Sunday, February 28, 2010
And Whitby again...
I spotted this fetching Whitby cat and we had a chat. Then he (she?) moved and I saw he had only three legs. Must be an old salt. So I went home and told Tilly she didn't know how good she has it!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Whitby...
Oh, I loved Whitby. I hadn't realised, until I got there, how much I had missed the sea! And what a sea...
It was a case of seizing the day - a promising forecast wedged between snow and heavy rain that had tragically caused one woman's car to be swept away on the North York Moors just the previous day. So an early start from York to Malton, on to Pickering and then up onto moors that were nearly black and truly lonely, made all the more menacing by a structure that warrants a separate post.
The ruins of St Hilda's Abbey dominate the Whitby skyline.
I parked high on the hill near the Abbey. The first thing I heard, apart from the sea, was the cry of gulls - a constant throughout the day. I circled round the Abbey and the adjacent church of St Mary, with its graveyard fully exposed to the sea, and caught my first view of the river, harbour and town.
Down the 199 worn stone steps (up which coffins were once carried to the church) and across the swing bridge. Whitby was already busy with people, many of them kitted out in walking gear. Lots of dogs and children - a day by the seaside. There were also the inevitable pier entertainment arcades.
A fascinating little Lifeboat Museum which gave an all too vivid insight into the dangers of the coastline and the bravery of the men who have operated the lifeboats over the centuries. Then out onto the harbour walls which were exerting a magnet-like attraction! Even on a fine day the sea was heavy and crashing with huge force into the walls - very dramatic.
Despite a heavy padlocked gate that prevented access to this part of the wall (below) there were men out at the far end fishing. Later I saw two locals with rods climb over the stone wall at the side of the gate!
Up the hill on the other side of the town to the Captain Cook Memorial. I had an unexpected rush of pride when I read the plaques (there were four) on the memorial.
From here you look down to the harbour (see above) and back across the river to the Abbey and St Mary's and the pantile-roofed houses tumbling down to the sea.
I walked further up river to the dry dock, thinking about what a hive of activity Whitby would have been in Captain Cook's day when it was a major boat-building and fishing town. Still lots of evidence of fishing as well as recreational boating.
A visit to the very fine Captain Cook Museum, in the house where Cook lived as an apprentice ship boy. The house typical of the 'high-rise' Whitby buildings where flat land was scarce.
A wander past the last remaining Whitby jet works and then back up the 199 steps to the Abbey and car and a return home across the moors at dusk, very satisfied and full of sea air.
It was a case of seizing the day - a promising forecast wedged between snow and heavy rain that had tragically caused one woman's car to be swept away on the North York Moors just the previous day. So an early start from York to Malton, on to Pickering and then up onto moors that were nearly black and truly lonely, made all the more menacing by a structure that warrants a separate post.
The ruins of St Hilda's Abbey dominate the Whitby skyline.
I parked high on the hill near the Abbey. The first thing I heard, apart from the sea, was the cry of gulls - a constant throughout the day. I circled round the Abbey and the adjacent church of St Mary, with its graveyard fully exposed to the sea, and caught my first view of the river, harbour and town.
Down the 199 worn stone steps (up which coffins were once carried to the church) and across the swing bridge. Whitby was already busy with people, many of them kitted out in walking gear. Lots of dogs and children - a day by the seaside. There were also the inevitable pier entertainment arcades.
A fascinating little Lifeboat Museum which gave an all too vivid insight into the dangers of the coastline and the bravery of the men who have operated the lifeboats over the centuries. Then out onto the harbour walls which were exerting a magnet-like attraction! Even on a fine day the sea was heavy and crashing with huge force into the walls - very dramatic.
Despite a heavy padlocked gate that prevented access to this part of the wall (below) there were men out at the far end fishing. Later I saw two locals with rods climb over the stone wall at the side of the gate!
Up the hill on the other side of the town to the Captain Cook Memorial. I had an unexpected rush of pride when I read the plaques (there were four) on the memorial.
From here you look down to the harbour (see above) and back across the river to the Abbey and St Mary's and the pantile-roofed houses tumbling down to the sea.
I walked further up river to the dry dock, thinking about what a hive of activity Whitby would have been in Captain Cook's day when it was a major boat-building and fishing town. Still lots of evidence of fishing as well as recreational boating.
A visit to the very fine Captain Cook Museum, in the house where Cook lived as an apprentice ship boy. The house typical of the 'high-rise' Whitby buildings where flat land was scarce.
A wander past the last remaining Whitby jet works and then back up the 199 steps to the Abbey and car and a return home across the moors at dusk, very satisfied and full of sea air.
Friday, February 26, 2010
At the York Art Gallery...
I meant to write about this a while back because it was one of my first visits upon arriving in York...
The gallery was featuring a travelling exhibition of Japanese Sashiko textiles. I knew nothing about Sashiko but I love textiles and so was very interested in the items on display. Sashiko (I learnt) is a form of stitching used by the Japanese to make their work clothes until the mid 20th century. The exhibition featured historic items from Japanese collections as well as garments made by contemporary artists influenced by Sashiko. It was the historic items that fascinated me.
From an article by Michele Walker...
http://www.sashiko.org.uk/publications.php
In the older items you could see the layering of fabrics and the patching of garments using the sashiko technique. So they were both functional and incredibly beautiful.
The gallery was featuring a travelling exhibition of Japanese Sashiko textiles. I knew nothing about Sashiko but I love textiles and so was very interested in the items on display. Sashiko (I learnt) is a form of stitching used by the Japanese to make their work clothes until the mid 20th century. The exhibition featured historic items from Japanese collections as well as garments made by contemporary artists influenced by Sashiko. It was the historic items that fascinated me.
From an article by Michele Walker...
http://www.sashiko.org.uk/publications.php
The word sashiko means small stitches. It is a technique used for hand sewing layers of cloth together. A geometric pattern of white stitching on indigo coloured ground distinguishes the work. Due to the low social status of the communities from which sashiko arose, the people’s lives were restricted by sumptuary laws that only permitted them to wear cotton clothing. The blue indigo dye was hardwearing and thought to repel snakes and insects. Sashiko evolved from a need to conserve and repair garments at a time when cloth was a precious commodity. Women from fishing and farming communities made sashiko at home.
In the older items you could see the layering of fabrics and the patching of garments using the sashiko technique. So they were both functional and incredibly beautiful.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
More moles...
I have continued to see mole hills everywhere. Apart from Mole in The Wind in the Willows (which long ago predisposed me to being fond of them) I know nothing about the animals so, curious, I googled them. Sadly just about every site that comes up is to do with mole extermination.
Here, however, is more than you ever wanted to know about moles (personally I am very impressed by the amount of tunnelling they can get through in a day and I love the word mouldywarp)....
So now we know where nail extensions come from!
Here, however, is more than you ever wanted to know about moles (personally I am very impressed by the amount of tunnelling they can get through in a day and I love the word mouldywarp)....
Moles can be found almost anywhere in North America, Asia, and Europe, although there are no moles in Ireland.
A mole looks very distinctive, if you can see one. It has a rounded body, velvety, grey-black fur, spade-like front claws, a short, furry tail, tiny eyes and a pink, pointed snout. They can probably tell night from day but otherwise they are blind. Moles are often considered pests by gardeners and farmers. They live underground, tunnelling up to 20m a day and leaving characteristic mounds of earth on the surface – molehills. They also dig out large chambers, which they line with dry grass for resting. Once made, mole tunnels are often used by several generations. Moles eat small invertebrates living underground. They are solitary creatures, except during the breeding season. After mating the female gives birth to a litter of up to five young during the summer.
By the era of Early Modern English, the mole was also known in the British Isles as mouldywarp, a name echoed in other Germanic languages such as German (Maulwürfe), and Norwegian, Swedish and Icelandic (muldvarp, mullvad, moldvarpa where the muld/mull/mold part of the word means soil and the varp/vad/varpa part is a descendant of the old-Nordic word for throw), hence "one who throws soil" or "dirt tosser".
Male moles are called boars, females are called sows. A group of moles is called a labour.
So now we know where nail extensions come from!
Home grown...
I remember the first time I drove across the border into Scotland in 1980, I was aware of a change in the domestic architecture. I'm sure it wasn't as abrupt a change as memory suggests, but I recall the village houses lining the roads as being more severe/austere, greyer, harder up against the road edge.
Sitting alongside my pleasure in accent/dialect is my delight in the regional variation in building styles in the UK. In Yorkshire, particularly in (what I have so far seen of) the dales and moors, the village houses look as though they have grown out of the earth - organic. They are solid, boxy, generally unpretentious and often of a glorious creamy-gold, or darker. Sometimes the building material looks less like stone, which it is, than like rammed earth. These buildings seem to belong in and compliment their landscape in a way that much New Zealand domestic architecture (at least of recent decades) does not.
And here a touristy complaint! It can be very difficult to photograph little villages from a good vantage point because it is almost impossible to stop on UK roadsides to take a photo. And then it can be very difficult to take a photo that is not jam-packed full of parked cars!!! But I will persevere and, in the meantime here is a building in Helmsley that, although more substantial, has some of the qualities I am describing.
Sitting alongside my pleasure in accent/dialect is my delight in the regional variation in building styles in the UK. In Yorkshire, particularly in (what I have so far seen of) the dales and moors, the village houses look as though they have grown out of the earth - organic. They are solid, boxy, generally unpretentious and often of a glorious creamy-gold, or darker. Sometimes the building material looks less like stone, which it is, than like rammed earth. These buildings seem to belong in and compliment their landscape in a way that much New Zealand domestic architecture (at least of recent decades) does not.
And here a touristy complaint! It can be very difficult to photograph little villages from a good vantage point because it is almost impossible to stop on UK roadsides to take a photo. And then it can be very difficult to take a photo that is not jam-packed full of parked cars!!! But I will persevere and, in the meantime here is a building in Helmsley that, although more substantial, has some of the qualities I am describing.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Familiarity...
The window cleaners have just been. They first came a couple of days after I arrived and I was anxious that I followed Sue's instructions for letting them through, paying them. Now I know the ropes and we had a chat about (guess what?) the weather, snow... This business of familiarity in a new place is always intriguing. Now I know (roughly) where to find things in the local supermarket, I know (sufficiently and once again) how to negotiate the roundabouts, I know (superficially) how the recycling operates... I may even know enough to be able to help someone from the Youth Hostel when they ask for directions! All these actions produce a warm glow of 'belonging'. But then my fumbling in a shop or at the petrol station once again marks me out as a stranger. When you are living away from the familiar, every action takes a little longer and a little more energy because it is not automatic.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Layers...
I have been thinking - and Niki's comment has prompted me to write it down - that the layers of history are very evident in the York built environment. Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Viking, Norman... and that only takes us up to the 12th century. All those centuries of invasion and disruption, of destruction but also of regeneration. I find it disrupts my notions of nationhood. Perhaps we are too precious about our nationality, since we are all hybrids. I guess we just have to settle for a fluid nationality and an identity that is always in the making...
A cuppa...
At first glance I thought this queue must be for a show or movie. Wrong. These people are waiting (in the cold) to get into Betty's Tea Rooms in Harrogate (you see similar queues in York). Would it just be tourists I wonder or would locals (be daft enough to) queue too?? (No offence to locals or Betty's - just a personal aversion to queuing!).
Back to Bolton Abbey...
Never in my visits to the UK before have I been so aware of the material presence of Christianity. In the 12th - 15th centuries especially, churches, cathedrals, minsters, abbeys, monasteries, priories... must have utterly dominated the physical landscape, in addition to being major employers of lay people and of course, providing a spiritual framework for belief and behaviour. I know all this but the last month has made that knowing more tangible.
Even today in a much more crowded landscape, the churches, cathedrals and minsters remain central in their communities - right there, towering, demanding attention, whether it be spiritual or commercial.
Also more in the forefront of my awareness than ever before is the damage wrought by Henry's reformation and the huge social change it initiated.
Here is a photo of Bolton Abbey (actually a priory) from a very icy hillside pathway where, for the first time ever, I wished for a walking stick...
...and here is a view of the River Wharfe looking down from the priory on a sparkling, frosty morning.
Even today in a much more crowded landscape, the churches, cathedrals and minsters remain central in their communities - right there, towering, demanding attention, whether it be spiritual or commercial.
Also more in the forefront of my awareness than ever before is the damage wrought by Henry's reformation and the huge social change it initiated.
Here is a photo of Bolton Abbey (actually a priory) from a very icy hillside pathway where, for the first time ever, I wished for a walking stick...
...and here is a view of the River Wharfe looking down from the priory on a sparkling, frosty morning.
Monday, February 22, 2010
The Yorkshire Dales...
At Burnsall in Wharfedale there is this wonderful seventeenth century (1602) school house which is still in use...
...and on the gate a friendly reminder...
Burnsall also has this magnificent bridge...
In the news...
The mothballing of the Corus steel works at Redcar on Teeside. About 1,600 workers have lost their jobs and the snowball effect is likely to affect a further 8,000 workers.
The almost daily 'repatriation' of the bodies of soldiers who have died in Afghanistan and the mourning of local communities.
Gordon Brown, David Cameron and the election.
Britain's aging population and how to address this 'going forward'.
The recovery of Cockermouth in the Lake District from devastating winter floods.
Winter weather..........
Sunday, February 21, 2010
A surreal morning...
I watched the snow falling and doubted that Maggie, Don and I would get to an 11.00am film as planned. They laughed when I knocked on their door and voiced that doubt. We walked the 20 minutes into town through falling snow and then saw a gloriously quirky movie by Pierre Jeunet called Micmacs.
Neighbours Maggie and Don in the Museum Gardens en route to film
Weather forecast was spot-on...
Looking down into Maggie and Don's back garden.
Looking out to road from bedroom window...
Sue and Al's car!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Weather and words...
UK weather banner for today... 'More snow, rain, ice and frost...' (just covering the bases!). Highs hovering around 1-2 degrees.
On a brighter side, here are some more Yorkshire place names...
Wombleton
Fangdale Bek
Scagglethorpe
Duggleby
Ugglebarnby
Giggleswick
Uckerby
Sneck Yate
On a brighter side, here are some more Yorkshire place names...
Wombleton
Fangdale Bek
Scagglethorpe
Duggleby
Ugglebarnby
Giggleswick
Uckerby
Sneck Yate
Friday, February 19, 2010
Sutton Bank...
Today I finally got up to Sutton Bank, an escarpment north of York and in the south-west corner of the North York Moors. I visited the Sutton Bank National Park Centre - excellent for information about the North York Moors National Park - and did some brisk walking along the escarpment. The almost 360 degree views were stunning - but something I could so easily have overlooked caught my attention. It was on the back of a wooden seat...
The young man would have enjoyed views like this...
The young man would have enjoyed views like this...
and he might have walked in snow as I did today...
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Winter garden...
A day of pleasures large and small. I had resolved to spend the day at home writing, but a call from Al's friend Jill with an invitation to join her in a visit to the Royal Horticultural Society garden Harlow Carr in Harrogate, put paid to that.
Visiting gardens in winter is like going into a gallery with just one or two paintings. You pay particular attention to what is there. So, in the winter landscape (complete with boots and umbrellas) we spotted tiny cyclamen, snowdrops, the first hellebores, the bright red stems of cornus, glorious gold witch hazel... and I got particularly excited when we came across New Zealand flaxes and cabbage trees!
I was also taken with the wonderful willow structures in the vegetable gardens, especially the way the willow had been woven to form edgings, straight and circular.
The outdoor highlight for me was a tiny bird hide from where we watched goldfinches, bullfinches and blue tits tucking into the feeders. (And it was a day for two robins - one at home in Clifton and the other elsewhere in the RHS garden).
A hot drink in (Yorkshire famous) Betty's Tearooms, overlooking the gardens and buzzing with people, capped a lovely afternoon.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Skipton...
Yesterday I crossed country westwards from York, through Knaresborough and Harrogate to Skipton, in thick fog. Was cheered by these house boats (both for tourists and for residents) on the Skipton canal...
...and more snowdrops in the Skipton Woods through which there was a lovely walk curving round behind the castle and town.
Brrrrrr - can you feel the cold?
And, I spotted the Hawkshead shop!!!! ;-)
...and more snowdrops in the Skipton Woods through which there was a lovely walk curving round behind the castle and town.
Brrrrrr - can you feel the cold?
And, I spotted the Hawkshead shop!!!! ;-)
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Meeting people #2...
In addition to the lovely neighbours mentioned in an earlier post, I have now also met Phyllis and Philip, from further up Greencliffe Drive and Janet from across the road. Phyllis and Philip I met at Beningbrough Hall where we got into conversation entirely without knowing that we lived in the same street. It was one of those 'do you by any chance live in... and are you by any chance...?' And I was! And we got to know each other better over tea at their home. Janet appeared on a drizzly morning and, over another cup of tea, talked about living in Whitby and gave me good ideas about walking places on the Yorkshire moors and in the dales. All the people I have met have shared their stories with warmth and generosity.
This is one of the pleasures of 'living in' as opposed to 'passing through'. The most similar of my experiences in this sense would be living in Kibbutz Gal'ed in Israel.
This is one of the pleasures of 'living in' as opposed to 'passing through'. The most similar of my experiences in this sense would be living in Kibbutz Gal'ed in Israel.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Spotted locally...
The latest in doggy chic - even has a hood!
More window-cleaning...
...and the local casino...
More window-cleaning...
...and the local casino...
On the (real) home front...
I noticed a lump in Tom's bed this morning, not something I had spotted before. I patted the lump firmly to flatten it. Lump remained.
Went round the other side of the bed to check and found...
Went round the other side of the bed to check and found...
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Grand estates...
My politics have always disinclined me towards any sort of aristocracy and opulent displays of wealth but I am beginning to appreciate the relevance of the great houses and estates in Britain today. Visits to Duncombe Park and, most recently, Castle Howard (both still in private ownership) have made me realise what an important part these estates play (alongside the National Trust and English Heritage) in preserving not only cultural heritage but natural heritage as well. Hundreds of acres of land that might otherwise be gobbled up for development. And the families who still live in these grand homes are actively conserving the land, which often provides an oasis for humans and other animals/birds in an increasingly stressed environment.
When it comes to opulence it must be hard to beat Castle Howard (the setting for the 1980s? TV adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited). The approach alone (of which I have no photos since I was behind the wheel) is mind-boggling. Again, despite the cold, there were lots of families enjoying the grounds (house is closed over winter) and the wooded areas. Here is a selection of Castle Howard shots on a day that alternated between sun and showers. Click on the images for a larger version.
And here is a photo of the landscape typical of this Ryedale area taken from one of the boundaries of the Castle Howard estate.
When it comes to opulence it must be hard to beat Castle Howard (the setting for the 1980s? TV adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited). The approach alone (of which I have no photos since I was behind the wheel) is mind-boggling. Again, despite the cold, there were lots of families enjoying the grounds (house is closed over winter) and the wooded areas. Here is a selection of Castle Howard shots on a day that alternated between sun and showers. Click on the images for a larger version.
And here is a photo of the landscape typical of this Ryedale area taken from one of the boundaries of the Castle Howard estate.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
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