12 passengers in four hours? Surely it must be worth just using buses for these routes now, that’s on average fewer than one person per train (plus the guard and the driver)….. But impressive that so many people aren’t travelling and are obeying instructions.
https://twitter.com/BTPEAnglia/status/1246360968919162882
This shopping centre is perhaps the earliest surviving in Bucharest, constructed in 1891 and named after Xavier Villacrosse, a former city architect.
There’s a grand entrance portal to the centre, which is in a fork shape as the owner of the central area, the Pesht Hotel, didn’t want to sell. That must have been slightly annoying for the developers at the time, but at least they got to build their street in some form.
It’s a stunning interior, but it needs repair and I wasn’t really that excited by any of the premises inside. This was primarily due to most being closed when I visited in the afternoon, with some others having a rather seedy look, even if perhaps they weren’t.
With some money and the introduction of a few innovative tenants, this could once again be quite a grand shopping street given its central location. During the communist period from 1950 until 1989, the centre was renamed Pasajul Bijuteria, or the jewellery street. Many of the shops along the street during this time were jewellers, although this has now changed to mostly being restaurants and bars.
The main dome isn’t in too bad a condition and it ensures that the shopping is well lit and bright. There are offices above the retail units and for a while this was home to the first Stock Exchange in the country.
The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the Coronavirus crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored…..
Bawdy Basket
The dictionary defines this as “the twenty-third rank of canters, who carry pins, tape, ballads and obscene books to sell, but live mostly by stealing”. Canter seems to be a miscreant of various types, and the 23rd rank refers to a 1698 dictionary which tried to place the criminal fraternity in 27 different ranks, with the most important ranked highly.
The original meaning of a bawdry basket was someone (nearly always female) who carried a basket of clothes and then stole more clothing that they found, claiming to anyone asking that it was their own. Over time, this got corrupted in criminal slang to meaning someone carrying a basket of stolen goods.
The Church of St. Anthony is the oldest standing church in its original form which is left in Bucharest, dating back to the 1550s and constructed on the site of a wooden church. It has though been through the wars a little (including literally when the Turks attacked) and with a restoration in 1847 following a major fire which damaged much of Bucharest’s central area.
The building looks relatively modern, mainly due to some recent cleaning and there were also restorations in 1914 and between 1928 to 1935 which reverted the church back to something more like its original appearance.
The church’s facade.
A fine entrance portal which dates to 1715.
The church was busy with worshippers, so it didn’t feel appropriate to walk around it and disturb other people. It was a grand interior though, but also homely and with a strong sense of community.
I posted earlier a few photos of the bravery of Scott and Liam in climbing up the various elements of the Fairy Pools, which was a sequence of waterfalls. The rest of us didn’t make that brave climb on rocks through the middle of the waterfalls in case we fell in, we just walked alongside. Richard and Andrew were hoping that Scott fell in, but I didn’t tell anyone that. I think it was Richard and Andrew hoping that, but perhaps it was me.
Known locally as the Lòin nan Sìthichean, these waterfalls and caves are apparently popular with those who like wild swimming and diving, but I can imagine that the water isn’t exactly tropical in temperature even if it is in appearance. And so, lots more photos, including a photo of a couple having wedding photos. A lovely background, but a bit of a traipse in wedding finery to get to them.
And just photos (as opposed to any meaningful information about the route) of our walk a few years ago to the Old Man of Storr. More beautiful scenery, although we spent a lot of the walk wondering exactly which bit of rock we were supposed to be looking at. Some found the walk easier than others and Andrew fell over, but it wasn’t overly busy and the weather was being helpful to us. Most of the photos I took were of the Sanctuary, the collection of rocks (albeit a big collection) in front of the Old Man of Storr.
The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the Coronavirus crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored…..
Bartholomew Baby
Apparently, and going by the dictionary’s definition, this is “a person dressed up in a tawdry manner, like the dolls or babies sold at Bartholomew fair”. As a side issue, I’m still retelling people (I heard this on a guided walk, although I can’t remember which one) the origins of the word tawdry, which comes from St Audrey’s lace, which was often sold as a cheap copy and became unfashionable.
Anyway, I hadn’t heard of Bartholomew Fair, but this was a major annual event which was held in London from 1133 until 1855, with the authorities finding it had got debauched by inappropriate people and their behaviour, so they scrapped it. The phrase Bartholomew Baby is still in use occasionally today as a description of small wooden dolls, but the reference to people being dressed in a tawdry manner seems to have been lost.
This railway station isn’t actually on the Isle of the Skye, but it’s the gateway to it for those arriving by rail or road. We drove there to pick Scott up, who had decided to arrive in style by train.
Operated today by Abellio, this railway station was first opened in November 1897 and it kick-started the tourism industry which is now an important part of the Isle of Skye’s economy. Before this most visitors to Skye needed to get the ferry leaving from Stromeferry, which was a more complex option than necessary. The road sign at Stromeferry now has underneath it “no ferry”, just to prevent any modern day confusion.
This was an expensive line to build, they needed to build 29 bridges and it cost £20,000 per mile which would have been a huge cost at the time.
The station building itself has two platforms and is used by around 60,000 passengers each year.
There used to be a ferry which left from this railway station to take locals and visitors to the Isle of Skye, with the railway company installing the ferry landing area. A new road in the 1990s meant the end of this ferry, and it was hugely controversial as the road tolls became expensive and locals couldn’t get the exemptions that they previously unofficially had. The Scottish Government purchased the bridge in 2004 and the tolls were immediately scrapped. For those without a car, there are buses which go from the railway station into Portree and some other locations on the Isle of Skye.
And here comes the train with Scott on. With his arrival, it meant that the rest of us could explore the Isle of Skye.
Ross claimed Scott looked gormless when he got off the train. We didn’t repeat that many times to him as politeness is the key.
And Andrew liked the little train because it had a garden in it.
We visited the Isle of Skye in 2017, but there were still a few reminders of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. This sticker on the back of a road sign is from the Yes Scotland campaign, with the Highlands (the boundary area which covers the Isle of Skye) voting to remain in the UK, but by a smaller margin to many others others.
More memories from our accommodation in Skye from a few years ago. It was a peaceful location with excellent views over the water and we could see the accommodation for the hills above. There was an incident when Andrew left the gates open and Scott and Richard had to usher out the sheep which promptly invaded. We didn’t make Andrew feel bad about it though.
