Sticky fingers.

It's June and the Roses are out!

I'm not a great rose grower although I planted this one (£3-99 at a discount store). It's a miracle you can see it - we are a bit overgrown at the moment. The grass is waist high and both me and the lawnmower collapsed at about the same time.

It's my favourite rose of all - 'The Peace Rose'.

Normally the growers launch new varieties every year and they follow fashions; roses have a short shelf life.

The Peace Rose came out in 1947 and it's still going strong.

So, I guess, the first rose of peace was always going to be a really good one. During the war the national priority was food - no new roses.

It also reflected the optimism of the new NHS, nationalisation, decent pensions and Social Security that all came at the same time.

It's beautiful; big blousy flowers and lots of them.

And they smell.........gorgeous.

I'm not really thinking of roses at the moment. I had a busy afternoon yesterday trying to display my photos for the craft tent at Wraysbury fair. It's a bit fraught. All a flurry of out of date glue and sticky fingers.

I'm having a crisis of confidence. My photos are always provocative and unusual. But because the last 9 months have been pretty grim my year hasn't been quite so exciting as usual (well not in a way that's suitable for a family fair) and so my photos aren't so exciting either.

If I'm honest, they are too nice.

So I don't have any great hopes and I will be a very sore loser by this time tomorrow......so watch out.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me:   neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

More from Wraysbury fair.

I couldn't resist the vintage cars and bikes that are on display at the fair;

 

 

 

This is an Indian - a legendary American bike from the 1920's, here in tricycle form. If you look at this link you can see the big bikes in real action;

http://helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/carters-steam-fair-and-wall-of-death.html

Here's a Police car from the 1950's while this is a little faster - a Bugatti;

This is much cooler, it's a Caterham 7 and although it only has a normal car engine it's really fast because it's very light;

 

I always get very nostalgic about working vehicles from another age. There's a family locally who specialise in restoring trucks and lorries to 'factory new' condition but they weren't exhibiting this year. This is a Post office (actually telephone) van from the 1950's to 1960's; 

All the equipment and everything else you could think of;

Finally, from the Arts and Crafts tent;

 

 

 

A superhero made of vegetables (well why not?) from the under 11's.

For better pictures click on a photo for a slideshow.

 

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me; neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 



Wraysbury Fair and Three Lions at The Hob.

That wasn't the best of Saturdays. I was in The Hobgoblin until 1245 pm, it transforms itself into a Sportsbar whenever it gets a chance. Saturday night was England v Italy and I just got in before they closed the doors (I think there were three people after they allowed me in).

My head hurts for a number of reasons - one of them is the complexity of the beer discount system which meant that the beer prices went up or down depending on the current scores and the dubious nationality of the beer. You needed to be either a city futures trader, a professor of economics or a hardened alcoholic to keep up with that. The alcoholics were doing just fine.

The game? We scored after a minute and a half. All around me everything exploded; beer flew, chairs flew, bouncers looked perplexed. It took about 5 minutes to work out that the goal hadn't counted. I know the goal was disallowed but I still have no idea why.

After that it all went downhill.


Everyone seems to know the score,
They've seen it all before,
They just know,
They're so sure,
That England's Gonna throw it away,
Gonna blow it away,
But I know they can play,
'Cause I remember...

Three Lions on a shirt,
Jules Rimet still gleaming,
Thirty years of hurt,
Never stopped me dreaming.

So many jokes, so many sneers,
But all those oh-so-nears,
Wear you down,
Through the years,
But I still see that tackle by Moore,
And when Lineker scored,
Bobby belting the ball,
And Nobby Dancing... 

Three Lions on a shirt,
Jules Rimet still gleaming,
Thirty years of hurt,
Never stopped me dreaming. 

Do I really have to update the Lightning Seeds lyrics to 48 years?

Wraysbury Fair? I got second place. Congratulations to the worthy winner. All I'll say is that I would rather get a second place without making any compromises than first place having compromised myself.

Here's a float from the parade;

And here's the Fire and Rescue services display which brings back a lot of memories from the floods;

We support the Firefighters battle to keep their pensions!

There was a lot of fun when the sun came out;

 



But you could get into trouble if you weren't careful;

But how about this?

I think I'll put up some of the vintage cars tomorrow.
I'd still rather be in Rio, whatever happens.
If you click on a picture you get a slideshow and better quality views.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com