June Roof: Can you hear the music?

Eastbourne bandstand

What a gorgeous colour is this for a roof! Sadly, this photo does cut off the tip of the spire, but those beautiful blue tiles are clear. It’s heartening to come across one of these bandstands in good condition and still used. This is in Eastbourne, on the south coast of England. I went there a few times when I lived in London, walking along some of the Seven Sisters chalk clifftops and along the landscaped promenades.

June Squares: Roof If you have a photo (or two!) of a roof, join in!

Bench Bonanza! (2: the bumper edition)

Right, prepare to scroll down and down … herewith, the remaining Bench Series 2015 photos, presented geographically. It’s a mix of incidental benches and focus benches. I’d like to give a huge thanks to Jude to hosting and organising this challenge all year. I now have to train myself to stop photographing every bench I see!

Czech Republic

Franciscan Gardens, Prague (shame about the garbage can!)

France

Along the Corniche, Cannes

Sri Lanka

The promenade, Galle

United Kingdom

London

The British Library

St Dunstan

And a trio from Kew Gardens, one of my favourite London places.

Strange metal mesh kangaroo lurking behind benches at Kew

Wintry sunlight at Kew

Bluebells at Kew

Royal Ascot

Prime viewing benches for the races

Eastbourne Pier

Blue benches lining the pier

I love Eastbourne. I used to walk along the coast, up and down those rolling chalk cliffs with the amazing views out to sea.

Somewhere in Wales

I don’t mean to be cryptic about the location, I just forget where this is!

A drizzly day in Wales, and the remains of a church.

Stratford

I don’t remember the name of my hotel, but it had this lovely grotto out back.

Grotto, bench and wine glass

United States

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Benches on the street

Outside the New Mexico Museum of Art

Museum of Contemporary Native Art

Lamy, New Mexico

Never heard of Lamy? Me neither. But I spent a few hot hours at its train station, waiting for a train whose arrival time became later and later …

Waiting room, Lamy Amtrak station

Williams Junction, Arizona

Another place you may never have heard of — unless you’ve taken the train to the Grand Canyon.

A marvellous use for old train parts!

Grand Canyon Village

El Tovar Hotel

A bench made from a log. I did not try this one for comfort, I admit.

near New Orleans

This is Oak Alley Plantation, well worth a visit if you’re in the area.

Oak Alley Plantation

And that, you’ll be relieved to learn if you’ve made it this far down the page, is the end of the Bumper Bench Bonanza. “Thank you” to everyone who has visited these posts over the past year!

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You can’t get there from here

This post is my first entry in Cee’s Which Way Challenge — and, sneakily, it’s also my second entry in Travel Photos Monday. Two challenges for the price of one! All the photos are of signposts I came across while ‘rambling’ — a delightful English word for putting on walking boots and getting close to nature.

The Cotswold Way: quintessential English countryside.

Coming down from Beachy Head, on the way back to Eastbourne in the distance.

The ‘Lost’ Gardens of Heligan: not so lost any more!

A lock near Stratford-upon-Avon. I was living in London at the time, and the train took a lot less than the 85 hours this sign says it would take by canal boat!