Mother and Child

On my travels today.

Late afternoon I attended the Registry office to register Mum’s death. The office sits in the middle of a construction site - a lot of demolition is taking place. So after my visit I had a walk around the town centre to try and work out what was going on. It was very interesting.

Stevenage was the UK’s first post war new town. Although I was brought up in the old town, the new town centre was the shopping hub. It was opened by the Queen in 1959 (how many things has she “opened” since 1952) and it was the UK’s first fully pedestrianised town centre.

It’s 1950’s beginnings are still very evident. The blip is is of a sculpture called “Joyride” by the Czech sculptor Franta Belsky. To its right (extra) is a ceramic mural by the Hungarian artist G Bajio who worked for the Cooperative Wholesale Society’s architecture department. The Coop store has sadly long gone. But the mural, depicting the four economic buttresses of commerce, industry, transport and agriculture, is evocative of an era of idealism and hope for the future.

I like another mural (extra) of modern vintage. Symbolically, it is already starting to degrade - we live in an era where things are not made or built to last.,