Category: Plymouth

#237 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Plymouth, Serendipity2 Comments

With reference to yesterdays blog. The plan was to be wearing Coastal Granny attire for another day. Remarkably the pale colours of coastal chic had remained clean and bright, almost certainly because there were no coastal small persons around and because I had remained, unusually, far away from paint. Just some gentle sewing was attempted. On balance I may aim for Coastal Nana, a less influential style in terms of fashion 2022, but more achievable. On balance is absolutely the two key words of this blog. In the picture above I am wearing lycra because plans change. We did not spend Sunday with me wafting around in pale colours and Hannah flying down a zip wire. We registered for an aerial class at short notice. Then we worried a bit about quite what we had signed up for.

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Market Hall Devonport.

We went to the beautiful Market Hall in Devonport and put our trust in gorgeous orange fabric.

And 3 aerial instructors from Off The Wall Aerial.

https://www.offthewallaerial.co.uk/she-who-dares

©Off The Wall Aerial

It was a blast, an anxious blast at times, but most certainly the blastiest Sunday morning in a very long while.

We were gently introduced to our silken slings and warmed up in such a way that trepidation was replaced with temptation to actively try everything that was suggested. However unthinkable moments earlier.

Some of the exercises were fascinating and the urge to just hang, supported only by fabric was impossible to ignore.

Pointy toes and a concentrating face.

Towards the end we threw ourselves backwards, confident that we would be caught by the cocoon of orange fabric.

Trust in the instructors and their ability with knots was instant , a morning well spent and never to be forgotten.

#228 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn PlymouthLeave a comment

Not an average evening on Plymouth Hoe. Faithless blasting out from a music festival and a beacon lit for the Queens Jubilee.

A lovely evening walk, ripe for a good old ponder. How effective was the beacon system as an early warning system. There is a good bit of theorising on the internet hampered by not a huge amount of recorded data. It is said that when the Armada was spotted of the coast of Lands End the beacon system alerted London about 6 hours later. Beacons were located about 5-15 miles apart depending on the geographical features of the land. Each beacon would have had a watcher and a beacon lighting team, their efficiency would have had an impact on the transmission time. Beacons were dotted along the south coast of England as far as Portsmouth and then turned inland and spread the news to London and the rest of the country. It is said that the news reached York in the north of the country in under ten hours. This is all vague because at the time no-one kept the time. The specificity of the news would have been carried by a messenger on a horse, the horse and probably the rider would have changed regularly between the start point of Lands End to the end point London. The news would then have then been spread far wider by horses and messengers being sent in all directions from London.

©BBC

Tonight however the Queen touched a symbolic globe and without any horses or messengers, the beacon lit up in Plymouth and many other locations , just like magic. Although not exactly magic, we were close enough to the beacon to hear the gas being turned on several moments before the Queen placed her gloved hand anywhere near the globe. A moment made all the more memorable by ceremonial bagpipes adding unexpected notes to very well known Faithless anthems. Its been a day of anthems.

P.s. here is a proper photograph from a proper photographer.

©One Plymouth

#214 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Plymouth, SerendipityLeave a comment

A quick skim of some of the photographs of this week suggests a little bit of an accidental theme. I often re edit old photographs so my weeks output is not always chronological. This old picture of the rope bridge at the Eden Project is in this weeks archive because my daughter bought a print by another artist, which made me wonder what I could do with my own image. So on a theme of interesting journeys not to far from home I can bring you stairs at the museum I work at.

Two accidental early morning walks on the Barbican gave some more whimsical journey images.

The image above camouflages the image below. They all suggest time travel or indeed travel to a different time.

All four of these images have a lot of steps involved even if they are not seen. My final image is the fuel for travel.

Cardamom Cakes, a gustatory journey to unusual flavours, fuel for all the steps on an unplanned walk.

#24 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Plymouth, Plymouth SoundLeave a comment

Same view this morning and a completely different reason for looking. Usually I am most interested in the stretch of water between the shore and the swimming buoys. Today my interest lies between the swimming buoys and the island. Later on today I am going on a Tamar River Cruise, not a booze cruise or a tourist cruise but a cruise to see sights of special scientific interest, historic interest and industrial heritage interest. A fact finding cruise on the challenges and projects that working in an area of outstanding natural beauty presents. For now though I am only bothered about the sea sickness quota that Plymouth Sound will serve me.

Looking to the east I’m feeling pretty confident that I will only see breakfast once today. This is a good thing in my opinion. Looking to the west no judgement could be made as everything was shrouded in mist but I am very confident that if the east looks good then the west will be in exactly the same mood. Who knows what shape tomorrows blog will take after an actual cruise, albeit 5 hours rather than days or weeks. For now though another view looking to the east, almost Mediterranean!