am offering you a crochet tree done by one of the village WI's. I was working just round the corner and it added  a sprinkle of joy to my day after I'd finished.

Sadly I couldn't find the right combination  to steal the 'Trains, Planes and Automobiles' film title, but instead I'm able to offer you a bus, cars [in various states of repair] and a tank which is currently undergoing restoration. It doesn't scan quite as well somehow, but I do my best. A local family own several steam powered vintage vehicles which they bring to various fund raising events throughout the year. Usually it's one of their traction engines, but this time they were giving rides for donations to the Rotary club. I'm intrigued by just how fast the orange car would go if you were to floor it having pretended to steal it. Does anyone know what sort it is?

The Bear Pub was one of my sixth form haunts back in the day. It's undergone several different guises in the intervening years, but I was saddened to see it close its doors for the last time back in the summer [there were ongoing problems with local dealers etc and general anti social behaviour]. I am pleased to say though that it has a happy ending this time as its got new owners who have spent a lot refurbishing it and attracting a very different clientele. I think it's more of a gin palace than an ale house these days. The bear is currently sporting our town's football scarf as they've done rather well this season beating teams who on paper are several leagues above them. My Dad and TYM have really enjoyed attending the matches these past couple of years.

The fellow below is included just for the shock factor...he was randomly looming over a garden fence above my head and gave me quite a turn as I came round the corner. I was prepared for Christmas surprises, but not a big old  dinosaur😱😆

Well that's it for 2023 weird wanderings and here's to more weird wanderings in 2024 🥂

Arilx