Bluebells on the side of the Malvern Hills on a walk with two of my friends last year. Something I’m really looking forward to repeating next year. It seems that on a dull day approaching the end of October when looking through some pictures from earlier in the year one is reminded just how bright and beautiful the British countryside really is. This is a shortish drive from where I live so it was really good to get out on this bright lovely day No words of wisdom or otherwise follow from here, let the picture do the talking. Continue reading Something to really look forward to…

One careful energetic owner. This stunning house comes with fine views over the Cotswold countryside. From the original entrance the grand style of this place needs to be seen to be believed. Privacy is the watchword here with no passing traffic apart from the occasional walker. Surrounded by beautiful woodland that literally come through the house and adorned with wild flowers and bulbs, this retreat from modern living needs to be viewed to really be appreciated fully. There’s scope for improvement but the maxim “location, location, location” has never been better said. Requires some updating. Continue reading Requires some updating…

Perhaps it’s a sign of age or something that when workmen, or builders are in the house, I find it hard to concentrate. First of all I need to know if they are able to function without a cup of tea to sustain them till the next cup. “Milk and 3 sugars please mate”…no problem.What’s the point of tea which is essentially sugar solution? I think to myself. Why are they here? They come to make improvements to the kitchen including replacing the dishwasher with a new one, the old one is 27 years old and was, until a few … Continue reading Working Man’s Songs

I think plotters, my own name for allotment holders and much more exciting, are true artists. They know just how to compose an image. Take this one here. Steve manages to show off his pumpkins in a really good September light and lines them up beautifully on a well chosen piece of chicken wire with a contrasting blue background. The random addition of small pieces of bamboo add to the tension of the image, juxtapose that with a dark September shadow in a perfect hue of greens. It all makes for an imposing garden masterpiece. It’s the sort of image … Continue reading Mellow Yellow

This one may well be worth finishing sometime, see my note on here explaining that I intend to make her patterned outfit the same as the mud spattered rider. Bit like camouflage. It’s the usual overfed owner and underfed jockey. I’ve got one more of these to post which is “Winners and Losers”. Not many people come away from a racecourse with pocket loads of cash, apart from the Bookies. As for this series we are near the final hurdle! Continue reading Owner and Rider

This incorporates a couple of themes from recent posts about racing. I can’t claim to have witnessing a jockey leaving his horse at a fence like this, but I do know that at Haydock Park, where I worked in my college holidays on the ground staff, that there was always an ambulance ready for such an eventuality. To say it is a dangerous sport is something of an understatement. Very small men clinging on to a beast with much more muscle than Tyson Fury, who have been kicking them and come armed with a whip, can just be a little … Continue reading Jump jockey

Not many more of these drawings now. One thing that did strike me all those years ago when I had a holiday job, was just how small a jockey can be. I’m not a giant but I towered over these guys, and it was only guys in those days. We did not see a lot of them as race days were not that often, if I saw two or three race days whilst I was there over the summer that was about it. I personally steered well clear of any horses. The pedigrees that arrived just before race day were … Continue reading Tiny Men

More memories of Haydock Park with this pair. This is a bit more like they dress today than in the 70s when I had a holiday job on the course. What’s not changed is the way they seem to wear their tickets on their coats as far as the male of the species goes. The heels for the filly are also a must have, and there’s a certain amount of risk to the poor wearer, not just from inevitable bunions, but just the simple matter of walking. I call it Totteridge. From the rear the lady in question would look … Continue reading Racing: “Totterdige & Tottenham”

Another Haydock Park inspired drawing. I worked there over two summer holidays from college as I recall. It was in some ways more of an education than college where I mixed with people who were all about my age, and with limited life experiences. At the racecourse I was with ground staff who’d worked there for years. One man was the speciality jumps builder ( I was the speciality litter picker trying to peel torn up tiny betting slips super glued to the tarmac without mistaking the pieces for bird lime ) We collected wood for the jumps from Lord … Continue reading Stable Pair

When I worked at Haydock Park, there were no mobile phones. This I’m sure has changed though it’s many years since I have been at a racecourse, even though Cheltenham is just down the road. The bookmakers on course used tic tac men or were adept at the secret sign language themselves.There is one glaring inaccuracy in this rough drawing and that is the tic tac man looks cheerful and my more current memory is that bookmakers rarely looked cheerful, it made them look as if they were winning. Bad for business. The Race Days at the course were generally … Continue reading On course betting

A few drawings unearthed in recent days, when I thought of doing a series on horse racing. I have some limited experience in the field having worked at Haydock Park when I was 16, where my duties included cutting birch trees on Lord Derby’s estate a few miles away which were then transported down the East Lancs Road on a trailer pulled by a tractor, with me on the top of the load with a red flag! Picking litter after a race day and cursing the losers who tore up their betting slips and littered the grandstands, and ‘treading in’ … Continue reading Racing certainty