WANDERING IN THE TOWN CENTRE

Next Thursday I am looking forward to meeting an “old” friend, meaning we have known one another for many years - and as we haven’t seen one another since before the lockdowns, I thought it might be a good idea to meet halfway between Exeter, where she lives and Swindon.  I found out that the halfway point is Weston-Super-Mare and she is happy to drive up, so I will get the train as Mr. HCB is due to be at cricket next week and needs the car - weather permitting, of course, so today I went down to the station to buy my ticket to save time on the day.  Mr. HCB offered to take me, but he was busy in the garden, so I went in on the bus.

Having done the deed - and I was served by a very pleasant young lady - I decided to walk back up through the town, but was very disappointed with all the empty shops and the general feeling of tiredness that pervaded the whole area.  

My aim was to find this particular wall in Queen Street, which I knew wasn’t too far from the station.  When I got there, I took several shots, but was upset to see that there was graffiti on the painting - why, oh why, when people see a work of art, do they feel the need to try and “enhance” it with their mindless doodles.

Don’t get me wrong, in the right place, I am happy to see graffiti, but not when someone has taken the trouble to do a wonderful painting like this!

Anyway, enough ranting - to tell you something about this wall painting:  it was painted by Martin Travers for the 2022 Paintfest to represent the Nepalese community in Swindon, and is the fearless Nepali mountaineer, Nirmal Purja.  Martin said, "I wanted to paint a mural that would resonate with the Nepali community in Swindon and give them something in town to look at and have a sense of pride.
I have to give massive thanks to Swindon Paint Fest and especially Caryn Koh for making this mural possible and arranging everything I needed and I also want to thank all the locals who showed love during the process."

If you are interested, I found out the following about Nirmal Purja MBE:  

He was born on 25 July 1983 and is a Nepal-born naturalised British mountaineer and a holder of multiple mountaineering world records. Prior to taking on a career in mountaineering, he served in the British Army with the Brigade of Gurkhas followed by the Special Boat Service (SBS), the special forces unit of the Royal Navy.  Purja is notable for having climbed all 14 eight-thousanders (peaks above 8,000 metres or 26,000 feet) in a record time of six months and six days with the aid of bottled oxygen.  He was also the first to reach the summits of Mount Everest, Lhotse and Makalu within 48 hours. In 2021, Purja, along with a team of nine other Nepalese mountaineers, completed the first-ever winter ascent of K2.

It was a sunny morning, but has now turned rather grey and is quite cold - I might even sneak the heating on for a few minutes!

Here is a lovely long word of 18 letters for the musicians out there:

HEMIDEMISEMIQUAVER
Sixty-fourth note
In this appropriately musical-sounding word, hemi-, demi- and semi- all mean half. So how does halving something three times get you to a sixty-fourth note? Because you're halving the quaver, which is an eighth note. Divide that in half, in half again, and in half a third time and you get a sixty-fourth note.