A hilarious thought came to me, well a memory really .
Sorry to hark back Belgium again, but we were friendly with an old gentleman
and his Yorkshire wife,he had been a Policeman in Gent civil Police force.
He was retired ,and had taken up painting as a hobby,having considerable talent .
He was a joker and prankster ,not unkind.
When he retired he would take his materials to a busy tourist spot and set up shop .
Seated at his easel he would be painting away, of course people stopped to look.
The puzzlement on their faces-!
He would be seated in front of Gent castle a formidable fortress ,dark and brooding.
But on his canvas would be a twee pretty thatched cottage with roses round the door, a village maiden ,chickens etc.
He could speak English , and kept saying to tourists “ You see - you have to paint exactly what you see”.
Garbed in smock and beret ,he looked the part,.
Add a thin twirly moustache and things were melting off a table ,detached
floating eyes , were floating.etc etc.
He also featured on a long roll out photograph in which he appears four times at least.
A photograph of Gent Civil Police.
At the extreme left,then along a bit with a walrus moustache ,then a bit further with thick glasses,then the end with a curly wig peeping out from under his cap..
My baby daughter used to babble to him, he would say”I don’t know what you are saying ,but you are right”.
He did look very different each time but the long photograph would take a few minutes to complete ,he had time to don the wig ,moustache ,etc.
Had he not been an ex Policeman he would probably have been moved on.
In Gent Feast, he has been known to direct cars up one way streets ,traffic free zones etc .
And his arm movements when signalling traffic along!!!
He came tip mind when reading about RootsChatter painters.
Viktoria.
