Lilac Bench

I selected this image, taken today in the small South Devon town of Totnes, for this evening's post and then a crisis arose; I discovered that I could think of nothing to say about it. Despite the unusual colour, the striking leaf pattern or the omnipresent diagonal, I was dumbstruck. What could I say about a lilac bench that would be both witty and erudite, two attributes which I would desperately like to introduce to the witterings portrayed here?


I really do not possess the expertise to talk at any length about street furniture. The seat appears modern in construction, probably late twentieth/early twenty-first century. The colour contrast between the bench and the wall would appear deliberate and just a little extravagant for a traditional English country town. Perhaps it's a nod towards the hippy culture that lingers on here, with barefooted men in skirts and didgeridoo-playing new-age travellers mixing with farmer's wives and posh totty. It's all a mystery and not a particularly interesting one at that.

Since a colourful bench hardly does this Devonian town justice, I've included another picture, taken at the top of the main street. Crossing the road is an example of what may be posh totty, albeit in a dressed-down mode; Pixie assures me that jeans are acceptable for this development of womanhood. If, on closer inspection, they turned out to be by Versace, or a similar vendor of female clothing, then we would have a positive ID; unfortunately I forgot to look.