Six years ago I played the Mock Mayor of Newcastle under Lyme and hubby played my mayoress. It was based on the idea of having a fool in charge for a day. Like the idea of the lord of misrule. We had fun playing with the idea of being able to order pies for everyone, or ale and cakes. The crowd would have been let in the local pubs for free. The point was that ordinary people were given the power that they normally lacked for a short period of time. Hubby loved the day. He always enjoyed acting. His great booming voice grabbed the attention, and he could be heard above the crowd. The photographer took a picture of us kissing, me in a massive white wig and staff and cloak and him in a straw hat and a psychedelic tee shirt and one of my dresses. We had 43 years together. This shows our love.
If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?
Now that a woman has played Dr Who on TV I would love to play the character. I’ve watched the television series over decades, from the 1960’s. The doctor was always my hero and was one of the things that got me into science fiction.
Suddenly when the doctor regenerated as a female I think it gave young girls the opportunity to imagine themselves fighting daleks and cyber men, having to tackle technical problems and fix mechanical issues. It made her a choice of hero to play as they are growing up. And that makes the show greater than it was although there was a lot of antagonism from some fans. Life changes and why should characters stay the same?
Street art in Newcastle under Lyme yesterday. Someone called Ian Mood has painted on a metal cabinet with images of miners. They were working up to about 40 years ago when the Coal industry of the country was dismantled and destroyed by Margaret Thatcher who was the Prime Minister of the time. There is still a lot of dismay at what she did. Life is crazy sometimes.
An old lamppost and a partially demolished 1960s or 70s building. The question is which is, ancient and which is modernish? The reason why I ask is because replica lampposts are sometimes used as urban street furniture. Obviously it’s looked smarter in the past, but hopefully this development will be an improvement?
This is a stone carving I think? It’s on a building in Newcastle under Lyme. The building, a shop, has closed and other buildings around it are partially demolished. I hope this carving will be recovered and reused, maybe it will go to a reclamation yard? I think it’s probably an art nouveau design. I hope the business that was there is successful in its new home (there wee signs saying it had moved elsewhere.
Today I had the honour of holding the Cerimonial Mace of the borough of Newcastle under Lyme. We were Celebrating the Mock Mayor Ceremony that was held in 2019 to crown a Mock Mayor for the day. Then covid happened so there hasn’t been another event and I’m effectively still the Mayor! My hubby played the Mayor’s wife in one of my dresses…
The marvellous Glenn Martin James who organised the extravaganza is standing next to hubby in this photo by a lady called Amanda. Glenn has done a wonderful drawing of the whole cast at the event and it is now on display at the Guildhall. Hopefully there will be a new ceremony in the future. X
Had a lovely but tiring afternoon. Might post more later!
I know they are from the Gallanthus group of plants but I think these might be snowbells not snowdrops. They have bigger flowers than usual and more prominent markings. But there are many variations of these lovely little friendly flowers, and they look great spread in carpets under the bare canopy of winter trees. They only have a short flowering period before they go over and that’s the best time to split their clumps of roots “in the green” so that they become less congested and flower more freely.
Macro shot of part of my hubbys flat cap from a few years ago.
It’s another one of the photos I found in Facebook memories. It reminds me of how he used to dress. More like a Lancashire farmer than someone living in a modern town. With a tweed jacket and old working mens trousers or jeans. A plaid shirt and boots or black leather shoes. His hair was usually escaping from under that flat cap. He sometimes got called the mad professor because his hairstyle was much like Einstein’s or other times curly when what was left of his hair was uncovered.
A big man, strong. He loved cycling and science. He knew such a lot of things but was often troubled. Bad memories of childhood. Our partnership was of mutual support. Mutual love. I remember his cheeky grin and the twinkle of mischief in his eyes.
I got a little microscope that used to attach to my old phone which was thinner than this one. A few photos like this have popped up on my Facebook memories today. There are a few interesting ones of woven cloth. I might share. Anyway, having a quiet day after a very upset stomach last night and I’m shattered because I slept downstairs on my armchair. I’d got things planned for today but I’ve given them a raincheck.
Mallaband-Brown 