Reviewing the last 30 days or so

My travels over the last month have led me to some interesting places including Castle Howard and Malton in North Yorkshire, Saffron Walden and Clavering in Essex and Barwick in Elmet and Bardsey between Leeds and Harrogate. Not to mention a flying family visit down to Exeter and Bristol!

A typical scene from the Yorkshire Dales. Taken from Thornton in Craven, just outside Skipton. As a keen landscape painter,  I could quite happily spend the rest of my life painting scenes like this one from the Yorkshire Dales. Beautiful.

 Taken after a days promotional touring in Bardsey, Leeds.

Another scene from Bardsey - quintessential Englishness!

This was a shop in Bardsey. I thought the text on this sign was fantastic. "Sweets & Tobacco Groceries & Provisions" PROVISIONS! Now that is a word that I would like to see on more signs these days. very under-used!

During a tour of Cambridgeshire, I came across this art gallery. It is a dream of mine to have my own gallery like this one day - I want a sign outside it just like this one.


One more thing. I watched something on Sunday evening which impacted me in a big way. It was the documentary about Gary Barlow putting together the song to celebrate the Queens Diamond Jubilee. One of the performers on the record was this African guy who was part of a band that played percussion out if scraps of rubbish. He was blind but when he played his instrument, that didn't seem to matter - he had such a passion for this music that he got totally lost in it. He said one thing which I will remember, "It doesn't matter what difficulties you face, you have to keep your head up and stay focussed on what you want to do."