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  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day Nine

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day Nine

    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…..

    Badgers

    The dictionary defines this as “a crew of desperate villains who robbed near rivers, into which they threw the bodies of those they murdered”. Used as slang in the criminal fraternity, I can’t imagine that this was ever very common. It’s perhaps something which used to keep communities in fear as the books I’ve looked at suggest that the murder rate was relatively low in the eighteenth century. It’s an intriguing phrase though….

  • Memphis – National Civil Rights Museum (Freedom Riders)

    Memphis – National Civil Rights Museum (Freedom Riders)

    The first time I had heard of the Freedom Riders was at this museum, a group of very brave passengers who deliberately rode on inter-state buses to contest those states who enforced segregation on these services. Due a decision by the US court, it was decided that inter-state passengers did not have to segregate, but in reality, they were forced to in some states.

    This is a very dramatic recreation of the Greyhound bus, one of two buses (the other was operated by Trailways) that were heading from Washington DC to New Orleans. They were heading to Birmingham, but the Greyhound bus which was about an hour ahead pulled into the city of Anniston in Alabama. The occupants were attacked with the police refusing to intervene, other than to eventually escort the damaged bus to the city limits.

    When the bus reached the city limits, it was attacked by mobs, many attached to the KKK, who slashed its tires and set fire to it. The occupants were nearly burned alive, but managed to flee the bus and were then attacked again by the mob. They then managed to get to Anniston Memorial Hospital where the medical staff weren’t keen to treat the freedom riders. Fearing that their hospital would be attacked if they helped them, the freedom riders were asked to leave, which they did.

    The attacks shocked the United States, or at least a portion of it. Robert F. Kennedy, the US Attorney General, intervened to allow the Freedom Riders to continue their journey. He then distanced himself from the aims of the civil rights activists, saying he wouldn’t intervene in constitutional matters. Robert F Kennedy wanted the rides to end because they were embarrassing the United States and he urged the riders to “cool down”. James Farmer, one of the most important civil rights figures, replied “we have been cooling off for 350 years, and if we cooled off any more, we’d be in a deep freeze.”

    Looking down on the bus, another powerful and troubling exhibit presented by the museum clearly with plenty of background information. As for the city of Anniston, it has seen its population fall every decade over the last half century and one organisation branded it the most dangerous city in Alabama.

  • Memphis – National Civil Rights Museum (I Am a Man)

    Memphis – National Civil Rights Museum (I Am a Man)

    This is one of the displays at the National Civil Rights Museum which relates to the sanitation strike which took place in Memphis. Black workers were paid less than their white colleagues, and treated more harshly with fewer opportunities, which led to a strike and march where they had posters with the “I am a Man” slogan on them.

    It was this strike that what the reason that Martin Luther King came to Memphis, and was sadly assassinated whilst staying in Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel.

    The above article was published by a local newspaper at the time, and there was some surprise amongst the ‘whites’ that the issue had escalated. But paternalism and the concept of inequality were always the main issue that underpinned everything.

    The phrase, which is perhaps better known more recently in some quarters today with Will in the Inbetweeners using the phrase (in an unrelated manner) when trying to buy alcohol in an off-licence. The phrase though dates back to the late eighteenth century, when a tract was published with the title “Am I Not a Man and Brother?” and it became used in the anti-slavery movement. It’s a very powerful line.

  • Memphis – National Civil Rights Museum (Room 306)

    Memphis – National Civil Rights Museum (Room 306)

    A visit to the marvellous National Civil Rights Museum ends, I think quite abruptly, with room 306. On the balcony outside this room, Martin Luther King was assassinated on 4 April 1968.

    One of my political heroes and perhaps the greatest American of the twentieth century, I’ve also been on a tour of his birthplace home in Atlanta.

    King’s room, untouched since he was killed. Today, there is plexiglass allowing visitors to look into the room and this is all integrated into the modern new museum building. It’s quite a sobering way to end a tour of the museum, a reminder of the fight that the civil rights movement has had for so long.

    The bathroom of room 306. The plexiglass that has been used is quite unforgiving when taking photographs and it’s hard not to get reflections.

    The balcony where Martin Luther King was shot.

  • Memphis – Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken

    Memphis – Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken

    Back to January 2018 and there was one restaurant in Memphis that was outstandingly well rated (and it still is) and something of a culinary experience. This was evident when I got there and saw how many people were standing outside waiting to get in, on a mid-week afternoon in January…. Fortunately, it was organised and so I went in and put my name on the list and was told there would be a table available in around thirty minutes. But, sometimes fine food is worth that wait. It’s like waiting in Greggs for eight minutes whilst they put a new batch of chicken bakes in so that I can get a beautiful piping hot one. And, soon enough, after around thirty minutes a staff member came outside and shouted “Julian”, so it was time…..

    The menu, all clearly laid out and I think highly tempting.

    This is Memphis, so of course the service was engaging, efficient and personable. It’s not large inside the restaurant, but it was atmospheric and had a sense of fun to it.

    Can’t beat a bit of hot sauce. Well, you can I suppose, but this was a perfect complement to the meal.

    And the main event, two pieces of chicken breast, a chicken wing, baked beans, slaw and fries. And I got an unlimited Dr. Pepper, so this truly is the land of dreams. And, as for the chicken, it was as near perfection in a fried chicken dish meal as I’m sure it’s possible to achieve. A crisp exterior, with no irritating flabby skin on the chicken, moist and tender chicken which fell apart with a really depth of flavour to the coating. The fries were moreish, fluffy on the interior and firm on the exterior and the slaw was creamy. Fried chicken shouldn’t need to be greasy, something which some KFC outlets haven’t yet worked out, it should be just like this.

    The wait at the beginning also added to the whole experience by increasing the anticipation for the food, with the service always being pro-active. I thought about this meal numerous times in the weeks after, this is a slice of the true America as far as I’m concerned. Impeccable. They have some more outlets in this small chain, I am today promising myself that I’m going to go back and visit another one.

  • Bristol – Hampton by Hilton

    Bristol – Hampton by Hilton

    Hotels.com have since informed me that the hotel has withdrawn the refund option. Will repost about this….

    The third in my series of hotels that I never got to stay at due to the coronavirus….. But, I like to post about positive experiences and this hotel refunded my non-refundable booking that I had made via hotels.com. This is particularly positive as I hadn’t yet contacted this hotel, so it was an entirely pro-active refund. I will try to ensure that I visit the hotel in the future, they’ve made this process entirely painless.

    Reassuringly professional.

  • Bucharest – National Museum of Art (The Jew With the Goose by Nicolae Grigorescu)

    Bucharest – National Museum of Art (The Jew With the Goose by Nicolae Grigorescu)

    This painting is by Nicolae Grigorescu (1838-1907) and was painted in 1880. Grigorescu is apparently one of the founders of modern Romanian painting and this artwork shows a Jew (the name of the painting) holding a petition and a goose. The original title of this artwork is “a Moldavian Jew going to the Romanian Parliament to petition for his naturalisation” which was something that Jews could do from 1879, although it wasn’t an automatic right. I’m not sure whether the goose was meant as a bribe, although I’m not sure why anyone would traipse a live goose to Parliament without some good cause.

  • Bucharest – National Museum of Art (Catholic Church in Câmpulung)

    Bucharest – National Museum of Art (Catholic Church in Câmpulung)

    This artwork of a Catholic Church in Câmpulung was painted by Theodor Aman in 1875. The Romanian artist lived from 1831 until 1891, when he died in Bucharest and the house he lived in is now a museum which commemorates him and his work. I did try and find the same location on Google Streetview and the only Catholic Church looks different and the streetline has changed too much. I like the painting though, although I suspect that the town was more prosperous then than it is now if the characters and their formal wear are anything to go by.

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day Eight

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day Eight

    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…..

    Autem

    Not particularly a vulgar word, but this word was used between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries as a slang word, and rather informally and negatively, for a church. It’s not known, but the word may have been derived from Yiddish and the phrase ‘autem bawler’ is another word for a parson.

  • Bucharest – National Museum of Art (The Revolutionary Romania by CD Rosenthal)

    Bucharest – National Museum of Art (The Revolutionary Romania by CD Rosenthal)

    This artwork, entitled The Revolutionary Romania, is by Constantin Daniel Rosenthal and was painted in 1850. Rosenthal lived from 1820 and 1851 and had an involvement in the 1848 Revolution, which later cost him his life when he was tortured to death by the French for refusing to give information about his contacts. There’s something tragic about looking at an artwork which was painted by someone who was so relatively young, but yet was about to be confronted with his death.

    Rosenthal painted numerous artworks on the theme of Romanian nationalism and he seems to have been quite active in the later part of his life. This painting was part of the Pinacoteca București collection which had been established by King Carol II, with many of the artworks being taken over by the National Gallery. It shows Marie Rosetti who was a friend of the artist and the wife of the author Constantin Alexandru Rosetti. She was dressed in traditional Romanian clothing and she has a dagger in one hand and a Romanian flag in the other hand.