Monday Blogger

Chris Gostling
Monday Blogger

Where did that week go? I cannot believe that it is Monday again and a week since The Street Painting Festival. It is a beautiful morning here in Lake Worth,  as usual, one of those blue skies with wispy clouds, a welcome breeze keeping the heat at bay, fabulous!

Not so in England which has, like much of Europe, been hit with what has been called ‘The Beast from the East’, heavy snow storms with freezing temperatures. We never get snowstorms where I live just East of London, maybe a flurry or two, but nothing like a foot of snow with lots of ice. The problem when you are not expecting it or are not used to it is that you are not ready, the right equipment is not available, roads get clogged, trains cease to run on frozen lines and utilities start to fail and it has been chaos. Of course, there is always a bright side to everything, school’s closed, parents could not get to work and with lots of slopes filed with white fresh snow there is nothing to do but take a tray, a sledge, trash bags anything that will slide and do just that, slide from top to bottom…..on your front, your back, any way! If you have skis, dig them out and ski! Then there is always the snowball fight and the snowman building competition – whatever it was, fun was had by all! One of our smaller schools hit the news because the staff had a snowball fight with the students, what memories those children will have of school, they dared to throw the health and safety rule book out of the window and let the children be children for once. And, of course, I have missed it all!!!! Just to demonstrate the difference a day makes, it appears to be sunshine all the way today with snow rapidly disappearing and normal life resuming. It seems that the weather is unpredictable almost everywhere with extremes, from droughts to floods to heatwaves to snow, crazy!!!

don’t ask, it was funny

This week has been perfect, catching up with friends is always fun, with parties and breakfast and dinner dates where we sit chattering non stop about everything and everyone for hours at a time.

I did something I have been wanting to do for ages, and that is go to The Stonzek Picture House, ‘Loving Vincent’ was on, a film I wanted to see but missed first time around so now was my chance. First of all, Sacha sells the tickets,

Sasha

if you want popcorn or candy or coffee, he also does that and just before starting the film he welcomes everyone and gives a short talk on the film showing as well as reminding everyone where the restrooms are, films coming shortly and a gentle reminder about switching off phones. Then he starts the projector which can be unpredictable and has to be stopped three times to get it right. It was an amazing experience, the film was incredible and everyone applauded at the end. I loved that people get up to go to the bathroom throughout the film and had to walk in front of the screen to get there.

I tried the new bookshop, new restaurant Lilo’s, breakfast at Toojays with it’s revamped signs, the beach, evening on the avenue amongst other things and now feel very much at home. The sun cream machines down at the beach are a great addition if you leave your sunscreen at home…..no more sunburn!

Last Friday in the Plaza a young woman was rocking it, a total one-woman band who had everyone tapping their feet, dancing and clapping their hands, amazing! I love the bands that entertain down there…

rededication at the south 5th st. Greenway this past Tuesday

I am having fun spotting the Little Free Libraries which are dotted around town and have already borrowed and read, two books. It is a great project and I hear that the founder of the LFL’s, Tod Bol, is coming to the town soon, he will be impressed with the number of LFL’s that there are and that few of them ever get vandalised. Mary Lindsey inspired me when the LFL project started and I got to paint a library, it has grown and grown and is making a difference to literacy levels among the children along with the reading schemes and library programmes. I have set up the same scheme in my hometown of Southend on sea but it has not reached the success it has here but maybe one day, you never know. Mary is always happy to help when I get stuck…..

The elections are coming up soon and that is always an exciting time, I am glad we will be here to share the anticipation and excitement and then the celebrations. The work that goes on behind the scenes for an election is incredible, from volunteers posting flyers in mailboxes to organisation of talks, of get togethers, of paperwork, it all goes to informing people of what they are voting for and why they should vote. I am sure the campaigns have been successful and people will come out in huge numbers to vote for the right people to run this beautiful city.

I love the mural on the swimming pool wall down at the beach and I am loving all the new artwork that has appeared all over town – my favourite

continues line all through the Street Painting Festival weekend for this photo op.

being the wings on the side of the shoe repair shop. I like them because I have seen everyone having lots of fun taking photos, I particularly like the wings for children with the tiny footprints to stand in the get exactly the right shot….a great idea!

This week looks as if it is going to be more excitement and fun, the weather is set to be gorgeous, a couple of rain showers but that means we also get rainbows. I hope the coming week is fabulous for you……