Putting aside my bicycle clips I walked groggily over to the public gardens where, for the sake of raising funds to keep the gardens going, they put on a car show. How wonderful and event near enough to walk to rather than miss because it is held in a field way out of town usually.
I accidentally took around 200 pictures but fear not they will not all appear hear, well not at once anyway...
There were a grand collection of old British cars, Austins, Bentley and Alvis for instance, and the fancy US efforts from the late 50's and a couple of ex-army items also. I expected more motor bikes but only two appeared plus a scooter which was a disappointment especially as one of the bikes was a bit rough, probably working on it I suspect.
I have always liked the idea of a 'Jeep.' I prefer the British army version myself but the idea of just hopping on and off one of these is great in my little mind. The 'Jeep' from the US term 'General Purpose' vehicle, the GP as armies like using acronyms (it is 'acronyms' innit?) then commonly known as 'Jeep.' A more modern version was on sale around here recently and I really was glad I have no money as I was sure tempted by it. Naturally it is useless in the UK as the open sides let in the rain quite a lot and our summers are not renown to bring visitors. Still it's just another dream I suppose.
Austin
Next door Austin
One of the finest cars on show I thought.
From watching all those war films made in the fifties I was given the impression that all RAF pilots drove one of these MGs or failing that a Morgan. The reality however was somewhat different as one man indicated. "We could fly a Lancaster all the way to Berlin and back yet when we landed we got on our bikes, none of us could drive!" Few could afford any kind of car let alone a speedy roadster. The war however enabled a great many to learn to drive and that without a driving test of any kind. If you were passed fit to drive in the services the licence was handed over as that was considered good enough.
This you may remember was one of two 'Bubble Cars' that appeared on the streets around the late 50's. An attempt to provide a cheap transport they did not last long as the 'Mini' appeared and these were obsolete overnight. This one had room for a driver and one passenger or two very small ones.
More famous for motorbikes BSA made cars for a while, this ended with the advent of the second world war. One of these might cost you between £8000 and £15,000 today. I winder if the bikes cost more?
Now if you wish you could buy this two seater tourer for me for Christmas. I would never ask for anything from you ever again - well maybe petrol money...
Yankee things also appeared, much loved in Essex of course, this is a county that likes such flash vehicles. I do like the pickup myself.
Next to what I take to be his Aston Martin Ian Jordan gave us an interesting mix of 50's and 60's music. Most enjoyable and fitted well with the show.
Oh yes and if you are ever asked to volunteer for any event always make sure you understand the role you will be playing. It would nit do to say say "Yes!" before realising what you have let yourself in for, like these two...
You might get more of these tomorrow...
I have been scrambling about under the furniture, searching the sofa and counting the pennies in the cider jar trying to put together sufficient money for a deposit on a house. So far I have £32:23 pence and a one Shekel coin! I am unsure this will be sufficient.
The thing is the man downstairs is moving out After ten years or more of little contact (we fell out quite easily years ago) he has scraped together money enough to buy something somewhere. This was helped by bumping off a relative quite recently and obtaining a good amount to enable the purchase. I hope all goes well for him but I hope more for a decent newcomer into the building and not a couple of loud young folks pretending they are married, that always leads to noise, argument and the rest.
The local rag tells us the average cost of a home around here is now £293, 251. They also helpfully inform those willing to pay such an amount what they will need to earn thus: "Braintree, hourly wage £19.13, weekly wage £717.38, yearly salary £37,303.50." That's £19 an hour! OK, you take along a girl friend and ensure she is working but you still require £10 an hour and to also ensure you can keep your job. Sickness, unemployment, pregnancy and other unfortunate events will surely hinder the income somewhat and we have not mentioned food, bills or life itself yet.
Just how do people manage to buy?
This all goes back to the vile Thatcher, the woman who sold off all the council houses as well as most of everything else and forced the nation to rent expensively or pay through the nose for accommodation they could not afford. This led to the inevitable as people sold when prices rose, moved into more expensive homes and when the economy collapsed they were out on their ear and called scroungers by the Tories.
Harold MacMillan, a Tory who understood deprivation, was responsible for creating three million homes in the aftermath of war, he watched as she sold them off and began another era of deprivation.
The daughter of Thatcher, one George Osborne, a man deprived of her intellect which tells us something, knew how to make personal money and took her policies to their logical conclusion by ceasing to spend on public requirements, privatising them all and cutting aid to those who need it. Under he and his toff pal David Cameron the number of food banks operating at life's bottom end rose from a mere 66 to well over a thousand and it is still rising! What is worse is that the working poor are making use of them not just the benefit scrounger (@Daily Mail).
Two things strike me as interesting here, one is the fact that in this county our area is the cheapest! You require more, much more, to buy elsewhere in the county up to almost £49 an hour in the dearest areas. Where do they get the cash?
Now obviously nearer London the Rock guitarists, actors, and celebs you wish to avoid can splash out on mock Tudor mansions costing a million or two, those laundering money from abroad may wish to remain near the airport and others come from money dating back to the days of the wool trade and know how to fiddle the books in a manner unknown to those of us from North Edinburgh. Even so the number of ancient houses once the lodge of farm labourers that are priced at around half a million is enormous and folks gazzump to by!
I see little opportunity to obtain one of the houses I have eyed up recently and I have put my name on the local Housing register in case something happens with my landlord, decent though he is his age is in the 80's depending on who you speak to and what may happen we know not. A brief glance at the available properties on offer show none in this town and all with many people ahead of me in the queue.
What I require is my sister to keep buying those lottery tickets, win a fortune and pass some on to me. This was a hope for a while now dashed as she now puts the lottery money on the mantelpiece and saves it! The good Lord will however look after me and I have had 21 years of relative peacefulness in this place. It has been a vast improvement on London and I trust him to lead me on. That said Brexit will lead to much deprivation in the land and this place will soon be a palace in comparison to those losing their homes and filling cheap boarding houses. I have been fortunate so far, have you?
Museum.
Kids.
Lots of kids.
Rush here, rush there.
Mums.
Grans.
Granddads.
Families.
Kids.
Lots of kids.
Heat.
Rush here.
Rush there again.
Talk, talk, talk....
Questions.
Phone calls.
Kids.
Last week of school holidays.
Home.
Eat.
Sleep...
Morning arrived quite early today as it often does. The early sun inspired me so much that long before eight I was engaged in exercising my knees to a painful level. The stretching ensured that I had therefore to sit and ache for a while before stuffing myself with peanut butter covered brown (organic) bread before realising this was not the best option.
In an effort to avoid stiffening up I went for a walk down the hill. Here stand houses dating back to the 13 -1400s. This one stands close to a similar effort that forms the back end of a house on the corner. I suspect that these once served workers from the nearby fields or possibly in the many weaver connected trades that flourished down this street. I also suspect that once these had thatched roofs and were not so dainty as they now appear. I suspect also they cost less that the vast price they go for today.
Street Details
Essex houses, made of timber and plaster, often have patterns such as this on the walls sometimes covering the entire wall. Whether the design has any significance I cannot say having found no information of the houses I pictured. How long they have been there is also hard to tell. These building go back several hundred years and have found many uses, Inns, weavers, dyers, various cloth trades (the 'Bays and Says' of the Flanders folk who worked here in the past were famous. No one receiving these goods checked them as they knew they would be correct and they would not be cheated.) and of course one pub remains but the shops have gone with the weavers and their cloth.
This fellow and his mate has been gracing the doorway off 'Wentworth House' since the 17th century but the house itself probably began back in the 1400s. Over the years, as with all the others, it has spread from a mere hall, added rooms, workrooms and then another storey on top and until quite recently was in a mess. Restoration has given someone an expensive but historical work of art.
The smaller houses go back a bit also, these have interesting but not always genuine ancient items upon them. Genuine in age maybe but possibly in some cases recovered from elsewhere. This is one of three in a row, well decorated, brightly painted and costing a small fortune with a very busy main road outside the window. Why do people buy there?
My limbs told me to head homeward so I eased my eyes by bathing them in greenery by the river. This is a well kept spot but someone had chucked some files away at one place. I was tempted, not to greatly, to jump in and seek my fortune but managed not to.
Someone has been tending these trees for many years but I know not who. This was merely a place for the river to overflow (sorry Texas) and now contains recent housing costing just under half a million. I am sure they all have a stock of sandbags at the rear nowadays.
The reflection makes this picture a bit abstract and it takes some looking to understand it. Lovely and quiet today, no kids yelling, no couples groping, no passers-by, just the birds and the slow flowing river. Flowing so slow I thought it had stopped. Recently there has been a plan to put a number of (expensive) houses across the other side. This has caused upset and will certainly spoil this walk and the view over the other side. Money however speaks volumes!
This is what happens when thistles explode! So be careful when passing them.
Having exercised, walked, eaten and slept I now sit here aching all over wondering why I bothered! Tomorrow it is museum day and the last week of the holidays. I expect thousands will come in tomorrow and many mums begin to long for the peace and quiet next week. I will be longing for it also by lunchtime!
All day Saturday nothing happened again.
I mean I bought bread and cheap soggy fruit but that's not exciting is it?
So I sat in the park and awaited six O'clock so I could watch the rerun of the football.
Nothing happened in the park.
Not a thing.
The weekend holiday may have taken many away, it may be their shopping was done, it may be nothing was happening but nothing happened.
And my dinner was lousy...
So I mused.
Why, thought I, why has Donald Trump not been shot yet?
He lives in the USA where thousand shave already been gunned down, many fatally, so why has this notorious man not been shot? The population of the USA contains more headbangers per square in than anywhere else on earth and all are armed to the teeth so how come no-one has tried this yet?
I can understand normal enemies not killing him, you know, North Korea, Russia, China etc, as he is doing more for them being alive than he would dead. It is well known that British intelligence had been working on ways to kill Adolf Hitler when it was realised it was better to keep him alive as he was as his decisions were working in the allies favour. So also with Trump.
But surely there is one nutter there who might try?
Books: I thought of a book that might benefit another and ordered it! I think I have become obsessed! At one point today I accidentally found myself in a charity shop looking at books. 'Go home' said a voice in my head but my feet remained there until I had searched all shelves. That reminds me I must look up Amazon to see if they ha...
Worryingly the first sign of Autumn has been sighted, in that there tree. The leaves are losing their colour and beginning to fall. Certainly it gets darker earlier, though the clouds don't help, and already people whisper the 'Christmas' word to much chagrin all around.
Did summer happen this year? I suppose it happened like it always did but I may have been sitting in here watching football that day.
I asked Bert here how things were going, and he was going before he bothered answering. Tsk!
Being a bank holiday the population has rushed to get away from it all and found it all at the railway and bus stations, on the motorways and in all the holiday 'get away from it all' hotspots. Naturally road and rail works begin at this time as once the rush is over less people travel. Quite why more people do not leave on Thursday and return Tuesday I know not as most can make such arrangements.
Once I entered Kings Cross station for the eight O' clock train for Waverley and found myself amongst half the population. This was in the eighties and before the Conservatives had managed to mess up the railways and increase prices while giving profits to their friends in foreign countries and the crowd enabled the railways to put on another service. A porter announced the 'other train' on a far platform and a mad rush ensued. I remained where I was (near the front) and obtained a seat on my train. However I was soon crushed in alongside others with people standing all the way to Edinburgh! I was unable to get out until we reached the destination and while standing in Newcastle the 'other train' arrived alongside. It was clear there also the crowds were standing all the way along! Even losing folks at Newcastle did not make much difference that day. I ensured I never went anywhere on a bank holiday again.
Of course I cannot go anywhere this Monday Holiday as there will be no transport. Buses are hard enough to find and the Tories have cut another one this week, Sunday Service on the buses means no service here.
The talk re books has forced me to send off for two second hand ones via Amazon. Not that I need them, I just need to buy them!!!! I also feel I must wander around the charity shops, on a Saturday, to check the books. On top of this I found myself searching my books for one to browse and here it is beside me. This is a good example of why never to dump books, unless they deserve it.
Since writing began in Sumer some three and a half thousand years BC there must have been millions of words written. For much of that time most could not read but in the last two hundred years reading and writing has been a worldwide activity. The availability of books or reading material through cost often being the only hindrance but even in such circumstances books, magazines and papers do get passed around. The problem being only the type of writing being read.
The bible was and is still often banned as it enabled people to think free, governments and wrongdoers hate that. Politics has banned many books that oppose the emperor whoever he may be and as we have seen the influence of newspapers can give a referendum a bad name. People are lazy and prefer to be told how to think and tabloid media know this and too many follow their lead so they can live an easy life. That does not work!
Read uplifting, refreshing, entertaining and thoughtful good things to change your world and the word around you. Hmmm, maybe I ought to write another book ...? Jenny, Mike, here is your chance to advertise!
One of the local papers has published a list of items referring to Essex towns in something called the 'Urban Dictionary' whatever that is. We are listed thus:-
9. Braintree
"Where the true G's r from innit.
"Braintree U.K u gotta visit it's the place 2 b 2005 true ghetto visit Braintree n ur a true G [sic]."
I have absolutely no idea what they are talking about! Other Essex town are listed and in my limited experience of them limited correctly here:- 14 Towns.
Another day another chance to milk it for the Royal benefit scroungers. How they suffer! Sure losing a parent who was good to you is bad especially when you are young. Sure the workings of the royal house can be unbearable to one and all at that age. Sure it was a tough time but it is tough for those of us who find another days news full of your tale of woe.
We had this a week or two ago when ITV offered a pastiche of their pain, although they treated their father (at least Williams father) badly. Now the BBC is advertising their version of this much used tale that is showing on Sunday night. This time Charles gets a mention in passing.
The trouble of course was the need for an heir.
Charles wanted Camilla and the house considered her too old for kids, or maybe she had them by another by then. So it was choose a floozy and they chose a dumb one. Quite what they saw in Diana, a 19 year old with the intellect of a meal worm, is not clear. Young, attractive, and they thought pliable so he was forced to have her, and she jumped at the fame opportunity. Two kids, one with red hair, and then dumped. Did she expect less? She never loved him, he never loved her. There was no place of contact between an intelligent thinking man with a sense of royal responsibilities and a girl who read '19' Magazine. How did anyone consider this was going to work?
Now years on someone is making money out of this disaster. How much better if Charles had got his way and married a woman he loved and who cared for him? Instead we find the women who lived their lives through Diana in tears because she has gone and their lives are broken again. These women understood nothing of Diana, nothing of her life and read into it their own to no effect. This has been fed by the grasping media who have enriched themselves with the Diana cult and keep feeding it whenever they wish. I expect pull out sections abundant at the weekend with yet more of the same old stories and old pictures and older half truths once again.
Like Charles poor Diana chose badly, both mismanaged the situation and her untimely death has not healed matters. The royal management led to this, the family, the backroom advisers, the people themselves. Charles at least has Camilla, William his wife whom the media wish to make Diana two, and Harry is desperate to get his leg over somewhere, even to the lengths of a dubious American lassie.
This saga ought to be closed down but it will continue for years to come so please boys keep your emotions to yourselves and shut up!
