Today at the market

Today at the market felt very flat. The man selling Russian dolls, badges and religious icons was there, as was the war time collector, the house clearance man, and all the usual suspects. But today was one of those days when everything looked ugly and I was not inspired to actually get anything. Today it was all so tawdry and seemed to be such a waste. So much stuff and no one wants it. I forgot my camera. Yesterday I forgot my camera and when I walked past St Joseph's the priest was sanding Mary Magdalene down. I stopped and stared at him. So carefully he was moving the paper over the folds in her shawl, and the contours of her face. I was thinking about how people touch statues of Mary so lovingly and this seemed like that, only he was looking after her rather than hoping she might look after him. I felt abit awkward, staring like that. It felt perhaps that was too intimate. I moved on, tearing my eyes away. After a while I went back and went up to him to ask if I might film him. He was by now painting Mary. He was repainting her white as she had been before, only where he had sanded revealed that in the past her shawl had been blue and her face flesh coloured. He had already painted the upper part of the body and was now down to her legs. I had missed the chance of capturing it on film. Perhaps it doesn't matter because the image is in my head anyway. A wasp landed on Mary's nose as we talked. He said this coat would see her through the winter, and stop her from cracking anymore. Now I will always look at her when I walk past and she will look back at me.