Medieval Day

We took our museum De Lorean vehicle and went back to 1215 on Saturday.  King John appeared, anxious to ensure the taxes were being collected, and graced us with his presence, a presence that required countless cups of tea I noticed.  This burred and hurried picture shows him with one of his Knights who revealed the art of dressing in armour and after the picture was taken how to use a sword and kill said Knights in armour.  To do this he obtained a volunteer from the audience, a brave 10 year old, who was then the subject of thrusts, jabs, assaults and so on to ensure we got the picture.  The lad never moved a muscle but I did.  

 

The kids then put on parts of the armour and learnt a great deal about knights in shining armour from that alone.  Most came to both sessions and I reckon it was one of the best judging by the kids and parents reactions.   

One chap described the workings of the local Mill, the use made of 'Tithe Barns,' two of which exist nearby, and allowed folks to taste the Rye bread of the medieval day as well as the Spelt bread used by the rich.  I supplied jugs of water to prevent choking on the Rye bread as it was somewhat dry Rye.  The difference in basic foodstuffs over 800 years is hard for some to accept.  The rich had what they needed, mostly by hunting, and the poor got what they got!  The Conservative Party work on similar principles today.

This table gave off a magnificent fragrance!  The variety of herbs and spices used in those days is astounding.   The lass told those interested what the various herbs were used for, healing in some cases, making food edible in others and even cleaning the teeth!  Some would have only been available for the richer folks, others would have been grown or searched for by the peasants as and when.  Most lived off the land so they would be raised with an awareness of what was possible from that which grew around the place.  

The Knight in shining armour (which has to be cleaned daily or it rusts as it is steel, think of the work the yeomen had maintaining a Knight?) appears big and brave and the Essex Knights were very rebellious.  After King Johns failure in the French wars these chaps revolted bringing about the Magna Carta and civil war that soon followed.   Soon after the publication John, an able administrator if lousy warrior, got the Pope, who did not like him, to annul the Carta.  This led to war with the nobles.  The brave Knights however were not so brave when John's loyal nobles defeated them up north somewhere so when John came to Essex looking for them they hopped it to London where it was safer, the city being anti John also.  The reason for the uprising?  Money!  John taxed them too much and they disliked it.  After he died however all settled down, they kept their lands and everyone went back to hating the French.

  
It was a very good but somewhat long day and my knees being unhappy with me by the end.  Large numbers passed through, asked questions, bought books or pictures signed by the authors/artists, understood medieval life, searched through an archaeological dig, examined a skeleton (plastic) and had a jolly good time.  I am not sure whether the orange stuffed with cloves in a decorative manner will actually keep away the plague but it went down well with some.  
I missed the football, had to drag my weary body to the shops for eatables and arrived in the smelly abode worn out and glad I am not sleeping on straw or having to run after a Lord or King.  Climbing all the stairs in a Norman 'Keep' is hard work I can tell thee.  I have done it once and I am not keen to do it again.  I am however keen on sleeping since then and wish to develop this as a hobby.

 
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Pondering...

The question was put "Why don't you live in Edinburgh?"  A question I must report that has often been asked of me, sometimes from between gritted teeth.  This got me thinking as to why.  There are many reasons, cash being the most obvious.  Had I been rich I would have a wee house up there and one wee house down here spending winter in the warm soft south and Spring and summer, or the odd day as it's called, up there.  Actually if I had money I may move to Portugal where it is warm most of the time!  The Festival and its Fringe in August would certainly force me elsewhere, even the north pole would do to avoid the millions of weirdos who arrive in Edinburgh at that time, some of you may possibly be amongst them!
Who do I know in Edina now?  Few family members around and mostly well out of the city, no living space for me there.  They have their own families and lives which differ from mine, they have little need of me.  The people I knew when I left, for good as it turned out, in 1975 have moved on, who knows how they have changed over the years?  The one remaining pillar is the Heart of Midlothian footbll club and it is now impossible to get in to see them as they are crowded out each week!  The more I consider it the less I see for me there.
I was born  in Edinburgh's Western General Hospital in nineteen hundred and typing error, an excellent hospital ten times the size from when I first arrived.  Edinburgh then was an decent place to grow up, the housing was new, the neighbours got on well, attitudes after the war carried much that had developed during the war and many wished to create a better world.  Schools disciplined the chidlren, a slap on the legs at primary was not uncommon, and the leather strap across the hands just as common in secondary school, today teachers will not even raise their voices to the brats!  In spite of having nothing kids got everything as parents took advantage of their new lives, lives that were hard but much, much better than those they endured as youngsters.
Edinburgh then was a darker place, generations of soot covered the buildings leaving a black exterior, rain mingling with smoke from countless fires at work and home brought to life the nickname ''Auld Reekie.'  An all too often bleak city in winter.  However then as now Edinburgh teamed with history, all facilities required could be obtained especially if money was available and there was always lots going on.  This now has increased abundantly as these more propserous days have opened up new avenues of enjoyment.  (Bah Humbug! I begin to cry, bring back misery!)
However Edinburgh may have had many good things it also had some bad ones.  Many memories I have are not of good times but bad ones.  In spite of all that is on offer much more is required in life and I had to go elsewhere for that.  
Having worked in London a few years before I retunred there to attend the Baptist Church in Westbourne Grove.  This was Gods plan although I did not realise this at the time.  This then became home for men for another twentysomething years.  Edinburghs advantages fade when confronted with the Living God!  This was a good, though difficult, time.  Living at first in some ropey housing then moving into one box after another does not please some folks but it was a life and I was in the right place.  Edinburgh however had at least got sky!  From the window looking north we could see across the field and the Forth the hills of Fife, in London we could see one row of houses after another.   As the song says, "We could see to Hackney Marshes, if it wasn't for the houses in between."  The pace of life did not bother me until my forties and the church also broke up at that time the period of Gods work moving into a different direction.  When that period ended I removed myself to this part of Essex for another twenty years, but that is another story.  Would I go back to Edinburgh now?  If Scotland became independent it would be an exciting idea.  However I cannot afford to move to the shops let alone Edinburgh or a wee hoose in the Highlands.  It snows less here also!  
I have not discussed the attitudes of the peoples either.  They vary enormously from this area, London and Scotland.  The culture is different but hw different from when I lived there?  Then there were few drug takers, but many drunks, now drug gangs in our area abound.  Traffic is greater than before, the pace higher than I am now used to and it would be more likely I would move into a smlaler area, but where?  I like the slower life now, age is telling, and wish to see the sea again.  A rich man would move near the sea and close to but far enough from a decent size town.  He would also be found in the Algarve during winter however! 
Ah dreams....

Lazy Thursday

The leaves are changing colour, a wee bit like my face when climbing steps.  Still only the beginnings of the yellowing and much greenery still around.  Nice when the sun shines on it as it did for an hour this morning.  Back to normal now.  

 Telegraph

Talking about normal today the English parliament ended the UK union when they passed a law banning Scot or other MP's voting on English matters.  As the English parliament votes on Scots things this is unfair but the imperialists appear not to care.  This fooling act has brought about freedom for Scotland and poverty for England and they do not realise the cost.

Wet Wednesday

 

Dull, dreich, dismal day today.  Rain from early morning, cloudy drizzle thereafter, just the ideal day to stay indoors and catch up on the repairs the place requires. The night had been short however and I did not sleep too well for unknown reasons, rising early was also not good and the day has been passed in a blurry haze.  The blurry haze may be the reasons the work I began have failed miserably, others look to follow and work planned for tomorrow is looking very unattractive.  Maybe instead of letting all this go to waste I ought to write a play about an incompetent doing DIY?  The slapstick effects will be wonderful, that reminds me where is the paint?  

On top of this the workmen, who bodge it better than I, are coming to fix a Carbon monoxide detector in the house, something landlords must do by law now, and the plumber made it clear to me our boiler which sticks pout through a hole in the wall does not require one of these, but the law says install one anyway.  The new smoke alarm makes sense and mine must be getting old by now so that is a good idea.  I suspect they will arrive when I am walking in tomorrows rain towards the post office, my tea levels will be drained by the time I return!

 

A nice picture of the unelected English queen asking the democratically elected Chinese dictator how much he is willing to pay for her house at Balmoral.  He may as well buy it as he has bought her government already.  What a sight to see, English Conservatives selling everything to the Chinese as they have no idea themselves how to make money.  Will there be a 'special relationship?'  There will certainly be no questions about the thousands of lawyers recently imprisoned, the thousands of Christians imprisoned the churches torn down or the threats to Japan and other south east Asian nations.  There will however be money in George and Dave's pockets, so that's all right then...

How to be an Idiot Vol: 3 Chapter 227.

As I sat recovering in the 'Coffee Point' awaiting my host bring the 'Americana' to revive me I sadly cogitated on the inherent stupidity I carry with me always.  You see I splashed out £35 pounds on a small Android with keyboard to act as a mini laptop when away.  I managed to download Facebook and one or two other things and then stupidity came to the fore.  You see when I logged on all I got was the 'Try Again' message as the password would not work.  This was because the week before I had to change the password and could not work out what I had changed it to.  As only one email was working and I could not get into it without the password that I had forgotten I was stuck!    
I could write on WORD as I downloaded this, FB did allow me to read but not write as I could not log in to log in!  I bought this thing as it had a keyboard attached as opposed to fidgeting with one on screen and allow as well before I left.  How frustrating, I could have blogged but without pictures and bored you each night.  It may be years before I need the thing again!      

Back to work with sixty delightful children and teachers coming through the shop.  Not much else happened but as Xmas approaches we will see folks wander around the shop more.  I was glad to get home early as I begun repairing all the broken bits at home.  Some have lain broken for a while and in the next few days they will be repaired, painted, touched up and just as bad as they are now.  But it's a beginning.

Hard Work and People

The reason my back aches as much as the knees is this allotment.  Having an easy day they said, which meant working in the allotment.  The goods that grow organic like here are excellent and I wish I had a small garden in which to do the same.  However the bending, cutting, pulling and lifting are no longer aspects of my life and I have few thoughts of going back to them.  This did not make any difference to my friends!  In spite of their various health problems the work had to be done and therefore as I was the youngest and for unknown reasons considered the fittest I had to follow orders.  What was revealed was the level of fitness I possess, a near death experience I think it is called.  Having dragged me all over town, along the beach and up Mont Blanc, through Wareham and dumping rubbish at the council dump I can tell you I was ready for the Friday trip home.  The morning saw desperate prayer as I could not consider a long train trip tired as I was as a jolly.  Prayer of course worked and the trains, and the exchanges were as good as could be!  However by Friday morning I was worn out.  Monday sees me still recovering and my knees not keen on climbing stairs.

Again I embark on one of those exercise periods, this time I must continue this, otherwise I may well die.  

Dawn yesterday promised bad weather according to the proverb, remaining indoors I never really noticed how it went but it did not appear too bad to me.  Should we believe 'Farmers tales?'  There must be something in them as folks who work out of doors always watch the weather and little things attune them to the changes unseen by others.   

One thing about being back home is it means I do not have to watch others TV choices.  The missus relaxes after her hard work by making use of brain dead TV, 'Murder She Wrote,' 'Heartbeat' and 'NCIS' being the favourites.  These I watched with no remarks regarding the stilted acting, the bad scripts, the hairstyles (of the men!) or the endings, which were obvious, no I stayed quiet all through wondering if having my teeth pulled would make for more enjoyment.  

In 1978 I got rid of the TV.  I did without one until 1986 when the World Cup forced me to obtain a freebie when neighbours left for the richer suburbs.  Since then football, news, a documentary or two are about the only things I watch.  The so called drama these days is mere soap operas but soap opera with guns, explosions and near naked women, real original drama with new story lines, original events and proper acting appear rare.  Placed alongside a diet of house programmes and bloody cooks I find little of joy on telly these days.  There are good things available if you search hard enough but only rarely.  The demands of advertising force bread & circuses on commercial channels and the BBC appears intent o following them.  It's a disgrace I say!

However on the other hand sitting stuffing chocolates and other unhealthy foodstuffs down my throat as we gathered around the big screen was enjoyable.  Being with this my 'other family' is relaxing in other ways than forced marching.  I first came across them in 1971 when I entered a strange dark Baptist church in Notting Hill and spent a little time with them then as he ran his first attempt as church minister.  The place had almost closed a year before and he started with only a handful of people and left a thriving growing congregation behind when he moved to the coast.  There he took a thriving congregation and left them in a new building, a disused cinema costing a million pounds.  A great success at both places and all this leaving behind a sense of 'love' of the proper sort.  Of course they remain members of the church there but without the 24/7 stress, that belongs to others now. 

I would be nothing without them, they gave up so much time for me as they did and do for others, and I owe them much.  There are so many people I have met who have been good to me it is a wonder how so often I think only of the bad ones.  It is a truth that if ten things happen, nine of them being good ones, the one bad thing is what sticks in the mind.  We all have bad things happen to us and bad people abound, truth being we also do bad things to others but this we can justify to ourselves, these things happen and we just have to get on with it.  I am glad there are good people out there who read this and some who miss me when I am gone.  This surprised me somewhat as I thought you knew I was away but cheered me up a great deal to know you could not live without me.  What?....oh!  Anyway that made me happy.

A Wee Toon by the River

Wareham is indeed a 'wee toon,' with a long history.  Two main roads divide the town into four quarters and a few very tight roads run off from these.  This river crossing point lies at the far end of the great sweeping inland bay of Poole Harbour, between the rivers Frome & Piddle. A local brewery produces a variety of beers under the name 'Piddle' you may wish to know.
People have dwelt in this area for almost ten thousand years, Stone Age Man's flints soon became bronze then iron tools and when the Romans came they found this an ideal spot to land their ships and create a small settlement as they determined to occupy this land.  Later the Saxons built a turf wall, Alfred the Great in the 9th century may have been responsible as the Danes were then threatening everyone.  The fighting continued, as it does in England, King Canute trashed the town, some time later during the civil war (the 12th century one) more royals caused conflict here.  The Normans of course arrived as a kind of peace keeping force, they forced a peace and kept everything they saw!  The river however silted up and what had become a useful port saw its trade depart to the more approachable town of Poole itself, trade however continued for locals until the railway arrived in Victorian days.  
The English civil war saw Parliament and Royalist forces bashing one another in the town, Cromwell knocking the remaining walls and anything else he didn''t like down, during the Monmouth rebellion the town took the wrong side as did much of Dorset and the famous Judge Jeffrey's, the 'Hanging Judge,' held his 'Bloody Assizes' here and watched folks being hanged, drawn and quartered on the remains of the walls.  Cheerful lad he was.  Much of the town was rebuilt with Purbeck limestone from up the road after a disastrous fire in the 1700's and some nice houses remain.  During the Great War the town became a garrison town hosting 7000 soldiers nearby and Bovington Camp was established up the road in the 1920's.
You can tell I visited the small museum!

As we wandered around this locked church, 'St Martin's on the Wall,'we found it sadly locked, the key was available from a nearby shop but 'Harry,' as I shall call him, claimed the man with the key would not be there. 'Harry' came up to us as we looked at the building and gave us his version of the churches history, this had interesting points, which he obviously did not like contradicted, and we let him talk.  People like this often come into the museum and we must listen to their stories as such aged citizens do have memories and info regarding the local area well worth hearing.  However checking his facts is always a good idea. St Martin on the Wall, it does indeed stand upon the wall, is an original Saxon church made in stone and well worth a look inside, which we did not manage!  
However it is a wonderful church as these pictures of the Church reveal, I suggest you browse these.

As the old folks slept in the car I visited the very small but well laid out museum, free entry but pay 50p if you wish to take a photo - I declined - and wandered to the quay.  On the way I passed the 'Black Bear Hotel' with the Black Bear standing on the veranda awaiting guests.  Figures such as these, as you know, were used in times past to identify buildings for those, the majority, who could not read.  It is possible the bear was at one time a real bear as bear baiting was a popular pastime in days of yore, although not with the bears I am told.

 

      

While she wandered about Sainsburys we helped by wandering around 'Lady St Mary Church.'  They are proud of the 'Lady' bit in the name.  It appears the Celts built a church here way back when and the Saxons enlarged or replaced this, the Benedictines in the 12th century built a Priory next door to the church and once more enlarged the building emphasising their importance and wealth. Since then it has been much amended over the years (Not least by Cromwell who smashed up a lot of it).  The small 'St Edwards Chapel' pictured is probably part of the original building.  St Edward became a teenage King in the year 975 which did not please some nobles and his half brother Ethelred.  Edward was murdered at Corfe and his body lay in the church for two years when he was taken to Shaftesbury.  Tales of miracles made him a martyr (this bringing pilgrims and their cash) and somehow his bones now lie in a Russian Orthodox Church in Brookwood Cemetery near Woking.  His usefulness as martyr ended with the Reformation.

 

 

Graffiti in the 7th or 8th century appears to have been done by folks armed with chisels.  On the left 'Catgug son of Gideon' is written (as you know 'Catgug' is 'Cadogan' in modern Welsh). 'Congorie' probably a latinised version of 'Gongor' appears a century or so later.  Proving the 'Britons' of the day continued to live here for some time after the Saxon invasion but most were forced into Wales where many still reside.  This is a lovely impressive church but as 'Harry' appeared to continue lecturing we passed him on to a student from the local university studying the Reformation and ran for the door.

The student may still be there listening...

Hunger forced us from the town and we found a place to eat our sandwiches while deer posed for photographers who passed by heading for a tramp over the heath.  What the tramp thought about this is not known.  We ought to have gone their also but age time was catching up with us and we headed for home.  Such a small town is Wareham but with a long, quite varied and violent history.  English towns often are!  This one built on a landing area brought many invaders and defenders to the area.  It was a gateway to the south west and Corfe Castle was built up the road in an effort to block the path of strangers passing along.  A castle was built here but we were unable to visit the few remains, only a mound is now seen apparently and that in private land.

Some locals.

The Sea! The Sea! It's Wet...

Having arrived for a rest from my labours I was taken on a walk through a park, up the high Street crowded with heavy traffic and thousand's of people and then forced along the beach.  We started high up along the chine where seaside flats with large windows and enclosed balconies start at around £400,00 and with houses on the shore with views over Poole Harbour fetching between £3 and 10 million.  I will not be buying one.   

 
I was not only frogmarched along the shore but then forced to climb back up the chine the hard way - going upwards!  We took a shortcut (he said) to make it easier but I lost two stone in weight by the time we reached the top.  

The sand along here is well maintained. Earlier this year in was renewed as storms had taken much away and we watched a tractor pulling deep sand back from the stairs down to the beach, the tide has raised this several feet and his job was to pull it all back.  He soon gave up we noticed.  During the summer there are many guards on duty, strict control over the promenade, two cyclists who went through at the wrong times were fine £50 plus much more in costs for cycling at the wrong times, and huts are placed at various intervals for the many problems families bring with them, or children as they are known.  

We began our Matterhorn like ascent around here at the back of a somewhat grubby hotel.  Had we been able to continue we would have reached Sandbanks where the multi million pound houses are found but instead climbed to the mere million pound ones.  Flats here have wonderful views and are the last resting places of the wealthier type who retire here to waste the cash their children hoped they would inherit.  We were personally ignored by several of those. 

Poole Harbour, a lovely spot with water only a few feet deep for a long way out.  Usually you see people standing next to a boat far out but few were about this day.  In the middle of course the water is very deep and the Bologne Ferry passes by at regular intervals along side other large ships winding their way in.  The views here are magnificent, the weather always changeable but always offering a variety of sky to look at and wonder.  A very popular place to parade and only £2.5 million for a house, reasonable I say.  

This was to be the picture of us receiving oxygen from a passing paramedic crew but I considered it too unsavoury for tender hearts...

Reading With Eyes Closed.

Tsk! What a to do!  I wrote, in English, that I was away for a few days and I return to find that people do not read the words i struggle so hard "cough" to place before them.  In 'Miscellany' I said I would be away and you ignored it.  Pah!  Anyway I was of to sunnier climes, to good food, warm house, clean sheets, and fine company, alas also lots of appallingly bad television.  That's another story.  
You will be delighted to await the several hundred pictures, some properly in focus, that will follow in the following days.  Holiday pictures abound and some people find them boring.  I had to sit through forty minutes of video taken at the Victoria Falls in Zambia without ever grumbling once, although the crocodile slipping silently into the water made a comment rise in my throat I can tell you!  How many locals he had eaten was anybody guess.  

The sound of the sea and the aroma of the briny filled my head on at least one occasion and a trip to a far of land, nine miles, took us out of ourselves for a day.  I was force marched, in my condition, on several occasions aided only by my companions damaged hips and similar restrictions as myself.  They even forced me to work, getting my hands dirty for the first time in years, and thought this amusing.  It was only the thought of the food when we returned that kept me breathing otherwise I may well have collapsed and awaited the ambulance.
Right I am exhausted from travelling on Britain's luxurious railways, which I must say was actually enjoyable today, I did pray hard about both journeys, and then running up the road to the shops to put something in the fridge before I collapsed in bed for a while.  Worse still I had to watch Ross County defeating Aberdeen 2-0 tonight thus being unable to write anything on here.  The lack of substance inside my head also legislates against this at the moment I admit.  So I am back to bed and tomorrow I will be ready for ...going back to bed.

Lova & kisses etc...

An Intellectual Evening

A Miscellany

I have spent time attempting to clear up all the stuff abandoned in the last few weeks.  This was not helped by having to work yesterday afternoon when 60 charming kids came into the shop.  All well behaved and keen but having to deal with so many takes two of us.  This only lasted an hour or so but left us worn out and mentally drained, and that is dangerous when there is little to start with.
Still the kids spent nearly £3 each and that helps the museum remain open.  This is good as the Magna Carta exhibit brings in so many but we really require things local folks can identify with.  I spent some time today typing up paperwork left by a get together of folks who once worked in one of our past industries.  Some began work  in 1934 at ten shillings and sixpence a week, and they only worked every second week!  In those days women who married left work, or were forced to leave work, and single girls took their place.  It made for a turnover of staff but appears a bit daft to me.  Understandable if they have kids and should look after them but as a matter of rule it is a bit daft.

Would you believe I stopped there last night and then watched Scotland's latest debacle against Poland and forgot all about this.  Mind it was getting late and there was less to write about than I had already written which says something.

I am desperate to get out and practice some photography as I realise I need practice!   Looking at others pictures makes mine look inadequate therefore I need to get out and about but this has not been possible lately.  However I am away for a few days next week and have purchased a cheap android to see if I can put stuff up.  So far it works in many things but not Blogger, typical!  We shall see later if it works.  I may be amongst the wealthy, where the lifeboat poses the houses now cost several million a go, but I doubt I will be invited in for tea.  I did get an invite to a wedding, black tie and rich folks abounding, but have turned it down as I would look like Jeremy Corbyn amongst them and I would not upset the bride.  The twenty mile walk home late at night puts me off also.

One thing I hate is people posting pictures of their lunch!  At breakfast, lunch, in a coffee shop or watching the innumerable bloody awful rigged baking shows these folks have to post pictures of what is in front of them.  I thought about this as I looked into the stew that gurgles away on the stove.  It's food, nothing else, it either feeds you or doesn't, why post pictures every five minutes of what you eat?  There are those who every night reveal their tea to us, I refuse to look or indeed answer, whether on facebook or Twitter as I may say something offensive.  
The things people post on those 'social sites' sometimes appear strange to me.  One lass often posts one or two words as if she is answering a question.  Her 2000 may be as confused as I when she posts 'Tuesday!'  Especially when it is Sunday.   If not pictures of lunch one posts those absurd posters telling people to 'Be kind to one another,' or 'Be happy and accept others, they are just like you' yet when someone lets their dogs leavings remain on the street or doesn't say 'Thank you' she screams blue murder.  Maybe she doesn't read her posts.  Christians are just as bad, ten posting saying different things all of which go over the head or clash.  
I should say at this point that everything I post is suitable for use by each and everyone, all is relevant and never do |I repeat myself, never do I repeat myself.  Some nasty grouch may of course disagree but it is best to ignore such as they.

As I chopped up the veg for the stew, wiping away the blood that follows from actually using a sharp knife, I played a 'YouTube' Beatles miscellany.  This struck me as quieter than the 'Who' track, 'Won't get fooled again,' that I played earlier.  Both revealed a problem with YouTube and Win 10, the sound here is not as good as it was on Win 7.  Quite why this ought to be I know not but clearly it 'rasps' periodically through the song with can disturb the teenage angst that fills Beatles earlier work.  
At Tynecastle Park one day long ago as we waited the beginning of the reserve match against somebody or other the Tannoy played the Beatles 'Eight Days a Week.'  This upset Mattie Chambers the head groundsman.  He muttered about the music and offered his opinion in a full and frank manner and raced inside to fix it.  Montgomery, the assistant groundsman and others objected as this they thought was the music folks wished to hear.  A scratching sound was soon replaced with a ballad type song and a happier head groundsman.  How I identify with him when I hear the drivel that passes for music today.  Surely there is a deep crevasse somewhere suitable for Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift?


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Morning Work

This chap here tends to worry the kids as some think he is alive.  Sadly he is not and judging by the weight of his armour he is probably glad he is not alive.  The chain mail alone may weigh around 30 kilos.  He does give a good indication of the type of soldier you would see burning down your house and crops around the 1200's. 

Robert de Vere was the baron who lived in Hedingham castle (not this one, it's only a model) a castle which had only one failing, it wasn't very good.  The Keep seen here still stands and is well worth a visit if you like climbing stairs.  Much of the time it makes money by being used as a wedding venue or similar but occasionally it is open.  Some years ago a pretty girl and I climbed high up to the top and enjoyed the views over a wide area.  Then she pushed me off.  The layout is simle inside, one each floor you make use of the space where there are no dividing walls, just a curtain maybe to protect the Lord for you common types.  The dungeon was a bit dark however.
This present exhibition concerns the 'Magna Carta,' that's 'Big Charter' to you, and de Vere was one of the local Barons who rose up against King John.  The man at Stanstead Mountfichet, Pleshey and Dunmow also joined the rebelllion and after a short battle somewhere in Lincolnshire if memory serves me right King John came to Essex lookingfor the barons. 
They all hopped it to London as brave men do because London was on their side and impregnible. What happened to the folks left behind was not nice if they supported their man although many moved elsewhere as the ravaging army passed by.    
English inginuity has led to the small village around the castle being called 'Castle Hedingham.'

Another exhibition has been doing the rounds recently.  The women knitted several buildings in the town (when I first saw them I thought they were cakes!) and these are on display at the moment.  Here we see the museum including tree and statue of John Ray the naturalist in the front.

Some may prefer the view of the 'Swan' a public house that has stood here at least since the 1500's and probably before that also.  Taverns have a use and before the Reformation many pilgrims passed this way heading for the shrine at Bury St Edmunds.

Amongst our new stock I discovered this, it looks more appealing than 'Lemon Cheese' whatever that is!