Anvil Man, Bonnie, and Victoria Station…
The pedestrianised part of West Street, in Fareham, Hampshire, is home to a number of modern sculptures, constituting the Henry Cort Collection, and easily my favourite amongst them is Anvil Man above ;). He got a fresh coat of paint last summer, to prepare for the visit of The Princess Royal, who came to Fareham to open a nearby children’s play area commemorating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
I’m also very fond of Albert Road in Southsea, a street with considerable character. As I was walking along it this morning, this sunlit doll in the window of Grannies’ Attic caught my eye. When I took the photograph, I didn’t notice that she was holding a sign in her left hand, which reads ‘My name is Bonnie’. Coincidence is a curious thing sometimes; at present I am reading John Suchet’s poignant tale of his wife’s dementia, a book entitled ‘My Bonnie’.
I spent the first two dozen years of my life living in the county of Kent, so this is a very familiar sight to me, a train about to head out of Victoria station, through south-east London surburbs, and deep into the Kentish countryside…