Stop:Love / Love:Stop

I took this in Totnes in 2007 and have only just put it together. I’m in a bit of a muddle, having a huge backlog of photographs of hearts and stuff nearby dating back several years. Trouble is, I mean to catch up and then I go somewhere and take a load more and then of course I want to put those together first… only I don’t get them finished before I go somewhere else again, and so on.

I like Totnes. It suits my hippy side. Vegan is normal, CND membership is a requirement. Eco-activism is second nature to everyone and it’s a Transition Town, so the move towards a better, more sustainable world is not just a dream, it’s official. On the other hand, I prefer to be a rarity, it makes me stand out more. So I’d rather live somewhere not quite so far down the path to knitted yoghurt - that suits my cynical side.

This weekend I’m off to Dartmouth, hoping to relax over the Easter break. Hopefully a bucket-load of hearts too to stop me catching up with the ones I took three years ago in Devon…

Totnes heart was here. In fact, look at the Google street view – it’s still there! How spooky is that…

love | landscape

The Good, The Bad and the Love Heart

This is sad. An old(er) couple in Swanage have been voluntarily restoring all the old stone signs around town, starting up at Durlston Country Park and working their way down towards the centre. They are doing it out of sheer generosity and are doing a lovely job too.

They clean each stone first, removing lichen, dirt and graffiti, then outline the letters, then fill them in. It’s a painstaking job, especially as a lot of the stones were laid low in the walls, some at ground level.

Sunshine Walk is on our route to school. It’s also lovingly known as Poo Alley, thanks to the few lovely dog owners who don’t seem to notice that their dog poops as well as eats. On a bright day, if the poo is thin on the ground, it’s a pleasant walk. The old(er) couple cleaned the signs down here a few weeks back, but the cold weather seems to have held up the painting. A couple of weeks ago, they found the time to outline the letters on this stone, the last to be completed. Unfortunately, it looks as though last week the old(er) chap painted in the ‘S’ and it got rained on. And at the weekend some kind soul sprayed a loveheart across the whole thing.

Now, obviously, I love finding lovehearts. But it does make me sad when the symbol of love is used to pointlessly vandalise something good.

The name Joe is sprayed nearby. So if you know somebody in Swanage called Joe who was hanging around Sunshine Walk with a can of green spray-paint on Saturday night, can you print a copy of this out for him, roll it up and shove it up his Poo Alley?

love | landscape

Happy Mother’s Day

This is dedicated to all mums, everywhere. You’re all amazing.

This post is short but sweet – just like my lovely mum!

[found on Swanage beach, October 2009]

love | landscape