Miss Elaineous: February 2019

Sunday 24 February 2019

MISS ELAINEOUS VISITS PAINSHILL (FOR THE FIFTH TIME...!)

Yesterday was a gloriously out-of-character February day- as it was warm! I visited Painshill exactly a year ago and it was sunny but super-chilly, at -1⁰C, and ice crystals could be seen floating on the water. Yesterday was 17-18⁰C and I got a bit annoyed with having to carry the winter coat I'd worn around with me. Here it is- I suppose it wasn't that bad, as it's lighter than it looks...

As last year, TFL trains were not running. We had to take a bus to Gants Hill, take the Central Line to Bank, then the chop-chop, super-quick Waterloo and City line to Waterloo, the train from Waterloo to Cobham Stoke d'Arbernon and then a 2.6 mile walk at the other end. We didn't exactly hang around, and flattened the walk in thirty minutes, but for some reason I didn't feel my normal, lively self and the day began to lose its sheen early on.

After stopping off at the Cobham Farmers' Market and scoffing a lamb and mint sauce scotch egg (most delicious- I think I'll attempt to make some myself! 😁) we pressed on to Painshill.

Just to re-cap on the history...

Painshill is an 18th century landscaped garden, created between 1738 and 1773 by the Hon. Charles Hamilton, who was the 9th son and 14th child of the Sixth Earl of Abercorn. He embarked on two Grand Tours before acquiring the land of Painshill, and his vision was to create living paintings, inspired by the art and architecture he had seen in Europe. The result was a series of magical follies in a breathtaking landscape vista. Everything you see here has been created (during faithful restoration of the garden since 1981- it had been allowed to fall into ruin) and works with the natural landscape to surprise and delight.

This isn't going to be a big blog, as I've blogged about it twice before, and included loads of photos.

Here in the link to my first visit, in September 2017:-

http://elainerockett.blogspot.com/2017/09/miss-elaineous-visits-painshill.html

Here is the link to my third visit, in February 2018:-

http://elainerockett.blogspot.com/2018/02/miss-elaineous-visits-painshill-again.html

The majority of the photographs I took were of the Grotto, and I honed in on this man-made and mysterious crystal and stalactite chamber as this was the first time here that I could use the flash on my camera without the batteries dying. My camera used to eat batteries- until I used my common sense (duh!) and bought stronger, industrial Duracells.

Here is an arched peep out onto the water. It's a simple view of beautiful, dappled sunlight...

The limestone surround's distinctive holes were probably caused by burrowing molluscs, when it was formed on the seabed 150 million years ago. Incidentally, they came from quarries near Bath, which is where I was last week. I think they resemble impacted skulls, which, I am told, was the idea.

The walls are lined with calcite, gypsum, quartz, fluorite and other minerals and stones and are decorated with crystals...

The tinkling water feature usually makes the whole cave very relaxing, but yesterday there were too many people at Painshill, which made for over-crowded follies. To me, the usual beauty of Painshill is that you can often walk forever without coming into contact with another human being. You know me- I'm never going to win the prize for being a people person...

The Cascade. It is nothing more than a small dribble of water but again, it's very pretty and relaxing...

I've never photographed this view of the Five Arch Bridge before. Stunning reflections, but I didn't see much in the way of wildlife. A few ducks were out but no swans. The heron likes to put in an appearance, as does the odd mutjac deer- but not on this day...

The Waterwheel was working, and you could walk right up to it. One of the problems I found was that a lot of the attractions have been cordoned off- like the Amphitheatre, which contains the Sabine Statue, and the Ruined Abbey. You used to be able to walk right up to these, but now it's not possible...

Watching the blades twirl...

I realised that we'd skipped visiting the Mausoleum, visible in in distance, so we popped over on the way out...

The Ice House had a light in it, which is the first time I think I've seen this. Usually it's dark...

Why I'm fascinated with ice houses I'll never know, as there's not much to see- still, at least it was refreshingly cool...

On the pathway beyond the exit and back to the main road, I quite liked this picturesque ivy-covered tree...

Painshill was still lovely, but to me it seemed to have lost something. There were too many people, too few animals and there was too much cordoning off. Having said that, I'm sure I'll return- I just need to pick my timings carefully...

TTFN

The Miss Elaineous

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Wednesday 20 February 2019

THE BAD MOTHER by AMANDA BROOKE

THE BAD MOTHER

BY AMANDA BROOKE

THE BLURB:-

A good mother doesn't forget things.

A good mother isn't a danger to herself.

A good mother isn't a danger to her baby.

You want to be the good mother you dreamed you could be.

But you're not.

You're the bad mother you were destined to become.

At least, that's what he wants you to think...

THE REALITY:-

The only problem I had with this novel is that I worked out that (I would label this a spoiler alert, but I think it's just too obvious) Lucy didn't have a memory problem, or baby brain, very early on. I could easily spot the subtly shifting character of Adam moving into the role of perpetrator before page 100- which didn't exactly make me look forward to the next 300 pages, as I could see exactly what was going on, therefore ruining any real element of surprise. Or maybe that's just what the author intended- I wanted to reach into this novel and shake Lucy into realising what was happening at her horrible husband's hands, so this story obviously aroused some kind of feeling in me. I think her friend, Hannah, wanted to interfere, but she knew she had to choose her words and her moments carefully.

Lucy was the victim of gas-lighting: where someone tries to make their intended victim doubt their own sanity. Adam did a very good job of doing just that, and you can see where his controlling behaviour begins; and how Lucy initially fought it, until the point where she just has to record him. Which the poor girl does- initially to prove to herself that she was in the wrong. I have no idea what Adam's motives were, but I can only say that he's one sick, mentally ill, human being. I have seen this behaviour (on a less vindictive and smaller scale) in real life, although thankfully not in my own relationships. I'm glad that nobody else in the novel (apart from Adam's brother Scott, and that's only when Scott was a child) was taken in by his antics. Even his own mother had her reservations about him, as did Lucy's mum.

I did feel really sorry for humiliated Lucy. Pregnant with her first child, it was a vulnerable time for her, and her shitty husband chose then to strike. Maybe he was having an affair with Naomi, and simply wanted out via the medium of constructive dismissal? I found the end scenes confusing, especially with regard to who was sitting/ standing where, in both the car and cliff scene. I'm glad Adam (this one is a spoiler alert!) got his comeuppance and died, and I'm glad it was Lucy who gave him that kick that sent him tumbling down the cliff face.

I read this during my downtime during a short break in Bath, and finished it on the train home, so it can't have been that bad. It had a good storyline and believable characters. It's just that the predictability got on my nerves a tad.

MISS ELAINEOUS VISITS STONEHENGE...

Whilst I was at Bath, I embarked on a half-day tour to Stonehenge, visiting for the very first time. We travelled with Scarper Tours. Their distinctive purple minibuses are easy to spot and the whole trip took four hours. It allowed two hours at the site, which was ample time to see the monoliths and the museum. The whole trip cost £40 per person, which included entry. As we don't drive, this made our trip easy and hassle-free and, I think, was good value for money.

We picked up our bus from outside Bath's Abbey Hotel...

Our tour bus was punctual and our guide, John, very friendly, taking the time to point out significant landmarks to us.

Here is a PDF of the Westbury White Horse- I couldn't get a decent photo whilst on the move!

The first Stonehenge, consisting of a circular ditch and bank, with maybe some timber posts or stones, was built over 5000 years ago, in a period known as the Neolithic age. It was a temple- a place of burial, ceremony and celebration. In 2500 BC more and much larger stones- huge sarsen stones from north Wiltshire and smaller bluestones from west Wales- marked the beginning of over 800 years of construction. This would have seeped over into the Bronze Age, when the first metal tools and weapons were made.

Salisbury Plain is vast and covers 300 square miles. The Ministry of Defence owns roughly half of that land, and it is used as a military training area. Some of the area is agricultural, and we saw both pigs and sheep being farmed.

Burial mounds in the area, such as these on the horizon below, date from around 2300 BC and contain an individual. Some were buried and some were cremated, but they were accompanied into the next world with a variety of personal possessions; such as jet, amber and gold jewellery, and tools of stone, bone or bronze. These people would have been considered very important during their lifetime.

The museum and shop are right near the car park, then you have to take a five minute bus ride to the site. Here is our first glimpse...

Although an admission fee has been charged since 1901, members of the public were allowed to roam freely for many years after this. In 1963 the area was gravelled to reduce erosion. But by 1978 there were so many visitors that a decision was made to restrict access to the stones during the normal opening period and the centre was grassed over.

You can walk around the stones, behind the fence, in the recommended clockwise direction. We, of course, didn't realise this and set off in an anticlockwise direction. Oh well, whichever way you go, it's still the same!

Some sarsens are grouped in threes, consisting of twin vertical stones with a horizontal boulder on top, and are called trilithons. Each trilithon consists of a well-shaped stone paired with one that is rougher. This appears to be deliberate, but what's its significance? Maybe male and female? We will probably never know.

The trilithons graduate in size: from the shortest, which face each other across the open horseshoe, to the tallest, which was the Great Trilithon (the stone with the point on the top) which faced the enclosure entrance. This was the only trilithon which had a back as smooth as its front.

The horizontal stones of the trilithons are called lintels. The single standing part of the Great Trilithon clearly shows the tenon on top of the upright. This peg would have fitted into a corresponding hole- or mortise- dug into the lintel.

The Altar Stone lies under the wreckage of the fallen upright of the Great Trilithon and its lintel. As no attempt has ever been made to move these stones, it is uncertain whether the Altar Stone always lay flat or once stood vertically.

We walked around and took in the view from a bit of a distance. There are Aubrey Holes close to the inner edge of the bank. They originally held metal and stone markers and were named after antiquarian John Aubrey (1626-1697). His ideas were taken up by William Stukeley (1687-1765), a doctor and field archaeologist who also coined the term trilithons (taken from Greek and meaning 'three stones.')

You can see a crowd to the left- although visitor numbers are restricted, the attraction receives more than 1 million people per year. A henge is literally a circular or oval shaped bank with a ditch and a flat surface over the middle. There is no evidence that henges were occupied.

We were very near the A303, visible in the background...

Flossie came over to say hello!😁

The stones outside the trilithons are called Station Stones. There were originally four, but only two survive. They mark the corners of a perfect rectangle; its central point the exact centre of the monument.

Coming round Stonehenge and the Heel Stone is now visible, to the right of the photograph. 'Friar's Heel' is its older name. Most of the sarsens are thought to have been transported here, but the heel stone may have always been here and was simply raised upright.

This is the view from the Heel Stone...

The Heel Stone is an unshaped boulder. It is from behind this stone that the sun rises- assuming that you're standing in the middle of Stonehenge- on Midsummer's Day each year, in perfect alignment...

The Heel Stone and the rest of Stonehenge. The Slaughter Stone can be seen, flat in the grass.

The Slaughter Stone originally stood upright and was flanked with other stones that are now missing. This horizontal stone gets its name from the water that rests in its shallow depressions. The iron ore in the rock causes it to turn a rusty red. This was thought to be evidence of sacrifice; but that idea is really only the product of overactive imaginations.

The smaller, central bluestones include a variety of different types of rock. Generally speaking they were unshaped, apart from two which appear to have been part of a trilithon.

It was very chilly, and time to return. In the museum, you can stand in the centre of this large mock-up and experience the sun rising and setting over Stonehenge for yourself...

This skeleton was found nearby, and is of a man who lived 5000 years ago. He would have known the area well...

A model of Stonehenge as it is. It was once thought that Stonehenge was built by Druids- who were priests and soothsayers- but the Druids did not, in fact emerge until 1000 years after Stonehenge was thought to be abandoned.

...And maybe as it was? It raises the questions: Why was Stonehenge built? When was it abandoned and was it actually completed? What was it actually for? We will never know for sure, but to me it's some kind of calendar. I also think that it could have been used as a place of worship at certain times of the year.

Some of the sarsens weighed over 35 tonnes, and it was thought that they were transported on platforms like this, by up to 200 men at a time. Sarsen and bluestone could only have been shaped using stone tools. Round sarsen balls known as mauls or hammerstones have been found at Stonehenge. They varied from the size of an orange, to the size of a football.

Outside the museum are a selection of huts. The builders of Stonehenge probably lived nearby, and in homes like these...

Inside the hut...

Would I visit again? Yes, but not in a hurry. I'm glad I went, but what I would REALLY love to do is walk between the stones. This is only allowed during Special Access visits, when up to 26 people can walk beyond the barriers and into Stonehenge, for one hour at a time.

Count me in!

TTFN

The Miss Elaineous

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Monday 18 February 2019

MISS ELAINEOUS VISITS THE ROMAN BATHS...

In the 9th century BC, Prince Bladud, son of Ludhudibras, contracted leprosy, was banished from court and took up work as a country swineherd. In time, he noticed that when his pigs went to bathe in the warm, steaming swamp at the bottom of the valley, they became cured of warts and sores. Convinced that his own condition could be treated, he gave the thermal mire a go and emerged blemish free. Thus, the city of Bath was founded around the springs.

Rain falls on the Mendip Hills and percolates through limestone to a depth of between 2,700 to 4,300 metres, where natural heat raises the temperature of the water to between 64⁰C and 96⁰C. Under pressure, the heated water rises through the surface and breaks free via a fault in the earth's crust.

By the first century BC, this part of Britain was ruled by the Iron Age tribe called Dobunni, who believed that the hot spring was sacred to the Goddess Sulis, who was though to possess curative powers. At the spring it was possible to communicate with the underworld, through the Druids, but the Goddess had to be placated with offerings. The Roman invasion, in 43 AD, meant that the sacred site of the springs of Sulis were contained within a military zone. The Romans were sensitive to the gods and goddesses of those they conquered, as they were powerful forces who commanded respect. After the devastating rebellion of 60 AD, led by Queen Boudica, reconstruction of this ruined area began, and it is probably during this time that the construction of the Baths started.

The Romans associated Sulis with their own Minerva, so the names were interchangeable and sometimes appeared together. This gilded bronze head of Sulis Minerva was found by digging workmen in 1727. It is incomplete and its body has never been found.

Right next to it, you are invited to touch this modern interpretation inside the temple section of the museum...

The baths fell into disrepair during the fourth century. Amid increasing political instability, the number of visitors to the bathing establishment declined. Black mud and rising water covered everything, and eventually the roofs gave and and crashed into the silt.

The Great Bath was discovered during the building of the Pump Room extension, in 1895-97. Work in the Sacred Spring in 1979-80 contributed much to our knowledge of how the Romans built around the thermal water, and the remains of the open air courtyard were excavated in 1981-83.

For me, the Roman Baths were one of the highlights of my stay in Bath, and my honest advice is: DON'T LEAVE BATH WITHOUT SEEING THEM! I even described them as 'amazing' which is a word I usually loathe, as it's so overused. But in this case, the forces of geography and history make for a truly magnificent juxtaposition of an attraction.

You enter the Great Bath at ground level- which is actually the upper level of the baths. Population growth causes the land level to rise.

The water gets its green hue from algae formation caused by heat and daylight.

The first pump room, opened in 1706, placed drinking the water at the heart of the emerging spa culture, and it was the Pump Room extension of 1895-97 which led to the discovery of the Great Bath.

There are eight Roman emperors and generals statues, by sculptor G.A.Lawson, installed following this discovery...

From the other end...

Inside the museum is a glass model of the baths...

...And a more solid model...

From this angle you can see an unusual circular temple, or tholos...

...This temple stood where Bath Abbey is now...

Drop down a level and you can view the Great Bath from behind glass...

The significance of the elaborate carved temple pediment is not fully understood today. Although Minerva is frequently shown with a shield of this kind, the object is clearly male.

The Gorgon has similarities to the sea goods Oceanus or Neptune and projected images allow you to see what it looked like during Roman times, as it was probably brightly painted.

The museum contains interesting and relevant artefacts, such as this skeleton of a Syrian trader, found in Walcot, Bath...

...His sarcophagus...

Roman pots...

Replica of a bag of coins...

The Beau Street Hoard was a collection of over 17,000 Roman coins, discovered in Bath in 2007...

Keys...

Shoes...

This mosaic was found in 1859, in Sawclose, central Bath. It was remounted and now resides in the museum.

This tin mask was probably used by priests in temple ceremonies. My partner said it resembled him with a hangover!😁

Luna, as represented on a pediment found whilst excavating the Pump Room...

These three figures represent a triad of deities...

Curse tablets, thrown in the spring and offered to the Goddess so that she could avenge those who had caused offence- often by stealing clothes at the Baths!

Channel...

Excavations...

This whole area was the Temple of Sulis Minerva...

Altar...

Close-up...

These pots represent offerings to the Goddess...

The Sacred Spring is at the heart of the site...

You can see the steam rising from it...

In 1810 the spring failed. But when geologist William Smith opened up the Hot Bath Spring to the bottom, he found that it had simply flowed into a new channel, so he restored it to its original course.

The overflow. The water is low in dissolved metals, except for iron, which causes the red staining.

Stairs next to the overflow...

Pigmented channel...

Standing right next to the Great Bath...

There are 43 minerals in the water...

Calcium and sulphate are the main dissolved ions...

...But sodium and chloride also feature...

Hypocausts below the steam rooms and changing rooms...

The East Baths were the most prone to flooding, as they were so near to the River Avon...

Water backing up the drain would have doused the furnaces, rendering these underfloor heating systems useless...

Floor levels had to be raised to escape the threat of flooding

The highest levels were attached to the caldarium...

The word caldarium is Latin, and means 'to scald.' See, I did listen in Latin lessons at school- even though my teacher gave me the creeps...

The only people who would have seen the hypocausts during Roman times were the poor buggers who had to clean them of soot...

More ruins...

More discolouration...

The West Baths contain the Circular Bath, which is a cold plunge bath (or frigidarium) to close the pores. You can throw money in here and make a wish. I did- twice!