A lone Australian in a British graveyard

A lovely old cemetery near us is the Chorleywood Road cemetery which opened in 1856. The chapel has been converted into a home - at least the neighbours are very quiet.  We loved their outside lights with the dragons.  Imagine living in a graveyard - how fantastic.

Most of the graves are old and showing the signs of age, which is part of the attraction. Headstones tilting at all angles and covered with ivy.

I love the angels in graveyards and there were some really lovely ones amongst the more traditional headstones.

There were also quite a few Celtic crosses and these are always beautiful - they show off the skill of the stone masons that carved them over a hundred years ago.

This next shot is my arty shot that Ken wanted me to take - the shadow of the cross on the headstone.  I was pleased with how it came out.

On one of the headstones we found an unusual looking ladybird - I've checked online and it is the cream-spot ladybird or to give it its proper title, Calvia 14-guttata. I've never seen one of these before.

Scattered throughout the cemetery there are 43 Commonwealth War graves, 42 from the UK, and one solitary Australian. After I'd taken this picture we put some wild primroses on the headstone - a fellow countryman a long way from home. I looked up Private Volk on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and he was from Mentone, a suburb of Melbourne, in Victoria.

After our visit to the Chorleywood cemetery we went to the Pinner cemetery and as they were about to close we only had time for a drive around, but we still managed to find the grave I was looking for - Screaming Lord Sutch. David Sutch was the cofounder of the Monster Raving Looney Party - look it up if you've not heard of them.

We hope you've enjoyed the delights of graveyards as much as we enjoy visiting and sharing them with you.

Until next time be good, stay safe, and visit an old cemetery - you might be surprised at the things you find.

Pamela and Ken
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Old Spitalfields Market London

We recently made a visit to Old Spitalfields Market which is about a five minute walk from Liverpool street station.  If you want to learn more about the market and its history then click on this link - it's fascinating, and the bit I like best is that back in AD 300 it was a cemetery.

Before we even left the station we found a thing of loveliness - Shaun the sheep dressed as a Pearly King. It took a while to get a picture as lots of people wanted to pose with him.  He is one of 50 Shaun sculptures that are spread over London until the end of May so guess what we'll be doing soon, going on a Shaun hunt.

The walk from the station provides lots of interesting things to look at, not least this great old pub.

There's are sculptures dotted all over London, some that make sense, others that just appear quite random. I love the goat on his crate mountain.

The market is an eclectic blend of colours, sounds, and smells - it's fabulous for people watching as well.

Note the two men in top hats below. The one in the foreground has cutlery around his hat as he makes jewellery out of cutlery - I was very tempted as the rings were beautiful. The man in the background was a real dude, dressed in formal wear to sell his top hats - what set the look off was a large diamond eating.

There were lots of different food stalls and I was very pleased to find a scrummy lamington. As you can imagine Ken liked the below food stall due to it being in an old truck.

Leaving the market we went past a shop that if we hadn't already eaten I would have been heading into - I contented myself with photos as they're much better for the waistline.

We hope you've enjoyed this visit to Old Spitalfields Market - you should definitely go if you're ever in the area.

Until next time be happy, stay safe, and eat some cake.

Pamela and Ken
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx