MONO MONDAY - DOUBLE EXPOSURE

Our friends, Lillieth and Howard, have gone to Jamaica to attend the funeral of Lillieth’s brother-in-law, so I told her I would “keep an eye” on their daughter, Kathryn, who would be “home alone”!  This morning I had arranged to meet Kathryn for coffee over at the Orbital Retail Park - in Marks & Spencer - and Mr. HCB said that I could also do some retail therapy afterwards - so off I went.

We had a lovely time together - it’s quite sometime since I have seen Kathryn, so I was intrigued to hear about her job, which is with a company that charts archaeological digs etc - something I know nothing about - and she obviously enjoys her work.  She told me that they do a lot of work on Romans ruins, particularly in the Cirencester area, which was the largest town in Roman Britain after London and was probably a capital in the 4th century.  I found out from Mr. Google that the walls enclosed a town of 240 acres (100 hectares), and remains of a basilica, an amphitheatre, and many rich villas have been discovered. Kathryn said she is based in the office in Swindon, but would love to go out on “digs” because that’s what interests her most.  I must admit that I never realised, and in fact, had never given it any thought - but if archaeological remains are found if someone is building an extension, then work has to stop until these have been inspected and documented.  I did tell Kathryn that lots of old bricks had been found in our garden, but they were definitely not Roman!

If ever you are near Cirencester, do visit the Corinium Museum, which highlights the town’s Roman past and also houses a large collection of Roman British antiquities.

There are lots of good coffee shops too, and plenty of places to eat, and often the Cirencester charity shops have quite “high class” clothing and bric-a-brac so worth a visit just to check those out.  

I asked Kathryn if I could take a photograph of her and she immediately asked if it was for my Blip.  I told her it was and she said she was happy for me to take a shot of her.  I had looked at the theme for Mono Monday before I left - which is a miracle in itself - as I normally am way off theme!

So here is a double exposure for Mono Monday - made, I have to admit, with one of my apps, Snapseed - and I have also put a collage in as a extra to show the two photographs I used - where you can see Kathryn's wonderful Fedora hat.  I have blipped the family before and you can see them all here.

I did ask Kathryn if the house was clean and tidy ready for when her parents return next week and she assured me it was!  

I did have a wander around a couple of shops after I left Kathryn, but sadly didn’t find anything that took my fancy - so despite Mr. HCB giving me the go-ahead, I think another shopping trip will be necessary.

The weather is certainly more autumnal today - in fact, we did have some rain, but perhaps we can look forward to an Indian Summer in a few weeks’ time.