November 2020 - Part Two - Exploring the Mayflower Mosaic Trail

Life under lockdown felt oddly familiar, yet different. Working in retail, there wasn't much change. We got a bit busier at work, but didn't see the shortages or empty shelves that we had in the first lockdown. And people's attitudes were different, people seemed tired, and a bit lost. I guess that's what it does to you. Customers of course were not happy, and it was hard work trying to keep them moving round the store and not creating blockages in the aisles when they wanted to stand and complain about everything.

Otherwise, the new job was going well. I was working hard to improve efficiencies in filling by reorganising and labelling the overstock trolleys to make filling faster. I spent time chasing stock and working with the operations team to get stock sent down faster and in more depth, particularly of the christmas lines that we suddenly seemed to be selling more and more of.

The thought of christmas was an odd one, would we still be in lockdown? They had said it would be for 4 weeks, but what if it didn't work? There were so many questions, but no one seemed able to answer them.

Me and James continued to walk together in the mornings before work, and one day when we both had a day off we had together, he suggested we walk a little further afield and follow the Mayflower Mosaic trail. This piqued my curiosity. It was to celebrate 400 years since the Mayflower sailed from Southampton to the New World. They are created by Mr Mosaic, a Southampton resident named Will Rosie. He has created hundreds of them that are spread across the city, there are cartoon ones, superhero ones, pop culture ones. Look him up and see some of the ones he had done, they are fantastic, and the mayflower series is just as good.

What I love the most is that they show the Mayflower sailing across the sea, in different weathers, time of days, and in all different styles. The mosaics are spread across in a trail in the old city, surrounded by the beautiful medieval walls.

 

I think this is my favourite one, showing the sunset behind the Mayflower, something the passengers and crew would have seen multiple times on her long voyage.

And this is the final one, and you can just spot land in the distance. For us, it was also a welcome sight, as it meant we had seen all 12, and were in need of a sit down! The trail finishes in Mayflower park, and gives you views across Southampton water. We sat for a while, before heading back into town and home again to make ourselves a late lunch. 

What I loved most was that they weren't all in obvious places, you had to search for them, and it took you places I've never been before, or not been since I was a child. I would advise you to download the map though, some were tricky to find even with the help of the map. Happy searching!