In Pandemic Pondering #265 I mentioned that dog walks often inspire blogs.
China Fleet Club
The afternoon walk at the China Fleet Club was planned just for dogs, no real blogging interest. Great for sniffing out squirrels and getting very muddy but beyond good company and nattering it was just an hour or so of soaking up nature. The morning walk was different, there is always something to think about . It was our regular walk around Sutton Harbour but today we discovered it is a Heritage Trail. The link below takes you to the official website.
We always start and finish the Sutton Heritage Trail at a different location to the one suggested on this website.
Despite walking this route numerous times we have never discovered the descriptively named Marrowbone Slip. That is a pretty specific piece of architecture. The point of mentioning this walk again in a blog is the lovely pictures we got of old chopped off wooden piles this morning.
Not perhaps everyone’s cup of tea but they were looking very fine this morning. It also gives me the chance to share my favourite picture of piles.
Piles at Statton Island NY
Just be grateful I am no longer creating medical imaging, that could have been a whole different picture!
A couple of days ago a Local History group on Facebook published some photographs of a mural that was discovered under layers of wallpaper in a Union Street bar. If you have any interest in Plymouth history this is a great page to follow.
Local History is one of the great strengths of Facebook. Local History Facebook pages are hubs of knowledge that become magnets for new information or insights into a local area. They are the modern version of the Local History shelf at Libraries.
I already had some photographs from the mural , taken during one of Plymouths Art Weekender Festivals. Gloria Dixon who is the administrator of the Facebook page Old Plymouth Society has a much better range of images.
She has written a very good account of the mural on the Old Plymouth Society FB Page, I urge you to visit the page.
The artist, who created the mural, Vincent Bennett took the well- worn path, familiar to many creative Plymothians and moved to London at the age of 20, where he not only painted commercially, but also boxed, to earn a living. It was the boxing that caused him to return to Plymouth just two years later. A head injury forced him to return to his home city in 1932 and he added teaching and drumming to his portfolio of money earning skills. Eighteen years later he painted the mural at what was then called the Sydenham Arms.
The story of Vincent Bennett seems so much more tangible and intriguing than the Plymouth to London story of Joshua Reynolds, another Plymouth man, nearly 200 years earlier. For me it is not only that much of the city he occupied still exists but that his subject matter is much closer to my own life experiences.
A drink in the Clipper, as the Sydenham Arms became, was always an experience, even if I was never as glamourous as the woman in the red dress. My grandfather, a sailor, far from his Essex home would almost certainly have known The Sydenham Arms and enjoyed all that Union Street had to offer.
The mural can be seen in its original location 63, Union Street, Plymouth. Currently the property is a Community Cafe.
Today’s planned blog was knocked off the agenda by a day of glorious weather. I’m a big fan of autumn sunshine, my dad called periods of good weather in autumn “Indian Summers” I never really questioned this title , I’ve just googled and this is the answer and it’s not what I thought at all.
” Although the exact origins of the term are uncertain, it was perhaps so-called because it was first noted in regions inhabited by American Indians, or because the Indians first described it to Europeans, or it had been based on the warm and hazy conditions in autumn when American Indians hunted.”
Plymouth Hoe, was gorgeous today which is an interesting coincidence given the links between Plymouth and the First Nations people of North America. Our walk did visit a significant Mayflower 400 site. More of that later.
Lola basking in sunshine and hiding a lighthouse
We stopped for a while near the official but not genuine Mayflower Steps. There was a momentary rainbow on the water.
Our next stop was a genuine Mayflower heritage location. Jacka Bakery, Britain’s oldest working bakery, supplied the Mayflower with baked goods. Today we pondered on how history could have been changed.
Would anyone have set off for the New World, 66 days of a tricksy voyage to an uncertain future if the alternative was staying in Plymouth and enjoying such plumpscious doughnuts. Ships biscuits v Jam Doughnuts, no contest. No New Worlds
Yesterday was a day for basking in afternoon sunshine. Autumn may have arrived but the sunshine had forgotten and we sat, like lizards on hot rocks, taking in the late September sun. The wind however was very much in Autumn mode and swirled and nipped at us whenever we turned a corner between buildings. In truth the basking was accidental , we were only on one of our regular dog walks but we had stopped for a coffee and some people watching. Neither were exciting enough to be pondered about but the sunshine was lovely. For reasons which I don’t fully understand the water which accompanied our coffee arrived iced and with a straw. Leave two women with a straw in strong sunshine and this is what you get!
The link below takes you to an excellent article published in the Guardian today.
Pandemic Ponderings has covered most of the topics mentioned but the whole lot, covered by a proper newspaper, makes for a less whimsical read. Even before this article appeared, today, other people’s writing was going to inform this blog.
This is the book,randomly chosen, for the September choice of my book club. By a huge coincidence a character in this novel visits Plymouth . A couple of comments in the book reminded me of things I have not yet pondered about . Given that this blog is about Plymouth, I will just share the Plymouth based one today. But before that an aside.
An hour or so before this blog was due to be published I finished this book. Further curious and serendipitous connections come to light. I love the book for many reasons, including its locations. It is based geographically in places I know intimately, Cornwall and the area around St Pauls Cathedral in the City of London.
Just as I sit through the rolling credits of films, I also read the acknowledgements in books. This one dealt a huge dollop of serendipity. The author, Sarah Winman writes ” Thank you to The Gentle Author and the community that has grown around the Spitaldfelds Life Blog- you are a constant reminder of why we do what we do”
Spitaldfelds Life is the Gold Standard that drives my writing @theoldmortuary . The Gentle Author guided and encouraged me, and many other blog writers to simply write. The surprise to see him mentioned at the back of this novel gave me such a warm and welcome boost. He really is the loveliest of men , the courses he runs are inspirational.
Returning to talking about the pondering the book inspired. In,A Year of Marvellous Ways, a sexual awakening and affaire de coeur is marked by the gift of a penny which is significant to the location of the entwinement. To illustrate this I need to rummage a bit.
It didn’t take long to find an old penny. Significantly this one would have been used in the Plymouth Area. It was designed by Leonard Charles Wyon an adaptation of a design by his father William Wyon for earlier pennies.
The lighthouse, which can just be glimpsed behind Britannia is Smeatons Tower. Plymouths Iconic Landmark. Imaged on the coin in its original position on the Eddystone Rocks. 9 miles south west of Rame Head in Cornwall. Despite being closest to Cornwall the rocks are within the City limits of Plymouth and therefore considered to be within Devon.
Another blog that shaped its own destiny. Not the journey I planned but the journey that happened whilst I was planning.
Our Staycation trip this morning took us to visit the new Antony Gormley sculpture , Look II on the Waterfront in Plymouth. A cultural dog walk on a blustery day.
Look II
If I were a sound artist I would record twenty second snippets of the conversations that occur as People get close to it. Then play them in the echoing paths near the Tinside Lido that overlooks the sculpture at a distance.
It is no surprise that a piece of contemporary sculpture would have a mixed reaction in Plymouth. The link at the top of this blog takes you to a selection of local opinions.
Look II
My creative head was lucky enough to share my first experience of Look II with a couple of people who I will call Twat I and Twat 2. I have precised the conversation to protect my word count.
Twat 1 ” Its a bit rusty for a million pounds”
Twat 2, thinking quickly, how can I uptwat him?
” Oh well it’s been here a week, I expect it’s the sea”
Twat 1, thinks, bugger I’ve been uptwatted! Best play my trump comment.
” My grandchild built something like that over the weekend”
Both get a little closer and kick the sculpture as if it were the tyre of a second hand car that they were giving an opinion on. Twat credentials fully exposed .
Far better the fishermen who demonstrate so deftly why this is a beautiful, thought provoking work of art.
Just a little blog today. The subject has been covered in a couple of different ways in other blogs. A regular dog walk for us starts on Commercial Street in Plymouth and follows a circular walk around Sutton Harbour and the Barbican in Plymouth using the footbridge by the Marine Aquarium and then back via Sutton Wharf. Within Pandemic Ponderings we have only done it in daylight
Last night was our first walk this year in the dark. I hadn’t really planned a blog about it but two nice photos presented themselves and it seems a shame not to use them
The first was a flock of swans with the twinkly lights of The Barbican behind them.
The second was a lovely flat tide image of some fishing boats.
Either of these images would have charmed us if we were on holiday in Greece, but they are very close to home and it may well be the Pandemic that has made us appreciate , more fully, local scenes. The dogs , of course, never go to Greec e so have no idea why we keep stopping to take pictures on home territory. Quite possibly they are wondering why we are not making the effort to have a good sniff or do a little wee.
Being more appreciative of everything is a curious side effect of Covid-19. @theoldmortuary we plan on being better at appreciating everything more effectively. A hard way to learn a simple lesson.
Golden September, this time of year we are usually starting to raid the holiday box for clothes appropriate to September in Greece. This year of curiousness found us delving into the box earlier and for hometown pleasures.
We’ve been regularly sea swimming for the last 6 weeks. The recent good weather has expanded swimming time right up until the last moments of daylight.
Last night we realised that we are swimming far later into the day than we ever would on a holiday. It was nearly high tide when we swam last night and the promenade above the rocky coves of Devils Point was crowded with people who had taken, or were about to take, a sunset dip.
One local resident was puzzled by the large amount of humans.
He didn’t have too long to wait before the sunset chased us all out of the water.
As a non-Plymothian my interaction with Union Street in its prime was very limited. Visits to friends in the city nearly always took in a trip to the famous Plymouth Street, but it wasn’t until the eighties when I moved to the area that it became the location of work nights out.
There was a film made in 1982 set on Union Street that was part of the early output of Channel 4 . Remembrance must have done the rounds at Arthouse cinemas because although I’ve seen it I’m fairly certain there was no Channel 4 coverage in Brighton, where I was living at the time. It was filmed only a couple of years after I had last visited the street as a tourist and before I lived locally. It is the story of a last night out for naval ratings prior to a six month deployment in the U.S. It does not end well.
Last run ashore is also the subject of the lyrics of Union Street ( Last Post) by West Country Folk band, Show of Hands. The playing of the Last Post, in this song, is a chilling reminder that Union Street would have been the ‘Last Run’ not only ashore but also in any earthly Pleasure Dome for many serving servicemen.
Union Street was not always a street famous for night clubs and evening shenanigan’s although that is what defines it. When the street was first built in 1815 to link three waterfront towns it housed prosperous families. Later when the Theatres were built the area began to attract other venues and providers of after hours entertainment. Union Street become known for drunkenness and libidinous behaviour long before Plymouth, formed of the three towns of Plymouth, Devonport and East Stonehouse, became a city in 1928.
The area was heavily bombed in the second world war but Union Street as a destination for a night out thrived and grew out of the rubble. Nightlife always creates a heady mix of pleasure and excitement but there is usually a side order of lawlessness and aggression that is not so comfortable. In the ‘good’ times both regular and military police patrolled the area. Nearby residents were uncomfortable in their streets and many stayed safe indoors on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
It was the hedonism of 90’s club culture that tipped the balance for Union Street. Clubs and bars started to close as the drug culture changed the way things had always been. Lifestyle changes and technology around dating combined with massive cuts in the numbers of people employed by the Navy also fueled the slow burn demise of Union Street as a party place.
The residents are still there though amid the shadowy and decaying grand buildings, awaiting a master plan, people still go about their daily lives . For the last few years people rather than partygoers are shaping the area. Local residents held their annual street party last weekend.
Coronovirus restrictions made it less vibrant than the last few years but it always brings a smile . It is the most multicultural part of Plymouth and the smells wafting from the street food stalls demonstrate this better than anything. The weather was kind and people were happy. Union Street is waiting…
September 13th often gives us the gift of sunshine. It was Hannah’s mums birthday and we were always able to plan a birthday picnic for her, safe in the knowledge that the sun would shine.
This morning we started the day with a sunshine yellow breakfast. Sweetcorn fritters, bacon and egg.
A morning spent doing Sunday stuff, including clearing up fragile, ageing, yellow roses.
Then a trip to Union Street for a Street Party, more about that later in the week.
Sunflowers bought on Union Street replaced the discarded roses.
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