Material Power - Palestinian embroidery

What a great day. It started off with rain pounding on the van roof but by the time we’d had breakfast and set off walking up the road to the tram it had stopped.

We are so impressed with the public transport system in Manchester. The team took us 7 stops to the city centre then it was a few metres to a bus stop with took us out the Oxford Road to the university area.

First stop was the Whitworth for the “Material Power - Palestinian Embroidery” exhibition. One of the joys of blip is that I learned about this being on in Cambridge from a Blipper who told me it would come north. (Of course Manchester is about half way down England for us) but I then another northern Blipper said how good it was so I determined to come. It isn’t at all Mr C’s thing but he wanted a couple of nights away in the van to make sure all was well.

There was a really interesting film about some current embroiders and the history of the dresses. Some patterns have been lost as the villages no longer exist under Israeli rule but women are teaching the remaining techniques in the camps so hopefully some of this beautiful heritage won’t be lost. The work is exquisite. It was such a privilege to see it.

As an incentive for Mr C I booked slots for the Golden Mummy exhibition at the museum which was just along the road, so we walked there and had a bowl of soup in the cafe before entering the exhibition. A school group was there - I was very impressed with the knowledge of the museum employee who was explaining the mummification process so well to the children (about 8 years old) who were full of questions.

The museum was rich with Egyptian antiquities as the founder, Haworth, a cotton magnate, was interested in the subject, became friends with Petrie the Archaeologist and got a third of the funds he was allowed to take out of Egypt. He donated them to the museum.

Somehow google mid-directed us so we ended up on some narrow twisty single tracks to our parking spot for tonight in the Forest of Bowland area. Mr C coped really well.

The weather brightened up this afternoon but the forecast for tomorrow is wet. I have developed a huge blister on my heal. The new walking shoes were fine in the house.

This photo is of the bodice of a dress from the Gaza area