Is it a bird...Is it a plane...

...No. It's Mattressman! Completely bonkers but I love it. Another Ipswich find from the other weekend. I wish all shop signs were this ridiculous.

Egertons Ltd

Haven's seen many of these old painted signs since leaving London but a day trip to Ipswich threw up this lovely one up. I'm not sure what Egertons was but with the old-skool BP sign up there I'm guessing it was a petrol pump or something similar. Loving the old fashioned fire escape that has bisected it too. 

Super Hero

High over Colchester high street Batman is keeping watch. In some sort of nasty coincidence I spotted this cut out the same day that the shootings happened in America. I turned on the news are midday and it seemed like a hell had broken loose on a theatre full of film lovers. It seemed pretty creepy to post the photo that day and so I just kept it, and promptly forgot about it. Until now.

Room with a View

This is the music shop opposite where I get the bus to work every morning and it was only last week that I noticed these faint images in the top window. Although they are difficult to make out, I can image it's a montage of great guitarists. Faded but still pretty cool.

Pleasure Flight Anyone?

Lewis and I went to the beach this Sunday just gone. It got to about half one in the afternoon and, as we were just bumbling around, decided to head to the seaside. It's still quite novel living about half an hour from the sea. When I lived back home with my parents going to the beach was a proper ordeal. You'd pack a picnic the night before, set the alarm and not come back until night had properly fallen. Here it's just something you can do quite happily on a whim. 

After a lovely amble along the shoreline with a cone of chips we began the long walk back to the car. As we ascended the stone steps up to the road running along the coast a tiny plane flew overhead. We both stopped and waited for it to get closer and in my over romantic heart I was hoping it was someone proposing or wishing a happy birthday. But no, it was just a bog standard advert for pleasure flights. How disappointing! 

Time at the bar

On the same walk today I noticed this derelict old pub on the corner. I've mentioned before about how sad it is that so many pubs are closing and unfortunately the problem is still escalating. It's such a sad sight seeing these buildings that were once cornerstones of a community boarded up and falling apart. Drink prices being driven higher and costly overheads are all part of the pub cultures downfall, and chains like Wetherspoon's and Yate's really don't help. I try to avoid these huge franchises but it's still tempting, as a pint has reached the £3.50 mark even out of London, to simply just drink at home. 

Shoes aloft

When I lived in Brighton this was a common sight. Anything high up, a telephone wire, piece of cable or tree branch was inevitably adorned with some unfortunate persons pair of shoes. I spotted this pair on a quiet road on my way from Colchester to neighbouring Stanway today. It made me remember my Brighton years and made me smile.