The Golden Angel

First of all I must thank everyone for the lovely comments on yesterdays blip. You all so kind.  And I was thrilled to find that at one point my blip was number 6 on the Popular Page.

Today there was a Warehouse Sale happening at Traidcraft on the Team Valley Trading Estate, near Gateshead and I decided to go.  Well there wasn't a warehouse.  Just a small room with tables full of stuff.  There were around 8 customers in the room as well as  5 members of staff.  It wasn't ideal.  You could fill a small bag and would be charged £15, a larger bag would cost £25 and a box would set you back £40.  I had a mooch around but I really couldn't find enough things I wanted to even fill the smaller bag.  So I just got 3 bars of chocolate and beat a hasty retreat.

If I had bought loads of stuff I would have just gone straight home but as I hadn't I decided to get the bus to Gateshead.  Had a good look in the charity shops.  Got a lightweight Boden cardigan for £1 and a Royal Doulton casserole dish for £1.50.  Then to Iceland for some ice cream lollies.

The weather was actually HOT.  I went out wearing a jacket but took that off almost straight away.  It was really lovely to have good weather for a change.

When I got home I sat outside  with the cats in their enclosure. And I had one of my ice cream lollies.  I sat out for ages just relaxing and reading a magazine.  

I did take a photo at home which I was going to post for  Abstract Thursday but I decided to post a couple of shots which  I took this morning while I was at the Team Valley Trading Estate.  These photos are 2 views of the same statue which can be found near the main entrance road.  I like it a lot - but I think its a rather forgotten piece of public artwork. 

Its called " The Golden Angel " and was installed in 2005.  It was carved by Emily Young who is famous for her Angel sculptures -   examples can be found in St Pauls Churchyard and Kew Gardens in London. This statue stands 3 metres high, weighs 7 tons and  was cut from Persian yellow travertine.  Emily Young says " The looks on the faces of my angels are not planned as such, they arrive and surprise me often with their softness and sadness, and strength and calm, as did the one created for the Gateshead site".

Steps today - 8,699