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nations just four miles off the coast of england is the isle of wight part of great britain happily referred to without ambiguity by locals as the island some wish to build a bridge from somewhere nearby on the mainland but will it still be an island promoters should heed the lessons of doing so from the bridge to the isle of skye and even more from the eurotunnel long ago there was a king of the isle of wight and royals continue to be drawn towards it charles i was imprisoned in cariisbrooke castle before his execution winston churchill has multiple associations with the place clearly not compromised in its status by p l u t o pipeline under the ocean which carried fuel to the allies on and after d day and don t forget the romans came and called it vectis received latin pronunciation of v is w vectis wectis wight wectis wight could be anyway a roman patrician built a villa on brading down overlooking the sweep of sandown bay now a favourite holiday resort promising with its micro climate a good chance of fine weather perhaps our roman friend was reminded of the bay of naples i cannot say for i have never been to naples still i have visited the island umpteen times so why not again if only to fathom the difference between an island and an isle i may then explain why it is the british isles or the scilly isles or the isle of sheppey now no longer an island but canvey island in the middle of the thames as is simply runnymede which was given to the united states of america in memory of the signing on that island of magna carta by king john so pack prepare and head for the portsmouth to fishbourne ferry posted in uncategorized 9 comments high beeches may 17 2018 by glenys and richard from nymans if you read the map along the road to coleman s hatch towards the south high beeches stands now may s the month its ample lands with blooms are bless d without a match seventy two so al s the chap his birthday s not so far away he likes the tea rooms by the gate they have his fav rite nut roast there so will he come may we all share let s check to see the special date will he be free the elev nth of may it s all arranged today s the day blue skies suggest the sun will shine now if we leave around elev n an hour should get us there to heav n by way of godstone will be fine then turner s hill we re here hooray hugs and kisses greetings al a happy birthday you look well how is your foot are you ok will it last it s quite a way oh yes the fields and through the dell it s worth it don t you worry pal replete with coffee and nut roast we ll pay while at the ticket hut and shyly claim the agėd rate the blooms are fine were not too late then through the gate and pull it shut we pause blue skies stretch to the coast rhododendrons grace the slopes with purples reds and white ones too azaleas their flowers are yellow suddenly emit sweet smell oh we can t resist and wander through to fill our sense and raise our hopes in ecstasy we move along rare trees look down upon us fools for they are old and much more wise no soporific can disguise that all shall die those are the rules so live and love learn well that song strengthened thus we linger by the waters and the gushing streams that take us through the wooded dell we re weary but you cannot tell up through the field to oaken beams now for a cream tea on the sly posted in uncategorized 2 comments three conundrums may 4 2018 by glenys and richard is natural selection enough to make from a handful of fluff and physical laws a single life force or is it all really a bluff i m not saying ns is wrong it s just for an answer i long given time dimension and rule with energy there as a tool is it rhyme and rhythm and song did it start with layers and layers of swirling muddle and chaos or was there a brain that took hold of the rein and made out of the clay us posted in uncategorized leave a comment degrees fahrenheit april 20 2018 by glenys and richard by richard whether you are german polish swedish or british you have a claim to the measurement of temperature fahrenheit celsius and lord kelvin have given their names to different scales but only kelvin remains in its original form using absolute zero and the triple point of water whatever they are it turns out from its adaptations that a single celsius degree is now equal to a single kelvin degree fahrenheit was originally based on the freezing point of water and body temperature though now changed to well you know 32 f note the space water s freezing point and 212 f water s boiling point brought up on f it has been very difficult to adapt meteorologically to c despite my unquestioning use of it in science at school and its complete elimination by degrees from weather forecasts mercifully the usa has stuck loyally and officially to f there s something more natural and human about it perhaps because of its original association with blood temperature a f is about half a c so it s more accurate and more fun as an 8 year old on a sweltering june day classmates and i watched the thermometer in the classroom 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 not quite 90 the same humanity attaches to lbs stones inches feet yards miles s and d how much cosier they are than gm kilo cm m km and tidy or astronomical though the latter may be if you really want to be a european just deduct 32 from f then divide by 9 then multiply by 5 for c last wednesday we were told it was going to be 23 c in london and we had an appointment in harley street arriving at victoria station we and everyone else there were dressed flimsily and the ladies colourfully people smiled and kissed there was a jauntiness in their steps london was decked in a burgeoning show of green and birds sang in the trees the blue blue blue river thames moved silently and gracefully at the turn of the tide ripples reflecting the morning sun in a thousand and one bobbing dapples arranged by monet then i realised why 21 c is 70 f time for a few snaps alas they do not do justice to the joy expectation and yes youthful beauty at every turn harley street wimpole street oxford street looking south oxford street looking north regent street looking west my paternal grandmother s father had a greengrocer s shop in a little road to the left foubert s place that leads to soho regent street looking north that s john nash s all hallow s church at the end the bbc s art deco old broadcasting house is just out of view to the left is much extended new broadcasting house is just behind all hallow s and the temperatures continue to rise on saturday for the london marathon they are set to be 24 c that s over 75 f phew i never knew it was that much here s the garden today lawn mown and trimmed on our return from london posted in uncategorized 4 comments diary of an easter break 2018 day three easter sunday april 10 2018 by glenys and richard by richard with significant input from glenys and some images from the guide book for the russell cotes museum seascape from the russell cotes museum easter sunday what a relief jesus christ is risen today this is the most important day in the church calendar for many christians it is the only day they attend formal worship for ourselves we plan to celebrate mammon by a visit to the russell cotes museum just along the cliff merton russell cotes was of the exceptionally wealthy new victorian british middle class risen out of both trade the driving force of imperial expansion and the first industrial revolution a product of the enlightenment each feeding off the other his father a successful businessman died when he was eight years old and relatives in glasgow took him in he met and married annie there subsequently taking up a post with an insurance company in dublin after a visit to bournemouth for health reasons he suffered recurrent bouts of lung disease throughout his life he came to live there and opened the bath hotel it was outstandingly successful and attracted the highest in the land including the prince of wales later edward vii and became the royal bath hotel the royal bath hotel as it is today extreme wealth doubtless derived from this success enabled merton and annie to travel throughout the empire and beyond to japan and the far east buying and shipping back artefacts of every description all acquisitions were legal and above board a japanese ambassador once paid a visit and and expressed his appreciation of the quality of the japanese collection merton filled the royal bath with objects which had the effect of luring even more vips and lent his artworks to public museums so increasing the financial and cultural worth of his collection and allowing him to promote the hotel both he and annie applied their increasing fortune to charitable works and in particular annie opened a local school eventually in 1899 merton built a house next door to accommodate what had now become his museum and art gallery unusually for the time it had electricity plumbing double glazing central heating and a telephone with the number bournemouth 1 merton presented the house to annie for her 66th birthday at the first level is the original front door the russell cotes museum from the seaward side the conservatory enjoying beautiful views of the sea and coast the main staircase the empress eugenie s cabinet empress eugenie of france the wife of napoleon iii and a powerful woman of high intellect in her own right fled to england with her family in 1871 after her husband was deposed in 1870 merton had bought the cabinet at auction not knowing it was originally hers in those days you were expected to give to royalty anything they expressed a liking for but merton had given it to annie and never handed it over henry irving the first actor to be knighted was a friend and there is a collection of his theatre props and personal items that merton acquired at auction ceiling merton seems to have had a predilection for depictions of naked ladies in the best possible taste of course peacocks also feature everywhere in the museum this upstairs balcony was until the addition of the art galleries the principal display space for the pairs growing collection among the notable paintings is a landseer flood in the scottish highlands filled with anxious people and their animals its location in a dark corner made a photo impossible with my little camera and flash wasn t allowed here is the pre raphaelite venus verticordia by rossetti his only nude for which andrew lloyd webber reputedly offered the museum 30m fortunately the offer was not accepted the dusky pink roses represent love while the honeysuckle in the foreground represents equality the original model was an unknown cook rosetti noticed on a london street he repainted the face with a more favoured muse it took four years to complete and nearly bankrupted him he ordered a daily delivery of flowers that he painted from life it was the practice of the pre raphaelites to paint from life it is difficult to select items from the vast array of pictures and artefacts and only the pictures generally speaking make successful photographs anno domini by edwin longsden long 1883 in 1907 when he was mayor of bournemouth merton gave the house and the collection to the town for public benefit and so it remains today annie and merton were married for sixty years and had five children she died in april 1920 and he died nine months later annie s wedding dress as skilfully reconstructed from photographs the museum remained open throughout the second world war although many of the valuable works were loaned to local schools and churches for safety the basement was converted to a gas shelter and much of the garden given over to growing vegetables french soldiers evacuated from dunkirk were invited to tea feeling culturally religiously and digestively fulfilled after a mushroom soup and roll in the cafeteria i spoke of boscombe the resort a couple of miles along the coast i have a photograph of me aged three at the guest house memories of a swimming pool at the end of the road pine scented walks down the chine dragging my spade behind me to the trolleybus turntable by the pier and the golden beach the soft thud of couples in their whites playing tennis provided a musical background alas seventy one years have taken their toll now it is the boot camp of leather on football the smell of decaying food in the snack bar yells of indulged children on the crazy golf and a scruffy path to the beach where the noddy landtrain staggers along belching diesel fumes from its overloaded locomotive we mounted this conveyance and spent the next hour travelling the two miles back to the hotel miramar churned like butter and spiritually decommissioned never again innocence personified 1946 posted in uncategorized 5 comments diary of an easter break 2018 on the second day april 5 2018 by glenys and richard those familiar with the apostles creed know that the crucifixion of christ is to do with the fall of man thus it was that a little after lunch today while on a short social call as the rest of family party waited patiently by the entrance to the pier this man tripped and fell not quite a mortal sacrifice to save humanity from sin but more a circumstance requiring his own salvation as he writhed like a wounded serpent the day began innocently enough having regard to its religious significance in my childhood good friday was a day of weeping and gnashing of teeth on hot cross buns but saturday was the day christ descended into hell yes god descended into hell no doubt to give the devil a bloody nose the rain cleared and this panorama was visible briefly from the balcony while lingering in the hotel foyer we were suddenly swept into a guided walk a foray into bournemouth s hidden secrets conducted at a challenging pace in an antarctic gale the victorian hotel with its arts and crafts associations is impressive viewed from its pleasant gardens originally it was the austrian ambassador s seaside cottage in the 1920s however it was turned into a hotel and the carbuncles were added on either wing room104 is the carbuncle in the left first floor second floor american usage jrr tolkien wrote the hobbit in room 205 on the first floor right in the centre there not that he liked bournemouth that much irritated as he was by the small town gossip he went for his wife s sake who did and who liked to sit on the patio he preferred to shut himself away to write at the first opportunity he d high tail it back to oxford for the more congenial company of his fellow dons the dining room was the inspiration for terence rattigan s separate tables will this knowledge cause me to view the hotel s single diners in a more morbid light at the start of the second world war the hotel was requisitioned and handed over to the red cross subsequently the american women s army corps occupied it all hotels were ultimately requisitioned for troops and in july 1944 the sea was filled with warships readying for d day on the clifftop is this memorial to the two ...