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…..
Bantling
The dictionary defines this as a “young child”, a word that it seems is still in usage today to at least a small degree.
The word has steadily fallen out of use over the last century, but it’s quite an affectionate term in many ways, although it hasn’t always been used like that and was sometimes defined more as a brat.
The Memphis Pyramid, known as the Great American Pyramid when it was constructed, is hard to miss from its riverside location in the city.
Of course, everything in the United States is understated…… Anyway, this immense structure was constructed between 1989 and 1991 and was designed to be used as a sports arena. It’s certainly like no sports arena that I’ve seen before, which was perhaps half its problem, as ultimately the NBA team in Memphis built a new and more suitable stadium for itself elsewhere in the city. After a period of closure and since 2015, the building has been used as an outdoors store in what is perhaps the most impressive of backdrops possible.
I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from an outdoor shop, but I’m certain it wasn’t what I was about to experience. This is the 28-storey lift to the top, which is the tallest freestanding elevator in the country.
Some of the scenery within the pyramid, which is designed to look like an outdoor wilderness environment.
Complete with a bear.
And rocks.
And trees and huts…..
There is a point to all this water, this is one of the boats which is for sale. The main tenant in the building is Bass Pro, who specialise in selling fishing, hunting and boating gear and there are large stocks of all of these here.
This boat isn’t for sale as it has alligators around it.
Because of course every outdoors store needs alligators everywhere….
And the store’s subtle little fish tank, with feeding demonstrations taking place at pre-set times.
I thought I might have a ten-minute walk around this pyramid, but I stayed for a couple of hours exploring it and I remember needing a quick lunch whilst I was there. There’s a hotel here as well, and there are plans to expand the site and perhaps introduce more rooms to the hotel. Although for those who can’t wait for that, it’s now possible to spend the night in the pyramid by glamping.
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…..
Bang Up
This phrase is defined by the dictionary as meaning “Quite the thing, hellish fine. Well done. Compleat. Dashing”, which is interesting perhaps as it’s almost the sort of term that could be used today in modern slang. Indeed, there are still references made to “bang up good”, although I’m not sure whether that’s a continuation of the older term or by chance it has been reintroduced. I like the idea that it’s a phrase that has been in use for centuries though.
I wasn’t able to visit Mud Island for the simple reason that it was shut in January 2018, but I liked that usually visitors can go there by using the monorail service on the above bridge. Which also of course wasn’t operating when I was there, but the photos I’ve seen of it look rather intriguing.
An information sign about the island, which hopefully at some point in the future I’ll get to visit. This bloody coronavirus had better hopefully disappear soon, my list of places I need to (re)visit needs tackling….
One thing I discovered on-line after taking this photo in Memphis is that the American robin isn’t really anything to do with the European robin, which slightly disappointed and confused me. It has the name robin as it resembles the European robin, but it’s a totally different bird. And there’s today’s fun fact of the day…..
This was one of my pointless expeditions, crossing the Harahan Bridge over to the other side of the Mississippi River. It made for a nice walk though, but the main purpose of this little adventure was so that I could cross into Arkansas. I’ll hopefully visit the state a little more comprehensively in the future, but I can at least claim that I have visited Arkansas. Well, the bit of their territory over the river and a car park and I’m sure there are better bits.
The bridge was constructed for rail transport, although after some controversy there were also some roadways constructed on the side. The rail bridge opened in 1916, with the road sections opening in the following year. A new road bridge was built in 1949 making the roadways redundant, so a few years ago there was a decision to make this a pedestrian and cycling crossing which is known as the Big River Crossing.
The entrance to the bridge, which is quite tightly secured which I assume is to keep people off the rail section. At night the bridge is illuminated and there are also extensive walking and cycling trails for those who want to explore the area more thoroughly.
Walking along the route and its subtle fencing.
I like that this gives the impression that I’d climbed over to take this photo, but since I’m scared of heights and tend to follow rules, I’m not sure that anyone would believe that. In reality, it’s a section that juts out a bit.
And there we go, crossing the state line and I can say that I’ve been to Arkansas.
The view back down the river of downtown Memphis.
It was hard not to feel a bit hemmed in…. But, it’s a magnificent project to let people walk across the bridge and the Big River Crossing only opened in 2016, with my visit being in January 2018.
A freight train going by.
Part of the bridge which is no longer used. The pedestrian and cycling part of the bridge is free of charge to cross and it’s open from dawn until 22.00 every day of the week.
And for anyone interested, a Youtube video of the crossing’s history.
And another in my series of posts, primarily to remind myself, of hotels that I never got to stay at because of the Coronavirus. This hotel seemed effortlessly professional though, responding almost immediately to my e-mail and confirming that they’d refund the two non-refundable stays that I had booked here. This would have been my first trip to Austria, but I’ll get there soon enough no doubt and get to stay at this hotel sometime in what is hopefully the near future. I remain impressed with Accor Hotels, they’ve been marvellous in terms of offering these refunds.
This post is just photos, from my visit to Memphis Zoo in January 2018. It’s a large zoo and there weren’t many people there on a weekday morning in January, so I had a quite lovely time meandering around the various areas of the zoo.
I visited this museum in January 2018 and I had slightly feared that it might be a little bit preachy, telling people what to believe rather than engaging in the history of the civil rights movement. I had no reason to be concerned though, the museum was well curated, never tried to preach and was full of interesting and relevant exhibits in different forms whether that be video, text, artefacts or reconstructions.
Room 306 is where Martin Luther King was assassinated, and it’s possible to visit a second part of the museum which is the building located opposite, from where the bullet that killed him was fired. The hotel room in what was the Lorraine Motel has been preserved and this forms one of the final parts of the museum tour, it’s quite a sudden and dramatic ending to a visit in many ways.
The room next to the bathroom where the shot was fired, showing visitors the view from where James Earl Roy fired the fatal shot. The motel can be seen clearly through the windows, which is now the main part of the museum. There is some debate about whether James Earl Roy was actually the murderer, but the museum addresses that and presents the various theories that have been raised over the years.
The bathroom, now sealed off, from where the shot was fired. There was plenty to see in the museum and I was here for just under three hours, across the two different buildings. Visiting in a January weekday also meant that there weren’t too many other people around in the museum, so it was a quiet visit.
It is fortunate that the two buildings have survived, and at times that wasn’t certain, and there was a modernisation of the museum which was completed in 2014. Memphis isn’t the wealthiest of cities and so the museum being sited here, especially given the importance of it being Martin Luther King, has at least brought some visitors to the city centre.
The museum is very well reviewed, amazingly there are just 21 one-star reviews on TripAdvisor out of the nearly 9,000 reviews that have been left. Given the sensitive topic that the museum covers, this seems to me to be a considerable achievement for the curators and some of those 21 reviews have been left in error or are just ridiculous.
And, finally, some more photos from the museum which include the replica bus that Rosa Parks sat on and the replica sanitation truck from the strike that led Martin Luther King to be in Memphis.
