Wednesday 16 October 2013

The Thief of Time.

I have an essay to write. I've already spent all of last weekend working on it but I fear that what I've written is not what "they're" looking for. I've also written too much. Before taking it to pieces and re-writing it I decided to procrastinate by sharing some October photos.

I often take my camera with me on my daily trips into town but I've been a little self-conscious about taking photos when so many others can see me. Silly I know. However, I took a different route back to the train station the other day and was stopped in my tracks by a piece of amazing, unexpected and huge street art. Other people were taking photos so I was happy to join in.

A robin for Country Mouse who is still out there somewhere.

 Big feet. The next photo will show you just how big...

 Big!

 Here's the robin in situ. The little bit of parked car gives a sense of scale.

 Boo! Capercaillie and red squirrel.

 Blue tit (and some scribbles, honestly, some people...)
 Another squirrel, some deer and a fox (and more cars).

 This photo's just to give an idea of the location, the artwork is painted on to the backs of buildings adjoining a car park.

Hedgehog for N (who loves hedgehogs).

 And a worm at the end.

 A little further on and I passed the Duke of Wellington. He's well known for wearing his traffic cone hat (have a look here!), today the horse has one too.

Another new thing for me since returning to Uni - a pair of slim jeans with boots worn over the top. Radical it's not, but it's a big change from my usual bootcut/flared jeans hiding my footwear. The boots (of leather (writing that brings the Velvet Underground song to mind, not really appropriate here!)) were a bargain £49 from Matalan. Some observations on current female student fashion - no one wears bootcuts, it's all skinny jeans (I didn't quite go that far) or little skirts. There is rather a lot of hair around and I'm a little jealous. I keep mine in a bob as it's prematurely grey and I find it easier to dye it when it's fairly short. No, I'm not ready to let the grey show yet, for the simple reason that it's beyond grey - the front roots are white and I'm still "only" in my forties, and early forties at that. People with great facial features and style can pull it off, not me. Anyway, back to the students. They all like to pile their hair up on their heads in funny little messy buns. Interesting. I'd give it a go if I were younger and had more hair. One more thing - they're all much taller than when I was a student first time round. At 6ft I no longer feel I stick out like a sore thumb, at least for my height. There are a few other older people on the course, I don't think I'm the oldest. There are over 700 of us altogether (primary + secondary - some lectures are mixed) so I've not actually met everybody yet...

Now back to some more of the usual stuff, a couple of garden pics...

 The cosmos seedlings I planted way back in May have finally flowered, yay!

 A hoverfly visits.

 More beasties on an anemone which appeared further up the garden.

 The patio, with a pelargonium still in flower.

 Garden snail going slightly rusty.

And to finish, a fly agaric, spotted in the park by N & I after dropping A off at Brownies one evening. It was already quite dark, hence the flash. Our pockets at this point were stuffed with conkers, we'd collected them till we could no longer see what we were doing. A bumper crop this year.

16 comments:

SaraJ said...

Stunning photos from start to finish :)

blueskyscotland said...

Didn't know you were a Velvet Underground fan. Like the hoverflies and the snail photographs.

Joy said...

Beautiful pics once again and stunning street art; all the best with your essay and Uni in general.
Joy

Beth of The Linen Cat said...

Wow those murals are amazing! And lovely photos, as always. I laughed so much on reading your observations on today's students, I feel old. Also, agree on the going grey thing, it's fine if you have a certain kind of colour grey and the style to make it look classy (I have neither) but I wont be abandoning the hair dye for some time, personally. Bx

rockinloubylou said...

Thank you for the robin! Yes, I am still lurking around but not commenting due to forgetting my google login. Will sort that now and try to be better in future!

Mac n' Janet said...

I finally finished college in my early 40's, I'd been going off and on for years. I definitely wasn't the oldest in my class.

Cybèle said...

Nice to see you back, was wondering how you were getting on!
You're braver than me, tucking jeans into boots. Every time I try, I feel silly. A 14 year old daughter with a critical fashion eye doesn't help!
And another 6 footer - I still feel pretty tall, even after almost 20 years in Britain. And it seems my two have inherited my Dutch genes, as my eldest is now almost as tall as me and her younger brother (also an N :-) is, aged 11, suddenly beginning to shoot up.

Anonymous said...

I don't know how those murals are executed, but my, aren't they simply fantastic?
Love all your images, as usual.

topchelseagirl said...

That street art is amazing, whoever did it is truly talented.

Mereknits said...

I think you look very stylish in your ubber cool boots and skinny jeans. I have shoulder length hair and I am going gray, I love it and actually wish it would gray a little faster! I have on skinny crop length jeans today, and I am 5' 10", still tall for where I live.
Hugs,
Meredith

Anonymous said...

Hello! Those murals are jaw-droppingly fabulous. There's magic there! Nice to see the D. of Wellington too: his traffic cone always makes me smile, and the jaunty one on his beautiful horse is a bonus. When I was little the polis always took the cones away, but they'd always come back. These days I see them mentioned in tourist guides to the city!
All the best with your course. I take my hat (cone?) off to you.

Linda said...

I used to be shy about taking photos in town, but now I snap away. Edinburgh is so full of tourists that there is safety in numbers. Different up on Speyside tho, where I am at the moment.

Grey hair here - I went grey in my early 40s - or was it late 30s? - life was too busy to notice. I'm partial to my grey!

For 25 years I promised myself a pair of boots every winter. Suddenly, now that both children have left school, I have 4 pairs, and am coveting a 5th pair.

Today's students are scary - I work at a university, so am scared by them daily.

But scarier still is that huge worm on the mural. Nightmare stuff!

Diane said...

So much happening! Fantastic stuff. Love that graffiti and your new look. I'm with you on the hair debate. I'm convinced mine is pure white now, but Ive been so dark all my life and I'm not ready to "turn " yet. xxxxx

Lyn said...

Wow that street art is amazing!
Some talent there.
Good luck with the essay and beautiful photos as always. Xxx

Simone said...

Wow! Some of the best street art I have ever seen! I couldn't wear skinny jeans. They wouldn't pull up past my ankles!!!

Claire said...

Love the mural, just stunning, great artwork.
Had a giggle at the traffic cones on the statue, someone certainly has a sense of humour.
My Cosmos are just starting to flower and I love Fly Agaric toadstools.

Claire x

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