Out for a jolly!

These workers from a pottery and tile factory were no doubt very pleased that their boss paid for them to go on a day’s outing; I’ve no idea where they are, but no doubt they went their on a train or by a charabanc…The women are sitting together, with the men all around them, but they have such lively and open and expressive faces all of them, not the least bit prim and proper as you might imagine of people from that time, all decorous in their hats.I wonder if I were among them who would be my friends? These days many of my closest friends are men… I can’t imagine that would have been the case then. If you look at the front row, the girl right in the centre, and the two to the right of her (on her left hand side) I could imagine that they might be my friends. The girl in the second row, third from the left… I can imagine that she and I might not like each other very much.

The men are interesting too… there is the one in the second row from the front, right on the left of the picture… he looks a strange man, then there is the man behind him, grinning, I bet he was a bit of a clown, a bit of a character. I wonder if he has said something to the woman in the dark dress sitting in front of him, because she looks as if she’s either trying not to laugh, or is stopping herself from saying something. There are some fine moustaches on display, aren’t there?! The men are looking more serious, some of them almost anxious compared to the girls and women. I wonder if most of them are married and have the worries of a family? I guess the women would all be unmarried so they would not have the same cares and responsibilities. I am intrigued by the man on the other end of the third row, on the right of the picture, behind the boy; he is not looking at the camera, but something… or someone, has caught his eyes, and there is a slight roguish smile on his face!!