Category: Plymouth

#1263 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Photographs, art, Words, Plymouth Sound, Plymouth, Stonehouse, Hybrid PrintmakingLeave a comment

Does every picture tell a story?

I think most do.

This one tells of the late summer clear up. All family guests have moved on to different holiday destinations and our home has eased back from peak occupation. The crocs belonging to three small girls are gathered in a bucket by the back door while the girls themselves are away on different holiday adventures.

Using a similar colour scheme I am trying to tell the story of a set of swimming steps that are much quieter this week now the heatwave has moved on.

I am at heart a story teller either with words or pictures.

A regular blog reader, who is familiar with these steps, said yesterday that I had made them look very posh. That was not the intention, but I agree. They may have been posh once upon a time but shabby shic is a better description now. Most of the time they are entirely tolerable and are regularly washed by incoming very high tides.

At night they can be a gathering place for  smokers of weed and men who like to do a wee. Not so posh then. Not so great as a swim destination either. Not  so great a picture.

But I don’t need to tell that story about these steps.

Years ago a little pair of discarded crocs by the back door of the actual Old Mortuary used to break my heart.   A small person and her family  had left us to live abroad. That would not have made a great story or a great picture.

3 pairs of crocs in a bucket is a much better story.

However in the interests of story telling I also wanted to show the earlier set of steps at the peak of the August heatwave. I am not interested in the crowds of people who used these steps recently just the steps as a metaphor for extreme atmospheric and radiated heat. Just too much heat.

The heat blistered out of the rocks at night. And the sea languidly lapping the steps, warmer than we have ever known. Not quite cooling enough perhaps. Oleaginous even.

A different colour scheme. A completely different story.

#1531 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing, Cornwall, Devils Point, Devon, Firestone Bay, Gardens and gardening, Plymouth, Stonehouse Lawn Tennis Club, Yardening1 Comment
Stonehouse Lawn Tennis Club Gardens

Gardening, Gig Rowing, Yardening, Gig Rowing. Saturday was the second day of the European Gig Racing Championships in Plymouth Sound. It was also Gardening Saturday at the Tennis Club I help to run. We could look up from our garden chores and watch gigs racing past our club.

While listening to classical guitar, from Walter who had swapped out his secateurs for something more beautiful.

The afternoon was Yardening time. Not by any stretch as exciting or colourful as the morning session. Some white wall painting and repotting of plants. But the entertainment was the same. This time watching the Gig racing on TV as we sought refuge from the sun.

The drone shots showing us what we know already.

That our tiny corner of Devon/Cornwall is rather lovely.

For regular readers and Bobbers, our normal bobbing area was one of the regular spots where race progression was filmed

Tranquility Bay.
Bobbers Steps behind the gigs.

I never managed to catch the tennis club on TV. That would have been a great drone shot especially as the gardens were freshly primped. A project for tomorrow. 

Link to small reel about the races.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17goonYrSw/

#1433 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Plymouth, SerendipityLeave a comment

Pirate Weekend in Plymouth. A weekend to celebrate a time when Plymouth was Queen Elizabeth I’s Pirate or Privateer major port for repurposing, recycling and most importantly reusing stolen goods from the high seas.

This year, Pirate weekend was enhanced by 2 days of warm sunshine and large crowds. My photographs were a bit rubbish due to sharp shadows and crowds. But the vibe was brilliant. 

Bold bosoms oozing out of basques, laced tight, were de rigueur for lady pirates . While tricorn hats and eyeliner were what any self respecting pirate chap started the day with. What all pirates of any persuasion ended the day with was sunburn and a lot less doubloons in their pouches.

A huge cruise ship moored just off Drakes Island. With guests being brought into the Barbican by small boats.

From this
To this.

Not quite a regular day trip to Plymouth in 2026. But things might have looked a bit similar in 1566. But then again maybe not.

#1387 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Firestone Bay, Hugo and Lola, Plymouth1 Comment

The tale (tail) of Janners and Argyle.

Yesterday’s blog slipped off my schedule almost as my fingers hovered over the keyboard.

Lola had been let into the yard, the sun was out, and my neighbour  was clambering up a ladder in the sunshine. In that wrinkle in time the blog was lost.

He, my neighbour, asked me to unlock our back gate as one of his chickens was in my yard.  At that moment, out of sight, but not sound, Lola and the chicken met. Lola had the chicken under a citizens arrest with a very firm grip on its feathered armpit.  There was no catching them , the chicken broke free , scuttled into the house and I decided to leave them to their own devices whilst letting our neighbour in the back gate. Another human gave me a better chance of conflict resolution.

Armpit feathers

There was no sight or sound of them. 

We searched rooms. Lola appeared calmly on the stairs but no chicken.

A chicken bottom feather.

Just one chicken bottom feather laying on the stairs.

I thought I could hear a fluttery feather settling sound coming from the kitchen. Janner the chicken had escaped the jaws of Lola and returned downstairs and was roosting inside a dark bag that had been left on the floor.

Both chicken and dog had a winning look in their different locations. The chicken, victorious, by settling in enemy territory. Lola,perhaps, because she had driven the chicken downstairs and plucked a feather out of  Janners* enormous bottom.

Chicken and neighbour went home. Lola went into overdrive. Every moment of the chickens journey through our house  relived by sniffing and tracking every glorious moment of her hunting frenzy.

*I have no idea where a Janners apostrophe goes.

Two chickens, one named Argyle to honour the local football team. The other called Janner or Janners the collective name of Plymouth Argyle supporters. Or indeed Plymothians in general.

And that my friends is how the day started and I was given my earworm for the day.

Which leads nicely into the intended blog of the day.

To be continued… Link below for ease.

#1388 theoldmortuary ponders

#1356 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn PlymouthLeave a comment
Cold Sunset

The North wind was still blowing last night but the sunset was promised to be spectacular due to fine-particulate Saharan sand being caught up in the atmosphere. We walked to catch the last of the day’s feeble rays setting over the  Tinside Lido.

The sunset was good but not as fabulous as predicted, so some artistic licence was required to show the  last rays of sunshine setting over a very grubby lido. The natural Saharan embellishments, embellished by using some arty AI digital tweakments.

The pool itself is embellished every year by council workers using human endeavour and many pressure washers to chase off the ravages of winter. I cant think of a more satisfying job than turning this pool into the gorgeous sapphire bobbing pool of dreams.

Over this winter the pool and its Art Deco building have had some tefurbishment. I can’t wait to see it.

But just to prove that digital tweakments are not the only artistic/ abstract things I can do with a simple smartphone camera. Here is one of my favourite images from this location.

The pool on a very bright day. Photographed through a 1930’s Glass Brick in a dark changing room.

#1305 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Plymouth, Serendipity1 Comment
Morning in Devonport Park

What quality do you value most in a friend?

Friends are like flowers in a late Spring flowerbed. They are all unique and are perfect in their own ways and in their own time. Some are fleeting and others are perennial. I would find it hard to pick out a single quality that they have in common, but as an ensemble they are a fabulous bunch. Friendships, like these flowers all change over time but as long as we can all still get along does that even matter?

Evening in Devonport Park

#1282 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn anniversary, Plymouth, Serendipity, Words1 Comment
© Jenny Tsang

Oh the loveliness of concatination, and having friends in High Places. This shot from a TV shows my friend Jenny, standing on the outside walkway of the lighthouse on Plymouth Hoe. A T.V crew getting a much better view of the goings on at the Hoe yesterday than I did. She watched the T.V in case she was on, and she snapped this pic.

She and I were chattering because I was suspicious that I had also caught her up a lighthouse in one of my meddled photographs. ( A sentence I never expected to write)

‘I caught my friend up a lighthouse’

©theoldmortuary

It is lovely when serendipity and concatination come together.

Then on my way home nature got all serendipitous. Look at this beautiful pansy making the most of a difficult location. Now just as I went to the Hoe and saw nothing yesterday,my pansy growing is not the most successful, slugs believe I am their artisan food producer. But leave a pansy out of my direct control and they manage very nicely just growing away in a drain.

Serendipity is a wonderful thing.

Concatination equally so.

#1281 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Plymouth, Plymouth SoundLeave a comment

What was the last live performance you saw?

Here is a conundrum. I did not see the last live performance that I experienced but I did hear it. I went to Plymouth Hoe, this morning, for the V E Day 80 Civic service and arrived too late to see anything apart from service personnel’s bottoms.

Or the back of the Mayoral Party.

But I did hear some marvelous music and listened to the Churchill V E Day speech in full for the first time. All in all a most exceptional and interesting dog walk .

Even more thrilling, one of the people at the top of the Lighthouse is my friend Jenny. She is the smaller human of the three.

#1087 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Plymouth, Serendipity2 Comments
Dai Pullen Juliet Cornell

Here is the blog I didn’t feel I could write . It wasn’t quite my story to tell. Early in September two old school friends went to a football match. Nothing unusual about that,except 50 years has passed since we were at school in Essex, and now we live on opposite sides of the world.  When I moved to Plymouth 35 years ago, I visited the local museum and noticed a Plymouth Argyle player in a 1928 team line-up with the same name as my school friend. The two men also looked similar  Our letters, emails and nattering has taken all that time to come to the point when we were both at the same Plymouth Argyle match. It turned out to be quite the day out. The sun shone, we were treated like V.I.P’s and the team won a spectacular match.

@theoldmortuary guest writer Dai Pullen will take over from here.


My grandfather Jack Pullen played for Argyle a hundred years ago. To some, that might seem like nothing more than ancient history. but for the club, it is a history about which it is both very proud and respectful. I got to experience this first-hand recently when I was invited to visit the Home Park  while I was staying in Plymouth on holiday from Melbourne Australia. My visit was hosted by Paul Hart (Forever Green Ambassador), Bob Wright (Greens on Screen official photographer), and Matt Ellacot (curator of the Plymouth Argyle Heritage Archive). It is impossible to imagine any club in the land having a nicer, more enthusiastic and dedicated set of representatives totally committed to collecting, preserving and archiving material which illustrates, the club’s long and distinguished history. They also want to acknowledge and celebrate players who have represented the club throughout its history, by creating a community of former Pilgrims who will continue to be welcomed to and be included as part of the club long after their playing days are over. To quote Paul Hart, “We want to make sure that everyone who has worn the green and white will have access to care, training and support should they need it.”

It is this level of genuine commitment and inclusion which helps set Argyle above and apart from the rest of the pack. My day at the club was absolutely  outstanding, I was treated to lunch in Thatcher’s Sports Bar where I was seated with a group of true club legends, Duncan Neale Martin Phillips, Steve Davey and Marc Edworthy. I’m not sure what they put in the water down in Devon, but a nicer, more charming collection of lunch guests would be hard to find.  But wait, there was more. Paul escorted me down to the pitch where he presented me with a Forever Green collection of items celebrating my grandfather’s Argyle career and in return I donated a number of precious items of memorabilia to the care of the Plymouth Argyle Heritage Archive.  This included the champions medal he won as a member of the team which finally won promotion to the second division in 1930. There was also the shirt he wore when selected to represent Wales in an international against England in 1926, along with the Welsh cap he was awarded for this appearance. These items had been in my possession since I was a boy, and it had been a difficult move to offer to donate them to the club. Having met those charged with managing the Argyle Heritage and its artefacts, however, I was left in no doubt that I’d made the right decision. This is an organisation which honours and respects its past, while simultaneously looking ahead to an even more glorious future.

Even then my day, wasn’t quite over, there was a home game against Sunderland to be played. There were a few things about present day Plymouth which my grandfather would not have recognised. The refurbished stadium, for example., and the bowling green-like pitch. The giant video screen would have blown his mind. The one thing, though, that would have been instantly recognisable was the roar and full-hearted support of the home crowd. What an atmosphere there was in the stadium that afternoon. And when Joe Edwards, scored the winner, in the final minute I swear I felt the spirit of old Jack right there with me in the stand. What an experience, what a club.

Best day at the football, ever!

Giddy with excitement, I then paid a call to the club shop and spent a fortune on merch. But never mind. I was feeling Gert Lush. And impatient to do it all again. A huge thanks to everyone who made my visit to Home Park so memorable. Forever Green? really how could I not be.


Jack and Dai discuss tactics.

#1077 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Plymouth, Serendipity2 Comments

It is Plymouth Art Weekender this weekend. Always a fascinating festival of all things art. Missing on our cultural horizons for 4 years.

More of that later in the week but an early installation in one of my local shopping areas had me on the back foot a couple of weeks ago.

A moment when travel broadening the mind has done too good a job.

I have travelled in remote parts of the U.S where a rural supermarket is the social hub for thousands of square miles . Wedding invitations posted by the checkout, open to all who bring a plate of food. Obituaries of regulars stuck on notice boards and with shades of the old Wild West, mugshots of shoplifters or other undesirables.

So it was with some surprise I saw a couple of pictures of people inside the window of my local Co-op.

That’s unusual for here, I thought, while also thinking that the photo of one of the miscreants was quite arty, handsome and maybe familiar. It was very early in the morning.

The gymnastics my mind did in those moments thinking a friend’s Dad had been a bad man. The thought was unimaginable. Then I hoped nothing bad had happened to him. More travel awareness. Obituaries on lampposts and telegraph poles in Greece.

Art was not on my mind at 7 am, not much was. But it woke me up and made me think. Always a sign of good art in my opinion.

To view the project follow the link.

Photographic Census

To view the Plymouth Art Weekender follow link below.

https://plymouthartweekender.com/