Sánchez goes to London Town

Sánchez goes to London Town.








With only four weeks to go now before we head south to sunny Spain, Mrs. Sánchez suggested a trip to London Town to see the sights and visit some of our family members who now live in  this immigration magnet and 'Babel of the modern world' where over 300 languages, including Spanish, are spoken, in Trafalgar Square alone, at any given moment. (The Daily Mail). So that's where we headed on leaving Victoria Station (named after nearby Victoria Street).

 Everybody walks quickly in London because there is so much to see and we soon came to the (Catholic) Westminster Cathedral which is a bit disappointing. It was built in 1903 to compensate  the Catholics for the Protestants pinching the real one up the road about 600 years ago during what the English heretics call 'The Reformation'. Too little too late in my opinion. Nobody seemed interested in it. Westminster Abbey (C of E) had people swarming all over it. Mrs. Sánchez insisted on pushing through the crowds to see what the little church at the side of the Abbey was called. It's St. Margaret's Church. Sir Walter Raleigh, the inventor of the bike is buried there.

Just across the way you can see Big Ben which is the most famous sight in all London. It's a big tower with a clock. Not a bell. The bell is called 'The Great Bell' . Big Ben was actually named after Ben Nevis, a big mountain in Scotland.

                                        Statue of Richard (Crookback) the  3rd.

It's hard to take a decent photo of Big Ben. People keep getting in your way. This statue of Richard the Third of England appears to be looking at the tower where he murdered the 3 princes in 1483. Or did he?
London is just full of History. It's everywhere you go. In fact, any HIstory that's not in London is called Local History and doesn't matter.

It was just a short hop up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square but Mrs.Sánchez insisted on having her picture taken next to one of the Household Cavalrymen.

Mrs. Sánchez is on the left.

Trafalgar Square at last, named after Cabo de Trafalgar (Cape Trafalgar) on the south west coast of Spain where, in 1805, Spain played host to the Annual International Sea Battle Games . only 3 countries took part that year so everyone got a medal.

Admiral Lord Nelson (Team GB) won the battle but lost an eye, an arm and his life so they put a statue of him in Trafalgar Square. But why did they make the plinth so high? You can hardly make out what's up there. It could be anyone.

                                                        Nelson's Column

Seeing as how we had bought day travel cards (£12.50 each) I thought it was time to get our money's worth so we hopped on a number 9 bus which was passing. We don't have many buses in Álora but they are both newer than this old banger. A cheerful chinese chap welcomed us on board and said we could go upstairs if we wished, so we did and sat at the front.

                                                        Our 'Routemaster' Bus

What a convenient way to see the sights, but not conducive to photography. The old hard seats made for a bumpy ride and the windows were a bit dirty but I got a few snaps of some interesting landmarks . We soon passed St. James's Palace (anyone having a problem with that apostrophe can consult Wikipedia ) where the the Royal Stamp Collection is housed.

                                                    St. James's Palace

Next we passed The Ritz Hotel ( slogan 'Slip into somewhere more comfortable') where Mrs. Sánchez and I were once refused entry.

                                                              The Ritz.

We were also treated in a similar fashion at the Ritz in Madrid, too, so who can blame them?

                                               The Albert Memorial and trees

You can just about make out the Albert Memorial behind the trees here. It's made of real gold from the old pavements of London Town and dedicated to Queen Victoria's German husband, Prince Albert who gave his name to one of the most popular forms of male genital piercing and the big concert hall across the road.
I have already apologised for the standard of the pictures.

We got off the bus in Kensington High Street and headed for one of London's 'best kept secrets', and judging by the number of readers this blog attracts  it will safely remain a secret for some time to come. 99 Kensington HIgh Street.

                                               99 Kensington High Street

It used to be Derry and Toms department store but keen observers will notice trees on the roof. They are part of 'The Garden in the Sky', opened in 1938 and costing £25,000 which was a lot of money in those days. We were looking for The Spanish Garden.

All you have to do is go into the entrance on Derby Street and ask the nice girl at the desk if you can go up to the roof garden, sign in and take the lift to the 6th. floor. Up there you'll find  a 1.5 acre (6070 square metres) garden with a 30 inch (76 cm.) layer of topsoil and 5000 plant varieties, winding paths, a stream with fish and flamingoes and the Spanish Garden which is a bit like the Generalife at the Alhambra in Granada.

How's that for a treat?
And there's nice bar and restaurant (Babylon) on the fifth floor with stunning views of Battersea Power Station and all that tall London stuff.

After a large glass of house white each and some (free) nibbles in the Babylon Bar we jumped on another number nine and headed for the cultural campus of 'The South Bank' to meet our daughter and grandaughter.

February 25th. 2014

The White and Red Villages of Andalusia

The White and Red Villages of Andalusia

                                                         Álora from el castillo

Most visitors to southern Spain will have heard of The White Villages of Andalusia. Álora does not usually appear in lists of pueblos blancos. even though it should be clear from the photo above that it is rather white in appearance. White painted houses are part of the charm of the region and the tourists like them a lot.
Why are they painted white? The obvious answer is that white reflects heat and so helps to keep the houses cool in the hot summers. Some say that the cal (whitewash) which was used for many years has antibacterial properties. Perhaps it's because they look nice and attract tourists. I'm not an expert.
Gerald Brenan who lived in Yegen in the 1920s said that the houses there were just mud coloured. Heritage workers who have looked at layers of paint on buildings say that most whitewashed houses date from after 1920.
Miguel Primo de Rivero, who was Spain's dictator from 1923 to 1930, is said to have decreed that all houses had to be painted white. His family were possibly  whitewash manufacturers and as most Spanish people do as they are told they started to whitewash everything they could lay their hands on to avoid trouble. Little did they know that six years later General Blanco would seize power and half of them would be in big trouble just for being Spanish. I repeat, I'm no expert.

Imagine my surprise when I heard today that a neighbour of mine has been 'sanctioned' by the ayuntamiento (town hall) for painting his house in 'el casco antiguo' (historic quarter) red.

Un vecino es sancionado por pintar de color rojo la fachada

La próxima semana comienzan los trabajos de pintura en la fachada de este domicilio situado en el casco antiguo

El lunes, 17 de febrero comienzan las labores de pintura, estos trabajos serán ejecutados a solicitud del consistorio y después se le impondrá el pago de los servicios de limpieza y pintura al propietario de la vivienda, a través del patronato de recaudación. El vecino ha sido sancionado reiteradas veces, ya que no cumple con sus obligaciones de respetar colores básicos y armónicos en el exterior de su vivienda.

1031 lecturas 14/02/2014 17:25:15. GABINETE DE PRENSA. AYUNTAMIENTO DE ÁLORA

The town council will arrange for the paint job and charge it to the owner who has been told many times to paint it white. Apparently the red house did not comply with the obligation to respect the area by using basic and harmonious colours.

The only red house that I know of in the casco antiguo is this one which readers of this informative organ will remember had balcony problems during Semana Santa (Easter) last year.

                                                    
                                                     A rather red house


Hasn't he suffered enough?

The Perotes (locals) here used to say that you could  tell which houses were occupied by 'guiris' ( foreigners) by the colour of their door and the big satellite dish on the roof. A mucky brown colour is still de rigueur but blue is often the British choice. Even 'casa Sánchez' displays a splash of colour round the windows.
Mrs. Sánchez  who is an expert on these matters said  'It'll take a bit of covering up that will´' (a few coats of paint will be needed.)

February 19th. 2013

Mr. Sánchez takes a top deck trip and makes a considerable saving.

                                                               W H Auden


'Lets go round again.
Maybe we'll turn back the hands of time.'

The Average White Band

Or maybe we won't. It's circular reasoning. Does history repeat itself? Does whatever goes around come around?

Well it does on the longest urban circular bus route in Europe. Yes, I am talking about the number 11 Outer Circle bus route in Birmingham. 27 miles (44 km.) and 266 bus stops. (Purists may insist that Coventry holds the record but its '360' route is partly rural).

Frank Skinner condemned it to Room 101. Simon Le Bon wrote 'Hungry as the Wolf' on it. Tolkien may have written bits of The Hobbit on it sitting next to his pal WH Auden (who lived on the 11 bus route next door to Harborne Swimming Baths).  Auden may even have been composing 'On the Circuit' at the time, with the Number 11 Bus Route in mind:

"Or blessed encounter, full of joy
Unscheduled on the Giesen plan.
With here, an addict of Tolkien......"

Or blessed encounter, full of joy, Unscheduled on the Giesen Plan, With, here, an addict of Tolkien, There, a Charles Williams fan. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15552#sthash.EDlAPQzw.dpuf

On the Circuit. W.H Auden

Or blessed encounter, full of joy, Unscheduled on the Giesen Plan, With, here, an addict of Tolkien, There, a Charles Williams fan. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15552#sthash.EDlAPQzw.dpuf

In 1926 when world governments were considering ' going round again' with another world war and a week before the start of The General Strike, Birmingham completed its Outer Circle Bus Route The Number 11c (clockwise) and Number 11a (anti-clockwise).

                                       The Outer Circle Bus Route. (11a and 11c)

Having nothing better to do, I decided to take a rotary romp on the Number Eleven. The anti-clockwise route appealed most, so off I headed, notebook,pens  camera and map in hand and boarded an 11a outside the shops at the bottom of Swanshurst Lane.

The journey should take 2 hrs 20mins., taking in many of Birmingham's world class attractions and historical landmarks. Indeed I only had time to take my seat at the front of the top deck when Sarehole Mill, named by a lover of anagrams no doubt and built in 1542, appeared on my left.

                                                            Sarehole Mill

Apparently JRR Tolkien lived near here and wrote The Lord of the Rings in the The Hungry Hobbit cafe just up the road whilst nibbling his favourite cheese and beetroot sandwiches.

This highly succesful formula was later adopted in Edinburgh by another author of fantasy literature with an uncannily similar name, JK Rowling, and, as a result, the unfortunate multi-millionairess has been unfairly accused of plagiarism.

                                           See. You thought I was kidding

Before I knew it we had crossed the Stratford (Home of the Bard of Avon ) Road and were hurtling towards The Church of the Ascension on the corner of School Road. Built in the then popular 'Queen Anne' style it cost £2,200 in 1704, which was a lot of money in those days. It used to be called 'Jeb's Chapel', and then Hall Green Parish Church which would have been my choice too.

                                                        Jeb's Chapel

The windows on the top deck were all steamed up at this point so I missed the sights  of Fox Hollies Road.  Acocks Green wasn't very interesting either. At Yardley, we passed the office block where The Swan Inn used to stand. It either had the longest bar in Europe or was the biggest pub in Europe or perhaps both. I remember seeing it in the Guinness Book of Records. It lasted less than 30yrs. It would be a listed building now, if it had survived.

                                                   The Swan at Yardley

 After passing a sign for 'Blakesley Hall'  (built 1590, fine timber framed yeoman's house but not visible from the top deck)


 

                       Blakesley Hall

we encountered  a traffic jam which resulted in us being told to leave the bus at The Fox and Goose. By this time I was in need of a 'comfort stop' anyway. and so I ventured out into the windswept urban bomb site  which is the Stechford Shopping Centre in search of a cosy cafe or tea shop or even a public lavatory.  Desperation led me into the pub which kindly lends its name to this bleak concrete desert.

                                                      The Fox and Goose

It turned out to be a warm, friendly, welcoming place. I ordered a coffee and headed for the toilets. Returning to the bar I saw this intriguing notice on one of the 'cubicles'.

The coffee was good and warming. 'I'm sorry it took so long' said the friendly 'barista', 'The coffee machine ran out'. 'You should  have run after it then'. I quipped. How we all laughed.
I must have dropped my notebook and pens as I hurried from the pub. The driver of the next 11 bus changed the 'A' to an E'' and I got on. 'How far is this one going then?' 'Bearwood'.

Number 11 folklore tells us the older, almost clapped out buses were used on the route in the early days. These were difficult to drive and tiring for the drivers. There were 'SP's (designated Smoking Points) along the route and waiting points with 'Bundy Clocks' where the driver had to 'clock in' to prove he was on time. (being early was a more serious offence than being late).

                               A Birmingham Corporation Transport  'Bundy Clock'

The novelty was quickly wearing off as we headed north, passing under the M6 to Six Ways Erdington  where we turned left up the hill to the reservoir on Reservoir Road and then back under the M6 to Witton and Aston and west and then south to Handsworth and across Soho Road (a famous Birmingham road). 
You can catch a glimpse of the now notorious James Turner Street from the top deck. I resisted the temptation to get off the bus and try to make friends with White Dee, Fungi and co.
On the left loomed the tall unscalable  walls of HMP Winson Green where Ozzy Osbourne spent six weeks for breaking and entering, Fred West committed suicide and  Oswald Gray was hanged for murder on 20th. November 1962, a few weeks before the Beatles released 'Love Me Do'. (More about the Mersyside Mopheads later).

                                                     HMP Winson Green

By this time I was looking forward to going past George Dixon School on City Road where Michael Balcon, head of the old Ealing Studios had been a pupil.I was also looking forward to getting off in Bearwood for a wee.

                                                         Michael Balcon

Michael Balcon produced many of the famous 'Ealing Comedies', but also 'The Blue Lamp' featuring PC George Dixon who went on to become 'Dixon of Dock Green'. Only readers over the age of 60 will have any idea what I'm talking about.

                                            Dixon of Dock Green ('Evening All')


Bearwood at last and a compulsory break. No cafes or toilets in sight so I went into the Kings Head on Hagley Road. What a surprise! The place has been tarted up, does posh nosh and charges far too much for a pint.

On the home stretch now. Down we went into 'Fortunate Harborne', one of the posher areas of Brum and the place to live if you want to get your kids into one of the Birmingham Grammar Schools. On my right the new Harborne Swimming Baths gleamed in the early afternoon sunlight. Most of Birmingham's other swimming baths have been closed or reduced in size. WH Auden's family lived next door to the  old Baths.There's even a plaque.

Not far now. Down to Selly Oak, over The Bristol Road and into Bournville, home of 'The Factory In A Garden', now owned by Mondeléz International, and Cadbury World.

I used to think that Bournville was just the name of a dark chocolate bar. I preferred Dairy Milk which had 'a glass and a half of milk' in every bar. How did they do it?

 
John Cadbury started selling cocoa from a shop in Bull Street, Birmingham in 1824 but it was  George Cadbury who created the famous 'factory in a garden' and  Bournville Village four miles from Birmingham city centre.

 For a nineteenth century factory owner,  George was a remarkable man. I have not been able to find a bad word written or spoken about him except that he was a Paternalist (which was legal in those days).
As a  Quaker he opposed the Boer War and the First World War. He joined the anti-war Independent Labour Party and built the 313 house  Bournville Village. 

                                             Bournville Village Green today

I used to think that the village was named after the chocolate, but it was named after the Bourn Brook which ran through the area. The houses were well built, in the Arts and Crafts style, had gardens and modern interiors.

Cadbury also built a school, a hospital,  wash-houses and reading rooms for his workers and paid £60,000 into their pension fund.(a lot of money in those days)  In 1897 he was criticised for subscribing £50 a week to the  funds of striking engineers , (also a lot of money in those days).

                                                           George Cadbury

There were no pubs in Bournville (Quakers!) and still aren't, although I believe you can get a drink in the Bournville Social Club. I remember going to a party in Bournville and driving round the area looking for somewhere to buy a Party Seven. About 26,000 (thirsty) people live there now.
 
"I have for many years given practically the whole of my income for charitable purposes, except what is spent upon my family. Nearly all my money is invested in businesses in which I believe I can truly say the first thought was of the welfare of the work people employed."

Kings Heath next. We crossed over the path of the July 2005 tornado as it ripped its way down the High Street before turning right and heading for Moseley.

                                              July 29th. 2005.  Kings Heath High Street

Greggs escaped without a scratch. If the tornado had turned left instead of right it might have gone down York Road and demolished the Ritz Ballroom where the Beatles appeared on February 25th. 1963.

                                                        The Ritz Ballroom

They were billed to appear on January 11th., before they became known as the fab four, but couldn't make it through the winter blizzards. (That was a bad winter wasn't it?) There is a scurrilous story going round that they did turn up but nobody came. I didn't start the rumour. The Rolling Stones appeared there too, but not until September when the weather was a bit better.(for Kings Heath no blizzards or tornadoes defines  'better').
The Ritz became a bingo hall,then a Cash Converters and went up in smoke on 27th. March 2013.

Nearly home. After 4 hours of top deck rotary revelry I felt a bit dizzy as we hurtled down Swanshurst Lane to my point of departure. I thanked the driver in true Brummie style, ('Thank you droiver') and congratulated myself on saving £4.49 which a daysaver would have cost me without my Centro bus pass. 27 miles of free travel  which  I am sure you will agree was worth every penny.

Juanito Sánchez

February 6th. 2014