It’s all relative

The temperature today hit the dizzy heights of 7 Degrees and I actually felt too hot at more than one point. After the recent freezing weather I think I could have run naked around the garden, which would have been inappropriate as world naked gardening day isn’t until the 5th May, plus we have new neighbours who might have raised an eyebrow. Anyway our garden is a mess at the moment.

It was one of those days when things fell nicely into place. We abandoned our planned walk after five minutes when it started raining and went instead to the nearby art gallery, having remembered it was the last day of the exhibition “Turner in Surrey”. This was quite lovely (see extra of Walton On Thames ) and really well presented, both in terms of pictures and discussions of the artist’s life and motives. They even had one of his old paint boxes on display. He was a very organised man - which fits with Vaughan WIlliams assertion that “only second rate artists are unbusinesslike” - a not uncontroversial view.

The cafe at the gallery is really lovely and we stopped for coffee and got into conversations with the manager and other patrons about all things vegan and in particular why they should switch from vegetarian to vegan sausages. It’s also a good people watching space. There were some elderly people at the table next to us and whilst I wasn’t eavesdropping I was struck by the way they spoke. All three of them were clear, articulate and had a power to them in the way they dressed and sat. As I get older myself I often think about how it is your life force that keeps you going and keeps you healthy and these three seemed to have it in spades.

Walking out we bumped into an old friend and had a very long natter about life, the universe and everything. It was one of those conversations that bought back a lot of memories. Not least as we have children of very similar age and work in quite similar fields.

TSM had her feet measured whilst we were out but was unsuccessful in the matter of buying trainers.

The afternoon was taken up with cleaning and stuff although I did find time to take one of the many palettes I have acquired and turn it into a shelf unit for the workshop. TSM had speculatively bought some lovely grey chalk paint on the internet and it produced a lovely finish.

The blip is a sculpture by Sean Henry who was born locally and whose larger than life statues figure throughout the town. This one is called The Sleeper and is in the gallery foyer, having been donated by the artist. I can’t find any information on it but wonder if there isn’t a narrative in there about soldiers with PTSD being caught when they fall and being able to finally achieve some resolution and peace.

Good day. Good weekend.