Your Tiger Feet

I had to smile when I saw Fred sitting on Huw's bed mirroring the disembodied paws on the wall.

The explanation for the mural is this. When Huw was around 10/11 years old he had a passion for all things tiger. All his clothes, bedding, room decor and personal possessions had to be orange or black, or orange-and-black, and preferably striped. He had a vast range of toy tigers, multiple tiger T shirts, tiger stationery, tiger mugs, books about tigers and so on. We sponsored a tiger for him. We took him to see tigers in zoos. He had his face painted like a tiger. I made a tiger birthday cake surrounded by lumps of marzipan meat.

One summer while he was away on a school trip I painted a tiger mural on his bedroom wall, copying the image from a photograph, as a surprise for his return. It's still there but I haven't seen the entire painting for years because it's concealed behind bookshelves now - apart from its paws. I wonder if Fred feels a kinship with the big cat.

Mud 1974 - what else?