Pugin chimneys

This morning some of the mothers from Thomas' year group (last year) had a reunion breakfast to receive our eagerly awaited year books. They are fantastic, a photo book covering every aspect of their school life with all the sports, music and drama activities being represented. The mum who created this book did a fantastic job!

The breakfast was in a pub in Albury, which is a pretty little village near Guildford known for its Pugin chimneys. When the local manor house was bought by a wealthy banker in 1819, he asked the architect Pugin to re-model the house, and so he added a Tudor façade, complete with battlements, gables and a grand total of 63 differently decorated chimneys. These Gothic, whimsical chimneys have become a symbol of the village and can be clearly seen here - also known as barley twist chimneys. In this image I added a sky from another photo as the sky today was grey and completely bland.

Today is my wedding anniversary and Gavin is away - but I received flowers which was a lovely surprise!

Pity this date was ruined by al-Qaeda - I am sure many families, mainly in the USA, are remembering this day with sadness. Today is also the day the judge has decided that Oscar Pistorius is not guilty of murder but of being 'negligent' in shooting Reeva Steenkamp. Really? May he rot in jail forever get the sentence he truly deserves.