The historic centre of Bury St Edmunds was our destination this morning. In addition to many medieval and Georgian buildings there are the ruins of the Abbey, now in the midst of a garden populated by mallard ducks and the impressive cathedral. The cathedral was decorated by a schools project with colourful sculptures, paintings and wall-hangings. A potent reminder that before the Reformation, our churches were decorated and colourful. The works also gave me some inspiration which chimed with memories of totem poles seen on Route 66 and tall funeral columns made by indigenous Australians. The theme of the schools project was ‘pilgrims’ and this seems appropriate for a sculpture I might attempt. I should point out that to date, my work is two-dimensional so this will be a new venture and I would like to use as many upcycled things and materials I already have. Wandering the streets we appreciated the music of a busking guitarist and found Churchgate Books. A great second hand bookshop (also does bookbinding) with what looked like a stuffed cat on the shelves. My first assumption was that this was a much loved Moggie who had seen a not very skilled taxidermist. I asked the proprietor about its history and he said he could not have a live cat in the shop as he lived there and could not find an appropriate toy one in the UK. Turning to Ebay he had obtained one from China which he was told was made from rabbit hair. I am not convinced but unless anyone does hair analysis, we will never know. Needless to say our bags now contain more books than we started out with.