Sprung: The Mount: Black and White

It is hard to believe that I am typing this on February 15th 2019 ; so warm (15C), has it been.
 Indeed, as the bottom right photograph shows, crocuses have come out to play in time for Valentines Day.

Normally,  in the past with half-term coming next week, I would be concerned with the freezing nightly conditions and even the appearance of the treacherous black ice.

It is ironic with the recent outbreak of equine 'flu in some stables, there has been some cancellations of horse-race meetings and although this matter has hopefully been curtailed , with the big Cheltenham Festival, only a few weeks away and the prospect of good fast ground, nerves in some places, are a little taut.

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The Mount

Rising up on a mound at the end of the Gloucestershire village of Stanton, ( which is itself near the town of Broadway,)  is the delightful village public house, "The Mount."
On the aforementioned day D. and I visited this establishment. All was in 'apple-pie ' order, spruced and cleaned up for the coming Spring. An impressive menu sourced locally. combined with a polite, attentive staff at your service made for a pleasant occasion indeed
Oh, and one more thing, one could buy at the bar, a baseball cap, emblazoned  with " The Mount Inn"  logo on (£10). Talk about making a head-start in the promotion game!

We took our drinks outside and sat on the bench looking down at this view, surely one of the best pub vistas, in the Gloucestershire county.

To complete this pastoral magnificence. I sipped a half of best bitter from the local  Donningtons Brewery ( top left photo ). God was in his Heaven.

Donnington

Brewed  for over 150 years near Stow-on -the -Wold and situated in the most idyllic of surroundings this brewery using only four natural ingredients and local Cotswold spring water, delivers, to my mind the purest beer possible; comparing in purity to a good malt whisky. Furthermore the brewery only serves seventeen pubs; so this brew never has to travel far.

Please click on the link above and watch the video which explains how the beer is made,

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Roma

The Oscar season is upon us and foiiowing the "Golden Globes " and our own"BAFTAS,"  the "Oscars " themselves in a few days time will be awarded . Those of us who watched the "BAFTAS " recently, will have noticed the film "Roma"  was a multi-award winner, including : Best Film ; Best Director. 

It was shot in black and white and if this film wins at the "Oscars "  it follows another black and white winner " The Artist " which won in 2012.

So the question has to be asked, are we getting sated with the drenching effect of colour and if so, do the tonal effects of monochrome  add to the poignancy of the subject? One thing is sure, black and white is  back here to stay.

One further interesting aspect of " Roma" was that, it was made  by the streaming service "Netflix " and therefore opens up the argument, that television is the new cinema. I wonder, could this be true? It certainly is where the money is, these days.

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Graffiti  is alive and well in Cheltenham. Here is a recent example  I spotted, under a bridge near " Waitrose ."

I like the message on the T-shirt which reads "Keep the Faith "
If this is too bright for the eyes, try this version:

Quite expressive I thought.

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Seen on a local bookstore at a market, which sold notebooks and art paper. " This is not a book - it is an imaginary world." I rather like that.

WiFi for now,

Ck.