..at the limits of capability - # 218

Just a little action snap of village cricket on The Green in Richmond. Camera set on ISO 400 and the digital zoom at 500 mm; the camera clamped against a knobbly tree trunk.......so all a bit fuzzy, but it's caught the energy and speed of the batsman starting his run and the ball flying away from the desperate fielder.

My wisteria is bigger than your wisteria - # 104

Further along The Green we come to this magnificent set of doors and windows. The boxes containing the small bushes are pure real lead water butts, probably decorated with the owner's coat of arms and at least 300 years old. They must have cost a small fortune even in those days. I admire the elegant simplicity of the thin caste iron railings leading up the steps. Look at the trunk of the wisteria - it's very thick. The wealth behind this house undoubtedly came from great success in the new colonies trading sugar, tea and coffee, financing merchant shipping expeditions and farming estates in England and Ireland, and investing/speculating through the new financial system that had arisen in the City of London. I'm guessing the house was built in the early 1700s. The unpleasantness of the Civil War was 40 years behind, the country was stable, and a strong civic ethic was emerging.

Dive throughs and back ways of Richmond 3 - # 101

These two alleys lead off George St towards The Green. These two are highly convenient "dive throughs" and apart from each offering a cosy pub they host enjoyable little speciality shops.

The photographic challenge for me was to give the attractive Green a good exposure and reasonable focus, and at the same time show off the much darker alley scene in good exposure and focus. The shots please me because they show the variety of shop signs and a good mix of people looking interested and busily moving. This was taken on a bright late March day, so the trees are still bare. Although George St is very much late 1890s, these alleys and much of The Green are early 1700s.

The cafes of Richmond 5 - # 39

'roony trots down an alley off the main street and emerges onto Richmond Green. "The Green Cafe" is tiny. It serves good snacks, fresh pressed juices and good hot drinks. The cafe front is shady in the hot weather (so a bit bleak in winter), but you can look out across the Green which is bathed in sun all day long. At week ends you can watch the local cricket match. Next door is the magnificent doorway featured in Post # 38