Middlewich bunting

The bunting did its best, but it's hard to make Middlewich centre look anything but a bit drear on an overcast afternoon without much happening. The Jubilee is over, the England game hadn't yet started and the Folk and Boat Festival isn't until the end of the week. I found it rather depressing that the brightest shop fronts belonged to the bookmakers.

Not the best afternoon for photos, but a couple of things caught my eye.

At one time, presumably, the Alhambra represented the ultimate night out.

Not only the identity, but also the prosperity of the town butcher was indicated by the tiles.

The new library was probably built by the council. While 100 yards up the road…

The inscription carved above the doorway reads "Victoria technical schools and free library",  and the institution owed its existence, perhaps, to a different benefactor, in a different age that did things differently.

So far so good, so we dropped in on the 14th century church, expecting to find a place of even greater quiet. Instead we found the place alive and buzzing with preparations for the FAB Festival at the end of the week, and got the warmest of welcomes from Jeremy the family worker, who was involved with the scaffolding and the special children's Walk through the Bible experience and I don't know what else. Almost as warm as that of the duck family that came calling this evening to nibble the weed from Erin Mae's hull.

Tomorrow we'll probably head north for a couple of days before returning for the festival. There are clearly brighter things in Middlewich than met the eye this afternoon.