Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Warmer - Nottingham - Tram

Quick 'blog' called for due to going down Nottingham this morning and then Mansfield National Trust due this evening. And we've got to eat sometime!

Just one more Elvaston Country Park picture for your opinions? It looks completely 'pseud' to me as if some gentry person decided to simulate a ruin. Although you can see the edge of the lake through it, it doesn't actually lead from or to anything.

There might be an Elvaston Country Park expert lurking somewhere.

You different views of Saddam, his execution, and Riverbend's Blog are very interesting. One thing in his favour of course was that he kept a very wary eye on Iran. But I won't go on. I don't consider that Riverbend ever rants, and I don't blame her at all for carrying a knife. Of course we don't know if her account is always accurate - but to me all her writing carries a strong whiff of authenticity. And I've read a lot of witness statements in my time.

My lappy goes in tomorrow for even more memory and by the evening I shall have 1.5GB which should make my photo-processing a whizz. Bungus and I plan to meet for lunch while it is being done, and Y can't decide whether to accompany me or meet Joan.

.. Sometimes it is difficult to know what to do. Catch you tomorrow.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, the Elvaston arch is pseudo, of course, as you are no doubt aware, you tease you!.
It's a 19C (?) attempt at artificial stone … in other words, a sort of lightweight concrete with, I believe, a clinker aggregate.

Saddam kept an eye on Iran, Mussolini made the trains run on time, Hitler built the Volkswagen and liked children.
I don’t blame any Iraqi for carrying a weapon. What made me uneasy was Riverbend’s apparent delight in describing her lethal hunter’s blade.
I accept your greater experience of being called upon to judge ‘truth’ but her fine writing, which does carry a lot of conviction, sometimes, to me, has a hint of embellishment or hyperbole. But whose doesn’t?
And, having consulted my dictionary, I still think ‘rant’ is an accurate word to use for a large part of the post execution page. But I can understand her fury.

Anonymous said...

I read Riverbend with great interest - but with what I hope is a bit of healthy cynicism, I don't trust the internet one bit! But I bow to your superior knowledge/experience in judgement over authenticity.

Elvaston - we have something similar in Chiswick House Grounds (House was designed by Palladio) it is known as The Grotto and Joseph Paxton had this idea of building this between the Upper Lake and the Lower Lake (both fed by River Thames) and that there would be a cascade of water running over and through it. Sadly he never got the pumping mechanism right and only a trickle of water ran, it was known as 'Joseph's Piddle'. But come the Millenium, English Heritage got enough Lottery money to restore it and get it fully functional, so now we have this 'ruin' with water cascading over it, under a walkway and then into the lower lake. But only at summer week-ends..... You said the Elvaston one was near a lake - I wondered if that had intended to have water over or through it too?

Anonymous said...

To Bungus. Am I not to be allowed the occasional wind-up?

To Jill. Yes, it is near the lake, so I guess your idea is a sound one. I will say more later. But I am 'chuffed' that I could open mi' blog in Mansfield Library and wanted to add a comment to the 'comments'.