Goodwood

My friend, colleague and furtive aesthete Mike Turner was the inspiration for today's visit to Goodwood. On a day (or at least half a day) of glorious weather sandwiched between what is more usual at this time of year and has, as I recall, been usual for much of this year to date. 'Make haste while the sun shines' may well be the correct version of something misheard hundreds of years ago in a more agrarian age to which my wanderings seemed to return me today. The whole Goodwood area is absolutely beautiful and all that I saw whether of this age or not, uplifted me although I was to be deflated later.

I went first to the aerodrome and received a warm welcome which facilitated photography. I was particularly interested to see the number of aircraft from the Manx registry there. With a Mum and a boyfriend waiting in the car I promised myself a more lingering visit in the future.

Our main objective was the Cass Sculpture Foundation http://www.sculpture.org.uk/ and I was excited before I even reached its gates. It has outlying displays at The Goodwood Hotel and one can hardly imagine a sculpture more exciting than Diane Maclean's 'Encampment' - especially in this morning's light.

The park setting of the Cass is stunning and, although lighting can appear difficult for some pieces, the sylvan setting serves to provide different lights at different times of the year and ignites more in the photographer than it defeats. Unfortunately the paths do not lend themselves to the pushing of a wheelchair and Mum was again in the car as my recovering Gregory joined me on a surprisingly physical culture trail. I became culturally and physically exhausted and we had covered only half of the park to which we must return in its next season. I can  not praise it enough and, as if there were not enough within its boundaries, the views across the Sussex countryside were wonderful. At the time of writing I have to complete my latest Flickr set 'Cass Sculpture Foundation' but it is already well worth a visit at www.flickr.com/photos/johnoram . I have produced a body of work worthy of that in the collection.

Sadly it was a bit downhill from there. Goodwood House, an edifice of great beauty, has limited opening times and today was not one. We had hoped to eat there but landed instead in a Chichester Harvester where the food was value for money but the prices were low. Our waitress was quite charming in a thronged restaurant but we all felt let down by the mass produced fare. It appeared to me that tomorrow's weather - certainly the cloud part of it - arrived prematurely and there was an early end to the sunshine. With Mum safely at home our last stop was at the site of Bus Rapid Transit - also extensively documented on my Flickr - but my latest photography was curtailed by rain. It was nearly curtailed rather more dramatically when I discoverd that wearing my hi-vi jacket did not stop me walking into a (rapidly) moving car.

As I was not actually run over I shall be at work on Saturday.