HOW MUCH FOR PARKING?

Having learned that there was an exhibition of paintings of various buildings and places in and around Swindon, in our town centre, we decided to go, after Mr. HCB had been out for a walk with his friend early this morning.  We went to a large town centre car park where we were charged £2.80 to park for 2 hours - probably the reason most people shop nowadays in out-of-town shopping precincts!  Mind you, Mr. HCB was a bit miffed because he only had 3 £1 coins and the machines don't give change!

We walked through to the town centre and found the exhibition in quite a large shop - it was a wonderful exhibition hosted by John Stooke, to highlight some of Frank Ernest Quinton’s work and to explore his contribution to the town’s art and heritage.  John had obviously taken great trouble with the descriptions under the paintings and we heard many people making remarks about how they remembered this place or that. 

John Stooke (who was in my year at school!) was a good friend of Frank’s for many years, and describes him as a kind, quiet and self-effacing man.  He decided to write a book about Frank’s life, creations and legacy entitled “Frank & Ernest”;  it’s a beautiful hard-backed book, a copy of which we bought for the very modest sum of £12 - with £2 going to Motor Neurone charities, a charity close to our hearts, as our friend’s husband died from MND almost three years ago.

The paintings in the exhibition were all done by Frank Quinton and captured the changing face of Swindon across 60 years. There were also more than one hundred seaside postcards (does anyone send these today?) which Frank designed in the 1950s, well before e-cards were thought of.

It was very hot and the room where the paintings and postcards were exhibited and we noticed it was kept locked once people were inside because the organiser, John Stooke, said that many of the paintings weren’t his, so he had to be very careful.  As it was, I couldn’t imagine any of the people we saw there stealing a painting - they were all our age and looked very respectable.  

Following that, we wandered around the shopping centre for a while just because were hadn’t been there for over 18 months, when Mr. HCB suggested we had a cup of coffee. We saw a Triple Two 222 Coffee Shop at a place called “The Crossing” where there are many other food outlets and a couple of coffee shops and because there was great air conditioning, we decided to stop for there for a coffee, after I had ascertained they did decaffeinated.  It was certainly a very good cup of coffee and we both enjoyed it, chatting about the exhibition and how much we had enjoyed it.  

When it was time to go, I saw a display of small jars of jam, which I thought might fit the bill for Tiny Tuesday, so when I went to take a photograph, and explained to the owners, Nazia and Babar (of course I found out their names!) about Blip, we then had a much longer conversation. What a lovely couple - and we told them we would certainly be back.  Nazia gave me two cards so the next time we go in, we can have a free coffee - what’s not to like?  I also said that I would give them a good review on their website - new businesses need all the help they can get these days!

“There are three intolerable things in life - 
     cold coffee, 
          lukewarm champagne, 
               and over-excited women...” 
Orson Welles


P.S.  Murphy's Law - just finished putting up my Blip for TT, went out into the garden to find this beauty on top of one of our bird feeders, so have put it in as an extra - ah well, you can't win em all!