Wolverhampton is the worst

Wolverhampton - Jewel of The Black Country

It is only right to end 2009 with good news. Many Blogistas have accused the Sage of a certain prejudice towards the place which is the sump of the Black Country in the Midlands of England, the benighted town (nay, City since 2001) of Wolverhampton. Indeed such is their sensitivity that if you say anything negative they flag you up to Blogger and the very next day run off to Telford for advice, objective advice not being available in the City of St. Wulfrun itself. Yes, throughout Britain Wolvies are famed as sensitive souls! Now there is objective support for the Sage’s lonely viewpoint for the respected Lonely Planet Guide has named Wolverhampton as the 5th worst place to live in the entire world!

Even those who live there will admit that Wolverhampton is not the most glamorous of destinations. After decades at the heart of Britain's industrial revolution no one would expect it to be. But not even they thought it would be named as one of the worst places to live in the entire world. Eight years after the old market town was awarded city status the renowned Lonely Planet guide yesterday branded it the fifth worst city on the globe.

It even ranked alongside poverty-stricken slums in El Salvador and Ghana and saw off 'competition' from Chennai in India. And to add insult to injury Wolverhampton was the only city missing a write-up. The guide explained: 'Wolverhampton is so bad we don't even have it on this site'. Crime-hit Detroit, Michigan, topped the poll ahead of Accra, Ghana, which was described as 'ugly, chaotic and sprawling'.



Many years ago when the racist Enoch Powell was elected as the local Member of Parliament Wolverhampton was an industrial rust bowl city of white rednecks and the reactionary industrial squirearchy. Since, then widespread immigration (hey, houses are cheap in Wolvie) has resulted in a polyglot culture of English Midlanders (slower than the rest of us and with the UK’s worst accent), Asian and Caribbean communities who have created a cultural vacuum based on the lowest common denominator of each. A case in point is the University of Wolverhampton which won awards for “inclusion” and is now in the middle of a financial crisis forcing it to downgrade one campus and sell off anything of value. Rated by the Times Newspaper as 112 out of 120 UK Universities it has now refused to take part in further surveys, presumably because it was being placed last. It set a legal precedent when a student successfully sued it two years ago over its crap courses. Since then it has been hit by cases of staff plagiarism and that is before you get onto the students!


Goldie - he lives in Bovingdon

Don’t take my word for it, drive into Wolverhampton on the A41 from the M6 Motorway and enjoy the wonderful approach of a town surrounded by derelict steel works and old slag heaps inhabited by …. Well you tell me! Yes, there are famous people who come from Wolverhampton but they have one thing in common, they now live somewhere else! Why for holidays and high days the inhabitants who can escape to Coventry and Manchester as better alternatives! Q.E.D.


AND LONELY PLANET'S NINE MOST HATED CITIES ARE....

Detroit, Michigan
Accra, Ghana
Seoul, South Korea
Los Angeles, USA
Wolverhampton, England
San Salvador, El Salvador
Chennai, India
Arusha, Tanzania
Chetumal, Mexico

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1239478/Wolverhampton-named-fifth-WORST-city-planet.html#ixzz0bIs9YzRh

Dublin in The Rare Old Times

Bank of Ireland, originally the world's first purpose built parliament building.

Dublin in these photos from 1961 seems a different world and possibly a different planet. An American, Charles W. Cushman travelled the world for 30 years, including a visit to Dublin. When he died, he left his collection to Indiana State University, who have uploaded them, and a fascination window the provide on a Dublin which has gone. As Arthur Ryan who recently stepped down as MD of Primark remarked “we were always in recession” and money was certainly scarce. People generally used public transport or cycled to work. Most milk floats were horse drawn with the horses knowing how to pace themselves to the speed at which the milk was being delivered by the milkman. The “Breadman” on the other hand had an electric bread van normally from Johnston, Mooney and O’Brien as did the laundry vans. Amazingly, with hindsight, there were two laundry services. One was called (wait for it) “The Swastika Laundry” and had a swastika on the side of the van, albeit at an angle, as the Sanskrit symbol of brotherhood but you didn’t need a degree in marketing to suggest a re-branding was perhaps overdue! The other was the Highfield Laundry from the convent in Drumcondra of the same name backing onto the Archbishop’s Palace which we now know was one of the notorious Magdalene Laundries.




College Green with Trinity College and the Bank of Ireland


Cassidy's, South Great George's Street.
In the 1960's this was an important retail street with Dockrell's. Pyms and Cassidys.

It was also the city of the thought police presided over for many years by the person since known as the Arch Bigot of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid. It is hard now to understand the conservative nature of Irish Society but in those days a catholic needed “permission” to attend a protestant wedding and Catholics were forbidden by the church from attending Trinity College. On the other side many of the large companies, such as Guinness, were protestant companies where Catholics were not represented in management. After many years of stagnation Ireland’s greatest export was its own people and it coped with social problems by denying them and exporting them to England. Indeed it had an unrealistic world view blaming all its problems on England and believing one day Irish-Americans would come back home and make Ireland rich.








Dame Street

This was the Dear Old Dirty Dublin I grew up in the North Inner City district of Summerhill. (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/06/james-joyce-and-me.html )

A special place, the Augustan capital of a Gaelic Ireland or a ravenous sow which devours its young depending on the literary source you use! An older Viking city than Oslo it was founded in the late 700’s (although Ptolemy referred to a town called Eblana in C4.) and the Viking Kings of Dublin & Dalkey ruled the Isle of Man and controlled trading in the Irish Sea. The Vikings were supplanted by the Normans in the late 1000’s who exiled the native Irish and Norse outside the walls of their new city (to Irishtown & Oxmantown respectively) and built a cathedral on the hill of their town which is known as Christchurch today. The tomb of the first Norman ruler, Richard of Pembroke, known as Strongbow, is still in the crypt of the cathedral. His daughter Isolde eloped with the warrior Tristam giving us one of the early great romantic stories, which will no doubt inspire you on Valentine’s or any other romantic weekend!




Christchurch Cathedral


Dublin Mountains from the City Centre

The name Dublin is derived from the Irish name Dubh Linn (meaning "black pool"). The common name for the city in Modern Irish is Baile Átha Cliath (meaning "town of the hurdled ford"). Áth Cliath is a place-name referring to a fording point of the Liffey in the vicinity of Heuston Station. Baile Átha Cliath was an early Christian monastery which is believed to have been situated in the area of Aungier Street currently occupied by Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/02/st-valentine-in-dublin.html


A Horse and Cart - A common delivery method in 60's Dublin

The subsequent Scandinavian settlement was on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey, to the East of Christchurch, in the area now known as Wood Quay. The Dubh Linn was a lake used by the Scandinavians to moor their ships and was connected to the Liffey by the Poddle. The Dubh Linn and Poddle were covered during the early 1700s, and as the city expanded they were largely forgotten about. The Dubh Linn was situated where the Castle Garden is now located, opposite the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle.








Dublin Castle

The writings of the Greek astronomer and cartographer Claudius Ptolemy provide perhaps the earliest reference to human habitation in the area now known as Dublin. In around A.D. 140 he referred to a settlement he called Eblana Civitas. The settlement 'Dubh Linn' dates perhaps as far back as the first century BC and later a monastery was built there, though the town was established in about 841 by the Norse. The modern city retains the Anglicised Irish name of the former and the original Irish name of the latter.


Government Buidings, originally the science faculty of the Royal University (Now UCD) Designed by Aston Webb, who also designed the front of Buckingham Palace

The formation of the new state resulted in changed fortunes for Dublin. It benefited more from independence than any Irish city, though it took a long time to become obvious. Through The Emergency (World War II), until the 1960s, Dublin remained a capital out of time: the city centre in particular remained at an architectural standstill, even nicknamed the last 19th Century City of Europe.


Merrion square

After the Union the city lost its economic momentum and unemployment, poverty and population increased significantly. Dublin went into a decline with many of the Georgian buildings deteriorating to tenements and the larger homes of the aristocracy being used for other purposes. Leinster House is now the Dail, the Irish Parliament (and the model for the White House, Washington which was designed by James Hoban a pupil of its architect, Richard Cassels) and Powerscourt House is now a shopping centre but was a post office.


Liffey quays


The Four Courts, one of the three masterpieces of the architect James Gandon along with the Custom House and the King's Inns

However while Georgian Dublin survived 1930s plans and World War II, much of it did not survive property developers in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The historic but now impoverished Mountjoy Square suffered heavily, with derelict sites replacing historic mansions. When in the 1950s a row of large Georgian houses in Kildare Place near Leinster House was demolished to make way for a brick wall an extreme republican Fianna Fáil minister, Kevin Boland celebrated, saying that they had stood for everything he opposed. He also condemned the leaders of the Irish Georgian Society, established to battle to preserve Georgian buildings and some of whom came from aristocratic backgrounds, as "belted earls". In the 1960s, the world's longest line of Georgian buildings was interrupted when the Electricity Supply Board was allowed to demolish a chunk in the centre and build a modern office block. By the 1980s, road-widening schemes by Dublin Corporation ran through some of the most historic areas of the inner city around Christ Church Cathedral. The nadir of this approach occurred in 1979 when Dublin Corporation destroyed the largest and finest Viking site in the world at Wood Quay, in the face of national opposition, to build its Civic Offices for its civil servants.


South City Markets


Wicklow Street

By the 1990s a greater civic pride and a new management team in Dublin Corporation saw changes in how the city was run; among the results was the restoration of City Hall to its eighteenth century interior (removing Victorian and Edwardian additions and rebuilds), and the replacement of the famed Nelson's Pillar (a monument on O'Connell Street which had dominated the skyline until being blown up by republicans) by a new Spire of Dublin, the world's tallest sculpture, on the site of the old Pillar and which could be seen throughout the city.








O'Connell Street and Bridge - Dublin's main street originally built as a square and showing the influence of the Wide Street Commissioners

The city has a world-famous literary history, having produced many prominent literary figures, including Nobel laureates William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw and Samuel Beckett. Other influential writers and playwrights from Dublin include Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift and the creator of Dracula, Bram Stoker. It is arguably most famous, however, as the location of the greatest works of James Joyce. His most celebrated work, Ulysses, is set in Dublin and full of topical detail. Dubliners is a collection of short stories by Joyce about incidents and characters typical of residents of the city in the early part of the 20th century. Additional widely celebrated writers from the city include J.M. Synge, Seán O'Casey, Brendan Behan, Maeve Binchy, and Roddy Doyle. Ireland's biggest libraries and literary museums are found in Dublin, including the National Print Museum of Ireland and National Library of Ireland.




Trinity College

See also;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/08/dublins-fair-city.html

And the history of the Irish Parliament Building

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/10/irish-parliament-building.html


This is from the video titled "The Dubliners' Dublin" which is like a documentary with Ronnie taking viewers on a tour of his favourite watering holes, and meeting up with the lads for a few songs. The song "Dublin in The Rare Old Times" was written by Pete St. John, who also wrote "Fields of Athenry". Pete was an occasional and welcome visitor to the folk sessions at Tailor’s Hall in Back Lane which I used to frequent and helped in the (unsuccessful) campaign to keep it as a folk and community venue.

Whodunnit?

Sadie McMahon

Test your Awareness with Do The Test's Whodunnit. Who Killed Lord Smithe? TFL cycling safety advert! How observant are you? How did you do?

www.dothetest.co.uk



You may wonder why I feature this amusing ditty (other than it is allegedly a TfL cycling safety video)? Well it features one of the more interesting actresses in the UK and a good buddy of the Sage, Ms. Sadie McMahon. Among her many theatrical credits she has filmed 2 Episodes of Holby City playing security guard Lindsey Jones in a tragic & moving storyline where unfortunately she is attacked and stabbed by a patient.

For more on this and Sadie see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/01/sadie-mc-mahon-in-holby-city.html

West Clare Railway Video

Slieve Callan, age 117

Once upon a time, not too long ago, there were 27 unique narrow gauge railways and tramways in Ireland. The last of these to close was the West Clare Railway in 1961, a line immortalised in song and remembered by railway enthusiasts as a special railway with more than its fair share of lore and colourful stories which ran from Ennis, the county town of Clare through a unique landscape to the wild Atlantic coast at Kilkee and Kilrush. There it stopped for the next station would have been America!



The 117-year-old Slieve Callan was returned to service on the West Clare Railway after an absence of more than half a century. The locomotive is now running on 2.5km of restored narrow-gauge track at Moyasta Junction. A tenacious local team under the stewardship of Jackie Whelan hope to restore more of the line between Kilkee and Kilrush and have appealed for the co-operation of landowners.

On 5 July 2009 No. 5 Slieve Callan was returned to the West Clare Railway at Moyasta Junction following restoration in England by Alan Keefe Ltd. The locomotive was steamed for the first time on July 14th marking the return of steam to the West Clare railway after an absence of over 57 years. Moyasta’s name is an Anglicisation of the Gaelic “Magh Sheasta” – A Little Stop or in other words, a halt.



The atmosphere and enthusiasm at Moyasta is both wonderful and contagious and the reopening of this historic line is an incredible achievement against the odds and official indifference and obstruction. No attempt has been made by the authorities even to preserve the line of route of this unique National Treasure and C.I.E. started dismantling the track the very day after the closure. Great tribute and credit has to be paid to the team who kept the dream of the WCR alive and in particular to the remarkable Jackie Whelan, his son Stephen and Locoman First Class Richard L. Gair. But even they would concede that the real Star of West Clare is that remarkable lady, who is 117 years young, the beautiful Dubs & Co. 0-6-2T “Slieve Callan.” Long may she steam and inspire volunteer and visitor alike.

For the story of this remarkable resurrection and the remarkable character behind the rebirth of the West Clare Railway see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/09/on-west-clare-railway.html

For a full history of the West Clare Railway see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/08/west-clare-railway.html

Visit Moyasta:

http://www.westclarerailway.ie/



The West Clare Railway engine No 5 Slieve Callan being driven through Kilrush (Frances Street) on its arrival back for the first time since it was withdrawn from service in October 1959. The engine has just recently undergone a complete refurbishment in England and is now a rare example of a working narrow gauge steam driven engine with a 0-6-2T wheel configuration. Built in 1892, it is in active use on the restored line at Moyasta Junction, 3 miles from Kilrush. Video Time and location. Frances Street, Kilrush, County Clare, Ireland. 6th July 2009.





February the first 1961 saw the tragic closure of the famous West Clare Railway. On this short film we see train Driver, Christy Buggle take the 1952 Diesel Engine on a courtesy return trip to Moyasta Junction. Many of the local characters aboard were captured on this 8mm. film by Henry Street Chemist, James A. Doyle.

Bona Saturnalia

Coming up to the 25th December many decry that the “message” of Christmas has been lost. However, just how Christian is this date? There is no certainty that Jesus of Nazareth was born around this date and indeed the date was already important for other reasons beforehand being both the Feast of Saturnalia and having been proclaimed as the feast of the Sun God. In many cultures the Winter Solstice provided a way point for the rebirth of the Sun and for a devotional systems based on the Sun God. The New Testament gives no date or year for Jesus’ birth. The earliest gospel – St. Mark’s, written about 65 CE – begins with the baptism of an adult Jesus. This suggests that the earliest Christians lacked interest in or knowledge of Jesus’ birth date. Furthermore the 25th December is only celebrated as Xmas by the Western Churches – the eastern and Orthodox Churches mostly celebrate it on the 6th January.

An enigmatic Roman festival, Saturnalia was held at midwinter in honour of the god Saturn. Many of its elements survive in modern Christmas celebrations. Before the 4th century, December 25th was best known as the birthday of the Persian hero and sun-god, Mithras. Mithraism arose in the Mediterranean world at the same time as Christianity imported from Persia.

“Since earliest history, the Sun has been celebrated with rituals by many cultures when it began it's journey into dominance after it's apparent weakness during winter. The origin of these rites, Mithrasists believe, is this proclamation at the dawn of human history by Mithras commanding His followers to observe such rites on that day to celebrate the birth of Mithras, the Invincible Sun.”


Temple of Saturn in the Forum of Rome

The cult of Mithras spread all over the Roman Empire. In 274 AD, the Roman emperor Valerian declared December 25th the Birthday of Sol Invictus, the Unconquerable Sun God.

There is a long tradition of the Christian Church taking other’s iconography and calling it their own! They even took the History of the Jewish People and called it the Old Testament. They took over the Basilicas of the Cult of Mithras which, like Christianity, had at its centre redemption through blood sacrifice. When they took over the Roman Basilicas after Constantine the Great made it the state religion of the Roman Empire they replaced the statues of Jupiter with those of Christos (The anointed one – a title used by the Pharaohs of Egypt as in Ptolemy VI Eucharistos on the Rosetta stone) and changed the inscription from “J.O.M.” (Jovis Omnia Maximus) to “D.O.M.” (Deo Omnia Maximus). They even kept the gold disc behind Jupiter which represented his position as the Sun God (Helios) and depicted their images with the “Halo” as a sign of sanctity.



So the Nazarenes have some form in this area, indeed after celebrating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in early summer for the first 400 years or so they then purloined the Roman Feast of Saturnalia on the 25th December near to the Winter solstice which was associated with feasting and merriment. Clement of Alexandria (d. 215 AD) recorded that some Christians of the time placed his birth date in April (see Stromata I:21). Hippolytus (d. 236 AD) may have believed that Jesus was born on April 2nd.

In pagan Rome, the celebration of the Winter Solstice began on December 17 with the feast of Saturn - also called the Saturnalia. Through December 23rd, the Roman world engaged in merrymaking and the exchanging of gifts in honour of father sun and mother earth. The Saturnalia festival has an astronomical character, referring to the completion of the sun’s yearly course, and the commencement of a new cycle. Saturn represented by the sun at its lowest aspect at the winter solstice. The earth is cold, most plants are dead, and it was believed that the sun might also be approaching death.

Today winter solstice is around December 21, but because of calendar changes, it was originally December 25th. Saturnalia celebrated the sun overcoming the power of winter, with hope of spring when life would be renewed. In Roman times, Bacchus, the god of wine, became the lord of these festivals.


Planet Saturn

The festivities lasted for a week, normal life being suspended in favour of eating, drinking and giving gifts. Of uncertain origins, Saturnalia continued to be celebrated beyond the Christian era, finally bequeathing many of its elements to the Christmas celebrations of today.

Saturn featured very strongly in Roman religion as the harvest god, responsible for sowing, seed and most things agriculture. His festival, Saturnalia, was a time of much merriment and became the most celebrated of Roman festivals as tools were downed, slaves granted temporary freedom and 'certain moral restrictions were eased', and for all their seriousness in battle the Romans sure knew how to ease a moral restriction when they chose to. It was such a success that we are still feeling its partying power to this day. Saturnalia was originally celebrated on December 17th, but became a week long celebration and paved the way for our festivities at Christmas and New Year.

Saturnalia became one of the most popular Roman festivals. It was marked by crazy antics and reversal of social roles, in which slaves and masters ostensibly switched places. The Saturnalia was a large and important public festival in Rome. In time, it became one of the most popular Roman festivals. It involved the conventional sacrifices, a couch (lectisternium) set out in front of the temple of Saturn and the untying of the ropes that bound the statue of Saturn during the rest of the year. Besides the public rites there were a series of holidays and customs celebrated privately. The celebrations included a school holiday, the making and giving of small presents (saturnalia et sigillaricia) and a special market (sigillaria). Gambling was allowed for all, even slaves; however, although it was officially condoned only during this period, one should not assume that it was rare or much remarked upon during the rest of the year.


Saturnus - God of Agriculture

It was a time to eat, drink, and be merry. It was license within careful boundaries; it reversed the social order without subverting it. It was also an opportunity for men to be completely free with their fellowmen, sometimes evolving into homosexual and sometimes also pedophilic relations. The toga was not worn, but rather the synthesis, i.e. colourful, informal "dinner clothes"; and the pileus (freedman's hat) was worn by everyone. Slaves were exempt from punishment, and treated their masters with disrespect. A Saturnalicius princeps was elected master of ceremonies for the proceedings.

"Masters participated in the Saturnalia’s festivals to show their appreciation for the slaves’ service which led them to realize that by treating slaves with respect and care it was in their best interest, as well as those of the slaves (Nardo 26)".

In simpler terms, both slaves and masters were supposed to be thankful for each other and enjoyed peaceful time together. Saturn is of course today remembered in modern times in two main ways. Firstly the planet which in astronomical terms is impressive, the second largest in the solar system and girded by its famous rings. It also comes with as much religion and mythology as you could ask for. Secondly, Saturn also lent his name to a day of the week, 'Saturday', from 'Saturni dies' in Latin.

Saturnalia continued to be celebrated into the Christian era. The Chronicle of 354 A.D., a commentary on life in Rome at that time used a figure celebrating Saturnalia as the emblem for December.



Yet even when it had ceased to be explicitly celebrated, traces of Saturnalia’s festivities still remained. At the Feast of Fools, held on the 1st January in medieval France it was common for high and low officials to exchanging place during festivities. And today, we find the traditions of gift giving, candle lighting and merry making still survive in the celebrations of Christmas.

So if you decide to celebrate this ancient feast, remember to greet your friends with lusty shouts of "io, Saturnalia!" — Io (pronounced "yo") being a Latin interjection related to "ho" (as in "Ho, praise to Saturn"). But if you still wish to say Merry Christmas in Latin it is “Felix Dies Nativitatis.”

For the Celtic Midwinter Festival of Liath see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/12/in-darkest-mid-winter.html

Arbeit Macht Frei

For people the world over, few relics have come to symbolise the Nazi Holocaust more than the infamous wrought-iron sign straddling the entrance to the Auschwitz death camp, bearing the cynical words Arbeit Macht Frei - "Work sets you free". The gate itself was constructed under German orders by Polish political prisoners who had arrived in late 1940 and early 1941.



Its construction was part of a general overhaul of the camp, which included replacing temporary barbed wire with high-voltage fencing and concrete posts. The 5m (16ft) sign was made by prisoners in the metalworking detail under Jan Liwacz, a master blacksmith. It is believed that, in an act of defiance which went unnoticed, the prisoners reversed the B in Arbeit, giving it the appearance of being upside down.





Arbeit Macht Frei



The phrase Arbeit Macht Frei itself was coined by the 19th Century linguist, ethnologist and author Lorenz Diefenbach. The Nazis latched on to it and a sign bearing the inscription appeared at the Dachau concentration camp, set up by Heinrich Himmler in 1933 to use dissidents as slave labour. The phrase later became part of the Nazis' deception for the real use of the concentrations camps. Ultimately for most the freedom referred to could only be achieved in death.



Now, in an act of gross disrespect the sign was stolen, apparently for financial gain last week. The 90lb bronze sign, which topped the main entrance gate at the memorial site, has since been found in northern Poland following a nationwide hunt. It had been broken into three pieces. Five men, aged between 25 and 39, were arrested and taken to the southern city of Kraków, the nearest main city to Auschwitz, for questioning. The sign, which translates to "work sets you free" was stolen before dawn on Friday. The theft prompted international outrage.







Andrzej Rokita, the local police chief in Krakow - where the men were being questioned - said the theft had been financially motivated, and it remained unclear whether it was carried out to order. "From the information we have, none of the five belong to a neo-Nazi group nor hold such ideas," Rokita said of the suspects.



Many people seem not to understand why the theft of this simple sign is an act of desecration. More than one million people, mostly Jews, died at the Auschwitz camp, which Nazi Germany built in occupied Poland during the Second World War. Auschwitz - Birkenau is both the grave and memorial for over a million people who were cruelly murdered by the racist Nazi State. The Nuremburg race laws of 1935 established beyond doubt the racist nature of the Nazi State and its fellow travellers. Before being murdered by industrial means in batches of up to 800 and their looted bodies being incinerated in grotesque crematoria the victims at Auschwitz were robbed of their dignity and identity, their names were not even recorded. The Auschwitz Memorial Museum cries defiance at the racists and says these people must be remembered, had names and their lives were important.



As Winston Churchill said in 1944 when the scale of the genocide at Auschwitz became clear;



"There is no doubt this is the most horrible crime ever committed in the whole history of the world, and it has been done by scientific machinery by nominally civilised men in the name of a great State and one of the leading races of Europe.”



That is why our testament to their memory is important and every act of desecration and denial is a twisted attempt to justify the murder of the innocent; Jew, Pole, Russian, Czech, Homosexual, Gypsy, Hungarian, Socialist, Jehovah’s Witness and many more. Men, old people, women and children.





Birkenau Barracks



We must not allow their memory to be insulted. Remember the Shoah and respect the memory of the victims.



For a fuller account of Auschwitz-Birkenau see;



http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/04/auschwitz-birkenau.html



Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum



http://en.auschwitz.org.pl/m/



For some idea of what has been lost see;



Jewish Kraków



http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/04/jewish-krakow.html



Jewish Prague



http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/11/jewish-prague.html



Jewish Kos



http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/06/jewish-kos.html





Gate of Death, Birkenau

A White Xmas in the Chilterns

Thatched Cottages Wendover

Christmas this year has come with a vengeance to the Chiltern Hills and as England has suffered transport paralysis with the heavy snowfall the Hills and the Vale of Aylesbury north of them have been transformed into a snow covered winter wonderland. Indeed some would argue that the Chilterns never look lovelier than when their Beech topped hills are covered in snow and their valleys are framed in a magical winter snowscape.

Regular blogistas who follow the Sage know our enthusiasm for the Vale of Aylesbury and the Chiltern Hills as the Sage’s Castle is about 2 miles from Chequers, the Prime Ministers country home. Buckinghamshire is one of the loveliest of the Home Counties - some say the loveliest - and its Chiltern Hills and beech woods, beautiful River Thames and the rolling acres of Aylesbury Vale make it a place for visitors to enjoy. Country walks run between picturesque villages with a host of welcoming pubs. We are overlooked by the Chiltern Escarpment whose edge marks the southern border of the Midlands of England which continue to Wolverhampton (an unlovely place with unlovely people) and the Quantock Hills.



The Chilterns lie 30 miles north-west of London and yet they are an unspoilt area of rolling chalk hills, magnificent beech woods, quiet valleys and charming brick and flint villages. They provide a wonderful mosaic of woods, fields, hedges, sunken lanes and clear streams and are designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/03/rupert-brooke-and-chilterns.html ) AONB is one step down from a National Park designation and provides tight control on development and farming. This was an aspect you can readily appreciate heading down the lovely Missbourne Valley towards Prestwood, a hamlet in the hills about a mile from Great Missenden (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/01/roald-dahl-museum-and-story-centre.html )


Village Sign on the green




Church of St. Mary the Virgin


Train ariving at Stoke Mandeville

The village of Stoke Mandeville today is largely a commuter town with a railway station for London, three pubs and numerous thatched cottages. Like all the fertile Vale of Aylesbury it is overlooked by the Chiltern Hills and was formerly an important market gardening centre. Indeed the Sage’s Castle is built on old plum and greengage orchards. The first part of the name Stoke Mandeville derives from the old English word stoc, and means “outlying farmstead or hamlet”. The second
part, “Mandeville”, derives from the Norman family of that name which held the manor in the 13th century. The suffix Mandeville was first recorded in 1284 when the manor was listed as being in the hands of the powerful Norman de Mandeville family. Stoke Mandeville Station serves the village of Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire. The station lies on the London Marylebone-Aylesbury line and is served by Chiltern Railways trains. It is situated between Wendover and Aylesbury stations. The station first opened on 1 September 1892, and was served by both the London Underground Metropolitan Line and the Great Central Railway.




Thatched cottages in Stoke Mandeville

Traditional houses were of wychert (flint / straw / earth) construction with characteristic "dog ear" thatched roofs which oversailed by at least two feet to keep running water off the walls. There are still many wychert and thatch buildings as well as later wood frame and infill thatched cottages throughout Bucks and in Stoke Mandeville village. The parish church of St. Mary the Virgin and the village common with the village sign both look hugely attractive clothed in their winter garment of repentance.


The Woolpack

The newly refurbished village pub, the Woolpack, reopened for business on the 6th November 2009, less than 6 months after it was a 100% loss in the disastrous fire. This is in itself a minor miracle of project management, particularly as the woolpack was both a thatched and listed building. Inside it looks much as before but there is a distinct improvement externally and internally. The toilet annexe on the left hand side of the front elevation always had a “stuck on look.” This has been now tidied up with the exterior showing a traditional looking dark weatherboarding and improved toilets inside with the side corridor gone.


The crossroads & duckpond at Dunsmore


The road through the woods to Dunsmore

One of the most typical hilltop villages remaining is Dunsmore. This is a hamlet in the parish of Ellesborough, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located on the hilltop of one of the Chiltern Hills, about 2 miles south of Wendover. It is one of the remotest places in the whole of Buckinghamshire, accessible only by two steep, single-track hillside lanes. The place name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means literally Dunna's moor. Today the village is extremely picturesque as it is surrounded by mostly National Trust owned woodland. However due to its location it is occasionally cut off because of bad weather or bad road conditions, and retains its small community atmosphere. Central features of the hamlet are the village pond, the village hall and the Church of the Resurrection, Dunsmore. There were two public houses, the Fox and the Black Horse, but these have closed and been converted into dwellings in recent years.


Wendover


Xmas Tree & War Memorial






Red Lion Pub

Wendover is embraced by woodlands and with its atmospheric high street with thatched cottages and antique shops it is an attractive and busy town which has much of interest and has maintained its sense of community. Just 45 minutes from central London it continues to be a fine place to live and to attract walkers and visitors to ramble over the hills, browse the shops and replenish themselves in the many restaurants and fine old pubs. And as you leave these establishments you may think you hear the wheels of the London stage coach and its weary passengers relieved to have travelled unharmed through the notorious highwayman infested Chiltern Hundreds and looking forward to bed and board in the coaching inns lining the High Street.


Coombe Hill Memorial

A War memorial was erected and unveiled on Coombe Hill, near Wendover in 1904, in memory of the men from Buckinghamshire who had died in the Boer War. Standing on a high hill it can be seen from a great distance, and an excellent panoramic view can be seen from it. But, being built in such a lofty position did cause one problem, when in the late 1930s it was struck by lightning and virtually demolished. However, the Buckinghamshire County Council decided to restore it, and by 1939 it had been repaired. During the Second World War it had to be camouflaged, so that it could not be used as a guide for enemy aircraft.










World's End Santaworld

For many years, Worlds End garden centre has put on an excellent Christmas display. Santa's Grotto is excellent and kids come from far and wide to enjoy the animatronics displays and meet the man himself. The entrance looked good and the interior was decorated to appeal to the kids. As well as the grotto the centre specialises in Xmas Trees and has a large Christmas shop as well as the usual attractions.

Aylesbury


War Memorial in the Market Square - setting for Marillion's "Market Sq. Heroes"


Old County Courthouse


Clock Tower Market Square

As well as our proximity to Wendover and the Chiltern Hills we are close to Aylesbury, the county town of Buckinghamshire. This is a lively market town steeped in history located at the foot of the Chiltern Hills and at the heart of the rich agricultural Vale of Aylesbury. The town was a focal point in the English Civil War in the 17th century. As the popularity of the famous Aylesbury Duck grew in the 19th Century, the town's fat stock markets attracted visitors from far and wide. If you would like to see the real Aylesbury Ducks then why not visit Oak Farm Rare Breeds Park. Nowadays, the award winning Roald Dahl children's Gallery, and the world famous Stoke Mandeville Hospital and Guttmann Sports Centre help ensure that Aylesbury is still internationally renowned. The market, a part of Aylesbury life since the 13th century, is complemented by modern shopping areas.


Dancing Bears


Santa's Boots




Friar's Square Aylesbury

The charming conservation area around St. Mary's Church lies in sleepy lanes and cottages above the town. Around every corner is a tale - Henry VIII reputedly wooed Anne Boleyn at the King's Head, Roald Dahl invented his classic children's tales in the Aylesbury area, and his imagination is now celebrated in the town's County Museum. In the cobbled market square, stands the imposing figure of John Hampden - a local hero and key figure in the defeat of the Royalists in the English Civil War. Market days are Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Xmas at the Sage's Cottage


Murty the Moose welcoming visitors


Xmas Tree


The candle powered crib


The Xmas table

So this year as a white Xmas looks more likely I am glad not to be travelling at Xmas but am rather looking forward to good fare and drink not to mention good company in our own little corner of this green and pleasant land. More explorations are available under “Chiltern Hundreds and Buckinghamshire” in the Blog Sidebar.