I managed to survive the big day on Sunday, 'Textile Day' was a roaring success and by a clever trick I survived this day - I stayed at home! It appears the multitudes did arrive, did spend money, did buy loads of cards in handfuls, did gossip, admire and altogether have a real good time. I had better, I stayed in bed.
Tuesday however I was warned of a group arriving to visit, this soon occurred. One woman arrived just after ten when she claimed they all would be meeting, ignoring the women gathering outside. Eventually another woman arrived and then they came together to the prearranged meeting with one of my many bosses. However still they women arrived, all of dubious ages, as there was a second group meeting here but not informing us, and they happily gathered themselves together slowly until they all arrived much later than planned. It was however not their fault.
This at a time when we have just begun to replace the heating system therefore half the museum is out of bounds. Plumbers and staff, not me I must not leave my post, spent the day moving, clearing, carrying and hiding things while I attended to the ladies.
While one meeting went quickly, as quickly as any all female meeting can go, the other group sauntered around examining each item and discussing its merits and meaning. I did not listen in, I had my own opinions. The girls happily spent much time on each exhibit, and some it must be said are very well done, before coming in to the shop on the way out and spending money! This was pleasing. Such exhibitions do not attract great crowds during the year so to see groups making the most of them and enjoying themselves, and they appeared happy, was a good thing.
The laptop has been playing up. It has been running slow and I have run all the proper items to speed things and also removed and altered other items. On top of this the online banking has not allowed me in, so I must spend time changing all the info to see how much I have not got. All this takes time as I also have been sorting out all the items on those memory sticks which are lying around. These have become somewhat confused and there are several items (big items) on more than one disk and often twice on that!
During this process, in between the grunts, swear words and oops I've closed it down somehow, reactions I have been discovering old pictures. This one taken at Sandbanks a while back. How lovely to be there when the sun shines, or indeed at other times. At one time I considered moving there but it never felt right, which is a pity as I miss the sea and friends are there, but they at least are happy so that is one thing I suppose.
This Lightship was based at St Katherine's Dock positioned as you can see near Tower Bridge. These one time busy docks had been transformed into residences of a variety of ships and the warehouses around contained shops etc and flats above for the upcoming rich. In the late 70's I wandered down Wapping High Street, until then I had always known High Streets as laces full of shops and businesses but here I discovered, in between the empty spaces left by WW2 bombing, towering warehouses on both sides of the street. A bit run down and seedy with the occasional burnt out church or ruin but quiet enough at the time. How many people worked alongside these buildings? How many famous or predecessors of famous people walked up Wapping Steps off shipping in days gone by. How many foggy London nights saw ships rocking gently in the tide? In the 70's all this had gone, only an occasional moored barge on the far side reflected the distant past. When I wandered there in the 90's these warehouses were now expensive flats with their own 'Oddbins' wine shop at the foot in easy reach for the trendy residents. The two up, two down, houses of the late Victorian era had not survived the council planners even if they had survived the blitz. Modern housing, expensive at that, filled the area outside the ex-warehouses and sleek cars sped past where once growling lorries or horse and carts had pulled their loads.
Now you folks with any sense will regard this picture as boring. There is a reason for this, it is a boring picture! It is one I took some 20 years ago when I first had the bike and sauntered out around the area looking at the sky, dangerous on a bike, and watching green fields with strange crops therein. Having sent so many years in the concrete jungle this was refreshing to the eyes and the locals could not see it because it was just always there! I could see it and enjoy it, no matter how boring such pictures appear to be. All around that road there were fields, they must be similar today, crops pushing into the sky cheering the farmer and possibly encouraging wildlife. I am not so sure such fields help wildlife myself though the number of fields left fallow under EU rules has meant these fields do encourage birds and bees and other creatures to thrive. I did however here a warning that rabbits, once covering the UK have disappeared from many areas. In Scotland some 80% of rabbits have gone, about 60% in the rest of the UK. Why I did not hear but many birds are also failing, sparrows are less in evidence and the Swifts that must soon appear are less in number each year. Maybe people have taken to eating rabbits rather than use foodbanks...?
