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Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 299, 300 and 301

Scald Miserables

Grose’s dictionary refers to this as “a set of mock masons, who in 1744 made a ludicrous procession in ridicule of the Freemasons”.

© The Trustees of the British Museum

As this print from 1742 shows, this procession had been going on for a few years and it took place just outside of the boundaries of the City of London. I can’t imagine that the Freemasons were much impressed by this little show, but there were many even at this time who treated the organisation with some disrespect.

Schism Shop

On the subject of disrespect, those involved with the dissenting religions in the eighteenth century were often vilified by those who couldn’t believe anyone couldn’t accept everything that the Church of England said was true. The dictionary definition of this is “a dissenting meeting house”, whether that be Quakers, Baptists, Congregationalists or Unitarians, to name just a few. There’s something quite charming though in the abusive term, I like to think that some of the groups would have adopted it almost as a badge of pride. Looking at newspaper archives, the dictionary was ahead of its time, as the term was relatively rare at the end of the eighteenth century, but it became much more commonly used towards the end of the nineteenth century before it died out during the early twentieth century.

Scourers

There’s a myth that there used to be a lot more respect for the law in centuries gone by, but there were plenty of robberies in churches in the nineteenth century and no shortage of anti-social behaviour in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. That is also evident from this dictionary definition, namely “Riotous bucks, who amuse themselves with breaking windows, beating the watch, and assaulting every person they meet: called scouring the streets”. Crime as a whole was also high in the eighteenth century, partly through increased poverty but also through a greater opportunity given the newly wealthy classes. Much as I like city living, I think the rural life was probably safer and more peaceful back in the late eighteenth century when Grose wrote his book.

August 7, 2022
Random Post – My September 2022 Trip to the United States

Anyway, I have been absolutely inundated by people wanting to know my itinerary for my trip to the United States in a few weeks. By inundated, I mean a figure higher than zero and lower than three.

I had planned to include Las Vegas, where I always seem to end up for a few days, and Portland, which I’ve never visited and is a centre for craft beer. Unfortunately, it’s too expensive and fiddly to get across to the west coast, when my flights are to the east coast. That’ll have to be a treat for next year now….

This has left me instead with a visit to New York for a few days, before going to Richmond on the train, giving me a chance to visit Williamsburg and Jamestown for some colonial history. Then some faffing about (ie, I haven’t worked out an affordable way of doing this bit yet) to get to Charlotte for a flight to Chicago. Then it’ll be down to Carbondale, after at least two visits to Goose Island in Chicago, by train and then a couple of days later another train to Jacksonville. Then I’ll be going back to New Orleans, as I want to visit the National World War Two museum which I didn’t get chance to before. Then the train to Birmingham, for my first visit to Alabama, before a ridiculous 24.5 hour train journey back to Newark for my flight back.

What could possibly go wrong?

August 7, 2022
Thursday – Metro into Newcastle, Craft Beer and Peace at the Travelodge

Continuing on from the earlier riveting blog post, I was safely at Newcastle airport and ready to get to the city centre using the Metro system. I’ve used it before on a few occasions, but I’d entirely forgotten nearly everything about it. But, that’s the advantage in having a blog, the memories can all come flooding back.

Fortunately, there were plenty of signs saying which ticket to buy as well as numerous machines which were easy to operate. It’s formally known as the Tyne and Wear Metro, although often commonly referred to as the Newcastle Metro. The network isn’t as popular as it once was and it feels a little tired, it’s not really a surprise that passenger numbers are lower than they were in the 1980s when the Metro opened.

I like using different public transport systems and this one seemed to run regularly, although the signage wasn’t always particularly clear on platforms. The prices are also expensive, but yet the penalty fare for not having a ticket is set at just £20. They’ve already increased fares by 10% at the beginning of 2022, so they’re going to struggle to raise them again, or at least, they’ll price even more people off the network. However, they get some lovely shiny new trains next year, so that might boost ridership. It’s notable though that the £3.90 to get to the city centre is more than to get from Heathrow to central London, which is £3.50.

It’s quite a complex network, but the airport service goes directly to the city centre and there’s no need to change.

It was all clean and comfortable, although I didn’t see any staff on platforms or walking through the trains.

After having arrived safely into Central Station, the next task was to check-in at the hotel, which was a very reasonably priced Travelodge on the Quayside. I had forgotten just how many steps I had to go down to get to the hotel, which was a reminder of how many I’d have to go back up later on.

The standard Travelodge set-up, this was once seemed to have been modernised relatively recently and it had air conditioning which sort of worked. It was nice and bright, with everything working as it should.

The windows didn’t open, but I was pleased at the views over the River Tyne.

As the hotel was next to the Quayside pub, operated by JD Wetherspoon, I popped in there on my way by. It’s not the first time that I’ve been here, I remember going here with Liam a few years ago. The pub seemed organised and clean, but the real ale selection was the weakest I’ve seen in any Wetherspoon pub, just some generic options from the generic Greene King. It’s a quite a well reviewed Wetherspoon though (well, relatively), although I’m puzzled by the recent review:

“Can’t believe I’ve just been turned away from the Quayside for wearing shorts on a hot bank holiday weekend”

I can’t imagine how bad they must have been for a Wetherspoons to turn someone away, I’m quite intrigued.

There didn’t seem much point in staying at the Wetherspoon pub if there was nothing interesting in terms of beer, but I was more excited about the next venue, the Head of Steam Quayside which was just a short walk away along the Tyne.

Views over the Tyne to the Sage Gateshead, and a BAM hoarding for those with good eyesight (or just strong observational skills).

The beer list at the Head of Steam Quayside, which is one of two venues that they have in Newcastle and I hadn’t previously been to either of them. The pub’s Untappd list was out of date when I visited, but it has been updated since. There’s a decent selection of cask and keg, with a range of different beer styles.

A quirky interior, I liked it. All very laid-back and comfortable, this is a pub that I’d visit regularly if I lived a bit nearer to it. It’s not actually as well reviewed on Google as the Wetherspoons that I walked into and then out of again, which seems odd. It mostly seems to be reviews about the food and service times, customers seem much happier about the beer.

I thought that this was creative (the light, not the arrangement of safety devices at the back).

The barman complimented me on my strategy of ordering three one thirds, so I decided that I liked him and that he had excellent judgement. He was conversational and engaging, indeed there was an inviting atmosphere to the whole arrangement. I had the Jellyfish Nebula pale ale and the Spree & Easy IPA from Tooth & Claw Brewing, although the little star of this show was the Maris the Dank Engine 2 from S43, an 8.1% Double IPA.

There’s an outside seating area as well for those who like sitting in the street, although it’s not really my thing.

As there are quite a few more pubs for me to still write about from my evening’s meander around Newcastle, I’ll break that into a separate post. I would claim that it’s to increase anticipation, but it’s realistically just so I can make progress in a slow and steady manner in actually posting things.

August 5, 2022
Saturday : 2022 LDWA Summer Poppyline Walk

Eric Rolfe ensured that there will be plenty of photos of the Summer Poppyline event for Strider and elsewhere in due course, so this post is more about the organisation of the Summer Poppyline challenge event. It’s organised by Norfolk and Suffolk LDWA and it takes place most years, taking in a smaller part of the Winter Poppyline 50 mile event which is put on every two years. This year there was the choice of a 19 mile route or a 50 kilometre route, with this latter distance being chosen as part of the LDWA’s 50th birthday celebrations.

It was an early start, with Richard driving Stuart and I to the start of the event at Sheringham High School. You can spot them both to the right of this photo, with Stuart wanting to set off as soon as possible for fear that he might come in last or something. However, it’s all about completing the event and enjoying the view, so it wouldn’t have mattered. But it didn’t happen either, Karen and the other NEC members swept him along. Stuart, Julie, Bill and Sara were all very brave in taking part, not to mention that Karen was doing the longer event and is always brave.

The numbers were a little lower than usual, mostly due to external factors than any loss of interest in challenge events, but we had over 130 people signed up. I’ve trained Richard up to do everything that I used to do, showing just how good at delegation I am. I think in a few years that Richard might be able to cope entirely on his own. Registration went smoothly, particularly for those in my queue who enjoyed my professionalism and efficiency. Or something like that.

There’s Jayne, ready to set everyone off on the first wave and I note Katie, the organiser of the Norfolk & Suffolk group’s 100 event in 2025, at the front just bursting with enthusiasm to start. I like being at the start of the events, to see all the excitement and just a little trepidation about the adventure that was in front of the entrants. To some, the distances are easy, but to others they’re more of a challenge and I know we had plenty of people taking part in their first LDWA event.

There’s Eric on the left, ready for his day of walking and taking photos. There are plenty of hills near to the start of the walk, not least the challenges of Beeston Bump, but it’s good to have a variety of terrains as not everyone can cope with endless miles of flat in the way that I can. I’d add that it’s great to see so many local members volunteering at the event, it’s a highlight for many people who want to help support the walkers and runners around the event.

Jayne setting the runners off on their walk, or in this case run, with the weather being quite warm, but not overly hot and there was a breeze from the coast. It was a delight to see our marshal Simon H turn up, although he was doing a very strange walk due to a leg injury, namely because he has pushed himself so much to try and be an athlete like myself. He should know his limits, but I didn’t say anything of course, and I was very sympathetic and full of empathy.

Sometimes we don’t have access to all of the cooking facilities in the locations that we hire, but in this case that wasn’t a problem, Jayne and her crew were busy making a variety of wraps for the walkers and there was a handy self-service area. As an additional treat, there was Eton Mess and ice cream, along with a range of cold and hot drinks.

It was all peaceful at HQ during the day, although since I was the emergency contact, I received a phone call from a walker concerned to see a fire near checkpoint 2. This transpired to be quite a serious fire on farmland, but fortunately the fire brigade were on hand and they were able to put it out. It provided some memorable moments for walkers, who might have feared momentarily that they couldn’t access our checkpoint full of food and drink. We ensured that the fire brigade knew about the situation and Malcolm bravely went out to go and have a look at the situation in case it impacted on our walkers.

Some of the entrants from Hike Norfolk celebrating their success, it’s good to see a steady flow of walkers from that group doing so well on these challenge events.

It was positive to hear all the feedback about the checkpoints and the welcome that they had offered, not to mention the range of food and drink that walkers and runners enjoyed. I hope that all of the marshals enjoyed their day, with everyone at HQ having a marvellous time, especially when Jayne arrived with some extra lunchtime treats for the hardworking registration desk operative and also for Richard. We heard later that a few of our walkers encountered some wasps early on during the walk, not something that is ideal, but good humour and bravery got them through.

As for the NEC entrants, Karen swept in looking like she hadn’t even entered the event, whilst Stuart looked quite worn out if I’m being honest, which I was. I had a lot of sympathy for him, I know how he felt, but he had been very brave indeed. Julie, Bill and Sara looked suitably tired from their experience, but I’m pleased that they enjoyed the route. Tim was also going to take part, but unfortunately, due to circumstances mostly out of his control, he wasn’t able to make it to the event. But, we’re pleased to have been able to offer some hospitality to the NEC officers who did take part.

The next challenge event is the Flower of Suffolk on the first Sunday of October, sadly this will be one of the first local events that I’ll miss in years, namely because I hope to be in the United States. I do hope that Richard copes without me on that event, but there will support on hand if he gets overwhelmed without my calm influence to gently guide him back on track. I shall of course report back here in October with whatever gossip I’ve managed to pick up from overseas.

I’m not sure I’ll be walking any more challenge events this year, but I hope to take part in a few next year, especially as Richard has indicated that he’s up for trying an 18 mile event. He’ll definitely need my support, encouragement and positivity with that, so anyone with ideas on which is the best LDWA event for him to start on, don’t hesitate to let me know 🙂

August 2, 2022
Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 296, 297 and 298

During lockdown, I started on my riveting (ahem) series of posts from the Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. I was getting quite near to the end of the book, but then I managed to stop in February 2021 (having got to Rum Bubber), but now this is another project I want to see completed.

Saint Geoffrey’s Day

The dictionary defines this as “Never, there being no saint of that name: tomorrow-come-never, when two Sundays come together”. Arguably, there is a St Geoffrey, also known as St Godfrey, although that’s a slightly moot point here. This phrase was in use in the late eighteenth century, perhaps slightly into the early nineteenth century, and is another sad loss to the language. I think it’s got a nicer and more humorous edge to it than “a month of Sundays” which is the modern equivalent.

Sandwich

There’s very little interest to this definition itself, which is “Ham, dried tongue, or some other salted meat, cut thin and put between two slices of bread and butter: said to be a favourite morsel with the Earl of Sandwich”, other than the timing. This book was published in the late eighteenth century, so this would have been quite an on-trend word at the time that was just coming into popular usage.

This image is from Google Ngram and shows how frequently the word has been used in books. It slightly surprises me just how relatively rare the word was until the beginning of the twentieth century.

Scab

One word that I personally don’t like is the word ‘scab’ when applied to those who don’t take part in a strike, and I’ve read that some in the trade union movement find it an unfortunate word which exists more as a quirk of history. That is reinforced by this definition, which is “a worthless man or woman”, which seems to have first been used to describe non-strikers in the United States in the early nineteenth century. Google Ngram shows that it has been falling in usage over recent decades and I can imagine that it might be a word that eventually slides away in terms of its strike meaning.

August 2, 2022
Friday : LDWA NEC Walk

As some of the Long Distance Walkers Association NEC members were in Norwich for the Summer Poppyline challenge walk, I led a short walk around the city. And, all good walks need to start in a pub, in this case Brewdog in Norwich so that Stuart could tick it off his list. It was of course to see Julie and Stuart, especially given how far they’d come for the weekend, from Scotland and Wales respectively.

I haven’t been in the Red Lion at Bishopgate since the change of ownership during lockdown, it’s got a rather lovely river view and location. The beer choice isn’t as inspired as my other favourite pubs in Norwich and there was an absence of welcome which I thought was a shame. I think it’s more food orientated though, so perhaps that’s what they’re focusing on. However, it’s hard not to enjoy the rather lovely surroundings of the pub, with Bishopgate Bridge in the background. The bridge was built in 1340 and is still standing (I hope the bridge Liam is currently building lasts for 700 years), although the tower was taken down in 1791 as they were worried it was structurally unsound. The bridge was used for road traffic until the 1990s and it’s now pedestrians and bikes only.

Pulls Ferry, a fifteenth century building at the site of where a ferry operated until 1943. It’s also the entrance to where the canal was built by the monks in the late eleventh century to transport stone from the River Wensum to build Norwich Cathedral. And standing in front of the gate, one of the city’s dinosaurs.

What I thought the group needed was a nice hill and I expected Stuart to report back to Dave Morgan just how Norwich can deliver hills.

Liam, ready to start the trek up Gas Hill, along with Karen, Richard, Stuart and Julie. They were very brave to take on this challenge. It’s a lot steeper than the photograph suggests. The hill is named after the gas works that were built here in the Victorian period, but unfortunately they’ve recently pulled down the gas holder which I thought for heritage reasons should have been kept.

Nearly vertical and there was a lot of complaining about the extreme heights, the lack of oxygen and why were we walking up such a big hill. I ignored it, I couldn’t be dealing with that negativity. Actually, Karen didn’t complain at all, I’m not sure that she even noticed we had climbed a hill at all.

And the climb, which took nearly six minutes (which to me is the upper limit on any climbing challenge), was worth it, there’s Norwich looking rather lovely. Norwich Cathedral is the centre with Norwich City Hall standing just next to it. This is the view that Robert Kett and his army would have had during Kett’s Rebellion of 1549. Although he was executed for treason, they did at least name a road after him which leads up here.

The walk to the pub went via Norwich Cathedral as it would feel rather odd not to include this magnificent building in any sojourn around the city. But the main part of the weekend was the Summer Poppyline the next day, with some very excited NEC members ready for their big walk. Stuart was besides himself with excitement, especially when it was mentioned to him that the challenge event didn’t just go up Beeston Bump Mountain, but another two nearby hills as well. Anyway, I feel I’ve dwelled (or dwelt, depending on your personal preference) on the matter of hills a little too much in this post….

August 1, 2022
Thursday : From Prague Airport, Walk Across London at Night and Back to Norwich

Carrying on from the previous post, this is now late Wednesday evening. After a hot day of public transporting around Prague, I arrived four hours early at the airport, ready for my 21:15 flight back to London Heathrow with British Airways, albeit operated by Finnair.

The security process at Prague Airport is just before boarding, so I was able to get to the Mastercard Lounge quickly and without delay. The staff member politely mentioned that entry was only allowed two hours before my flight, but then she asked who I was flying with and when I said British Airways, she said I could enter immediately. I don’t know whether BA offer a higher rate than lounge pass schemes such as Priority Pass, but I was very appreciative.

I was here a few months ago with Richard, but that was a morning flight and this was one of the last flights of the day, so there was a different feel to the arrangements. It was all clean and organised, there’s a self-serve soft drinks machine, snacks in the fridges and self-pour alcohol. They had a separate beer fridge with a couple of choices in it, nothing exceptional, but perfectly acceptable given it was free. I’m not at all picky when stuff is free, I’ve noticed I’m more inadvertently generous on Untappd. Nathan would no doubt tut at my lack of consistency….

The two hot options were pasta and chicken drumsticks. It seemed an odd choice for a lounge, as the chicken was a little greasy and they were going to end up with bones dotted around the place on places. However, I wasn’t let down with the taste of the chicken, although the pasta was a bit bland.

The food menu and the meat platters were rather lovely.

It’s a relatively large lounge, although it wasn’t particularly busy when I was there. They have very few power outlets, although I was fortunate to find one as I did need my devices fully charged given that I might not get chance later on. They had views over the runways, although no power points in those areas of seating. They also have unlimited popcorn…..

The seating was comfortable, it was practical for those with laptops and the like, although there were some more comfortable chairs for people who prefer just to relax and not always sit and stare at a screen as I seem to.

The flight was showing as delayed by one hour, but after three hours in the lounge I thought that was enough, so I meandered over to the gate. There was plenty of seating available, with a few power points dotted around.

The boarding process was efficient and customers were called in group order.

There’s the Finnair aircraft, which BA are wet leasing as they seem to have managed to not have enough of their own, a situation which seems far from ideal.

And as it was the Finnair aircraft, I opted for my favourite seat with lots of legroom.

Excellent crew again, although the Finnair cabin crew nearly always seem very professional and personable. I had the entire row of three exit row seats to myself. Whilst I was in the lounge, I had received a message from British Airways saying that there would be no catering on board the flight due to operational reasons. I had another chicken drumstick to fill me up in case there was no mini bags of crisps and water on board. It transpired they had water, but no crisps, which I could manage without, although I’m not sure that the Club Europe passengers would have been quite so impressed as they get meals provided. The crew said that the catering lorry couldn’t reach the aircraft due to a crash at Heathrow, which meant that they didn’t have their food either, so they were wondering where they could eat at nearly midnight at Heathrow.

We arrived into C Gates of London Heathrow about thirty minutes late, although I was in no rush. It’s not ideal to be at C Gates usually, as it’s quite a walk as the internal trains don’t run when it’s close to midnight. But I was in no rush and I like walking.

The UK border was moderately busy, but their automated machines were rejecting a lot of people, including myself, which meant a bit of a queue as there weren’t many border control officers. They were doing some quite detailed checks on some people entering the country, but I was waved through after a cursory check of my passport. I tried to look and act as British as I could in case they thought I pinched someone else’s passport or something.

As my flight was arriving late, I decided against a hotel in London, which at the moment are ridiculously priced compared to what they were. I had a great idea of just getting the 06:00 train from London to Norwich, which was £10, and getting the night bus from Heathrow into central London. That meant I wanted my devices fully charged, so this was the arrangement I set-up for myself, I found the chair and moved it towards the power points and refused to leave (not that anyone asked me to) until everything had full battery. This travel isn’t as easy as people think when there’s a fear of devices without power….

The arrivals floor at Heathrow T5, not very busy at night. For anyone who wants to stay the night at the terminal, it’d be on this level, they remove people from the departures floor. It’s not particularly comfortable, but there’s power, wifi, toilets and I think one of the shops stays open overnight.

I was pleased that the weather was overcast and not too hot.

Heathrow still have no date of when pedestrians can walk into the terminal, something they’ve currently banned from doing, although cyclists can cycle in from next year when the tunnel reopens. The free travel zone has been scrapped and they’ve introduced this new drop-off fee, all adding to the expense for many people. But, Heathrow have shareholders who need cash…..

I’ve never caught the night bus N9, but it’s a bargain really at £1.65 to get from London Heathrow to Trafalgar Square.

The bus timetable if anyone should want it, but the services are regular throughout the night and it’s an 85 minute journey from one end to the other.

On time and not very busy.

The passengers who boarded were just using the bus to get to T3, so I was on my own on the bus for a while after that. Well, with the driver obviously as I’m not sure what my bus driving is like…. (although, I have driven a bus without incident when the driver let me near Cromer, but I’m not sure that was entirely within the rules so I best not go too far down that line). It was a very peaceful journey and it’s actually really quite nice to be able to watch the city go by without stopping at literally every bus stop. There was a mixture of night workers coming back from work, going to work, some early morning commuters, party-goers and travellers.

Sad to see the Admiralty pub like this, certainly different to the last time I was in it a few months ago.

The pub was badly damaged by fire a couple of weeks ago and it looks very serious in terms of the repairs that will be needed.

It was gone 03:00 by this time and I was surprised just how many people were still around Nelson’s Column and Trafalgar Square. It all felt safe and non-threatening, although I was careful taking photos as I didn’t want any mugging incidents.

The Royal Courts of Justice. I had intended to pop into the 24 hour McDonald’s on the Strand to kill an hour, but it was at near capacity and I didn’t want all that raucous noise and party excess. I’m over 30 now and can’t be dealing with that.

St. Paul’s Cathedral and it was a real treat to walk across the city when it’s so quiet, it feels like such a different place. Buses still shuttle around the city, so it seems alive and energetic, but yet with a sense of calm.

The Royal Exchange.

It took me around 40 minutes to walk across London, so I arrived at London Liverpool Street at 03:45. I’ve never seen the railway station all locked up, but the side entrance to McDonald’s was open so I thought that I’d get a little snack.

Back in the day, there used to be seating in this McDonald’s, but this is it now, just self-ordering kiosks. They were all switched off and I wasn’t sure what to do, but a security guard came up when I looked confused and got a crew member to come and take my order at the counter.

McDonald’s probably wondered what they’d do with the £1.80 I gave them for two burgers….. But just as I had finished, the gates of London Liverpool Street railway station swung open at 04:00.

It’s not often the concourse is so quiet.

By now it was 04:02 and the first train out is at 04:40 to Stansted Airport, which is where most of the waiting passengers were heading I think.

It’s very hard to get a photo of this statue as there’s often rubbish on or around it, and it’s also used as a seat or somewhere to lean against. I don’t entirely like this sculpture here, it’s not prominent enough and I hope they can rearrange things a bit. Note the uncomfortable seating behind it designed to avoid anyone homeless sitting on it.

Für Das Kind, or For the Children, designed by Flor Kent, which I’ve written about before.

I sat down for an hour in view of where the new Greggs will be opening soon.

There was nearly no-one around after the first train to Stansted Airport had gone.

I was pleased to see that this wasn’t the Stansted Express with no tables.

This wasn’t a busy service at all. I managed to fall asleep as soon as the train departed, but was conscious that the train guard was checking tickets nearly straight away as there were so few of us on the train.

And safely into Norwich Railway Station at 08:00. The blog will be quite quiet for the next month, with the exception of some odd random and irrelevant (not that they ever really cross the boundary into relevant) posts which I’m sure I’ll feel the need to make, as I’m doing nearly no travelling. Expect a few bits about the LDWA AGM weekend, the Summer Poppyline and some pub photos, but not much else.

July 31, 2022
Norwich – Rosary Cemetery (Averill Woollsey and Benjamin Woollsey)

Another in my random series of posts about gravestones in Rosary Cemetery in Norwich.

Two things caught my eye about this gravestone at Rosary Cemetery, firstly, it’s very clean and secondly, the dates of death are very close. I assumed that it had been cleaned recently and so there might be a story on-line, but if there is, I can’t find it.

The grave is that of Averill Woollsey (nee Mitchell) who was born in 1775 and she died at the age of 69 on 15 April 1844. Benjamin Woollsey, the son of Benjamin Woollsey and Susanna Wells, was born on 13 December 1786 and baptised in St. Nicholas Church in North Walsham on 31 December 1786. The couple were married at St. Nicholas Church (now the Minster) in Great Yarmouth on 6 December 1812 and they moved to Norwich at some point to live on Magdalen Street.

Benjamin died on 16 April 1844, just one day after his wife, so unless he died very quickly of a broken heart, I assume that there was an illness or accident. However, there’s nothing in the media about it, just a notice that Robert Burcham, who was Benjamin’s business partner in running a corn and seed merchant, would continue the business alone.

This appeared in the local newspaper on 27 April 1844, the quick sale of all of the property which the couple owned. I can’t establish exactly which property he lived at on Magdalen Street, it would have added some colour to the thought of Benjamin’s stuff being carted out of it on Friday 2 May 1844. This remains another blog post without much of an answer, just a story without resolution of why they died so close together, and who has arranged for their gravestone to be cleaned and restored.

July 31, 2022
Wednesday : Prague Ibis to Prague Airport via Destroyed Russian Military Hardware

My final day in Prague and there are more photos on Flickr.

My final breakfast at the Ibis Prague Mala Strana, which I accept looks very similar to those from previous mornings. Blue cheese and spicy chorizo though, why stray away from such fine choices?

I decided that I’d get an all-day transport card which cost around £4 and I needed to get to the airport anyway. Excuse accidentally photographing my own finger, but I decided to get whatever tram came first at the stop and that happened faster than I had expected. I like doing this on trams (getting the random one I mean, not photographing my finger), as buses can go all over the place and be a little unpredictable, whereas tram tracks make it hard for the tram to stray very far.

It happened to be tram 12, which went in the same direction that I had failed to reach the previous day because the riverside path had been closed.

I got off at the Chaplin square tram stop, which for reasons unknown to me is named after Charlie Chaplin.

There looked like an interesting park, but my attempts to have a little look were slightly thwarted by this. There’s a little bit of a story here, as someone (visible in the photo to anyone looking carefully) was having a substantial argument with the digger driver (or whatever they’re called). I assume the driver was annoyed that a random member of the public had breached his cordon, but at least it provided some momentary excitement for me and others.

The public transport day ticket includes trams, the metro, ferries and the funicular railway. It proved to be a little challenging to get to the ferries to use them, but I’ll do that next time.

I thought that this was powerful, the Memorial to the Victims of Communism, comprising of seven bronze statues representing those who suffered under the period of communist oppression and terror.

The statues represent the same figure, but they show a more decayed figure as they go backwards, representing how communism destroyed lives. The strip through the middle shows a series of numbers, namely that 205,486 people were arrested, 170,938 were forced into exile, 4,500 died in prison, 327 were shot trying to escape and 248 were executed.

The nearby plaque reads:

“The memorial to the victims of communism is dedicated to all victims not only those who were jailed or executed but also those whose lives were ruined by totalitarian despotism”

Not wishing to distract from the powerful nature of the installation, but one of the figures seemed to resemble a Labour politician.

I didn’t like the representation of a snake quite so much.

I was going to have a little trip on the funicular railway, but the queue was very long and I’ve done it before numerous times so it didn’t seem worth the wait. And it was too hot, which I don’t think that I’ve mentioned on this post yet. I expect I’ll mention it again though.

This symbol is I think used by the Czech military, and the text on this one reads “Sergeant Major of NSG Jaroslav Janis Veren, the founder of the National Rifle Guards, laid down his life for the freedom of the nation”.

There was an exhibition at Letná Park that I wanted to see, although to my slight annoyance I realised that meant climbing another great big hill. But, I didn’t complain of course, not least as there was no-one apparent to complain to.

There were some nice views of Prague from the top of the mountain that I climbed in what I considered to be the extreme heat. I had several sit downs during the summit.

The Prague Metronome, installed here in 1991 and it’s one of the largest in the world standing 23 metres in height.

Before the metronome, this site was the location of a huge statue of Stalin (the largest representation of him in the world), built between 1949 and 1955 and designed by Otakar Švec, who killed himself a few weeks before the unveiling. The monument was blown up in 1962 after the Soviets started a process of disowning Stalin.

The quite ridiculous monument during the few years that it remained standing.

This was the exhibition that I had been looking for that I had seen in some national newspapers, a number of Russian vehicles and equipment that had been destroyed by the Ukrainians. It took me around 45 minutes of looking around the park as I didn’t know exactly where it was, not an entirely ideal situation given the heat.

The display of destroyed military hardware had previously been on display in Warsaw for a few weeks.

“Be Brave like Ukraine”. Very powerful and inspirational.

This display is located on Letná Park plain, an important location for pro-democracy movements over recent decades.

I’ve looked in many vehicles like this over the years, but that’s usually in museums and they’re from conflicts some decades ago. It is sobering to think that Russian troops were seated in here just a few weeks ago.

There were a few locals looking around the site, but this very much remains a city that is in solidarity with Ukraine with the number of blue and yellow flags and anti-Russian graffiti being testament to that.

A quick trip on the Prague Metro to have one final craft beer experience before getting the flight back to London.

I stopped at the Muzeum station to have a little wander about above ground and I was reminded by the quirky interior design of these underground arrangements.

I’ve written before about this Catholic Church built in 1932, which I note was carefully locked up to avoid anyone trying to use it to get peace and solace in. God forbid that there might be an open church for individuals to pray in. I was sitting on the benches nearby and there was an almighty bang and lots of screaming, which caused some people to run away. It transpired they were doing road repairs and had dropped something, with that noise then scaring some nearby people and that promptly resonated far and wide. I never left the bench I was sitting on, it was too hot. I’ve never been one to panic without good reason though.

A quick trip back to Beergeek, the city’s only Untappd Verified Venue, which I visited with Richard a few months ago.

I had come all the way to Prague and ordered a Vault City Brewing beer from the UK, but it’s a delightful brewery and I wasn’t disappointed with the Raspberry Kir Royale. Suitably refreshing on such a hot day.

My second beer was the Extra Cocoa Bananas from the local Sibeeria brewery and I very much liked the flavours, indeed a banana stout is one of my favourites, although it wasn’t quite rich enough to entire surprise and delight me. I like the cellar set-up here though, it’s interesting to peer through, with the service being as impeccable as before.

With that done, it was time to think about getting back to the airport and that involved one final visit for the moment on the Prague Metro.

All very well signed to connect to the airport bus, although it’s a shame that neither the Metro nor the tram network reaches the airport directly. This is apparently something they’ve planning to change as some random point in the future.

It would be very hard to miss the signage for the 119 bus.

It was also only a wait of a couple of minutes before the bus swept in. This efficiency of the public transport network meant that my plan to arrive three hours before my flight (which I thought was cutting it very fine) meant that I arrived four hours before my flight.

Back at the airport, and I have to say I was quite sad to be returning, primarily as I have such a long gap before returning to the EU and my favourite countries such as Poland.

And at the departures terminal, where I will pick up this scintillating (or something like that) story in the next post.

July 30, 2022
Tuesday : A Walk Along the River Vltava

This will be another of those posts where I took far more photos than I’ll use here, for anyone who wants to trawl through the whole lot, they’re at https://flickr.com/photos/julianwhite-uk/albums/72177720300849821. Don’t all rush at once…..

I mentioned yesterday about the rather lovely breakfasts at the Ibis hotel, with the additional bonus on this morning of doughnuts. It’s a great shame that more hotels don’t offer blue cheese for breakfast. And doughnuts actually. I also liked that the hotel had glasses of a decent size for the apple and orange juices, rather than the little thimbles that some offer.

This intriguing piece of street art is by the Czech artist Epos 257, a series of traffic signs in a mosaic design. There’s probably a greater meaning to it than that, but I’ll take the stance of letting individuals decide what it means.

My plan for the day was to walk along the Vltava river for some distance and see what happened. It seemed like a good plan when I started off anyway.

The path started off nice and shady with quite a rural feel to what is still a city centre location.

It was far too hot, but there was a breeze from the river and shade from the trees, I thought that it was all quite relaxing and scenic. I accept it wasn’t quite as hilly as whatever mountain range Dave Morgan is sweeping majestically over, but it was still a little adventure of some sorts.

I sat here for a while, contemplating that I’d be in Norwich for an entire month within just a couple of days.

The riverside path ran out here and so I was forced onto the road, but I was then reminded that if I walked for another two miles, then I’d come to a KFC. I was sold on that plan.

It’s a shame that the river path diverts up a bit at this point, but at least the water was still visible so there was some breeze.

I liked that boat thing that looked like a car.

There was some more opportunity for me to sit down on those logs, contemplating how brave that I was being by walking in such extreme heat.

I scrambled down the bank a bit here, hoping I didn’t somehow slip and fall in. I probably wouldn’t have mentioned anything about this if I had of done though to be fair.

I’m pleased to say that I didn’t fall in, but it was nice being right by the river.

Bloody typical. The riverside path was shut off with a barrier.

There was a diversion by the road, but it wasn’t quite the peaceful riverside setting that I had been enjoying.

At this point I could only cross the river over the bridge, or take those steps down in the hope that they reconnected with the river path.

I took the steps down and it transpired they’d been blocked off as well so they didn’t go anywhere.

With no choice, I had to cross the river here. This wasn’t entirely ideal as I had wanted to stay on the same side and also run into the KFC I had managed to incorporate into my plans, so that was that plan wrecked.

But, I decided to make the most of it as I never complain about anything, so I crossed the river.

I saw a few of these signs, often in random places, but they didn’t seem to actually be obeyed by everyone shall we say.

This is looking back across the river at what I would have walked along if it hadn’t all been blocked off.

Some of the artistic elements of the bridge, although I think the visual impact might have been stronger if it hadn’t got graffiti on it.

My plan to walk further along the river on the other side was also moderately ruined by it being shut. Only slightly annoyed, I thought I might as well walk back into the city centre.

Back on the shady riverside path, I was pleased once again. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned, but it was too hot and I was in need of shade.

It was far too hot, so I decided on popping into a petrol station to buy a couple of bottles of chilled drink. I then had a little lie down to cool down.

All quite idyllic, I must admit to enjoying the walk back into Prague.

These are the sort of yachts that I might be able to afford. And I don’t mean the ones at the back of the photo.

Fish of some sort and there plenty of people fishing along the river bank.

Some of the city’s fortifications and the entrance to the Vyšehrad tunnel.

I channelled my inner David Morgan to go storming up these steps. They’re much steeper than the photo suggests.

And I then stormed up these ones, albeit at a slightly slower pace. More Stuart from the NEC sort of pace.

The Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, with the current building dating from between 1887 and 1903, although there’s been a church around this area since the late eleventh century. There was an admission fee and I have to admit on past visits to not being taken by the churches in Prague, not because of their design or heritage, but because they seem to be treated as cash cows in a way that I’ve never seen in countries such as Poland. If the authorities don’t think there’s enough interest, they lock the doors, or that’s how it has felt during previous visits to the city. In terms of tourism, that’s their right, but they do have an obligation to the communities which they serve.

There’s a lot of moral authoritarianism coming from the Vatican about what individuals should do (sometimes designed to be hurtful), but not a great deal of what their churches should be doing. In Poland, a strongly Catholic country, there’s a welcome that is evident in just about every church I’ve been, even in the most tourist of locations, I hope in the future that becomes more apparent here as well. I at first thought that it was perhaps the communist authorities in the then Czechoslovakia that had changed the ethos of what churches can offer, but it appears to be issues within the Czech Republic itself, as is evidenced at https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/02/once-the-same-nation-the-czech-republic-and-slovakia-look-very-different-religiously/.

But, anyway, my random complaining and plunging towards religious debate aside, that’s why there are no photos inside the church.

The church’s graveyard was free to enter and was a peaceful environment which was well looked after.

The church from the side, it all feels well proportioned.

A memorial to those who died from communism.

Some artwork in the Vyšehrad complex, of which the church was part. It’s not known, but this might have been the fortified area from where Prague grew, it’s certainly located high enough up the hill to make it hard to attack (or walk up in the heat). Initially this area was a Royal Palace, but in the fourteenth century it was abandoned and the other fort on the other site of the river, Prague Castle, became the home of the Monarchs. Much of what exists now, including the church, is due to remodelling of the area in the late nineteenth century.

The fortifications, heavily repaired, as there are only small parts of the Middle Ages constructions still standing.

A little promenade on which to overlook Prague. I had been walking on that far riverbank in the morning.

I thought I was really quite brave walking to these dizzying heights whilst it was so hot.

Looking back towards the city centre.

I needed to head back to the hotel as there was an LDWA zoom meeting that I needed to attend, a handy excuse to get out of the heat. Actually, I should stop mentioning the heat, I think I’ve written twice now just how hot it was.

I had saved my welcome drink voucher for when I was back at the hotel. I had the choice of getting something from the bar area, or any drink from the little shop next to reception.

I had a quick walk around the city after the Zoom meeting, my final night in the European Union for what will be months…..

July 29, 2022