Sentimental journeys

We had a fine day for our trip to Brighton on Friday, as we so often do when we go there.  The countryside is slowly beginning to wake up after what was starting to feel like an interminable winter.  A sharp breeze in Brighton reminded us that there's some way to go yet.  The reason for our trip was to collect a rather nice watercolour that Barbara had left to me, much to my surprise.  I had often admired it, and hadn't expected to see it again.  It depicts the Massif du Canigou, viewed across a Languedoc-Roussillon vineyard, and was painted by a Rottingdean artist, Barry Hinchliffe.  We visited his studio with Barbara aeons ago during the Brighton Festival.  So we have a fitting souvenir both of Barbara and of the region we used to visit, not infrequently with her.

While we were out and about, we went to a certain well-known household goods warehouse in Shoreham to look at their beds, few of which were on display, so we're no further forward with replacing the back bedroom bed (which is small and getting tired).  We did find some new bedding for the front bedroom, however, so that leg of the journey was also productive, though not in the way that we had hoped. 

A rather sadder journey on Saturday.  Martyn had spotted that his late mother's dressing table was badly infested with woodworm, so it was quickly dismantled, loaded into the car and taken to the tip.  Martyn's parents bought the suite at the Ideal Homes Exhibition in 1939.  The bed had already gone before my time, but we still have the two wardrobes.  We've kept the big round mirror from the dressing table, minus its wood backing.  We'll look into the possibility of getting it re-silvered and mounted on a new piece of plywood with a view to hanging it on the wall.  But as for beds, It looks as if it's back to good old IKEA.