C, J and D were the ones in reception at Charlecote, and J and D thought it might be a day to ‘get the cards out’ (as – due to the weather conditions – not many visitors were being expected), C mentioned that he used to play cribbage with his granddad, D made some deer noises, a couple came in and the man said he was expecting a roaring fire, and then C said that there’s under floor heating in here. A box of donated books in the corner also contained a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle titled ‘Grandmothers Dresser’ (which looked extremely odd); then a box of Halloween decorations was investigated, I took a photo of J with a witches hat on (I asked if I could and she said ‘you can indeed’), and then I stood on a chair to detach a rather floppy plastic skeleton from the ceiling, a photo of me with a witches hat on was taken, a purple origami spider was returned to its box, D put a small inflatable bat round his neck, C deflated an inflatable ghost (that had been positioned in a black watering can like vase with some orange tinsel and little pumpkins and some broomsticks/twigs dangling off) tied together either side, and I took a photo of him dressed up looking a bit Christmas-y (he’d put the tinsel round his neck and said ‘it’s bringing out my feminine side’), some glittery spiders had been hung on the windows with inflatable bats, and I was reminded I’d used a couple of pencils to stick into the holes at the top of a ceramic pumpkin so a paper origami sort of pumpkin (with bat wings) could be balanced on top; and there was a sign saying ‘Broom parking only – All others will be toad’.
A couple in their 50’s who came in at 11.50am had accents that meant the man said ‘fabuloous’; a man (mostly bald) with his wife – was carrying a foldable seat; C and I were considering names for the limp skeleton (I came up with Sydney) – and I was also wondering if this skeletons feet would get cold and suggested putting slippers on it, and C said ‘The Skeleton In Slippers’ would be a good title for a book. 2 women – accompanied by 7 children – came in; a couple in their 70’s were about to pay, C asked if they were members, and the woman said in an extremely grumpy way ‘I’ve been before and I don’t want to be again’; and by 11.45am, the sun was out and there were 104 on the scanners and 16 non members.
I noticed the purple origami spider had been made squ-iff – which C and I thought would be a good name for a spider (i.e. Squ-if the spider), they’d had 1700 visitors last Saturday; a fluffy brown-y gingery (just below knee height with very muddy paws) female dog called Charlie tried to climb up my leg, and a woman had a large scab on the bridge of her nose. There was some chatting about Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin; C did a membership with a couple in their 70’s, and then suggested naming the spider ‘Squiffy the Spider’, so I described our Wild Hairy Haggises and the ear tags saying you must keep them safe on Burns Night, and he told me about a Star Trek episode (from the original series – late 1960’s -> early 1970’s) that he thinks was called ‘The Trouble With Tribles’ (these Tribles were breeding uncontrollably). That a group of 3 students from Warwick university were chasing the deer round the Park on Tuesday (I asked if they found out why and he said ‘because they’re idiots’), a man -with friend – had a large piece of cotton wool taped around his right ear, and a girl was chewing gum; a man who limped in with a stick told me he’d just had a hip replacement, and a woman with a baby facing outwards in a chest carrier – was wearing jogging bottom type trousers that said ‘Birmingham Gymnastics’ on them (I think)(I forgot exactly because a family of 5 came in and began signing up).
At 1.45pm, C pointed out that the skeletons pelvis was the wrong way round and that its hands were at the same level as its knees; then a group of students came in – 1 girl was wearing a pair of the puffy trousers that seem to be on trend at the moment; at 2pm, a woman who smelt rather strongly of cigarette smoke came in; a very fluffy browny gingery dog called Bertie walked in (with owners) wagging her (I think it was a her) tail vigorously (and I think they said she was a cross between and Irish Wolfhound and an Airedale), and a woman wheeled in a pram (with a baby in it) that said ‘tickle baba’ on the side.
D asked a bit about something I forgot (it was to do with me mentioning near death experiences) – and it seemed that I hadn’t explained the notepad, so I did, told him about the encephalitis and seizures, and he found the near death experience descriptions rather interesting.
A man with a Preston-Lancashire accent came in and talked a lot; D and I chatted about phones, he said he’s developed arthritis in his thumbs (he didn’t say why) and wonders if we’re all going to get it from flicking through our phones; then he had a rant about selfie sticks and how many people he’s seen walking around Stratford with them, and said he’d got a walkie talkie for Christmas 1 year and loved it for a few days and then he got bored. We all talked about social media; and the phone rang – D told me there’s a ‘deer at dusk’ walk around the park and a ‘Renaissance music evening’ on tonight; and then I left after we added up the numbers – which were 363 visitors today.
