Vero (3) - Retail Therapy

Romford Market

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The following day we didn’t go far, and had a very enjoyable day at Romford market. 

(Zanna, your entrepreneurial skills have spread far and wide...)

Here was a person let loose in a sweet shop who didn’t know what to look at first… so we covered every single stall just in case.  A canny and picky buyer, she fingered every fabric and held every dress and skirt against herself to see if she liked it.

I was entertained for a while watching children suspended inside balloons which tumbled about in water, while they kept dry.  The first one shows how they start it up with the child inside.  You couldn’t tempt me I’m afraid… but it was fun to watch.

The next day we drove Vero to Norwich, where she was to spend the following week at the University of East Anglia, on a summer school course for literary translators. 

There were some pretty views along the way.

She got to meet a lot of interesting people, and for the first time heard the accents of Spanish speakers from different parts of the world, as well as of many other nationalities.  They worked hard and had a good laugh together, surely the perfect recipe for a first class learning experience.  Her English was much more confident when we met her at the railway station on her return.

Next time - Stratford-upon-Avon

-oOo-

Photo Finish

From Lonicera's non-digital archive

Yet more Bristol...

St Peter's in Broadmead, the downtown shopping centre -

a bombed out shell

Sunday afternoon on the Downs

A detail from the fountain at the Victoria Rooms

The mandatory shot of the Clifton Suspension Bridge -

a different angle to the previous ones

Fosters Almshouse, originally built in the 15th century but

this rebuild is from the 19th century.  Recently sold off

and now used as private apartments.

Another iconic Bristol landmark - the SS Great Britain, first Screw Steamship of its type, and like the Clifton Suspension Bridge was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.  It was launched in 1843 as a passenger ship between Bristol and New York, and later used to transport immigrants to Australia.  From the 1880's she was retired to the Falkland Islands as a warehouse quarantine ship and coal hulk.  In 1970 she was returned to Bristol for restoration.  Expert carpenters have rebuilt the cramped sleeping quarters of the passengers, and it has been so carefully re-created that it makes you wince to imagine 64 days at sea with so little room.

-oOo-

Vero (2) – London

"Pussycat, Pussycat, where have you been?"

"I've been to London to visit the Queen."

"Pussycat, Pussycat, what did you there?"

"I frightened a little mouse under her chair!"

(16th century nursery rhyme)
.

My sister and brother–in-law put us up for a few days in Romford, so that Vero could see London.  I was grateful that she came with us on the first day – I’ve lived far away from big cities and public transport for too long, and the number of underground/subway changes needed to get from one point to another had my head in a spin… as did the urgent need to chain myself to her in case I lost sight of her.  Vero on the other hand hadn’t a care in the world – she knew there were two people looking after her (well, one was leading and the other one was pretending she was quite confident, teeth clenched to stop them from chattering… what a wuss).

And the crowds…it was full tourist season, and the queues to get into the Madame Tussauds waxworks were three hours long - four people wide and snaked round the four sides of the square – at £25 a throw, I reckon the owners are laughing all the way to the bank.  Needless to say we didn’t go there.

London is now totally multicultural, you would be hard pushed to find the ‘true Londoner’ of old that you see in war films.  Forget asking the way – not only would most people be unable to help you, but they wouldn’t understand what you were saying anyway.  Thank goodness the same old buildings are still standing.

We took one of these to go round the main sights:

But here’s another type – London Duck Tours -  

...these buses chug their way round London crammed with tourists – apparently they’re World War II landing craft which have been turned into sightseeing buses.  Yes they really are amphibious, and I didn’t believe it for a second till I saw this –

... same bus minutes later... >>>>>>>>>

…All part of the delicious eccentricity that is Britain.

We watched the changing of the guard at Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall, and queued for ages so that Vero could be photographed first standing next to a mounted sentry...

...and later one on foot.

She looks a little uncertain here due to the combination of self-consciousness because of the number of people on the sidelines impatiently waiting to be photographed, and her awareness of the look of terribly pained yet patient resignation on the face of the lad as he stood to attention.  My sister’s breezy “Bet you wish you had a pound for every time you get your picture taken” was met with stony indifference.  (And I’ll bet they get far worse taunts to have to ignore…).  So that was another photographic box ticked for Vero.

Me, I became instantly besotted with the magnificent horses, and fascinated by the puzzling moves they’re trained to carry out during the changeover.

Another box ticked (the red phone box – oh do keep up)

After lunch at an old pub called The Duke of Clarence…

… Next was Trafalgar Square 

(can you tell my feet were killing me?!)

(Canadian friends - spot the flag!

It's Canada House, the Canadian High Commission)

Nelson’s Victory in a bottle…

The Houses of Parliament and a gust of wind…

Westminster Bridge

A ride on the London Eye…

Up...

Up and away.... (Charing Cross station)

A boat along the Thames…

...After which we headed home to Romford to collapse in an exhausted heap.

Next time – Romford market and Norwich.

-oOo-

Photo finish:

From Lonicera's non-digital archive

More of Bristol

Shopping at The Mall, Cribbs Causeway

The woods near Blaise Castle

View over Totterdown

Another view of the Clifton Suspension Bridge -

this time at night. 

Evening in Bristol docks.

-oOo-

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Vero (1)

I haven’t posted for a while because I’ve had a guest staying with me from Patagonia in Argentina, since the end of June.

Meet Vero, who hails from Río Colorado, on the Atlantic side of Patagonia.  She became a good friend on my two journeys to that part of the world in 2008 and 2009.  She’s about to graduate as an English-Spanish translator, which has taken her five years and was fitted in with bringing up her (now 15 year old) son and having to travel many hours by public transport to get to her university over 300 km away.  This necessitated staying there several nights a week during term time; there were numerous assignments required by the course and part time work was also essential to help fund her studies.  Fortunately, with Río Colorado being a small town and most of her family living there, she has received the necessary support to complete her studies this year.

To help her future career along and give her some practice in spoken English, she came to England at the end of June to attend a summer school course for literary translators at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, and stayed with us beforehand and afterwards.  She had never ventured out of Argentina before, so I tried to devise a programme for her which would show her British life in all its aspects, meet plenty of people so she could listen to English being spoken to her in as many different regional accents as possible, and include visits to the theatre.  She’s a vegetarian, which was a personal challenge for me in the kitchen.  I – er – didn’t do so well here, and we ate out a lot, but I kept a list of all the new foods and drinks she tried.

We had a shaky start when Vero donned her Argentine football supporters’ shirt in early July…

when they played Germany and were beaten 3-nil...

Maradona not amused...

However, things got better after that.

We visited many places, most of which I had seen almost exactly forty years ago when I visited Britain as a school leaver in 1971, before deciding subsequently to return and study here – and then making it my permanent home.  It was a revelation to me as we proceeded from one to the next to note in some ways how much things had changed, and yet how much had stayed the same. 

The overriding impression was the increase in population on this little island, from 54 million in 1970 to over 62 million today, and this does not of course include the unknown numbers of recent illegal immigrants which are though to be several million.  It was also evident that there is a greater degree of prosperity – the number of vehicles, the widespread ownership of mobile phones at all ages, and so on.   Adherence to European laws has also meant that the number of continental lorries on the roads bringing goods into Britain has multiplied - as you drive along you become aware that there are almost as many mega-trucks as there are cars.

One of our first visits was across the Severn Bridge into Wales.  We headed for Chepstow Castle and before we had even left the car park were entertained by a troupe of Morris dancers…

(No idea what the costumes meant,

except the ole Welsh dragon of course)

…before admiring the views from the castle.

Next week:  The Bristol country bumpkin and friend go to London…

-oOo-

Photo Finish:

From Lonicera's non-digital archives

Views of Bristol, my home

The Clifton Suspension Bridge

designed & built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Watching the world go by at The Mall shopping centre,

Cribbs Causeway

Ice-cream on a Sunday afternoon, on the Downs

For the less fortunate, a snooze in the sunshine

outside the Victoria Rooms

Peace at last for a cat on a Sunday, in a

historic building now used for offices

during the working week.

Offices seen reflected in the Spectrum building

with its blue windows

Mulligans fish restaurant, at the foot of Park Street,

now sadly disappeared.

Together with the Clifton Suspension Bridge,

Bristol's best known landmark:

the Wills Memorial Building at the top of Park Street.

It is the seat of the University of Bristol, used

mainly for ceremonial events and large public lectures.

I was very proud to graduate there in 1977,

when the Dean was Dorothy Hodgkin,

Nobel prizewinning chemist.

-oOo-

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