Distress

On my "hope it isn't the last time I can do this for a while" walk this afternoon, I passed a small, apparently closed factory.  Outside they were flying the Union Flag, upside down, which is either a mistake or a signal of distress. (Anyone - eg from outside the UK - who wants an explanation of in what sense it is upside down should get in touch.  Thank you.)

Today's album, which I had not heard before, was 801 Live, by a short-lived band including Phil Manzanera and Brian Eno.  They only ever performed three gigs, the third of which was recorded to form this album, in September 1976.

One of the paintings I studied was "The Mèrode Triptych by Robert Campin (1422/1430.) It is an unusual portrayal of the Annunciation, being set in a small middle class house rather than a grand palace or a heavenly gold sky. It seems to be located in Mechelen, a small Belgian City I visited back in the autumn.

An interesting detail in the picture is a mouse-trap on the workbench in the right panel. A version of that has been constructed based on the image in the painting and it worked. The picture is sometimes known as the "mouse-trap annunciation."