Digger's Day Out, Continued.

So how do you follow up on a visit to an honest to goodness Plague Village?

For us the next stop was bizarre antiquities.  There is an antiques centre in Morpeth that has some seriously weird stuff on display.  

I suppose your mileage may vary, but I never get enough of Bad Taxidermy.

This place had lots of it.

Bad Taxidermy is a favorite of mine on travels because I can realistically never buy any of it and ship it home.  I mean, how would you even explain a fully dressed mule deer?  And where did they get one in England???

An interesting side light to that question.  Small taxidermy is much more expensive than big stuff.

I really want a wild boar's head for the wall of my cabin.  I can't explain it, I just do.  They are much cheaper than little weasels and stoats decked out in silly little weasel hats.   Probably because of the "how do I pack it?" question.  And, lets be honest, the "what will my wife say" question.

More odd stuff:

And this really surprised me.  My English friends are appalled by the private ownership of firearms.  There are even laws against knives in the UK.  So when you go to the antiques center what do you find?  Cases full of bayonets and "Deactivated" submachine guns!

Across the street was a park area for which I had high hopes.  Why, there was a "Floral Clock"!

Alas, not planted yet.

And a statue commemorating EmilyWilding Davison, a Suffragette from Morpeth whose advocacy proved fatal.  She jumped out in front of a race horse - it happened to belong to the King - apparently hoping to throw a banner around its neck.  She got clobbered and subsequently died.  From what I can tell she was a bit of a nutter, also involved in a series of bombings.  I guess in a worthy cause you can still do some damned foolish things....