Behind The Scenes At The Museum

Today was both eventful and uneventful. It involved taking my car Nigella (I've always given my cars a name) in for her service and m.o.t, an attempt at street photography with an iguanodon, appreciating the attributes of a museum extension, a long wait in the middle of the day, a train fire and an unexpected drink at a newly opened pub.
My day started early as I had to get up at 6 am to take my brother to the station, it was then time for a quick bite to eat before heading back out to take my car into town for her service and m.o.t - I had a feeling she was probably going to fail the m.o.t as I'd been hearing an ominous creaking sound from the rear suspension over the last few days.
Having deposited my car at the garage just after 8 am I thought I would have a walk around town and try out some street photography. I headed first to Maidstone East station to see if I could get a shot of Iggy the Iguanodon (he forms part of Maidstone's official coat of arms after his skeleton was unearthed in Queen's Road in the town in 1834) as he mingled with commuters and other members of the public on the station's forecourt - the second extra was my best attempt!
I then continued my walk through Brenchley Gardens and on to get some shots of the extension (or the East Wing as it is more formally called) to Maidstone's museum, which I knew would be generating some fabulous reflections in the pale morning light -  see my main image and the first extra.
The East Wing was part of a £3 million pound refurbishment to the museum in 2012 and has elevations combining frameless glazing with a diagrid of copper alloy shingles - which are intended to emulate the diamond leaded glass windows of the original Tudor building. The glazed box offers views of St. Faiths church - you can see the reflections of the church tower in my main image.
It was then time to head home again on the bus to await the verdict on my car from the garage. I had to wait until 3.30 in the afternoon before the garage rang back to confirm that sure enough it had failed the m.o.t - a broken rear suspension drop link being the cause. They would have to replace both rear links as apparently they cannot just replace one on its own. Total cost for the repair, service and m.o.t was just short of £480. Ouch!
I got the bus back into town, collected my car and was on my way home when my brother called to say he would need picking up from Otford as all his homeward bound trains were stopping there due to a train fire at West Malling (I later viewed a video on you tube which actually shows the train on fire as it enters the station!! Mercifully nobody was hurt or injured).
This meant an 80 minute round trip to pick him up and get back home but he was so relieved to see me when I arrived and we decided to stop off at the newly opened Amherst Inn in Seal (a sister pub to our very own Chequers) for a nose around and a quick drink. We eventually got home at 8 pm. All in all quite a long day!