Chairs And Tables 2

This could also have been titled 'Shades Of Brown'!

This set of table and chairs were just begging to be photographed for the series started by Virginia at Birmingham, Alabama DP. They were just tucked off of the Prom, outside the recently opened Costa Coffee. Normally the tables are covered in empty cups and plates but someone was actually doing their job and cleared them off! As you can see Cheltenham is not as litter free as people think - look on the floor. Standards are slipping!

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Big & Blousy!

What a sweet and heavenly scent these wonderful roses had. Pure and clean, just like the petals.
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Gold Ring

Just a quickie for Saturday. A little something that caught my eye - a gold ring. Sort of! I actually wanted a pun filled title but couldn't think of one. Any ideas?

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Sky Watch Friday

Blue sky, orange plane.

This sky watch photo is a bit of a cheat really, its not of Cheltenham but from my holiday to Pefkos, Rhodes last month. I just really like the colour contrast and wanted to share it with all you sky watchers.

To join in with Sky Watch Friday, or to see the sky from around the world, head over to the Sky Watch Friday Blog.

Enjoy your weekend.

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Mellow Yellow

Vinyl Vault and Browsers is something of a hidden retro gem in Cheltenham. Those in the know rate it highly and those that don't know about it soon realise they do when you tell them "its that place in that basement that smells a bit musty and sells old music and clothes"! Situated in the basement of a Regency town house that is now offices, it is crammed floor to ceiling with records (remember them?!), tapes and vintage clothes. I've been there in the past on the hunt for flares to wear to a 70's party. They had dozens of pairs, and the best bit is you can buy them, take them back and they buy them back from you. Talk about recycling!

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Trusting

If I was an unscrupulous character I could now be posting from a new laptop, but I'm honest as the day is long so I'm not! I know that Cheltenham is seen as a safe place to live with little crime but crime is everywhere and this was the perfect opportunity for an opportunist thief. The owner of the car, laptop and box was a couple of car lengths up the Prom paying for his parking ticket but he obviously wasn't worried that someone might make off with his stuff! I should have taken it to teach him a lesson!

How long could you leave a laptop on the street where you live before it grew legs and walked?
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The Under Glass

Today's post has been inspired by Petrea at Pasadena Daily Photo. Actually I just copied here but imitation is the highest form of flattery, or something like that! Anyway, when I saw her photos I remembered we had the same glass skylights in the pavement in Cheltenham too, and thought they were worth sharing with you. Basically they let some natural light into the basements below. These examples are on the Prom by the HSBC bank. Most of them have been filled in with tarmac but two still survive. I think they are a really ingenious design feature.

Town Hall Detail

This photo may look familiar to some of you. Its a close up of this photo from last Tuesday. The Town hall is covered in carved detail like this, but its not until you look for it that you really see it. As you can see the photo is in black and white (nothing like pointing out the blatantly obvious!) but I took it using the dreaded manual settings! I'm getting there slowly! Anyway, that's it. Got to get some more photos today, I have nothing to show you tomorrow. Nothing!

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Newly Hatched

Some of you may remember the post I did last spring about my bosses ducklings Huey, Dewey & Louie or the post I did last July with them enjoying the summer weather, well now its time for an update. Huey, Dewey & Louie turned out to be girls and are now called Puddle, Daisy and Louise! They were joined by a drake named Alan, and he has been thoroughly enjoying his hareem! The result - Daisy has been sitting on five eggs, one of which hatched on Friday night. But Daisy didn't want to be a mummy and cast him out into the night (wipe the tears from your eyes.) Here he is though, fighting fit and being raised by hand. What a cutie!
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Water Tree

A tree reaching for the lake in Pitville Park.
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Sky Watch Friday

Pink Road

Not the best photo in the world but this was the view out of my front window on Tuesday night. There had just been a heavy downpour and then the sky suddenly cleared to this beautiful shade as the sun went down, turning the grey road pink. Gorgeous.

To join in with Sky Watch, or to see the sky all over the world, head to the Sky Watch Friday Blog.
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Alvin, Simon Or Theodore?

As promised the other day here is one of the chipmunks at Pitville Park. I'm also showing this photo to annoy Virginia at Birmingham, Alabama Daily Photo who is over run with them in her garden!

That's it for today. Enjoy your day.

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Up On The Roof

I'm not sure what amazed me more - the new glass roof of the Regent Arcade or the workman stood on it! He must have faith in his work, stood at least 40 feet above the shoppers below on the brand new glass roof! As you can see there is still a lot of work to do in the ongoing refurbishment of our main shopping centre but the roof is impressive. Its not exposed to the elements yet (hence the scaffolding and metal sheeting above it) but from what I can see it looks good. All the natural light that'll come flooding in will make a real difference below.

Talking about walking on glass high in the sky click here. Scary stuff!

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Blooming Lovely

The Town Hall (at a funky angle) in full bloom. Yet again the gardeners behind Cheltenham's parks and gardens have pulled off a fantastic summer display, with yellow flowers at the top end of town, pink and blue a bit further in, and red, white and blue in the town centre. As the summer progresses I'll show you more of the flowers.

The Town Hall looks great at the moment, just in time for the Music Festival, which is lucky as it is one of the main venues for the fortnight long musical extravaganza. We went last Friday night to see one of the first performances, and it was brilliant. We saw The John Wilson Orchestra performing Hollywood Rhapsody, a celebration of film music. The 70 strong orchestra were breathtakingly good, with such a rich sound. They played music from all sorts of films - MGM studio productions, Star Wars, Gone With The Wind and Harry Potter, to name but a few. And the best part was that this was a preview before the orchestra heads to The Proms in London!

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