Sunday 28th May 2017

First a wonderful hobble through the woods

Down to the back of the site and down along the marvellous mini-train track. Got a lovely wave back from the gals on the train.

Down through the steam shed and out by the back of the boiler room.

Through the centre Harbour near the displays

Wonderful to see so many people remembering what had to be done back then.

And to teach the young ones how folk had to suffer at the front.

Had an attack from Dizzy Dennis and went to sit under the trees for a while. Where I took this shot, that turned out to be poignant to me and had me thinking of how so many men had to be sacrificed for nothing but the whims of the rulers.

Visited the boiler room. Two of the boilers were in steam on the day.

Walke up the steps and through to the Pump House and spent ages jut being amazed, as I still am after many visits, at the artistry effort and detail that went into building this incredible place, so long ago.

Feeling a bit weary now, I went to the Cooling Pond at the front of the premises to sit, rest, have a nibble, take the medications and watch the model boat enthusiasts.

One of them got his boat stuck, in the surface weed in the middle of the pond. He just jumped in and waded out and retrieved it. A fantastic site!

I stayed there for a good while. Got a mobile phone call from sister Jane while there, that cheered me up a bit. A bash at the crossword book, and then back to the stalls and shows.

BJ called me and arranged to meet at the Pump House. I hobbled all around it but could not find him anywhere, so assumed I’d misheard what he said about where to meet. Called him, and he said where he was, that was about 20 yards from where I was at that time. Still, I couldn’t find him. He was hidden behind some pillars gossiping with the engineers. A few feet away from where I stood using the phone. It was a laugh!

As we left the Pumping House, I spotted two ladies dressed up as nannies with a genuine, 1912 babies pram and a model baby in it that looked so real. I’d tried earlier to get a photograph of them, but there was always someone nearby in view with modern clothing on. Many visitors had stopped them and asked if they could take photo’s of them, so I joined the queue. I waited while others took their shots then asked if I could take one with both ladies and the pram showing the baby. They were stood near a new electricity box was behind them, and I asked if they wouldn’t mind moving a few feet to one side. Those who had taken photographicalisations before me heard this and realised what they had done and asked if they could take their shots again as well.

So I waited all over again while they did so. I noticed BJ with his hand in the pram and snapped him doing so. I’ll have to think up a funny caption for this one:

The Ladies kindly posed for me, and I got tow what I think are great pictures.

Next day, I noticed the visitors on the left background on the photo above.

So I cut out a PNG tree, and made it into a bitmap, and positioned it above them to try and make the photo to look a more genuine article. Not a very good result, but it did hide them.

I just had to take a close-up of the baby in the pram. So genuine looking it was.

The lady said it cost over £300 to buy and kindly shown me the detail in it.

A nice trip out for me. Thanks to BJ.