Accidentally Bullying Old Women

I visited Towneley Hall in Burnley over the weekend, a lovely old building with a small but surprising gallery.

I had spotted a “No Photography” sign which angered me slightly but fortunately there didn’t seem to be many things to photograph anyway. That was, until I saw a pair of glasses with the most ridiculously thick lenses in. These things were mental! Think of that pain of glass at the top of Blackpool tower that you can walk on, or maybe the kind of glass that you would make windows in submarines out of, or the bullet proof glass in the Pope Mobile or Anti Polar Bear Glass. Obviously I popped them on to show Kerry and she instantly burst out laughing. She then tried them on and I burst out laughing, by this time we were causing a bit of a scene. “I have to get a photo of this”, I said still laughing.

Our scene making had caught the attention of the woman in the room, probably placed there to ensure that no one was pinching the stuffed deer from the room or doing something they shouldn't be doing like taking photographs. “Erm, I wouldn't put those on, they may strain your eyes”, she said before she grabbed the glasses off us. I looked at her eyes whilst still laughing and I swear I could see her brain! These glasses were hers!!! FUCK ME!!!!

I wanted to say, “O please can I just take a photo of them?” but realised quickly that we were actually making fun of a visually impaired lady. This didn't, but should have, made me stop laughing and I did contemplate several times about going back to see her to ask whether I could borrow her glasses for a photograph. I’m becoming a dad in just over 3 months!!!

I was most surprised with the gallery, it has a couple of works by JW Waterhouse, the Modern Pre-Raphaelite, but most impressive of all was a work by John Bagnold Burgess entitled “A little Spanish Gipsy”, Crackin!

"A little Spanish Gipsy - John Bagnold Burgess"

"A dog wearing mental glasses. (The glasses were a lot more mental than this and the lady wasn't a dog!)"

"View from a Towneley Hall Window"