Double Somersault

I've always liked this. It is a large sculpture that stands outside Sheffield Children's Hospital.

It's called Double Somersault and is by the artist William Pye. This type of tubular stainless steel structure is fairly typical of his work at that time (nowadays he is better known for his water sculptures).

Double Somersault was erected in 1976 by the Centenary Committee of the Children's Hospital (with some help from the Arts Council), but it has moved around a little since then. It originally stood on Western Bank, outside the main entrance to the hospital, but had to move along slightly when the entrance was altered. It moved again, as a result of more major changes to the hospital's entrances, around the corner to Clarkson Street, where it still stands today.

I remember stopping to look at Double Somersault during my very first week in Sheffield. I loved its simplicity, the slight asymmetry and the beautiful visual balance. Like many simple and elegant sculptures, it looks as if it was easy to design, but I bet it wasn't.

Links:
William Pye's website (I really like the favicon, but then, I would.)
A blogpost about William Pye by Stacy Alexander
A very brief biography of William Pye appears on this gallery's site

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Originally published here on my main blog http://three-legged-cat.blogspot.com/
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It's started...

It's June 10th, the bunting has appeared - it's the Broomhill Festival!

The festival may be a local affair, with most events taking place within the suburb of Broomhill, but it is gets bigger year on year, both in terms of the number and quality of events and the amazing amount of money raised for the festival charities - well over £17 000 last year.

We've bought tickets for several events, which means that you will be subjected to my attempts at reviewing them over the next couple of weeks. So, basically Mr TLC and I get to go out and have fun, you get to share it with us. Sounds good to me!

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Originally published here on my main blog http://three-legged-cat.blogspot.com/
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A Spring in my Step

Sheffield is looking so beautiful today, I couldn't resist taking a few photos. I love all the spring flowers and blossom that are starting to appear.

According to local legend, John Betjeman once described Broomhill, in the south west of Sheffield, where these photos were taken, as "the prettiest suburb in England" (although given his opinions on suburbia, this may not have been a resounding compliment!). Perhaps he saw it on a day like this.

It's very cold outside because there is a strong, bitterly cold wind, but the sun is shining and we have blue skies. A perfect day for a walk.

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Originally published here on my main blog http://three-legged-cat.blogspot.com/
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Anise

Another weekend, another chocolate shop. Anyone reading this blog would think I am obsessed with chocolate.

This week we paid a visit to Anise on Glossop Road in Broomhill, Sheffield. From the outside, the shop looks fairly ordinary, even a little shabby, although the troughs of spring flowers outside the window do give a hint of what's to come.

Once you go inside everything is exceptionally pretty, with glass shelves and counters used to display beautifully presented chocolates and greetings cards. The shop's main speciality are Belgian chocolates, sold either loose in a bag or packed into a posh box. At the moment Anise also has amazing displays of Easter eggs in every colour imaginable, but these aren't branded eggs; think marbled colours on white chocolate or vivid coloured foils wrapped round milk or dark chocolate eggs.

Of course, being full of chocolate means the shop smells fantastic, another incentive to start buying the goods!

Mr TLC and myself are not particularly compatible where chocolate is concerned, he prefers milk or white chocolate, but I'm definitely a fan of dark chocolate. Of course he can also eat a lot more of the stuff than I can, or at least he can do so without piling on the pounds. What does this mean? It means we bought twice as much as we needed to, on the pretext of each choosing something.

The real triumph was one of Mr TLC's choices, raspberry ganache: a thin shell of white chocolate around a dark chocolate filling, flavoured with raspberry. They were gorgeous. I know what I'll be buying next Saturday!

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Originally published here on my main blog http://three-legged-cat.blogspot.com/
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Friday Tea Thyme

It's Friday, it's five fifteen and it's Thyme to think about going out for tea! It's been a long week, so Mr Three Legged Cat & I set off to start the weekend at Thyme Cafe.

The name cafe could be considered a little misleading. To me the word "cafe" conjures up two images: somewhere that serves huge mugs of tea and enormous bacon sandwiches, or one of those fantastic bar meets restaurant places that seem to line every street in France. Thyme Cafe doesn't fit either of these, it is more like a very informal restaurant. You sit at chunky wooden tables on either pews or old wooden chairs. The menus are on huge chalk boards and you wander up to the bar to order your meal. There are no reservations, but they do run a list once it gets busy, so if they don't have a table you can call back later at a pre-arranged time. The unofficial pre-Thyme early evening bar is in the neighbouring Broomhill Tavern, which seems to do a pretty decent trade serving people that you end up sitting next to when you go back to eat.

The best thing is (of course) the food. Menus change fairly often, but usually feature a mixture of Thyme classics eg meat & potato pie, cheeseburger & fish cakes, as well as tapas, risotto, salads and dishes such as confit duck or seared salmon. They always use freshly cooked, good-quality ingredients, which make great tasting (& nicely presented) meals.

As usual, we had a relaxed and enjoyable meal. All in all, a very pleasant start to the weekend.

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Originally published here on my main blog http://three-legged-cat.blogspot.com/
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