A run on reading matter over the last few weeks - as per usual, the most expensive for the cost of a pint (and not your inflated London pints at that!). The norm is around a pound or two, sometimes less.
All of these were found in the book town of Hay on Wye in the cheaper less frequented back passages and nooks on our recent holiday jaunt. I was particularly pleased with Going Fishing (letters to a brother angler - 1925 Arrowsmith). I cannot speak highly enough of this book and to find two copies in one day is quite something. I was only recently recommended the book after leafing through friend Ferney's copy and took an instant liking to it. Some things are meant to be. Such lovely chapters as: A Norfolk Mill Pool, My Favourite Spot, Winter Roach, Catching and Cooking, Two Chubs and Another, The Verb to Stret-Peg, A Hint and some Animadversions, The Sixteenth, Sultry Days. The list of enticing chapters goes on and it is a superb read.
I have no intention of ever going trout fishing in the streams of Natal (signed presentation copy from the author Neville Nuttall), but who could resist a book with such a splendid jacket for £2? Not I.
England Parish Churches by Edwin Smith and Olive Cook just continues to fuel my passion for the country church and a superb guide to Canterbury Cathedral by Rena Gardiner for 50p. You can do no wrong with a Puffin Picture Book, especially if SR Badmin is involved and I need not tell you what a delight Follies, Grottos and Garden Buildings is.........splendid!
What is there not to like about Terri's Takeaway in the delightful market town of Hay on Wye? I don't know what it was before it served treats to the masses on a Friday night with a full on attack of the beer munchies but what a delightful looking shop front. The flowers which adorn it look like fried eggs ready to be burst by the toast. The corbels are just as lovely.
The furniture below, which was spotted just by chance, is fitted to a wonderful azure blue door surround. Not sure what Jones the Mercer did though - cloth merchant perhaps?
Hay is full of architectural treats. The glazed animalier tiles that adorn the facade on Booth's bookshop are a wonder to behold. Far too much to take in as so much time has been spent browsing and looking for treats of the bookish kind. The bargains that could be found in Hay in years gone by are few and far between these days. The dealers are fully tuned in to the Internet - unlike my first visits in the late 1980's. I did find some gems this time around though and right under the noses of the hardened dealers.........more of this in a later post.
A delightful sign to finish - well it made me chuckle anyway and one to add to my long list of corkers that make me laugh, the Captain blush and the nippers wonder what an earth is going on!
Not only do I bring you a rather fine looking vane in my occasional series of such items but a little bit of corrugated too. Deep joy! This splendid sight is beside the River Wye of course.
I always have a healthy reading pile on the go. During the holiday season I do try to keep it realistic, so here it is for this holiday period. I also include a film which will be viewed at some time as, this year, we have not migrated east to our usual haunt of the North Norfolk coast. We are in the shadow of Black Hill - made famous in that most superb book by Bruce Chatwin. So, as you can see, the film of the book is essential viewing as I have not seen it for many a year.
Little Toller Books continue to release every book I have ever dreamt of........I don't know how they do it, but they are utterly brilliant. I thought it would be nice if someone published a book on mermaids - they did it! A book on Rena Gardiner I thought would be rather fine - they did it! The list goes on, but for the next week or so I am looking forward to reading Black Apples of Gower along with the other titles you see above. Happy holidays!
