Ottoman Odyssey, Plus...

This is an interesting book.  

Alev Scott roams around the former Ottoman Empire speaking to as many as possible, at least those who would speak, about their life today, and their intriguing double life.  A double life in that so many are born in one country yet long to be 'at home' in another.

From Turkey, a nation she finds herself banned from re-entering, and the complex population, including some Afro-Turks, descendants of one time slaves, living at the poorer end of Turkish society.  Few Turks know of their existence.  We meet Greeks in Turkey and Turks in Greece, though the majority were 'exchanged' during the conflicts of the 1920s, a conflict begun by Lloyd George!  The descendants often confused as to where home lies.  Armenians, with much to grumble about, and the confusion of Cyprus and the politics involved there.  

Many do not realise how much of the Balkans was Ottoman controlled, only the war of 1912 saw them pushed back to the area around Istanbul.  This leaves a confused area behind.  Some loyal to Turkey, and Erdogan ensues such loyalty by large spending in some areas, many strong opponents.  No matter who is in charge the Balkans will always be filled with a variety of conflicts, large and small, usually between close neighbours.

What is clear is the variety of religious and language divisions in the Middle East, in this case emanating from the Ottoman Empire. For many this was no problem, Muslim, Christian and Jew, went their own way worked, ate, lived alongside one another, under whatever controlling body.  Rarely did strife break out.  Since the end of the 'Sick man of Europe,' after the Great War, the conflict intensified, thousand died in battle and massacre on both sides, many removed from homes lived in for generations, as the area is purified.  

This is a good book, it gets close to those who's families were forced to move, to people seeking a return that is never going to be possible, and an underlying image of the majority willing to just get on with their lives no matter who the neighbour is.   

This is a good book for getting to the people on the ground in the one time Empire, real people, not the high up's.  It is well worth a glance.

As the threatened rain had not started, it awaited the afternoon to arrive, I dumped my bag  by the door after returning from Sainsburys and wandered across the park.  It was good just to walk around the green area.  Not the greatest in the world, but a lot of green trees, leaves, bushes, grass, and as such is just a wee bit refreshing for the mind.  

I also met a young lass with two dogs, one friendly the other not so.  He, now 11 years of age, was interested only in chasing the ball she flung via one of those long plastic throwers things.  For an 11 year old dog he was full of life, and I suspect will be for 3 or 4 more.  The other, one of those hairy imitation 'Chow' type dogs, lovely to look at, and keen to meet people.  I suspect at home he sits on the couch on top of the lassie.  The other will just dump himself on the floor and ignore everyone.

Some colour to be seen, but the cheap camera I was using found the grey cloud cover difficult to defeat.  Most wildflowers appear hidden now, the Springtime brings them out, but these days we only have a few around.

Albert Goodwin - Venice

Greenery

The picture looks a bit bland, that's because it is.  The wee camera does not do distance very well and if I had left my bench and gone closer some nasty thieving type would have taken my place.  They are very selfish like that around here.  So I took the pic from where I sat and ruminated awhile.  
It was the green that caught my eye.  You see we notice it all around us each day, especially after the rain we have endured, but we never 'see' it.   I have noted this before, many times, but few notice what we see as it's so obvious, it stares in our faces daily.  I suspect gardeners will be well aware of this but maybe not.  What I am seeing is the vast shades of green in those trees.  there is at least six shades there, allowing how your PC reads the colours of my picture, and there are many more shades of green around.  
This park began as the home of a rich man, the gardens surrounding the building were planned by a clever chap whoever he was.  The wide and interesting variety of trees today stand tall yet the designer could see this only in his minds eye.  After forty years and the money running out the house became a school for girls for decades.  A while back, just after the building had been reopened as flats, I passed a grinning woman walking over a grass verge.  Her happiness came from walking where she had once been banned on pain of death!  It took forty years but she was now skipping like a Spring lamb!
Small pleasures are the best!
I am making the most of the greenery.  The nights are drawing in, it was darkish by eleven last night and Christmas gods will be in the shops soon, some folks are ahead of us in this already!
So I am getting what I can when it is there.


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Sabbath Day

Some of you may be aware of the existence of Jerry the Rebel down there in Missouri or Arkansas or one of them cowboy areas of the US of A.  His well read blog 'As the Crackerhead Crumbles' may well be known to you.  It may also be coming to an end.  Poor chap has been somewhat unwell (as well as being clearly sick in the mind, which is why I like him), he has been somewhat unwell for a long time.  This has now left him with a lack of feeling down his side and it is possible he has had a bit of a bummer here.  He may not be posting for a while, and if you never glanced at his quixotic (what?) blog make sure you do now, before it either ends or his wife takes over!  

Before seven this morning I had managed to trundle up the old railway for the first time this week. I was so early there was not one dog walker to be seen before  I made my way back.  The sky blue, the vegetation very well fed by the rains, and a lovely wind blowing me all the way home.  Just a small touch of green is something we need each day.  Quite how I survived London I sometimes wonder.  The sights, sounds and smells off the country are required to keep us mentally and physically alive I say!

On the way back I was once again intrigued by the sun shining through the water at the nancy boy fountain.  The green spot is sun interference, not a lamp on the fountain in case you wondered.  A strange fountain, erected in the thirties, but the sun playing on the water is magnificent I reckon.  

I had intended to photograph the chimneys on this 'Arts & Crafts' type house a while back and managed this morning when all was quiet.  I had not realised that all three chimneys were so very different.  Whether these were used by the builder to show his talents, a permanent advert or 'spam' if you prefer, I know not, but they do make me stop and think when looking at them now.  Three totally different approaches to the same simple job and each a masterpiece in itself.  Well done to the builder, whoever he was!  Sadly I have no note of his name and this building does not appear to have been listed!  

A 'friend' of this blog has sped this on to me as he claims the female readers of the blog would benefit from studying this carefully.  This 'friend' added his thought that 'Ironing,' 'cooking,' 'cleaning,' and other 'female jobs,' could be added to 'sewing,' and the ladies could benefit themselves by practicing the advice found here and benefiting their man by a wise use of sewing when the football is on so as not to disturb what he referred to as 'their Lord and Master.'  When I enquired as to why this was not posted on his blog he muttered somewhat and came up with, "Too much on there at the moment."  Not sure if I believe him.  

His address can be made available for the correct amount....... 

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Now look....!

Enough is enough!  Being weaned in Edinburgh I am used to rain.  Gray skies are my birthright!  However I do think this constant gray sky and rain is a bit much.  Now as you know I amnot one to complain, and I am grateful this rain makes up for what we have missed, and this will benefit us all when Farmer Jones gathers the crops, however I could do with sunshine again.  We had some yesterday while travelling to Chelmsford, and more on Monday so I am grateful for that, but it seems to never end, a bit like a normal Edinburgh summer really.  Having endured the '76 drought in smoggy London, and having been evicted chosen to move to the country I expected that sunshine, green views, peace and quiet and all day long blue skies would be mine out here in the wilderness.  However the 'driest county in England' proved, during my time as a postman, to be a lie.  As indeed was the idea that Essex was flat, I can tell you it aint mate!  However this constant gray skies, rain, and smiling weather forecasters warning that more, much more is to come, and from the freezing north at that, then I begin to think it is time to be peeved.  Now the advantages of rain is to be seen everywhere.  The park is covered in Daisy and Buttercup (the flowers not Farmer Jone's milk cows) as you can see.  This is wonderful to me, and attracts lots of wildlife, at least those that have not been drowned or frozen already!  Only people who have to cut the grass object to such rain!  I watched some Starlings bounce off the tree in the park and flounce around like House Martins.  Lovely I thought, but when the rain, and it will be torrential, comes tonight where will they nest?  Mrs Blackbird passed me earlier, her beak stuffed with hay like items, heading for her nest, I wonder how she will fare tonight?  I cannot understand how birds survive in such times?  Some will however.

As you bring out the galoshes cogitate on these:-

Jesus loves you. Nice to hear in church, terryfying to hear in a Mexican prison

How many Spanish guys does it take to change a light bulb? Just Juan.

Two negatives make a positive but only in Scotland do two positives

make a negative - "Aye right."

After announcing he was getting married, a boy tells his pal he will be

wearing the kilt. "And what's the tartan?" asks his mate.

"Oh, she'll be wearing a white dress," he replies.

 

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Countryside

This picture is for town dwellers.  If you live in towns and cities, not both at the same time, you will probably not realise that underneath your house/flat/slum there is a thing called 'earth.'  Outside of towns the food that appears in plastic wrappings in the supermarket comes from here. Some of the food grows by itself in the ground helped by nothing more than rain, sun and a ton or so of chemical warfare which, the government assures us, is 'healthy.'  Other items on your plate grow by eating the green stuff called grass, you may find some growing through the spaces in the wall if you look closely, and these creatures are called 'animals.'  These are divided up into sheep, cows, pigs, chickens and if they go under any other name check out it does not come from South Korea.  


When at the Open University, failing to obtain a B.A. through poverty, sloth and total ignorance, I discovered that around 1801 (in England, as English historians ignore Scotland, but I am not one to complain about such racism) the majority of the population lived in the countryside. By1851 fifty one percent lived in towns or cities and by 1901 the vast majority of people were crowded into the urban slum that was the home of the 'Greatest Empire the world has ever known.' I have come to believe that this does indeed affect our mentality.  We need to see greenery, animals, trees and nature to keep our heads clear. That is why so many of us rush to get out of towns and even the Victorians came to realise that public parks were required in built up areas.  That appreciation of the need for green space resulted in the housing estates built just before and after the war.  Many three bed-roomed houses, with gardens front and back, are to be found throughout the UK.  There are often green areas, roundabouts with grass centres, and reasonably wide streets.  However a look at housing built in the last twenty years shows that while the design of the houses are often in keeping with the area in which they are found these house are often crammed together in an effort to get as many as possible into the space, partly to supply enough houses, mostly for profit!  The green areas, gardens or open spaces, are very limited in comparison to those designed in the forties.  The sense of being hemmed in increases among those living there.  Estate agents call such areas 'popular,' and postmen will inform you that they have many 'redirections' for these houses.  Some from people who find they cannot afford the cost, some from young folks living together too soon, and others from those who realise a new house is not always a joy to live in. I used to have six or seven 'redirections' on my old house route, my friend John had so many it could take him an hour to attend to his!  People need space, a decent green area front and back, and natural daylight.  City life offers to little of this, and I know about city life!


It is only recently I realised how little contact most of us have with creation around us.  Do we realise where our food comes from really?  As kids we were well informed about this but we also had a view of the distant world, farms nearby and a good instruction from our parents, who really 'never had it so good.'  Too much manufactured foodstuffs, supermarkets that push rubbish onto us in our weak moments, and a life full of haste leaves us missing out on something I think.  We need individually to get into green areas, look at animals in their natural setting, or walk along the sea shore. Some call this a 'spiritual experience' but it is not 'spiritual' it is just our need for the open space and the natural world around us.  It is re-creative for our heads stuffed full of life.

Country Air

For the first time in a while I cycled, slowly, up the old railway line. I went around eleven as it is quiet then and stupid me forgot the kids are on holiday. Therefore as the sun was shining the families ponderously made their way up the line.  The kids chatting to all the dogs that passed by, when that is they were not wandering through the bushes, the women gossiping about nothing and blocking the way for normal human beings going about their lawful business. The dads being dads, carrying the bags on their backs, sometimes alone with one child, as indeed were a granddad or two, and making me miss the not so young kids way up north.  In one way this was nice to see, in another they just got in the way! A good day out and of course I ache all over now. I must get out more, as people often tell me.


I was attempting to add the 'Beach Boys' song 'Country Air,' because this came to mind when sitting enjoying the sun, greenery and fresh air.  EMI do not allow this (are they not the folks who turned 'The Beatles' down?) so find it on 'YouTube' and hum along as you read.  I was indeed 'humming' when I got home.  

A good day also in that I had a £5 off voucher for the new 'Morrisons' supermarket. The staff, for the most part, are very friendly, you can tell they are new to this game, and I will certainly return next Friday - I have another voucher!  This means that this small town has three large supermarkets represented.  Tesco have three stores, one which has just been redeveloped. Sainsburys have one which is about to be redeveloped and they plan another so big it will replace a small industrial estate! There is already a 'Lidl's' and now the Co-op has closed 'Morrisons' have moved in.  Just how much do the thirty five to forty thousand folks here eat I wonder?  I spent £16:98, and that was after taking advantage of the voucher to stock up, consider how much others must be spending on things they can afford but do not actually need?  Being poor makes me careful with money and I tend to notice prices more.  I also notice how folks buy things with little thought and choosing the label not the product!  An expensive item will be brought rather than try the store version, even though they are just as good nowadays.  Something is bought because it has always been chosen rather than because of any worth it may have.  The tricks of the store also make us all spend on things we don't want and they laugh all the way to the Swiss Bank where the directors store their ill gotten gains. I prefer 'Tesco,' but I will suffer 'Morrisons' for one more week as I use up the last voucher.

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1950's planning

One good thing about 1950's planning was the idea of open spaces. I came past one such estate today. These houses were planned in the late thirties, or during the war and eventually someone got around to the design and building of them in the early fifties. Houses for people, council houses originally and foolishly sold of by Thatcher. One of the stupidest policies she came out with. Owning your own home was an ideal, and one so many could not keep up with yet she encouraged the sale of the very houses that were meant to provide for those that could not afford to buy! Naturally the socialist voters who bought their home cheap flogged it for a fortune leaving thousand in the lat 1980's in debt up to their eyes. A short step to the recession we now endure worldwide! Today we are building 'social housing' the very thing she killed off! Today the houses are cramped, with small areas of green for gardens and probably built on land that ought to be left for the 'green belt,' or even worse, land that has had hundreds of years of industrial use
and contains all sorts of bad stuff. Superb! Those house built in the fifties at least had open spaces, in truth larger than required, but gave the occupants a better life than the overcrowded tenements and houses they had suffered for many years. Such long sighted policies ought to be commended. There is no doubt the people sometimes responded badly and many areas of good housing were reduced to slums by the people who inhabited them, so much for the socialist idea that people would change if the housing improved! However for those who did make the most of it the houses are a blessing indeed, so much so many did not move even if they bought their house and like my mother lived in them for over fifty years. Quite right too!

This estate has large green areas, possibly caused by the slopes making it unsuitable for housing, and what was once farmers fields are now areas of green with the occasional small wood, like the one pictured above. A small benefit to those who live here, because we need trees and bushes around us. We need the sight of green grass and a wide variety of wildlife nearby. This opens our minds and takes us away from the daily struggle, unless of course it rains, then it's just mud and only the dog is happy!