Friday, August 26, 2011

 

Worthing for my birthday.

Yesterday's birthday day out.

After some hours of torrential rain we opted for a trip to Worthing.
The forecast for the afternoon had been that it would be dry.

Our first port of call was the museum and art gallery.


We have to say we were not inspired by this museum.
There was lots to see - but somehow we felt we had seen it all before in other museums. We have seen early history artefacts - it was just that most of these had beenfound in the Worthing locality.
It might have helped if they had not forbidden photography - we would have felt more interactive with the exhibits.
The costume section was good.

The art gallery section was a bit bleak. There was nothing I would have chosen for me.




There was advertised a particular exhibition by Christine Forbes, titled Trees in their Landscape. Surely that should be good!
It wasn't that I didn't like the pictures - I just didn't understand the presentation.
Surely, if one is proud of a picture one doesn't just tear off a bit of masking tape and stick it to the wall.


Yes - I broke the rules and took a photograph!













Lunchtime next!
We headed almost next door to the Sir Timothy Shelley, which is a Wetherspoon's pub. Sir Timothy was an early Worthing dignitary and the son of the poet.

Bill played with the camera as we waited for our meal. Thursday is curry club day.
I opted for the sweet potato, chick pea and spinach; this comes with lots of good rice, poppadums, naan bread and mango chutney and you can order from a goodly selection of drinks (apple and mango for me). All for £4.99.










We walked down to the sea front and onto the pier after lunch. There were few people on the beach! And it was very breezy on the pier.
The end of the pier - like a 1930's art deco ship.










Two window pictures - I took the deck chairs, whilst Bill saw the potantial in the cracked window pane.

Worthing was bustling with shoppers and I was struck by the fantastic floral displays throughout the town.
We decided that it would be good to stop for a cup of tea.
We had called in earlier at a disused church where  there was a table top antiques fair. We had seen nothing to buy, but noted the cafe - very busy at lunchtime.
It was a lovely place to stop.


There was music gently playing, which I enjoyed. It was an album by Turin Brakes - heard the name before, but didn't know if this was a person or a group.
It is a modern folk duo and I shall look out for more.


There has to be a Silly Billy picture!













After a very pleasant and relaxing time, we moved on to explore the side streets aound St Paul's - the cafe.


That is not St Paul's at the end of the street.
There had been 2 rival  C of E churches about 100 yards apart.














The street would have been a delightful place to live. Harold Pinter, the playwright, obviously thought so.





Delightful cottages by Christ Church.


Just round the corner was this delightful old cottage.

All this is tucked away very close to the bustling town centre - we could see Marks and Spencers on the road at the end of this narrow old street.





Whatever this building had been, there was a need for renovation.
It had the air of an old school, or hospital.









Then, round the back of it, we found....



















Next door to Provident House was another church with another literary connection.












No. 55.

















It was clear that Christ Church was having some work done on it. We walked around it through the graveyard.
A man was just wheeling his bike away, but stopped to talk.
And then took his keys from his pocket and decided to show us inside.

There was an interesting gallery each side. Opposite this one was  a gallery filled with organ pipes.








Our guide told us lots of history and then insisted us on showing us the new building work (under the gallery) where a fanatstic section of kitchen and toilets was being installed.

The afternoon was turning to evening.  We wended our way back past the museum and town hall.




















I mentioned the floral displays.
Baskets and boxes of flowers adorned every lamp post and bus stop and even the central reservations of the dual carriage way out of town.


Traffic lights must have been at red to get a car free road. It was rush hour time.





And that was my birthday for 2011.

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