Stoke Lock, River Wey Navigation

Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?

Long time ago.

Was there a point when someone said, "This is too pretty, let's chop the roses down?" or was it just the case that the river authority needed to renovate the exterior? I don't recall that mock front door either and it certainly wasn't white in my painting. The windows look like replacements too. All part of the natural progression towards blandness and uniformity.

Did you find my hollow tree at Bowers?

No, but I didn't know exactly where to look.

Right beside the towpath just before Bowers Lock. But perhaps it's gone now.
I've messaged you two shots from other people.

I don't recall seeing it; sorry.

Must have gone then. It was near that same spot that I once found a message in a bottle.

It's unrealistic, surely, to expect any place still to be as picturesque and beautiful as it was 60+ years ago. But I've done my best with it (see above).

The forecast yesterday was for low cloud and sun. The sun did come out, eventually - when I was on the train back to London! But (sorry if I've banged on about this before) although I'm pretty much stuck in the mindset that *no sun = no pictures*, which was pretty much true in pre-digital days, especially with colour slides, it isn't the case any more, and with RAW and tonemapping software, it's possible to get a MORE pleasing result with shots taken under flat lighting than ones taken in bright sunlight. They don't look completely natural, I accept, but to me that's not important.

Oh, goodness, no, the roses were FAR more prolific, with an abundance of different colours, or so my memory tells me. The door, though, is an improvement on the white one. I would guess the paintwork may have been green or brown, which were more typical colours for cottages in those days.

I agree that the software makes it look unnatural, more like an estate agent's brochure.
If I hadn't known you were going, I wouldn't even have recognised the place!

Bu even in those days, the other side of the cottage looked onto the sewage works.
Or was it the tip?

It's marked on the current OS map as Sewage Works. I could hear the traffic noise from the A3 during the first 3-4 miles of the walk but it wasn't obtrusive. Worse was the noise from the M25 at the Byfleet end, but that's a quite grotty area at best.

I've no way of knowing how accurate your memory is of the number and colours of the roses, but I've found my own visual and audial memory of what I saw decades ago to be quite inaccurate (when re-watching old televison programmes, boxing matches and films on YouTube) even though those memories were very detailed and vivid. What you could be remembering, as much as the reality, is the picture you painted which inevitably would have included some artistic licence.

I think my only artistic licence was painting the sky pink. I wasn't much of an artist, but won first prize because there were only two entries. (Tough on the runner-up, who came last.) But it was certainly an exceptionally beautiful garden, admired by all who passed by.

It was very quiet down there, with no traffic noise, apart from the occasional clatter of a dustcart, which is why I questioned whether it might have been a tip in the olden days. The dustcarts were quite quaint, with sliding hatches at the sides and painted a maroon colour.

I remember Byfleet well from pre-M25 days and it was a sleepy little place.
Indeed, I have never seen it with the M25 and think I would feel quite upset.

Rubbish (and that's nothing to do with the dustcart)! The runner-up came SECOND, and that's praiseworthy, surely.

I, incidentally, was the FIRST in my class to paint the sky reaching the horizon, rather than as a strip of blue across the top of the canvas. Some classmate mocked one of my pictures, saying "Your sky's fallen down, hee hee!"

Obviously a very precocious child. How many times did you get thumped?

Beautiful capture! Stay well!

Admired in: www.ipernity.com/group/tolerance

Several times, once I'd moved on to prep school. I'd come out of the headmaster's study bearing the mark of cane.

That was because you didn't turn up for your detention.
But how often did the other kids thump you for your smugness?

A. Even though on that occasion I had a 12+ backlog of detentions to serve, I hadn't turned up for either the Friday or Saturday morning detention sessions, because "I forgot, Sir". You must have a good memory if you recall that.

B. Never, because I wasn't smug, nor had anything to be smug about, alas.