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  • Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    So back off to London, on another £10 fare from Norwich with Greater Anglia and there’s a high availability of this price when travelling off-peak. Unlike my trip last week, the barrier staff are back at Norwich railway station, although most of the food outlets on the concourse are still closed.

    The outbound 10.30 train was the inbound 10.27 train, which meant that there was no time to properly clean it down, although a cleaner came through to collect rubbish. But, the carriages all looked clean and well maintained, but there’s not exactly a huge passenger load on them at the moment.

    The train pulling up onto platform 2 at Norwich railway station. The journey was uneventful as everything worked well and the train arrived at Colchester railway station a few minutes early. It wasn’t a particularly busy service, a handful of customers in each carriage and every customer I noticed was wearing a mask.

    The guards aren’t walking up and down the train due to the current health issue, but there was an announcement mid-way through telling a passenger with a grey t-shirt to get their feet off the seats. I liked that the guards were clearly looking at CCTV, it’s reassuring from a general safety point of view, as well as helping to ensure that the train stays clean and presentable.

    And safely in London Liverpool Street, all on time. It still seems a shame that these new trains are sweeping up and down the country with so few passengers on them, but at least it made for a comfortable journey for me.

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 151

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 151

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

    Helter Skelter

    This phrase is normally used today when referring to an amusement park ride, but its definition in the late eighteenth-century dictionary was “to run helter skelter, hand over head, in defiance of order”. The exact word origins for this phrase have long been lost as it has been used since at least the early sixteenth century and Shakespeare also used the term. ‘Skelten’ in Middle English meant to hasten, so it’s likely linked to that, with the ‘helter’ bit added later for extra emphasis.

    Despite the reusing of the word in the early twentieth century as a ride, the phrase had remained in relatively constant use during the nineteenth century. There was a small uptick in usage during the 1960s, but this is likely due to the Beatles issuing a song entitled, well, Helter Skelter.

  • Colchester – St. Botolph’s Priory (Vault of William Hawkins)

    Colchester – St. Botolph’s Priory (Vault of William Hawkins)

    I don’t know who William Hawkins is, but he must have been relatively powerful or influential to have had a vault here at St. Botolph’s Church. The vault would have been here since before the fire at the church in 1648, and perhaps before the Dissolution of the Monasteries just over a century before. It’s perhaps not an ideal situation for your vault, which was deliberated designed to be inside, to be left out in the open. However, it’s also interesting that the site has been marked and not left to be forgotten over the centuries.

  • London – Kensington – Churchill Arms

    London – Kensington – Churchill Arms

    It’s hard to deny that this pub obviously has character, even before walking in that’s evident. Although it wasn’t originally named after Winston Churchill, it is now at least a little themed around him and the pub’s web-site notes that his grandparents drank there.

    The interior of the pub was no less quirky. The staff in the pub were friendly, with the operation of track and trace being handled professionally and everything seemed clean. Just as my view, the beer selection was weak with no dark options, limited to London Pride (and I know many people like London Pride, but its appeal is a little lost on me) and Honey Dew, both from Fuller’s Brewery, who operate the pub. The pricing was some of the most expensive that I’ve seen, over £6 for a pint of real ale which tops the prices of nearly every central London pub I’ve visited. I was rather pleased that I only ordered half. The drink was, well, metallic in flavour with some sweetness. Lovely if you like Metal Mickey I suppose.

    The Honey Dew taste and price was enough for me to abort my plans to eat food, which was awkward as the staff member seemed moderately confused as why I hadn’t ordered after I said I was planning to. This was quite a surprise even to myself, as it was half price day for food as part of the Eat Out to Help Out, and the Thai kitchen menu items seemed intriguing and tempting. The reviews suggest that the food is excellent (and I could hear the number of phone calls coming in asking for reservations, but they were full), but there is something I didn’t like about any pub, even in Kensington, topping £6 for a pint of real ale, so I resisted the temptation of the Jungle Curry.

    But, the pub is clearly a local favourite and it has a long tradition with a friendly welcome. It wasn’t for me though, but I’d have probably been more of a fan of the whole experience if they’d stocked Fuller’s Porter. Incidentally, although the Thai cuisine perhaps seems a little mismatched for the British theme of the pub, it clearly works as they’ve been doing it since the early 1990s. Besides, any pub which has its own page on Wikipedia is likely worth a visit.

  • Colchester – St. Botolph’s Priory

    Colchester – St. Botolph’s Priory

    In the tenth century, there was a church here dedicated to St. Botolph, but a Kentish priest with the name of Norman fancied setting up an Augustinian priory. So, after some research and approval, this magnificent structure was built and the religious institution was established. It was the first Augustinian priory to be constructed in the country and it also, very sensibly, honours St. Julian.

    The rather glorious remaining section of the west front of the priory.

    Much of the church has been reconstructed using Roman brick that was robbed from various walls and buildings around Colchester.

    These pillars have stood the test of time…..

    This is the nave, looking towards the west end of the priory. The priory was closed down during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, but the nave area was saved as this was used by the local population at their church. Everything that the monks used, such as the cloisters, numerous chapels and their area for prayer was all pulled down.

    The church in its new form survived until 1648, when it was destroyed during a siege that took place during the English Civil War. There were plans to rebuild the church after the Civil War, but they never came to pass, so the ruins have stood here now for over 350 years, currently under the management of English Heritage.

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 150

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 150

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

    Hedge Creeper

    I’m moderately confused by this definition from Grose, where he notes this phrase means “a robber of hedges”. I’m not convinced by this, as I’m really not sure many hedges were robbed and this phrase was more commonly used to describe someone who hid in a hedge to commit a crime, perhaps a highwayman. It is possible that Grose meant that it’s a robber who steals something from hedges, perhaps clothing left out to dry, although that’s getting a bit tenuous. So, on this, I’m unsure….

  • Colchester – Site of Shooting of Charles Lucas and George Lisle

    Colchester – Site of Shooting of Charles Lucas and George Lisle

    This memorial notes where Sir Charles Lucas (1613-1648) and Sir George Lisle (1610-1648) were shot on the orders of Sir Thomas Fairfax, the Parliamentarian General. The two men were shot in the castle yard on 28 August 1648, following the surrender of the town to Parliamentary troops during the Civil War. The men were buried at St. Giles’s Church in the town and after the restoration of the Monarchy, there was a commemoration ceremony and the actions of Fairfax were rejected by many. Lucas was given a posthumous peerage in 1666 and the decision to shoot them was seen as a miscarriage of justice, even for the period. Lisle had said to the firing squad “now rebels, do your worst” and Lucas was equally brave.

    This memorial stone was unveiled here behind Colchester Castle, where the men were killed, on 20 October 1892 at a ceremony attended by Henry Laver.

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 149

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 149

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

    Hedge

    This term, which is now a multi-trillion industry in the form of hedge funds, was defined by the dictionary as “to make a hedge; to secure a bet, or wager, laid on one side, by taking the odds on the other, so that, let what will happen, a certain gain secured, or hedged in, by the person who takes this precaution; who is then said to be on velvet”.

    The word hedge is from the old English ‘hegg’, similar to the Dutch word ‘heg’ and the German word ‘hecke’, with the financial version just meaning to be on both sides of a hedge.

  • Colchester – The Victoria Inn

    Colchester – The Victoria Inn

    The Victoria’s web-site has the message “we pride ourselves on being able to source many ales that you may not have tasted before, many from micro breweries who don’t usually supply nationally so we take the time to go and fetch them ourselves. Not for us the safe route of Adnams, London Pride, Doombar, etc……” which is one of the most reassuring things that a pub can say. Although I understand that many pubs are tied and don’t have this flexibility, it’s still relatively rare to get an interesting choice of beers.

    Some of the real ales and ciders, there were also pumps to the right with what might be defined as more exotic craft options, with beers from Bone Machine, Turning Point and the Cloudwater Brew Co. There was a friendly welcome from a staff member perched by the counter, giving him an ideal vantage point to get customers to sign in, seat them and engage with them as required. The staff members were helpful, friendly and there was a relaxed feel to the whole pub. All rather lovely.

    This is the two-thirds of the Mary Ann is Dead from Bone Machine, although I caused some moderate confusion by ordering a drink in this measure. The barman was immensely helpful in working out the price and finding a suitable glass, I have somewhat got in the habit of ordering in thirds without checking the pub was set-up to do that. I liked that this unintentional curveball didn’t annoy the barman though. The drink has a rich and decadent taste of mint running through it, along with the chocolate flavour, very moreish. There was a limited aftertaste though, although the initial hit was quite strong, but this is still a very beautiful drink.

    I pinched from Nathan a taster of the Multi-Dimensional Being from Cloudwater Brew Co. and I have no idea what on earth this drink was, defined loosely as a brown ale and it had a whole array of different flavours. My palate wasn’t good enough to know what these flavours were, other than slightly fruity whilst maintaining some elements of a stronger beer such as notes of chocolate. But, whatever the flavours were, this was a quite magnificent drink and I opted for one of my ever rare 4.75 out of 5 scores on Untappd. I could rightly say that no-one is really bothered about what I think of a beer, but I’m pleased that the brewery noted and acknowledged the score when they saw it.

    It was a little bit of a shame that the pub didn’t open longer into the evening, as there were numerous other drinks options that looked tempting. But, I’m sure I’ll be back in the future. And this is one of my favourite pubs of the year.

  • Hope – Name Origin

    Hope – Name Origin

    I didn’t spend long in the village of Hope, it was just sufficient time for us to visit the pub, the Cheshire Cheese Inn. The village name though is intriguing and The Concise Oxford Dictionary Of English Placenames notes:

    Hope, Derbyshire. Hope in 926, Hope in the Domesday Book. From Old English ‘hop’, meaning valley.

    I was slightly disappointed with this, I had hoped (excuse the pun) for something more inspirational. The dictionary takes some time explaining this word, it has numerous meanings, but in this part of the country, it was a relatively common Old English word to describe a valley. The village has had the same name for probably nearly 1,500 years and that’s some going, also making it one of the earlier places in Derbyshire to have been recorded.