#390 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn LondonLeave a comment

Yesterday was the first time the Great Bell, most often known as Big Ben bonged for real in 5 years. The Elizabeth Tower and the workings have been restored and strengthened to withstand time keeping for the country for many more hundreds of years.

https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/big-ben/elizabeth-tower-and-big-ben-conservation-works-2017-/

I have always felt a thrill, when crossing Westminster Bridge, if the timing was right, to hear Big Ben striking the hour. Me and Big Ben go back a long way. Radio was the way I got my entertainment as a small person. I eagerly waited for the sound of Big Ben striking two, because that meant an hour-long radio programme was about to start. Listen with Mother was my daily fix of storytelling that I could access without pestering my busy mother. I was transfixed, often I sat waiting, cross-legged on the floor with an audience of soft toys for up to half an hour before the bongs raised my expectations to peak excitement. Whatever the weather or activity I was there waiting. Our wireless was on a low shelf and I could get close, my nose touching the scratchy fabric of the built-in loudspeaker taking in the smells of gradually warming Bakelite.

My addiction to listen with mother waned but not my sense of anticipation when I hear the bongs of Big Ben. When I was a student in London, a catastrophe occurred in the early hours of August 5th 1976. Metal fatigue had caused a scene of devastation. The chiming mechanism had fractured and pieces of flying metal had caused immense damage within the enclosed stone tower. I was fortunate enough to be on placement at nearby St Thomas Hospital. As soon as I could, I crossed Westminster Bridge to witness silence.

The damage to the mechanism and the tower was repaired in time for the Queens Silver Jubilee in 1977. I made sure to be in the crowds for the first hearing of the repaired mechanism, thank goodness I did, the Queens Jubilee was such a great event for students I barely remember much else from the day.

Me and Big Ben left London in the same year, 2017. Big Ben was silenced for 5 years for restoration and I experimented with a semi rural life in Cornwall. Serendipity brought me back to London on the very day the Great Bell bonged with all the clarity that a £100 million restoration project could create.

#389 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn TravelsLeave a comment

All of life is a journey, either of the mind or the body. My today journey was to a destination I have known and loved for many years. The Townhouse, Fournier Street, Spitalfields. For many years it was a coffee/ tea destination and then by the greatest of coincidences The Gentle Author started running blogging courses there.

Today my journey was pretty simple. 19 stops on the District Line. My reason to travel was another blogging course. How I originally found my way to Fournier Street has been forgotten, it almost certainly started with curiosity about my Huguenot forbears and my love of the Spitalfields area when I was a student. The Huguenots were the first refugees to arrive in Britain and 1 in 6 of us are descended from them.

My parents also often took me to the market in Wentworth Street, not so much to shop but to experience the hustle and bustle of a proper London Market. 5-year old I would have stared up at this actual London underground sign in Aldgate Station in wonder and excitement.

I am no less in awe of Spitalfields than I ever was, no less excited either. Tomorrow I get to do it all again.

#387 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn LondonLeave a comment

A lovely old sign that is quite inaccurate today.

©The Evening Standard

The London Underground strike has made London somewhat constipated. All the people who would normally transport themselves by tube have taken to their cars, busses or the pavements. Walking on Wimbledon Common was unaffected as was a little retail therapy. I have started my Christmas shopping. I blame the transport problems!

#386 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn abstract photographyLeave a comment

It will come as no surprise to anyone that @theoldmortuary has no experience as marathon runners or other extreme sports. So we have never experienced survival blankets. You would never expect to be introduced to a survival blanket by a five week old grand-daughter. Rather intriguingly in her sensory box there was a whole adult sized survival blanket. Who knew that a collection of sensory toys could exhaust her accompanying adult to the point of exhaustion.

I rattled things and twirled ribbons with caution being really quite unaware when fatigue might overwhelm me. The small person was not remotely interested in having her senses stimulated at any level so there was no chance of me deserving the survival blanket. Deserving or not I donned the survival blanket and was amazed at how quickly I became very warm.

On a practical level I might but some survival blankets for winter swims, just in case we get too chilly. On another practical level the blanket is in a baby sensory box so she can enjoy it’s silvery crinkly surface. And on a last practical level I am writing about a Survival blanket because nobody wants to read about a long rainy journey with many detours. There was no rainbow at the end of my travels but there was blue skies and a small girl with a Sensory box.

#385 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Beach LifeLeave a comment

November surprised us yesterday. Our plans involved fairly heavy rain, a constant state of being damp and a mug of soup as a reward for battling inclement weather.

There was no battle.

For more than two hours blue skies chased away the greige of the previous week. The tide at Wembury was low enough to fill those hours with rock-pooling adventures.

But first a little bit of serendipity, the foreground in the top picture of the blog shows seaweed copying a geographical feature.

We had taken wellies to walk the muddy coastal path but they got use taking us into the deeper rock pools.

Unfortunately, we both suffer from very muscular calf syndrome. ( some might call them plump) So we only wear short wellies, short wellies are no match for a rapidly incoming tide so we needed to be quite nimble to avoid wet feet. Hugo and Lola had no such problems and bravely waded into rock pools up to their chests in water. Lola was rewarded for enthusiasm, on her return to dry land, by a swift right hook from Hugo.

Balance prevented any watery rock pool pictures but the dry bits had captured some wonderful sea detritus from the previous weeks stormy weather.

Then the tide came in and with it the weather.

Turning our rock pool world into a playground for much braver souls.

#384 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn abstract photography, FireworksLeave a comment
Evening greige with a touch of pink.

November has properly arrived. My first use of the word ‘greige’. Greige is my own word for a curious greyness that envelopes this part of the west country in the winter months. Definitely rain is a big part of greige, mist is another. The other aspect is mental. October flirts with our senses. Teases us into believing a little more sunshine might be on the agenda. November arrives and the weather wraps around our souls like a damp, mildewed sock. Luckily Guy Fawkes and his failed Gunpowder plot are celebrated on the 5th November. The night air is filled with crashes and bangs and our skies are lit up with bright flashes of happiness.

Nature also gets in on the act, thanks to a warmer than normal October there are a few dandelion heads still hanging about. Pretending to be fireworks with the help of street lights.

Blowing greige out of the water.

#383 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing, SerendipityLeave a comment

Farewell Gilly Bobber. The bobbers gathered for a goodbye gathering for a bobber who is moving to West Sussex. Gilly has been a musical addition to our bobbing gang for some time. She wears a raspberry beret and cocktail length swimming gloves. Which always promotes the other bobbers into a Prince tribute act.

A good selection of bobbers gathered today to see her off the premises.

Bobbing and bobbers are one of the great positives to have come out of the Covid years. Time to use a fabulous quote from Mark Twain to send Gilly on her way.

Goodbye Gilly from our home bobbing safe harbour.

#382 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Home, SerendipityLeave a comment

This is the time of year, the lull of winter before Christmas,when journalists seek words from Scandinavian countries to ease the pain of cold, wet weather and shorter days. We’ve had a couple of days of walks, talks and rainy days. I can recommend days spent with friends doing exactly that. Cake and coffee may also have been an intrinsic part of our activities.

Talfädighet is the Scandinavian word I have chosen as the way to lead a better life in the run up to the festive season. It means talkative, it may look like a tall cupboard from Ikea but it is one of those delightful words like Hygge which will,for certain, make November more tolerable. Let’s all be more talkative.

#381 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing, SerendipityLeave a comment

This boiling sea was the setting of our final October swim. Storm Claidio was on the way. Looking over the wall into the swirling sea it would have been very easy to turn around and walk back home. But I had already waved to the swimmers in the water. Getting in, was tricky. Being in, was thrilling. Getting out, was a relief. A mug of tea and a Tunnocks Waifer biscuit was the reward.

After the event it was most definitely the most wonderful swim. The turmoil of the water made effective swimming impossible at my, rather low, skill level. Even bobbing about and talking was quite a challenge but the whole experience was fizzy, energising and a great way to see out October, still without a wetsuit. The picture below is a full-colour image of the water as we got out, not a spot of colour to be seen.

#380 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment

I love an old sign that time has rendered slightly inappropriate. This one was on the side of a coffee shop and interiors store. Not intruding would be very bad for business. Another sign was just deliciously eccentric.

The coffee hounds have been anxious to get to this coffee shop all summer.

Famed for the homemade cakes and good beverages, it was the least we could do to take them on a sunny weekend, fact-finding excursion.

Reciprocity Cafe and Eco shop are housed in the old stable block of Port Eliot.

https://www.porteliot.co.uk/

A place of fabulous festivals and general good times. For now though it is a coffee destination and the supplier of very fine cake. Gooseberry cake, still warm from the oven. What better way to spend the last day of October. Knee deep in fallen leaves, if you are a dog, and finger deep in cake if you are a human.