Richard Scott Blog - 18th May 2025

 

 

It's so great to wake up in England. I somehow feel at home. Yet Cape Town is my real home. So, Joanne and I had a quick work session at  7am in the morning, it was after all Monday. Joanne caught up with the boss and I caught up with mine.

All was well in South Africa, and we could go forage for new business in the small surrounding towns of Leicester.

Joanne’s sister Clarissa took us to Market Harborough, a small village, South East of where we are staying.

It was nice to get out and see old England. There is a Grammer School there dating back hundreds of years.

Joanne and Clarissa, bonding sisters.

The rest of Monday was rest and follow up with the guys back in South Africa.

Tuesday was time to move to our next destination, Pangbourne to stay with Stuart and Jane. It was nice to see them again after seven months.

We decided to go see Peggy at Modern Artist Gallery down the road in Whitchurch. She was in good spirits and was keen to sell my small tree prints.

After that it was home again to do some more catch up and planning. For supper, we popped out to the local Indian in Tilehurst, as one does when in Pangbourne. We got home late with our full bellies.

Early night as Wednesday was London on the train. I got Joanne a High Tea at Harrods as the experience for her birthday gift. We went straight to Paddington Station and decided to walk across Hyde Park to Knightsbridge. It was a 30 minute walk which was nice.

Off we go, Pangbourne station.

All the way to Paddington.

Walking the streets of LONDON.

Serpentine in the middle of Hyde Park.

 

High tea was ok as far as High Tea’s go. We were in the Georgian Restaurant. 90 minutes later and we were off. We had a look see around Harrods for a while to say we were there. Joanne’s favourite was the Cheese counter in the food market area. 

Got the Pic.

Ta daaaaaaaaaa.

Hi-tea cake bomb.

Mirror mirror on the wall.

Then we were off right back home. We did London on our last trip and were not here this time around to do sightseeing.

I use to love train spotting as a kid.

We jumped on the fast train to Reading and then the slow one to Pangbourne. We met Jane and Stuart at The Swan as we had not seen it since its R35 million renovation. Wow, what a change. So nice to see.

The Swan with Jane and Stuart.

The awesome long walk home.

Thursday we popped out to go see James at the Kaizen Gallery in Bagshot. It was nice to see him. He opened up a Gallery in the High Street and, wow I was gobsmacked. It looked like a high street gallery in London. I didn’t know I had so many works in England.

My good friend James and his new Gallery.

We took a few photos and said goodbye. On our way home I saw a sign to Windsor and decided to take it. Joanne had never see Windsor Castle or Windsor for that matter.

We had local fish and chips for lunch in a street side traditional fish and chip shop. Then we walked around the castle and down to the bottom where the royals have the longest driveway in the world of 3miles long. We said goodbye to Windsor and the R250 parking fee. Not to bad for Windsor which was jam packed with tourists. It was weird to see it like that.

Special moment to stand here.

Got the picture.

Spot the Buzby Boy.

Beautiful churches in England. The Parish Church.

A copy of The Last Supper inside the Parish.

Extra salt and vinegar.

Nomm Nomm.

Towers of the castle.

Got the pic from the outside.

The drive back home to Pangbourne was painful with all the roadworks. The British really do know how to close a road in a few hours to do some hedge cutting. They have one guy with a tractor and a robotic arm that has a huge lawn mower/hedge trimmer attached to the end. In South Africa, we see 10+ people slowly walking along the side of the road with Weed eaters do the same job.

Uncle Stuart doing what Uncle Stuart does.

Nomm Nomm. Secret receipe.

Old phone really works.

Friday was a up again and off to see James again at the Gallery in Bagshot. He had set up a meeting with Simon, a collector of my art, for a private tour. It was good to see him again. 

After our meeting, we, once again, headed back to Pangbourne to rest for a bit. Two hours later we were off again, this time for a lunch with Tony and Alison. It was great to catch up with them and hear all about their trip to Japan. We swapped wedding stories, and they swapped Japan stories.

After lunch we headed to the Gallery for the show, that night.

It was great to engage with the local art lovers and some old collectors from way back when. We got home at around 11pm after a late evening telling and sharing the stories of my art career.

Some happy new clients.

And a few more.

Saturday morning was, once again, off to the Gallery for a full days work. I got stuck into do some restoration on a few of the 2002 artworks, while Joanne put stickers into envelopes and posted them off to my clients. 

Loving the sun.

Zoom Zoom.

Simon and James.

Getting ready.

Lots of people came to see the show on Saturday. It was really good to re-connect.

We made great sales, and it made the trip worth it. At about 5pm we headed home again and celebrated the success of the exhibition.

Touch ups.

Showing Ian and Dylan how it's done.

Chatting to Kerry, a fellow artist from USA.

SOLD.

Fellow artist Julian.

Sunday, or today, the alarms were going off at 5am to get us on our flight to Frankfurt at 10am. We dropped the rental off and here I am typing to you, once again 30 000 feet above the air in a Lufthansa Airbus A320.

Shombie and Woolchie are picking us up at the airport and when we land I will add in the photos and post the blog.

Shombie and Wolschy.

Shombie hired this as a portable fridge. It's quite normal in Germany.

Beer and more beer. Also normal in Germany.

Asking Wolschy what's in his secret Tzatziki sauce. No Luck.

Nom Nom.

The Master himself, Shombie. He would not let me take over and show him ZA style.

Nomm Nomm, best nachos ever.

Ana's mom, Brigitte, makes the best black forest cake ever.

Catching up with Robin, all the way in from Berlin for the party.

Reinhardt, Renata and Adela. (Right to left)

Until next week.

r  i  c  h  a  r  d