Nothing Happened

Nothing happened again today.  The teeming rain forced the citizens indoors except for the poor souls who had to work outside.  Judging by the buzzing noise for nearby someone was busy chopping trees somewhere in spite of the weather.  The postmen had to work as well as lucky folks driving vans and buses but the majority stayed indoors.  I know this as when the rain eased off around eleven I scuttled up to Sainsburys and found the locals arriving as I left.  Thousands off them rushing out to fill their well stocked cupboards and complain they have nothing to eat or money to spend!  

As the sun hid itself I wandered about trying to capture a red sky but was left with peely wally pink instead.  When I sit here from the window I see glowing red skies yet when I venture out it is always a faded sky that greets me, Bah!  I wandered round as the darkness began and attempted this pic of the back of the town hall and library next door.  One man standing there made clear his thoughts that the round library was not in keeping with the surrounding buildings but it was built anyway!  He was right of course.  In fact as I looked I realised just how much wasted space there is in the building, vast acres of nothingness.  A bit like this blog...

Instead of rebuilding the library in a more suitable form I took a picture of the museum shop in the darkening evening.  It didn't quite work either.  No doubt as I look at the camera I will find settings I should have used for such pictures.  It's fun mind.
Not much else happened, I hope your day was better than mine.

Fire, Library, Butcher.

Returning from a day in Chelmsford Library looking at microfiche and searching through books I stopped off to look at the fire damage.  This building has stood here since the late 1500's and has of course been much changed over the years. I always loved it, the jetted front, the small dated windows, and I suspect creaking stairs inside.  In recent years the bottom has been a wine bar, restaurant and so on, all have failed and now the premises are used by a church group working with the 'homeless.'   Up above rooms are let and a variety of types make use of them.  In spite of original complaints there appears to have been no problems, at least none I have heard of anyway. Last night however rumour tells us a young man was informed he would be leaving, evicted is the word, and he apparently was none to happy about this.  

It has become obvious he was none to happy as his method of expression was to throw White Spirit about the place, light a match and stand well clear.  The chap who rumour claims was in the shower at the time was not happy with this expression of opinions.  He was high up in the three story building when he discovered the smoke choking him.  He got onto the roof and a double decker bus returning to the garage was brought close and he leapt onto the roof from where the firemen rescued him.  

The top floors are damaged, water damage from the fire hoses has reached the shops on the ground and the poor florist on the corner may end up losing her business.  Three of them were working on the Valentines Day (none for me thanks) flowers when the firemen knocked on the door to tell them the flats above were burning!  Luckily an empty property in the centre has been given to them for temporary use. Her business may still suffer badly mind.

Police are looking for a nineteen year old man, so there is no doubt who is responsible, and work on the building, if it survives, may go on for months.  The smell hangs about in the air as the fireman slogs his way dampening down the place.  

This blocked the road and caused my bus to drive the long way around town to head south.  In fact we arrived a wee bit early while I expected it to hinder us. I therefore headed through the town, stopping at the Cathedral for a moment and found myself impressed with a sculpture in the prayer chapel.  It is not often such things attract me but this one, photographed discretely from a distance, did look OK to me. Less impressive was the price on the second hand cameras in the local camera shop.  Certainly asking £45 for an aged Olympus Trip was excessive so you can imagine the prices of the better stuff!  Following an attractive thin legged well dressed woman, by accident obviously, I came to the market where I had a butcher at the butchers while not surprisingly I lost her as she entered a show shop, drawn irresistibly as a moth to a light bulb!  Looking at the butchers was useful however as my fridge was as empty as my intellect, and my chances as it happens.  

So I found myself in the library (pronounced 'in t' library' for those in Yorkshire) climbed down the stairs to enter, climbed up the stairs to the quiet local reference area and began to browse.  It amazed me that such a building should house the library and the Essex Council Buildings when so many stairs are in use. To enter the council many more stairs climb up and down, only a council could get away with it!  There are lifts obviously but really!  

Anyway I browsed the books, grabbed very little info and discovered the microfiche of the WW2 newspapers!  I browsed, once they had been unlocked and instructed on how not to break the machine, a suitable periodical and was impressed as to how little difference there was between those editions and today's.  Certainly tales of war derring-do are limited today but the theft, complaints letters, and sensational headlines are similar.  One thing was very good, the ability to advertise for male or female staff!  How lovely to see PROPER ADVERTS again!  Mind you the housekeeper adverts never revealed how much you were paid, so that was not good!  I loved the advert for 'Craven 'A'' Cigarettes, 'For your throat's sake' it claimed!  Another interesting point was how little was expressed in this weekly newspaper.  A German 'Junkers 88' aircraft brought down by anti-aircraft fire 'a bright orange glow in the sky' was said to have crashed 'seven miles north of an Essex town.'  No town name is given in 1944 just in case the Germans find out.  In fact considering the years of war past so little was said in the paper, but that is to be expected.   

Now I know all about this I must go back and research better when I have more time and know what I am looking for.  On returning I went to see the boss to discover a lead as to what next and found her elsewhere. Tsk!  Typical!  So I made my way home clutching the chicken, meat and pies I bought at the butchers.  £11 for a few days meals is not bad all things considered as this will do for most of the week now.  

One thing I noted is the attitudes in a large town, now called a 'city' in comparison to those of this sleepy market town.  How miserable they appear, how unwilling to speak, unless selling something, although the staff at the library were acceptable in their behaviour.  I did note the unsmiling nature the larger the town however.  Incidentally Chelmsford was granted 'City' status not because it is the centre of Essex, a boring centre I say, but because Colchester, a much more interesting place, turned it down.  The peoples if Colchester regard their town as the 'oldest town in England,' this title they would lose if they became a 'city' so they avoided it to keep the tourists!

Ah fame!

    

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Up Town Again

The trains were in one of their little anarchic moments today.  One train  has a problem very early in the day and everything falls apart. So as the timetable was out the door, made worse by the driver of my train claiming the brakes were not working!  Thanks for that pal!  So after the meeting with the man I made my way around the historic town.  Historic it is indeed, and I passed the 'Castle,' without entering and avoided the tour of the two large Roman arches that hold the beast in place.  The two large rooms were the last hiding place of the Roman and Romanised population when Boudica came calling.  her gentle womanly side saw her burn the town to the ground and this included those hiding here.  The remainder of the castle were rebuilt several times and the building is less a castle and more a large house, much altered!  

Outside the entrance stands the splendid War Memorial.  This historic town was also wealthy by the end of the 19th century and liked to do things in style.  A town this size sent many to the war and this is still a garrison town.  The town is the base for 2 and 3 Para battalions.  Several large expensive trucks roared past me today while several cars ferried off duty soldiers to places of refreshment.  The castle grounds contain several memorials including one of the few to those who fought in the 'Forgotten War,' the Korean War!  So few cared about that adventure, and with few televisions around information was not available then as now, so people just ignored it.  After the previous fifty years the UK rightly wished to get on with its life and avoid further entanglements. The 'end of empire' was sufficient trouble for most.  I wish I had pictured this now. 

I am not sure which battalion of the 'Essex Regiment he served with. 

The town hall has an excellent council meeting room and the late Victorian building is still the centre of the council. Next door stand the 'Old Library,' an outstanding building for such a work, and now a mere 'refectory' for the council staff.  Down the same street a lawyer has moved into a Tudor like building which, like so many here, dates back into the mists of timet.  The difficulty is that this area was used by weavers who arrived from the Flanders and Netherlands in days of yore and roads are very narrow, and indeed busy.  This makes photography difficult!  Vans and passersby do not help much either.  

  Ye olde Lawyers with ye new charges you bet.

 Town Hall and Old Library

Heading back to my wait for the train, and it became clear that the staff were working on a moment by moment basis as the announcements were somewhat unpredictable.  One train causes problems and the effect on a busy commuter line can take two days to put right!  On the way I stopped my weary body to get strength by stepping into St Peters Church for a moments contemplation.  This church is on the hill heading north and it becomes clear why this was used as a fort town.  The steep hill at this side gives a clear view for miles around, or would have in past times, and following on from the Britons work the Romans strengthened the defences and much of the wall still remains. None of the wall crossed my path today, actually walls rarely 'cross my path,' they do have a habit of staying put I find.  Originally the town was almost defenceless, hence Boudicas success, but after this Roman engineers got to work. St Peters is one of those rare churches mentioned in the Domesday book. There were at least two vicars in 1086, the town clearly wealthy even then, and it is likely that a wooden Saxon building stood here before this date, the Normans having the habit of rebuilding old churches in stone to impress on the populace their domination. The original building may go back further still but no record exists. There are foundations of a building from the 300's which appears to a church to the south of this hill and it is possible there may have been a small building here at that time also.  There as many old churches as buildings not surprisingly in this important town.

    
Inside I found a somewhat dark, and surprisingly large, almost cavernous, building.  Heavy dark wood, large windows but not receiving the sunshine during the middle of the day, and a aroma of candle wax hanging in the air. The place was empty and very quite, noticeable as a busy main road is right outside the front door, and I wandered down the aisle and deposited my self gladly in a pew.  Clearly this is an Anglo Catholic church, the wax aroma and what I took to be a confessional at the side indicate this. Many Church Of England buildings are closed and locked these days unless someone is on guard, theft being a major problem.  In busy towns there are those who remain open nevertheless to allow those who wish to a few moments of reflection, specially at lunchtimes. Maybe I am wrong but it appears to be the Anglo Catholics who do this more than others, I could of course be wrong.  When these imitation Roman Catholics emerged in the 19th century they chose a road that differed from the rest of the churches.  As towns and cities expanded the churches followed the people. Good idea I say, however the poorest were left behind in what became slum areas.  The Anglo Catholics chose to 'pastor the poor,' and built magnificent church buildings among the poorest people.  Possibly that attitude continues and is revealed in churches remaining open, quiet and ready for the individual. Another entered and I left him in the dim, quiet basilica and very happy indeed with my few moments headed for a disjointed train ride home.



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Radio Voices

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Listening to the radio you can tell much about the person speaking. You can recognise their class, if they possess any, their age is often easy to guess and it is possible to even tell their colour and nationality to some extent from their voice. However the picture of the person that comes to mind is never that which exists. When I was a lad, in the days of the BBC Home Service, the early morning news programme 'Today' was led by one Jack De Manio, a man famous in his day, usually for giving out the wrong time and various other gaffes! This highly popular presenter led this programme single handed from 1958 until 1970 when he was joined by a fellow presenter, soon after he left as the situation did not suit him and presented 'Jack de Manio Precisely on Radio 4 in the afternoons.  Although I heard his voice on many occasions as I stuffed toast in my big mouth preparing for the long trek to school and another day of ghastly misery I had an image of this man in my head. One day, much to my shock, I came across a picture of him and discovered he was nothing at all like the image my mind had offered me! Now, a short time since those days, I can no longer remember what my original image happened to be but it was nothing like the man himself. It is strange how we can identify so much about a speaker on the wireless but no matter how much information we gather we cannot tell what they actually look like, they never fit our image of them. Many benefit from this of course, and there are numerous folks who have the face fit for radio walking the streets today.

I popped into the library to get warm some education this afternoon and was seated near a heater browsing a book concerning photojournalism. However not far away there was a line of PC's, all occupied, and one twenty something male was willing to share his music at an annoying level. Had this actually been music it might have been tolerable, however the refrain 'Please stand up,' repeated constantly at various levels was, in my humble view (and humble is the word I am assured), unsuitable for a library. Moving along past the medical problems, masses of books lying to people about how easy it is to repair a car, or create your own business, I was enlightened by two schoolgirls gossiping about boyfriends in the library to study but doing so quite loudly, and I began to wonder why they no longer have signs saying 'SILENCE SOME FOLKS ARE READING YOU IGNORANT LOUTS!' like we used to do? Noise appears to be OK in such places now and this has been made worse by two things, one is the daft idea of closing 'reference libraries' where proper study was possible, and the other the modern design of new buildings which allow all noise to circulate. Our building has a children's library with no doors thus allowing the screaming brats to entertain everybody no matter how far way they are. Considering many events for the kiddies are held there and those deeply studying advanced maths, literary composition or pictures of nudes nature in photographic books find themselves repeating 'Mrs Tiddlywinks went to market' instead of something more useful. Libraries, like most of society, has no consideration for others these days. The purpose of the library, to educate and enlighten, appears these days to be to provide a service for those who wish to read the papers for free, dodge school or keep warm gossip away from schoolfriends. Sorry, but I wish the old days were back. 

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