I’ve been struggling for inspiration over the last week, though some days (such as the visit to Bakewell and day of the sunset) have been easier than others. Here are a few more pictures on the street furniture theme, following on from the first post of a few days ago. I’ve managed to fit in a post about a Senior Moment and 20 Questions since then.
Part of the problem has been a lack of photographs as I haven’t been getting about much. I also buried the camera a couple of days ago whilst decluttering. In the initial stages I seemed to do more cluttering…
The bin, which you may remember from a previous post, is quite dull, despite having a Litter section and a Recycling section, and I only took the picture because Julia spotted the squirrel.
The bin in the gallery below is from the village centre at Heckington – it was on the buried camera when I wanted it so didn’t get used when I wrote the last piece or the post about visiting the village.
There are ten waymarkers on the Pendle Witch Trail, with verses from Carol Ann Duffy. This one is in the grounds of Clitheroe Castle.
Next, we have more pillar boxes.
The Victorian one is in Stamford, the Edward VII in Orton Longueville, just outside Peterborough, and the one on the post is at Worston, at the foot of Pendle Hill. The final one is a George V box from the end of West View in Clitheroe – my family lived in West view in the time of George V and may well have used the box.
However, this doesn’t always work. If my family had lived in the village of Orton Longueville, just outside Peterborough, in the time of Edward VII (or Edward I of Scotland, as Tootlepedal will no doubt remind me) they would not have used that fine Edward VII pillar box. It was only installed about 20 years ago, but they last a long time, and are often re-used.
Strangely, if you type “Edward I of Scotland” into Google you get information about Edward I of England, who was known as the Hammer of the Scots. This is not very sensitive, and I am not at all amused by this. Naughty Google!
That, it appears, is why current post boxes in Scotland have the Scottish crown on them. When some were installed in Scotland with E II R on them they were vandalised (one actually being blown up) by people who objected to the cypher, as the current Queen was the first Queen Elizabeth of Scotland – or E I R.
As an aside, we had three kings called Edward before we had Edward I, as the English number kings from William I in 1066. We just don’t complain every time we have a new Edward, or blow up post boxes.
England and Scotland have had the same monarch since 1603, when Elizabeth I died and James VI of Scotland became James I of England. You’d have thought the Scots would have let it go by now, but as P. G. Wodehouse said: “It is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine.”
I also love the squirrel photo. And as always, something new to learn here about the history of your region. 🙂
I, too, love the picture of the squirrel in the bin. But then I am a sucker for pictures of animals. That poem is haunting, and absolutely no pun is intended. It give me the shivers. As for holding onto old grudges…that, alas, seems to be an all too human trait. In Quebec, the saying on license plates is Je me souviens. It is the motto of Quebec. I remember, or I do not forget.
Pendle Hill is quite an eerie place when the weather conditions are right. 🙂
Remembering can be a curse.
Well – there you go – look what you’ve done with pillar boxes
🙂
Nice collection of postboxes! We have lost all our old ones round here to ‘collectors’. I blame the internet and satnav. All replaced by modern characterless boxes.
I blame people from Essex… 🙂
😉 Tut tut!
🙂
Talking of post boxes, in Ireland, after home rule, they simply painted the existing boxes green so today they still use post boxes complete with the initials of British kings and queens.
Whats even weirder is that there are a number of Irish professional bodies whose names are prefixed by “Royal”, such as the Royal Hibernian Acadamy and the Royal College of Surgeons
You’ve made me want to visit now! I expect it was too much trouble to uproot all the boxes – they are quite hefty.
True, and theylast a long time!
🙂
I rise above your baiting. You would have though that the English would have learned to distinguish between England and Great Britain since we have been joined at the hip for so long by now but alas not so.
🙂 The easy answer is to forget old arguments and find a selection of regnal names that have not been used by either country before. Trevor, Wayne and Beyonce for instance.
Great Wodehouse quote–what a wag. I love the photos and I love the squirrels–
Thank you. 🙂
Love the bin with the squirrel. Cheeky chappie.
The light wasn’t quite good enough to do him justice. 🙂