Pitchcombe: Combe is from the latin for dung and in this instance pitchcombe is the word used for the hurling of dung.In particular cow dung that has dried enough for it to be successfully lifted as a complete circle about the size of a piazza, and then thrown.It is thought that Pitchombe preceded Frisbee as a marketing name, but has since fallen out of common parlance. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ I did a book, a very small book, some years ago now. Loosely based on the famous bestseller ” The Meaning of Liff” by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd, my book took Gloucestershire place names and gave them their true meaning and derivation. It was … Continue reading Pitchcombe

Take cats for instance. I’m no fan of cats but for some inexplicable reason I thought that since the world seems to like them then some snappy tee shirt ideas featuring cats might be a good idea. Years ago I had the idea of doing a cat alphabet. Almost a font of cats if you will. I revisited this idea when the second lockdown came, thinking it a brilliant concept that deserved my time an effort. I got them onto t shirts and there they lay, never to be disturbed. In an effort to get things rolling I thought that … Continue reading Sometimes things just don’t work out quite like you thought they might.

This is quite an old photograph from my time with the printers in Gloucester. We did work for a company that make bespoke high quality shirts, and the allowed me to take a few photographs in the factory machine room. These shirts cost around £200-00 each, or they did then, they might be even more these days. You had to order 5 as well, so that’s a thousand quid on 5 shirts. Beyond my pocket. I saw lots of shirts being made and this is one shot of someone’s hands working on a seam. Beautiful hands working on a beautiful … Continue reading Shirtmakers to the gentry.

I don’t recall if this caravan was dumped, I think not. It is pictured in South West France next to a corn field. I think it has the feel of an old master, with that dark set of trees in the background and the wonderful sculptural clouds set on a pale blue behind the tree and Mediterranean blue at the top of the image. I think this would make a fine painting, perhaps a huge one like you get in these modern galleries these days, so big you could not even get it through a caravan door. Perhaps I’ll do … Continue reading Caravan, clouds and corn.

I worked for a time for a print company in Gloucester. I sold print. I enjoyed it. I was supposed to pull in the smaller customers who were not necessarily used to print or did not see a need for it. I’d got this proper job after a life drawing cartoons and was ready for a change. The local farmers market in the city which happened every Friday morning at the Cross, was a happy hunting ground for potential customers. All small businesses, they were quite easy to engage in conversation if they were ‘quiet’ and as long as I … Continue reading Say Cheese.

I know it’s gone now. Shame. It had this wonderful patina to the bodywork, the sort of effect an artist might take years to be able to do. It was also a pick up truck and I suspect they are very rare these days. Continue reading Morris Minor in the woods near Misereden, some years ago.

From even further back in my collection this image was taken in 2005 in Ontario, Canada. It was the last trip taken with all the family and is in some ways apt, as we went to Ontario on a big trip. We spent hours in our car and then I stopped and took pictures of other cars like this left with others in a field. I also took a lot of images of Canadian barns. I suppose that might have been the start of my obsession with sheds, after all, barns are just big sheds. Ontario has some beauties, or … Continue reading Cadillac Canada.

The is another of my images of cars, this one from a car dump down the Bristol Road in Gloucester. That Californian blue sky helps . I thought it looked like a modern sculpture. This was taken some years ago, I’m not sure if the place where they collect these cars is still there, but if it is it’s behind the large car dealerships that front on to the road. Continue reading Still Life with engine.

I’ve had a fascination for cars. but mainly the ones dumped for no apparent reason. This ones near Pau which is just 85 km from the Spanish border of Southern France. I found it in a wood whilst we were staying down there and to this day have no clue how it got there. My very first car was a 2CV, sadly not a van like this gem. This was taken quite a few years ago but I suspect is still sitting there. Perhaps with the ferns around it doing even better. I shall be posting my odd photos over … Continue reading “Do you think it will be ok if we park here?”

Not really. Bluebells. Derbyshire. Lovely. They like the shade but look lovely when the sun catches them. Continue reading Bluegrass?

Perhaps. I’m not sure. I know where it is and hope to go there to see it come to life again before too long. Continue reading Cow Parsley?

Here’s a sunny image for today. This is a hot day in sunny California and the very thing to do is to dress up in a hairy bear suit for the kids. There’s enough denim in those trousers to clothe a family of four and have enough left over for a spare coat. Not that you’d ever need a coat in California. I think these two are an ‘item’ as we say. I hope you all have a really good week. Continue reading Bear with me…