THE LOST BOYS

THE LOST BOYS 

The other evening with time to spare before a supper date I went into the Salisbury Pub on St Martins Lane. I had not been inside for forty or so years. A warm summer’s morning, with a gaggle of friends making a weekend of it.

I remember going down stairs to the Gents and then finding an well dressed city-type in the stall next to mine trying to open up a conversation. I fled upstairs in panic; much to the myth of my friends. 

Forty years on on a Friday evening the Salisbury was packed as I made this drawing. A delightful American couple made a fuss when leaving the table next to mine anxious not to jog my hand. And to my left three Irish boys were keen to see my output.

The Salisbury was well known as a gay-friendly pub from Oscar Wilde's time up until the mid-1980s. The 1961 British suspense film Victim, directed by Basil Dearden and starring Dirk Bogarde and Sylvia Syms, includes scenes inside and outside The Salisbury and was the first English language film to use the word "homosexual".

THANK YOU WIKIPEDIA 

COLOURFUL CUISINE WORCESTER WAY

A culinary buzz - The Colorful Pots  Worcester

A real culinary discovery in Worcester the other weekend. We were taken by super chums Chris and Liz to The Colorful Pots, a Polish restaurant not far from the city’s great cathedral.

The Colorful Pots (no ‘u’) is not long opened. We enjoyed the food, generous portions and decor. The place had a real buzz.

Regarding the decor, the colours and style of wall motifs, table linen and such, against pure white, was all traditional Polish. All this colour gave the place a fey ’60’s feel, lovely. 

Service was hyper-attentive from a delightful young man, enviably lithe.

Food detail: Sian had a lovely combo of stroganoff wrapped in a rosti-style envelop and I enjoyed a meat loaf, ‘baked’ to perfection. I kicked off with the herring - perfection.

Link to the home page: https://www.facebook.com/PolishRestaurantUK/

Some deserved reviews: https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186424-d15088970-Reviews-The_Colorful_Pots-Worcester_Worcestershire_England.html

I love the writing style of TA's reviewer's

A BRIEF HALT AT HOLT

Chancel Arch at Holt 

North Door a delightful Norman confection

When the Normans were trying to subjugate the Welsh they allowed  a whole swath of land from the River Severn west, right into the Principality of Wales, become wild moorland, a natural barrier, fortified by bramble and bog. Little was built in this region. The land did not see a plough until the 16C

However provision was made for the Church and thus St Martin’s Church was built by the Normans, an 11C treasure trove of Norman architectural bravura, completely intact!  

A door that welcomes you in  Holt Church 

The very best of Norman carving from warm pink sandstone. 

We were visiting with friends Chris and Liz from Worcester and so we crossed the river and explored Holt. The little church was open and the lights easily accessible so I was able to make some drawings.

Opposite St Martin’s is  Tudor gatehouse of what was once Holt Castle another defence remonstrance against Glendower and his ilk . The rest of the village was moved north some centuries ago.

Simon Jenkins (England's Thousand Best Churches) remarks ‘most counties have at least one Norman survivor and Holt is Worcestershire’s’ 

FIVE SILVER BIRCH

SILVER BIRCH

In January its adolescence is all too apparent,

To be enjoyed.

Without the encumbrance of a leaf,

Is this summertime for trees when they can be themselves?

The floor of any wood becomes beach

Last year’s leaves are stones and sand.

ANTEROS IN THE SHADE

Although this statue is generally known as Eros, it was created as an image of his brother, Anteros. 

The sculptor Alfred Gilbert had already sculpted a statue of Anteros and when commissioned for the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, chose to reproduce the same subject, who, as "The God of Selfless Love" was deemed to aptly represent the philanthropic 7th Earl of Shaftesbury suitably, doer of great works in this area of London. 1893.

When I drew this sketch picture Anteros was in the shade, and beneath him were several tourists remonstrating in Italian.

* Anteros was the god of requited love, literally ‘love returned’ or ‘counter-love’ and also the punisher of those who scorn love and the advances of others.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anteros  The writer acknowledges Wikipedia as the source for this information and readily contributes to this vital organisation.

A GALLERY FOR THE NATION

The National Gallery in dear Trafalgar Square a rallying place for tourists and buskers. Inside there is a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900.

We see here the third site to house the National Gallery. What we see is a building by William Wilkins, completed in 1839. 

Only the façade onto Trafalgar Square remains essentially untouched from this time of its being built. It ran out of space ands led to the establishment of the Tate Gallery for British art in 1897.

It was quiet at the time of my standing here. 

However each year 6* million people visit the National Gallery.

*2017 Report: Over 6.2 million visitors came to the Gallery in the past year, with more than 9.7 million visits to our digital channels, up from 9.4 million last year. 

FIELDS OF OUR HEARTS THAT DEAD AND BARE HAVE BEEN

Tollesbury  -  Prentice Hall Lane 

FIELDS OF OUR HEARTS THAT DEAD AND BARE HAVE BEEN

Fields crossed and quartered by sparrow hawks,

Hares on patrol,

Partridges, gaggle and scurry at the margins of these wide fields.