In Dorset at the weekend, with friends who took me around some of their favourite haunts before we found ourselves inexplicably in The Stour Inn in Blandford St.Mary drinking Badger Poacher's Choice. Our last port of call as the sun dipped down behind the church was Cranborne, and we took a detailed look at buildings, brickwork and tombstones and wished we could get nearer to Cranborne Manor, Squire Allworthy's Jacobean mansion in Tony Richardson's Tom Jones (1963). And so to Castle Street, and this beautifully signwritten vets. Just perfect: the alphabets, the mixture of styles, the imaginative design of the projecting sign. I only wish it had been open and that I'd had a dog to de-distemper or something so that I could've gone in to congratulate them.
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Unexpected Alphabets No 17
In Dorset at the weekend, with friends who took me around some of their favourite haunts before we found ourselves inexplicably in The Stour Inn in Blandford St.Mary drinking Badger Poacher's Choice. Our last port of call as the sun dipped down behind the church was Cranborne, and we took a detailed look at buildings, brickwork and tombstones and wished we could get nearer to Cranborne Manor, Squire Allworthy's Jacobean mansion in Tony Richardson's Tom Jones (1963). And so to Castle Street, and this beautifully signwritten vets. Just perfect: the alphabets, the mixture of styles, the imaginative design of the projecting sign. I only wish it had been open and that I'd had a dog to de-distemper or something so that I could've gone in to congratulate them.
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9 comments:
How lovely.
While we're on the subject of Blandford, can you offer any explanation as to why my favourite Badger Beer, 'Blandford Fly' has been re-named 'Blandford Flyer'?
Hall & Woodhouse seem to be doing some rebranding at the moment. Maybe they thought 'Blandford Fly' would put people in mind of 'Spanish Fly' which nobody says anymore. I think it's rude, but don't know why.
I like it,it sounds like a Jim Stringer mystery.
In the 1930s the Cheltenham Flyer was a very fast GWR express from London to Cheltenham. Somebody brews a Cheltenham Flyer beer now, so maybe the idea is catching on.
I like your thinking, Mr Handley, I could drink loads of Blandford Flyer and then write a story about it. Actually, it could be a dark tale that starts with me in a shed, playing with my train set (which would be themed just after the war - tiny gardens with the remnants of Anderson Shelters next to the outside lavs)when suddenly I notice that the Morris van parked outside the Post Office has inexplicably moved down the street and is parked outside No. 31. A pair of tiny silk stockings has appeared on the washing line in the garden. Only I have the key to the shed........
I've gone too far, haven't I?
No, carry on.
Next instalment please...
Perhaps W.H has done an Agatha Christie and gone to Harrogate!!
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