Catherine of Aragon, Henry Vlll, Pomegranates, Piecrusts and Graverobbers.
On Sunday, as Mrs. Sánchez and I, with heavy hearts, were undressing our Christmas tree and packing up our traditional festive fairy lights, our neighbour, Chalkie, rang to tell me that nearby Blakesley Hall was open to the public with no admission charge. He only lives across the road and could have just shouted or rung our bell, but English people are not as 'abierto' (open) as Spanish people, especially now we are about to turn our backs on Europe and try to keep out 'foreigners'.
Well, I'd no idea how much the admission charge is normally but I just can't resist a bargain, so off we went. It was a crisp,sunny winter's day. Blakesley Hall is in Yardley in Birmingham ,about 20 minutes from our Winter Quarters, where we have overwintered for 35 years, and we've never been there before.
Blakesley Hall
I didn't know much about Yardley except that it doesn't make cosmetics and it used to have a pub with the longest bar in Europe -The Swan- which everybody called 'The Swan at Yardley', probably because that's where it was and because there had been a pub there on Coventry Road since 1600.
It was knocked down in 1997 as was the The Swan Centre, known affectionately as 'The Ugly Duckling ' which was the ugliest shopping centre in Birmingham , if not the whole of the West Midlands.
So what's all this got to do with Spain, pomegranates and Henry Vlll?
Not much, but I'm supposed to writing about Álora and Spain, so if you bear with me for a minute, all will be revealed.
Say Hello to Dennis, who volunteers at Blakesley Hall on Wednesdays. He gave up his Sunday to show Mrs. Sánchez and I round the creaky old place. He managed to keep my attention for an hour and a half, which is not bad going, and he's only been doing it since April.
All the years and hundreds of times that I've driven down the A45 Coventry Road through Yardley on the way to the airport or the municial dump or even Coventry, I had no idea that the land around me was once owned by the youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain (Los Reyes Catolicos) Catherine of Aragon.
Anyone who went to school or watches the telly (some people qualify twice) knows that Catherine of Aragon (Catalina de Aragon) was Henry the Eighth's first wife (one who didn't get the chop). She was dumped by him after, 7 pregnancies, for Ann Boleyn (who did get the chop 3 years later). Some say it served her right.
Catherine was a very popular queen, even if Henry didn't fancy her, and they loved her to bits in Yardley. She had a perfect complexion (as you can see the picture) and the story goes that when, in 1770, a new cosmetic company was looking for a name for their product. They chose 'Catherine of Aragon'
"Use Aragon and thy wrinkles be gone"
but they were banned from using her name by George lll because of Lege-majesté.
Catherine was very fond of pomegranates, which were introduced into Spain by the 'Moors', and she chose them as her emblem when she came to England in 1501 to marry Henry's big brother, Prince Arthur Tudor, who was heir to the Throne of England. They got engaged (betrothed) when she was 10 years old and married by proxy when she was 14. The couple moved to Wales and Arthur died 5 months later of a mysterious illness. In those days all illnesses were mysterious. It could have been a dodgy granada (pomegranate).
Dennis told us that if you go to nearby Yardley Old Church (built in the 13th. century) and look above the original oak door you can see a Tudor rose and a pomegranate which were put there to commemorate the wedding of Catherine and the doomed prince.
Here's a couple of other things that Dennis told us:
1.The reason that Tudor beds are a bit short is NOT because people were smaller in the olden days but because they used to sleep sitting up in bed to help their digestion after eating all that red meat.
2.Henry the Eighth was 6 ft. 4inches (1.93 metres) tall and he only looks small in the pictures because he had a 52 inch (1.32meters) waist. (very handy if you go shopping for trousers in The Sales).
3. He didn't get fat by eating all the pies because in the olden days they didn't eat the crust.
Tasty Tudor pies
What a waste!!!
My favourite piece of Dubious Dennis Data is about milk maids who often contracted cowpox from the cows. This made them immune to smallpox when everyone else was going down with it and ensured a pock-marked free visage. And that's why all the chaps used to fancy the milkmaids!
Nice one Dennis.
Back to Alora
Mrs. S and I are off to Álora tomorrow to do a bit of gardening. Last year we pruned the grape vine during a waning moon according to local custom and we had the best crop for years. Unfortunately we could only get a flight at the end of a waning moon this time so, as the Perotes say:
'To' pa' na'' (All for nothing).
The olives need pruning and our good friends from Ireland, Graham and Mary, will be there at the same time so it's worth a few hours of ritual humiliation by Ryanair which seems to go out of its way to make your journey unpleasant and stressful.
After paying more for a couple of pieces of hand luggage than I did for the flights, I decided not to pay another £24 to 'book a seat'. They have allocated us 'random' seats. Mine is in row 8 and Mrs. Sanchez in on row 33, right at the back of the plane by the toilets.
That will teach me to cross Ryanair!
Monty and Tommy have been sentenced to a week's incarceration at the 'Hylton Hound Hotel'.
Can't we stay here?
It will be good to get away from Brexit for a bit but Spain is having its own problems at the moment. The Andalusian Parliament (Junta) has been taken over by the Partido Popular and Cuidadanos who need the far right party Vox in order to govern. Vox have 14 seats and are threatening to withdraw their support unless the laws against violence against women are dropped........Sound familiar?
The other big struggle is the plan to 'dig up Franco's body'. He is, at the moment, interred in the massive mausoleum at El Valle de los Caidos north of Madrid alongside the founder of the Spanish 'Falange' (Spanish Fascist Party), José Antonio Primo de Rivera.
José can stay where he is because he actually was one of 'los caidos' (the fallen) as he was killed in the Civil War. Franco died with his boots on in 1975 so he's got to go. The other reason is that 'Franco's Tomb' is the focus for gatherings of Spain's neo-fascists who want a return to a fascist dictatorship and make a lot of noise and wave flags. The' Law of Historic Memory' allows the exhumation and removal of the Generalisimo (so far no-one can agree what to do with the bodyonce it's been dug up..
The priest is in charge of the mausoleum, Benedictine monk Prior Santiago Cantera has said that he will refuse to allow the exhumation to happen. Of course, he will be breaking the law and there will be be a big fuss and even violent demonstrations.
Santiago Cantera has had an interesting career:
Before becoming a Benedictine monk he stood in the 1993 General Election on behalf of the 'Partido Falange Espanola Independiente' (Independent Spanish Falange). He lost.
In 1994 he stood in the European Elections on the same ticket. He lost.
He took holy orders as a Benedictine monk
He got the job of looking after Franco's tomb.
Hmmmm.
Pie News
Just before Christmas I was introduced to a little gem of a café on Market Street in Shaw, near Oldham. It's called Meats and Eats and they specialise in home made pies.
I had a 'Jackson's Farm Fare Traditional Beef Pudding' with mushy peas, chips and gravy with a cup of tea. Scrumptious. I bought a big cheese and onion pie (homemade) to take back to Birmingham. It travelled well and was delicious.
New feature......Interesting Pie facts.
The world's most expensive pie was sold in Novenber 2005 at The Fencegate Inn, Lancashire (of course). It was served to eight (presumably rich, hungry and stupid) people at £1024 a slice.
Recipe
£500 worth of Japanese wagyu beef fillet
Chinese matsutake mushrooms
French Bluefoot mushrooms
Winter Black truffles
Gravy made from 2 bottles of 1982 Chateau Mouton Rothchild wine
For a topping- edible gold leaf.
I hope they got chips and mushy peas with it!
Juanito Sanchez January 9th. 2019.
:) I enjoy your blog :) we are on our way to Alora now having bought a property in Camino nuevo. It would be good to touch base!?
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