MONO MONDAY - AND DON'T FAINT...

...because ’m on theme, which is steps!!

First of all this morning, Mr. HCB gave me a lift along to the Community Fridge at our Church because Swindon & Gloucestershire MIND were there to encourage those who come to the fridge to get involved with Mental Health Awareness Week in the Community Art Activity.  

We were all encouraged to take part in the Art Activity - and you can see from my extra that the wonderful Mega-Picasso came prepared with her brushes and pallet and dressed suitably in her dungarees and hat.  

Quite a number of people worked on a collage and some of us had rather mucky hands, having drawn around them with felt tip pens - only after I had tried to scrub mine clean did one of the helpers say that they had special pens that were easily washed off, but by then, it was too late.  Ah well, guess it will wear off in time.

There were lots of people at the Community Fridge today and there was a good atmosphere, particularly in the café, with people chatting and several of them working on the collage.  Those who were helping to facilitate this were on hand to answer questions and to help those who weren’t quite sure what to do.  It was heartening to read some of the comments that customers had written about how the Community Fridge and the Café had helped them - which makes it all worth while.

I chatted to several new people, who don’t often come on a Thursday, so all in all it was a good morning.  

At about 1.15 I decided it was time to go home, and instead of calling Mr. HCB to ask him to come and collect me, I decided to walk part of the way home.    It was quite an enjoyable walk for me, as I used to live quite near and attended this Church from when I was 3 years old until I was 21, so I knew the area well.  However, when I met Mr. HCB, we then went to his Church, Immanuel in Upham Road, Swindon.

I knew the theme for today was steps or stairs or however we wanted to interpret that, and last week I had seen some street art at the top of some steps along Fleming Way, and “clocked it” into my brain, as most Blippers would, so that I knew where to go back to when I needed a shot.  Little did I know it would be as soon as today.

This area used to be the route of the Wilts and Berks Canal, which was formally abandoned in 1914 and most of it has since been built over, with houses but also some large shops like The Range and Halfords.  When I lived in a street about half a mile away, we would often walk into town along the canal towpath, but there was no water by then and it was quite mucky.  However, you may remember seeing this Blip from 16th August 2024, showing the canal being reinstated in another part of Swindon, so we need to go and check how that is doing and take some more shots.

My shot today was taken at the bottom of some steps, leading up to what was a bridge that used to go over the canal.  This street art has been painted on the side of a house and looks great in colour - see extra.  I’m pleased that I am “on theme” and it’s good to be able to show the street art in our town.

Hope you all have a great week - we did have a few spots of rain in the night, but we are still desperate for more.  However, the daisies are growing well in the grass, although I’m not sure about the wild flower seeds that Mr. HCB sowed a few weeks ago - we shall have to wait and see.  M xx