MISS ELAINEOUS VISITS THE HORNIMAN MUSEUM...

The Horniman Museum is situated in south London.  The nearest rail station is Forest Hill and, had I known that it was so easy to get to, I would have visited w-a-a-a-a-y before- I've been living in London for over 20 years, after all.  This lovely place has been named as one of the coolest top ten museums in the world by the New York Times.

It was founded in 1901 by Frederick John Horniman, a tea merchant who'd inherited his father's successful business.  The cash generated by this livelihood allowed him to travel extensively and develop his passion for collecting musical instruments, cultural artefacts and anthropological items.  He obtained some 30,000 pieces, including a massive collection of stuffed animals.  Although one of the main galleries was closed for refurbishment (an excuse to visit again, methinks?!) the museum is free, with a couple of paying, optional, add-on exhibitions and there was plenty to see.

The museum was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend in the Arts and Crafts style.

Here is the entrance from the main road...

The imposing clock tower...

Mural...

Steps leading off to the gardens...

I've always been a fan of water features and I love this fountain...

I strolled around the gardens and outer exhibits first.  Here is the Victorian Conservatory, which you can hire for weddings, conferences or any special occasion.  It reminds me of the vast hothouses at Kew.

My first impression of the grounds and here's an imposing tree...

The flower beds were being re-planted...

The bandstand and the glorious view down.  I realise why this area is called Forest Hill- London sits in a bowl and you get the same impression from Muswell Hill in north London...

Over into the distance...

Down into the distance...

Wildlife is represented, in the shape of these squirrels...

And tame life, in the shape of these sheep in a pen...

And metal life, in the shape of this dinosaur!  This section is called the prehistoric garden.

This quiet pavilion can also be hired for events...

And now... (drum roll, please!) ...we come to the piece de resistence of the whole museum.  The butterfly house is accessible for a small fee.  You gain entrance via a timed ticket to control numbers.  You are booked in on a 15 minute time spot, but they don't mind you lingering for longer.

DON'T LEAVE WITHOUT DOING IT!

This is nothing more than a large hut, but it's tropical in temperature with atmospheric music piped through.  I was actually gigging as I walked through with gorgeous tropical butterflies flying overhead.  Here are some of my photos.  The butterflies allowed me to get very close.

We're having a gang bang,

We're having a ball,

We're having a gang bang,

Against the wall.

Okay then, against the tree!

I witnessed the butterfly equivalent of a gang bang!  My partner said, 'Only you would think that!'

Worn out, impregnated and flying away! 

A testicle tree (okay then, two lots of 'em glued together!)  You know me- I can't resist crude thoughts and lavatorial humour!

The aquarium is small but there's enough in there to see and it's worth the few quid they charge.  Here's a goldfish...

...And a couple of clownfish...

Swimming with the fishes...

  

My favourite rhubarb and custard fish...

A poison dart frog...

I've never seen such a room as this- one devoted entirely to the display of musical instruments.  Here's a grand piano...

A selection of brass (instruments, darlings, not ladies of the night...)

Woodwind...

Strings...

Oboes.  No, not of the pink variety (nudge nudge, wink wink!)  Yep, we have to have more British postcard humour.  Those who are easily offended: grow up, get a sense of humour and get over it.

The final gallery is devoted to natural history, with many taxidermy species.

Flamingos are EVERYWHERE in fashion this season.  Here's the real thing.  Well, kind of.  Real, but very dead...

A glorious peacock spreading his fantail...

I am a walrus (says him, not me...!)

This leopard was giving me a very dirty look.  Well, I was wearing a top that matched him...

Y'know, this is what I came to see.  This Bengal tiger died in a zoo 25 years ago.  Isn't he majestic?

We'll finish this blog with some art.  Karen Dodd uses wool to create these coral reef pieces, inspired by the Horniman aquarium and natural history collection.

Goodbye, Horniman (you can't beat a horny man- sorry I'm in full salacious swing today!)  I will be back.

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AFTER YOU'D GONE by MAGGIE O'FARRELL

AFTER YOU'D GONE

BY MAGGIE O' FARRELL

THE BLURB:-

Alice Raikes boards a train at King's Cross to visit her sisters in Scotland. Hours later, she steps into the traffic on a busy London road and is taken into hospital in a coma.

Who or what did she see in Edinburgh that made her return so suddenly? Was the accident a suicide attempt? And what exactly do her family, waiting at her bedside, have to hide?

Sliding between different levels of consciousness, Alice listens to the conversations around her and begins sifting through recollections of her past, and of a recently curtailed love affair.

THE REALITY:-

This is quite a grim read, low key and deep but alarmingly effective. We learn (quite early on) that yes, Alice did try to kill herself and we have to work out why; what it was that finally tipped her over the edge. SPOILER ALERT!!!!-  In the prologue she sees a glimpse of her mother with her long-term adulterous lover, and realised that she's his daughter. Always the changeling in the family, the man she thought of as her father has always known, and doesn't seem to care. But Alice's mother, Ann, doesn't know that her husband knows. The theme of secrets and lies features heavily in this novel, and each part of the jigsaw slides into place as we get further into this very good book.

Alice had been bereaved in the not too distant past, with the loss of- ANOTHER SPOILER ALERT!!!!- her husband in a London bombing. I liked reading about her life with him as they lived where I used to live (near Camden Road) as a student, so some of the shops mentioned were very familiar to me. In fact, I still keep a dentist in that area (although that might soon change as my latest practitioner needs to learn not to try and up-sell...) and was walking through the area only days before starting this novel. Also, the author is roughly the same age as me, and seems to write in the same era, so it's easy to be 'on the same page' as her. I could relate to the personal style and beliefs of Alice. Scotland gets a big mention as a lot of the novel is set in North Berwick (I had a childhood friend who used to visit there every year and she loved it) as does Edinburgh. I haven't been to Scotland since I was ten and would love to give Edinburgh and Glasgow a go, and would certainly venture out to coastal North Berwick.

At first the novel jumps a bit; between Alice, Ann (her mother) and Elspeth (her grandmother) so it's difficult to get into at first but, once I kind of worked out who was who and what time frame each character was operating in it was plain sailing. I love the way human relationships and foibles are explored in some depth, and the descriptives of both feelings and surroundings were highly portrayed.

This novel is dark. It's not a cheery novel and it's such a shame that Alice could not get it together after the death of the love of her life, John. Maybe bereavement counselling and a better best friend would have helped (I mean, Rachel scoffing at Alice for taking up knitting and making stuff for her dead husband as a way of coping- really, what a cow). We also learn a good, hard lesson from Daniel, what with his estrangement from his son due to religious reasons.  It's too late to make up when someone is dead! Do it whilst they're still alive!

With a good assortment of add-on characters which assist in delineating our main protagonists, this was an excellent read, which I flattened in a matter of days.

THE HOUSE WE GREW UP IN by LISA JEWELL

THE HOUSE WE GREW UP IN

BY LISA JEWELL

THE BLURB:-

When a tragedy breaks a family apart, what can bring it back together?

The Birds seemed to be the perfect family: mother, father, four children, a picture-book cottage in the country.

But when something happens one Easter weekend, it is so unexpected, so devastating, that no one can talk about it.

The family shatters, seemingly forever.

Until they are forced to return to the house they grew up in. And to confront what really took place all those years ago.

THE REALITY:-

It's only been days since my last book review, and there are two reasons for that: the first is that I have been off work with the lurgy- a combination of a throat/ chest infection and also issues created by losing a filling and developing a hairline crack in a back tooth, right into the gums. One emergency dental visit and a temporary filling later, a root filling and crown beckon. Or an extraction and an implant. A denture was also a mentioned option, but I don't take my teeth out and put them in a glass by the bed, thank-you-very-much...what would all of my boyfriends think? (Mind you, in some cultures women's teeth are pulled out so that they can give better blow jobs- go figure!) The second reason was that this book was un-putdownable.

But.... I have to say that this novel failed to touch me, even in my mad race through to the end. Why? Were certain issues too familiar? Or were they not fully developed to something more satisfying?

I didn't find the Bird children's upbringing perfect. In fact, it was a classic example of something looking wonderful from the outside but with a sickness at its very core. I didn't like the character of Lorelei and would have found her bloody annoying as a mother. She was a hoarder who liked to bring on the waterworks when challenged with regard to her affliction. I can certainly relate to the character of her eldest daughter, Meg, who's pedantically tidy, possibly as a rebellious reaction to her cluttered childhood. I have friends who keep mementoes for years, whereas I throw everything out once it's past its use. Birthday cards go into recycling a couple of weeks (if that) after the event and a newspaper gets read then chucked. I've been known to invite a friend round for dinner and start the washing up before they've finished, snatching the plate from them whilst they're still eating! My partner says I have OCD. I don't- I just hate clutter and mess, and that comes from having a mother who didn't like throwing things out, despite threatening to 'put her hand on her heart' and have a good clear-out. She wasn't an unhealthy hoarder like Lorelei, though- I think it was because she was brought up with a wartime mentality; therefore anything remotely useful was saved 'just in case'. I also hated the character of hanger-on, cuckoo in the nest Vicky, and worked out her lesbianism long before it was revealed. Well, this book obviously aroused some emotion in me. All in all, the other characters were an interesting (if raggle-taggle) bunch and the different dated aspects of the story slotted together well.

But- SPOILER ALERTS SUPREME COMING!- I didn't see Rhys's suicide hovering on the horizon and it was very interesting how that event had a knock-on affect on the lives of his family, probably because the issues surrounding it were never discussed. He was a bit pervy, and I can certainly relate to having such a brother. Why they behave as they do, I do not know... Frustration? Lack of affection? Confusion regarding what's appropriate and what's not? Muddling up sex and love? Once it became clear that this sad, disturbed little sixteen-year-old boy's sexual behaviour was directly responsible for him taking his own life, I galloped to the end- only to be disappointed. So; he tried it on with his mother, she pushed him away and walked out. I would have liked for this scenario to be developed into something MUCH more explicit and devastating, as it came across as tame and not worthy of a reason for him to do what he did.  

This book finished on a pleasant whimper rather than the devastating scream I would have liked, but I'm glad I read it.

MISS ELAINEOUS VISITS THE VENETIAN WATERWAYS AND BOATING LAKE...

Our holiday centre- Haven Seashore- was two miles walk from Great Yarmouth Pier.  During low season, there is no bus into town so we walked most days, flattening the walk in 25 minutes.  I never put weight on whilst on holiday as I don't drive!  On top of that walk a day's sightseeing would also follow (with stop offs for coffee/ afternoon tea/ snacks etc.)

Our journey along the main seafront road passed the rather desolate Venetian Waterway and currently defunct boating lake.  This lake is due to be regenerated shortly, thanks to lottery funding.  These pictures look a bit grim as we didn't enjoy the same glorious weather that we'd had in Norwich only a few days earlier.  It wasn't cold but it was windy sometimes, and overcast.

Here is a photo of the boating lake in its heyday.  This one is dated 1936.

Here are the details of this regal section of the seafront:-

The Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust is working in partnership with Great Yarmouth Borough Council to carefully restore the Venetian Waterways and Boating Lake (Grade II listed on the Historic Parks and Gardens Register). Situated at the northern end of Marine Parade the Boating Lake was first opened in 1926 followed by the Venetian Waterways in 1928. The site saw hundreds of holidaymakers enjoying boat rides along the serpentine “canal” and walks in the surrounding parkland, which at the time boasted a radical, nationally-acclaimed planting scheme.

At the beginning of 2017 it was announced that our bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery, in partnership with Great Yarmouth Borough Council, was successful and would release £1.7 million of funding for the Venetian Waterways and Boating Lake Project.

The four-year project will involve much-needed repairs to the structures of the bridges, the Waterways and Boating Lake, as well as a comprehensive schedule of activities for residents and visitors. The café on the Boating Lake Island will also be renovated and re-opened to help fund the ongoing maintenance of the park.

  Source (text and photo) The Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust.

On leaving the camp, though, firstly our walk took us through a section of sand dunes and scrub that I christened 'No Man's Land'.  This area of marram grass and gorse looked really bleak and godforsaken, although there are several beaten pathways to the sea and we did spot a couple of dog walkers.  On our first day, we had a l-o-n-g walk to our holiday home, consisting of: a mile long walk from the railway station to the pier, the two mile walk to the Haven site and, as sod's law would have it, a 15 minute walk to our caravan.  We were situated right near the farthest end of the camp.  Typical!  And all of this on a hot day with a headwind blowing hair across my face and whilst pulling (or should that be dragging?!) a suitcase with a wheel which chose that moment to crack.  Although we tended to spend our holiday walking into town, for our journeys back we found a local bus service that stopped about ten minutes away from the back of the camp and also utilized the little road train.

No Man's Land.  This view was not very exciting...

The derelict boating lake.  I'm looking forward to this being restored so that I can have an elegant boat ride...

The Venetian Waterway...

Of course, no seafront is complete without the obligatory wino hut- we found an empty bottle of cheap red gut-rot in here!

On our final day, I took some beach shots from the caravan park.  Here, no man's land is much shallower and there is no road bisecting the route to the beach.

There is beauty in such desolation!

Wind farm...

The pier is only just visible if you (ahem!) peer...

Beach path...

I loved walking along here.  Some people might find it a lonely place, but I was enjoying my solitude.

I like the more relaxed pace of life up here and can see myself living up the road, in Norwich, in a few years' time.  

Looking towards Great Yarmouth Pier...

Of course, casual living doesn't mean casual dressing- bling and fancy toenails are still de rigueur!

In the words of Arnie, 'I'll be back....!'

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