Haslingfield Scarecrow Festival (2)

Inspired by The Olympics and our summer of sport... 

Nothing to do with sport but I can't resist putting this one in too..

...just to remind you to...

Take care!

Haslingfield Scarecrow Festival (1)

The village of Haslingfield in Cambridgeshire seems to have a higher percentage of enthusiastic, creative and imaginative people than most other places. And when they organise a Scarecrow Festival you can be sure that many will get behind the project to produce...well, lets take a look...

You'll not be surprised that there were also 

several scarecrows inspired by The Olympics and our

summer of sport; 

I'll show you those soon.

Take care.

John's Adventures In John's

At St John's College they charge you £4 to enter. A man at the gate takes your money and hands you a leaflet. It tells you where you may go and what you should notice.

The Front Gate dating from 1516

Many signs tell you where you may not go. Areas are roped off. Members of the college only. Visitors this way.

The nineteenth-century Chapel

the work of Sir George Gilbert Scott

Having duly noted the statue of the foundress of the college, Lady Margaret Beaufort, and the outline of the former chapel which can be seen on the lawn, I then duly missed the sign which said No Photography In The Chapel.

A smartly dressed man appeared out of the shadows and told me not to take any more photos. I mumbled incoherently like a schoolboy caught looking at pictures of naughty ladies. He didn't say what I should do with the photo I'd already taken.

A blend of old and new

I scuttled out into the sunshine of Chapel Court, noted all the features which the leaflet advised that I should note, and made my way along the designated route to Third Court and the famous Bridge Of Sighs. Here, rather surprisingly, one of the college staff greeted me warmly and pointed me towards the location of a conference on comparative religion! My camera was stuffed in my pocket at the time and, with my spectacles, long greying hair and wild beard, I can only assume I was mistaken for some visiting eccentric academic.

Inside the Bridge Of Sighs

Thus emboldened I wandered past the signs which were trying their best to divert me away from the Bridge Of Sighs and surreptitiously took a few snaps. The bridge gets its name from its somewhat tenuous similarity to a bridge of the same name in Venice - both are covered bridges. But, whereas the Venetian version leads from the courts of justice and was covered to prevent sentenced criminals throwing themselves into the canal, the one here was covered to stop raindrops pattering down on the heads of the privileged. 

It's a beautiful structure nonetheless and can be seen to best advantage from neighbouring St John's Bridge, this is the way you're supposed to go. And from here you go to Queen's Road, go directly to Queen's Road, do not pass go, do not sneak into any buildings along the way, do not go by devious routes in order to take nice pictures.

New Court

You go past New Court, which is actually 180 years old, and for me always the epitome of the College Backs though it is not without its architectural critics. There were signs for the Conference pointing into New Court, so in my new persona of The Rev Dr John Blogger, Emeritus Professor of Applied Misidentification, University Of Stargoose and Hanglands, I went investigating.

The cloisters leading from the Bridge Of Sighs

A man who looked very much like a former Member Of Parliament nodded in a friendly way as he hurried past. I carried on to the modern Cripps Building.

Since I didn't want to end up in a religious conference I beat a hasty retreat but then couldn't resist wandering round the huge lawns that back down on to the river. 

A delightful young lady was making a delightful sketch of the scene. I couldn't help noticing her despite the guidebook failing to give her a mention.

"Over Bridge Of Sighs

to rest my eyes in shades of green,

Under dreaming spires

to Itchycoo Park that's where I've been"

I followed the path around and exited through the obvious gate. It had an obvious sign on it  "Members Of The University Only".

Take care.   

Waterlines

Pictures of a river,  

its shimmering, beckoning call,

its quiet, still moments,

and its rushing turmoil.

  

Where things may grow

and things are shed.

But still it surges quietly forward.

   

We gently float on its surface,

or we struggle in the deluge,

till we reach a standstill

never quite aware of how beautiful it really is.

Take care.

Cars Among The Gravestones.

At the weekend I was lucky enough to visit my local church. Not for the Sunday service, not even to explore the architecture and monuments, but to attend a car show. So, although I've done a few posts recently looking at vintage vehicles, I intend to show you some of the highlights - or at least the ones that I noticed and photographed; as always when I got home and looked at the programme of the event I realised that there were several exhibits to which I should have paid more attention!

Our parish church, Holy Trinity,

and in the foreground an Austin Landaulette, 1934.

A rare beast,

An "Argyll" made in Scotland in 1905.

It has a French-made 4-litre engine.

Cost £560 including lamps and tools.

(accessories, such as windscreen, were extra).

The senior citizen amongst the many old-timers.

Peugeot Type from 1902 (that's 110 years old!), top speed 25mph.

How about a Roller, sir?

A Rolls Royce Phantom 1927.

This one was made to order for

His Highness The Maharana Of Udaipur.

This Austin-owner displayed his picnic set

on the back seat.

Redolent of a golden age of motoring.

One careful owner?

The other end of the spectrum,

A modified Ultima GTR

capable of  0-60 in 3 seconds

and a top speed of 205mph!

That's it, tick them off

 so you remember what you've seen!

But I was hoping to find a particular

motorcycle.

Jim, aka Wayfarin' Stranger, and I recently

had a correspondence about Vincent motorcycles,

particularly a song about a Vincent Black Lightning 1952.

The Black Lightning was a racing version of the bike above

which is actually a

Vincent Black Shadow 1954.

Vincents were made in Stevenage, just down the road from here

and regularly turn up at shows. 

This one still rides beautifully despite being

58 years old.

That's all, folks.

Take care.