Unexpected places

Last weekend I spent in Norwich, East Anglia and I didn't realise how my interest in the oddities of my surroundings had crept up on me. Instead of the usual snapshots of the castle - which we went to and enjoyed in the shade too on this 30 degrees day...instead of the views of this lovely market town...what did I take pictures of?

tree art

These trees are wrapped in paper depicting different aspects of the Olympics. It sparked a long debate on "What is art?" as we walked along! I worried about the trees being damaged.

We went to the castle and museum. Want to see the lovely tapestries...? Ha..no here are the sinks in the ladies wash rooms:

poetic sink

The wording on the sink was "It is always pleasant to sail with a light breeze in these narrow waterways where you must handle your boat as if it were a thing of silk and threads". Peter Henry Emerson. Loved it but not quite sure it was appropriate ...still more so than these shoes.

shoe pictures in sink

graffiti wall

Later we went for a walkabout - listened to buskers, sat in the park but then I noticed this which brought a smile to my lips.

If I had had my camera with me in the evening there would have been Banksy style pictures too but I will have to go back for those.

What I like is the unexpectedness of things. Just when you think you know what to expect something comes along and pulls you up short. Great eh?!

A lunch break boost

It's funny how days can unexpectedly blossom even when it does not seen to be a day for anything out of the ordinary. Take the other day...I had a long, most of the day, meeting in the city of London...near Old Street to anyone who knows the capital. I arrived having had the singing "Why aren't you all smiling?" train attendant on the way down.

mural 

Zebra burger anyone?

painted street furniture

I like going to new parts of London and this is a business area by day and an upwardly mobile residential area - on the whole - by night. So cut to lunch break and I was excited to see we were in a food market, but not just any old market....such lunch time choice. Not just a cheese sandwich for me...what about zebra burgers? or wildebeest? Mine's a Turkish wrap to be eaten at our rendezvous - a shady park cum grave yard where the last remains of William Blake lie. On the way there I was excited to see street art on a gable end and then another of my favourites - a series of dull old grey electrical boxes enlivened with an amusing painted illustration telling a story. I had left my camera and iPad behind but colleagues had their faithful smartphones so these shots are thanks to them.

Once in the park I stopped again to look at an insect hotel thoughtfully placed there for our tiniest London residents and surrounded by ancient gravestones! Everything seemed designed to amuse me!

Finally I was making my way back to the station when I wish I could have snapped the concentration on the face of an orange clad, shaven monk choosing a mobile phone in a shop. I could go on... but this is a note to self - never go anywhere without some kind of camera!

insect heaven