Unisex etiquette

Unisex toilets are pretty commonplace now, being mostly just simply rows of cubicles (which each contain a toilet & sink) in the one space.

However, what about one that is just a small room containing just the one cubicle within it?
The unisex toilet in the reception area at South Staffordshire Council Offices in Codsall is a little tricky. In this instance, in the one small room (with hand-basin) and the toilet cubicle.

So, does one queue inside the room, ie standing by the hand-basin - or outside the room's main door?

I wasn't sure how the woman who went in before me would feel about standing by the basin, next to her cubicle, waiting for her to finish. 
I decided to wait outside the door.

Fairy on the water

There are over a dozen fairy sculptures to be found while walking round the lake on the Trentham Gardens site. They are in trees, behind benches, etc.
I thought that the fairies, created by artist Robin Wight, were curiously model-thin and provocative, but maybe that's just me.
The idea is that children try to find them all while following the 'Fairy Trail'.

This one, near the lake shore, is, erm, relatively easy to spot.

Roman knot

What does the Roman Empire have to do with the Stafford Knot?
I was watching a TV programme about Rome, and suddenly this image appeared - and I was able to take a photo of the TV screen.

SPQR simply means the 'Senate & People of Rome', and was the inscription carried on the Roman legionnaires' standards. 
But I've not been able to work out what the knot shape above it in this photo refers to. (The programme was no help, and not even specific about where this plaque is).

It looks like a Stafford Knot to me; though I know it's probably not.

Happy birthday, Doctor

Dr Samuel Johnson, the creator of the first 'proper' English Dictionary, is one of the most famous people to have been born in Staffordshire.
His birthday - on 18th September - is always celebrated in Lichfield, his home town, with a big dinner. Even in Uttoxeter, another Staffordshire town associated with him, there is a small public ceremony.

However, he actually lived most of his life in London.  In fact, one of his most famous witty sayings was about his adopted city: "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life."  I suppose he couldn't have said the same about Lichfield at the time...

The photo shows the house Dr Johnson lived in in London, which is now a museum.

Mellow month of September

So... autumn is here.  The arrival of a chill in the air, the finally-harvested fields, the shortening days - all point toward the beginning of that 'season of mists and mellow fruitfulness'.

Well, Staffordshire Summer of 2013, I salute you...   You were good while you lasted!

The other William Morris

Poor William T Morris! Despite being a fine stained-glass designer - as witness these panels in High Offley Church - he is almost forgotten.

He had the misfortune to have the same name as the famous nineteenth century artist William Morris, (whose own stained glass products are admittedly wonderful), so he gets 'lost' in all the stuff about the more well-known man.
He also worked for Morris & Co, so, once again, his name gets swamped.  He doesn't even get a reference on Wikipedia.

The glass you see was put up in High Offley in the 1940s.

Walking ... football !

Over-50s want to play football too, even if they don't necessarily want to be sprinting around for ninety minutes on a large pitch.
So... that's why Walking Football has been invented.  Basically, the rules are completely the same except that running is not allowed.

Amazingly, Staffordshire seems to be one of the national hotbeds of this form of the game.  Cheadle Leisure Centre has three sessions of walking football a week.  It's pretty competitive too...

Eccentric annual event

The 'Abbots Bromley Horn Dance' is Staffordshire's own eccentric annual event.  Every Wakes Day in September, a chosen group of villagers dress up and dance at various locations in and around the village.
The 'horns' - which are in fact sets of antlers - are carried by the main dancers, who are joined by a set of characters who depict a Hobby-Horse, a boy-archer, a Fool and Maid Marion.  It's supposed to be a form of fertility dance, with its roots going back to the 13th century.
I guess it's a form of morris-dancing.

To be honest, it's more interesting to read about than to see, as the dance is rather basic, and the villagers are not skilled dancers (though, of course, they are not supposed to be...).

I saw them this year as they danced on the lawn at Blithfield Hall.

Taking tea in the graveyard

Garden furniture is not common in a graveyard, and I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable taking tea and cake on these particular benches.

The old Congregational Church in Cheadle is being used as a form of offices now though, so I guess the new inhabitants have just come to terms with the building's listed status.

This post was featured on the Cemetery Sunday website

Pleasant days

We're experiencing an Indian summer... the beginning of September has been as warm and langorous as the months of July and August.

The light over the hills above the Manifold Valley has just been glowing in these late days.