UNITED KINGDOM: Bath, Dismaland, Amesbury, And Chester

                   BATH

WET ARRIVAL – The Cathedral is straight ahead with the Roman Baths which the town is named after on the right.

You can’t bathe in the original Roman Baths, but this building offers the same water in a top-class modern facility.

THE CRESCENT – John Cleese had a bit of crumpet tucked away in a flat in this building before his second wife found out and took him to the cleaners. This is the sort of blinkered philistine pig ignorance I’ve come to expect from that sort of noncreative garbage.

 

Time to walk down the street and hop on the train for Dismaland!!!

Stencils leading to Dismaland from the train station in Weston-Super-Mare.

Street Art on a pub wall on the way to the bemusement park.

 

 

DISMALAND opened on August 21 and closed on September 27, 2015. Only 150,000 visitors managed to visit Banksy’s tour de force pop-up exhibition in Weston-Super-Mare. Banksy bankrolled the construction of the whole affair and created ten new artworks for his bemusement park which he deemed a sinister twist on Disneyland.

Fifty-eight other artists contributed works that were installed in the former Tropicana which included a public swimming pool and other facilities. The centerpiece of the project was the spooky-looking Fairy Castle.

Leticia my Australian roommate and I arrived at Dismaland after blowing her mind with a free ticket. What follows is an attempt to give you the full simulated experience of Dismaland. Given it was only open for five weeks, few got the chance to see it.

I hope you enjoy this disheartening and melancholy experience. Seeing it secondhand is probably less psychologically damaging than doing so in person. If you have depressive tendencies, proceed at your own risk and keep your medication within reach. 

SECURITY CHECK – No Additional Charge For Verbal Abuse & Cavity Search

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

WORKSTATION

Blue skies not dismal enough for you? Don’t worry it gets grey a little later.

MEDIOCRE

 

 

 

DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY

 

MAIN GALLERY – Beach Ball Hovers Over Knives

POST-APOCALYPTIC MINNIE

BROCCOLI TREEHOUSE

BASKIN ROBBINS STILETTO

MUSHROOM CLOUD ESCAPE

JIHADI COOKIE MONSTER

WALLED OFF HYSTERIA

FORESTRY BLOODBATH

DYSTOPIAN CEREAL

MICKEY PYTHON – Undigested Bit of a Rabid Antisemite’s Amusement Park

DAVID CAMERON – British Prime Minister

BANKSY – Shamu Leaping Out Of A Toilet

Sadly the sculpture of the Little Mermaid blew away in a storm the day before.

The Ramshackle Miniature Golf Course – Dismal attendant contemplating her mortality. She was actually kind of hot in an agitated-depressive sort of way.

 

TRUE DAT

DISMALAND CASTLE –  Where Horror Awaits

CINDERELLA’S DEMISE – Banksy’s metaphor for Princess Diana’s car crash.

PAPARAZZI NIGHTMARE – The paparazzi fire away as Cinderella slumps out of the carriage window while bluebirds pull on her ribbons trying to wrest her from death’s grip.

 

A horse is in its final death throes as a motorcycle idles in the background. One of the vehicles that led to the crash that took the life of Cinderella. The horse in the background reminds me of Picasso’s Guernica.

 

The One Percent Gorges Itself While The Poor Look On

 

 

Just Another A-Hole in a Selfie Hole

TOPPLE THE ANVIL – Exposing the Truth About Carnival Games and Gambling in General.

The Wall Behind Topple the Anvil

DREAMBOAT – BOAT PEOPLE GAME – By Banksy

Choose to drive a gunboat or a boat filled with boat people. I piloted the gunboat I am ashamed to say.

BRILLIANT!

A Few Interesting Pieces Inside The Tent

DAMIEN HIRST – Poking fun at himself with this 18K golden horned and hooved unicorn. It is actually a Shetland pony. His pieces go for millions of pounds. You’re looking at about 5-10 million pounds here.

This spooky bunny twitches his nose whilst gripping the broken magic wand belonging to the magician he has just sent into oblivion. Obviously tiring of being exploited and enduring the rigors of the act, this bunny decides that turnabout is fair play.

SEMI-BALANCED is my nickname for Big Rig Jig by Mike Ross which was originally shown at Burning Man in 2007.

Finally, the clouds roll in and create a more appropriate atmosphere in Dismaland.

The Dismal Panorama Is Enhanced By The Weather

A Serious Candidate For Antidepressants – Mouse Ears Are Paint Can Lids – Her Expression Never Changed

SKY-RAT ATTACK – A Horrified Witness Sits by Helpless to Curtail the Relentless Assault on a Poor Old Lady – Dismaland Attendant Is Too Depressed To Care

A DISMALLY SUBDUED SUNSET

THE GRAND FINALE – A Ray Of Hope Leads Away From The Bemusement Park

 

                                            

BACK IN BATH

 

BUTCHER SHOP – Fantastic Sausage Rolls And Cornish Pasties

BATH CATHEDRAL

Busker Standing In Front Of The Roman Baths From Which The Town Takes Its Name

THE ROMAN BATHS

 

Roman, Gothic, Medieval, and 21st. century all in one photo.

Pediment And Column From The Temple On The Grounds Of The Bath

THE FAMED GORGON – A very unusual Roman Celtic version of a Gorgon – Gorgons are usually female as well. This is one of the most famous Roman relics in Britain.

A ROMAN WOMAN

Original Mosaic From The Baths

Gilded Head Of Athena From The Temple – It was found during building excavations, and has five layers of gilding because they needed to polish it. An exceptional find.

 

Baths At Floor Level

 

THERAPEUTIC BATH AREA

STEAM ROOM – The floor was so hot that you had to wear sandals.

 

 

 

TOWN GARDENS

 

 

                                           STONEHENGE

Dig The Stones, Man!

 

 

 

 

SQUADRON OF BIPLANES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                              AMESBURY

MACKENZIE MANOR – Home of Faith, my Brother Buell’s half sister, my newly adopted sister, and hostess with the mostess.

A STATELY MANOR INDEED

THE PLACE HAS LOVELY GROUNDS…

…AND IT’S OWN STREAM RUNNING THROUGH IT.

Faint Tire Tracks – These lead to the recent discovery of a new set of buried stones in the area.

My luxury accommodations in the Manor’s guest room. Breakfast is delivered to your door.

A Room With A View

Vintage Aircraft At The Airfield

Alexa And Ken’s Place – Home of the tasty quiche.

Alexa, Ken, and Charlie with the iPad. Alexa and Ken were Pop Stars in the nineties and continue to play and pass on their love for music to their son, Charlie.

The Langfords – Performing Two New Songs

FAITH – Just like being around Someone I’d Known All Along – My stay in Amesbury was punctuated by four home cooked meals, a comfortable bed, and more hospitality than I have experienced in years. This means so much when you are traveling solo nonstop for five months. It really recharges the soul. Even seeing some of the wonders of the world like Stonehenge can be trumped by a nice home cooked meal shared with the right people. I’m going to do another European Tour in 2017, and I’ve already penciled in another stop in the UK.

Faith’s Late Husband – With One Of My Favorite Actresses – A Cousin Of His – Joanna Lumley – For those of you living on another planet she played Patsy, the boozy, chain-smoking blond, on the British comedy hit, “Absolutely Fabulous”. What a great weekend. I even got my first celebrity on the blog, albeit in a photograph.

 

                                                   CHESTER

CHESTER TRAIN STATION

 

 

After a couple of days, I finally made it into the pretty part of the city center.

 

 

 

MAIN STREET

Magnificent Clock

 

 

 

 

ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE RUINS