My Daily Banana

 

Giant Rhubarb (Gunnera manicata)

Event of the Day:

9th July 1540

King Henry VIII annuls his marriage to Anne of Cleves;
she was his fourth of six wives.

When I was on my vacation in England I travelled to Melton Mowbray, where Henry VIII gave a building to Anne of Cleves as a good bye present. The building is now a Public House and listed as a grade II* building (first listing in 1950)

 

Beware when visiting this Public House it is highly recommended to wear oilskins!

Birthday of today:

9th July 1956

Tom Hanks

An amazing actor he has played in countless good films such as The Green Mile, Forrest Gump or Philadephia

Died on this Day:

9th July 2006

Milan Williams

one of the founding members of the Commodores; he wrote their first hit single, an instrumental tune called "Machine Gun"

Milan died of cancer at fifty-eight years.

Thoughts:

As I was saying before; during my holidays in England I visited Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire with Kerry and Lee. It is quite a nice town, mostly well preserved with many historic buildings and a history worth mentioning. Such as: Have you ever used the saying "Painting the town red", when you go out for a happy night? The saying originates from Melton Mowbray. In 1837, after a successful hunt the 3rd Marquess of Waterford and his cronies went into town for a celebration. They got happy and when they found some tins of red paint they went on a painting spree through the High Street.

Another interesting fact is that there are tunnels running under the old town; for instance between the church and the Grapes pub. From what I have just read there seams to have been jail cells under the Grapes and the tunnel was between these and the church.

The Melton Mowbray church is also an outstanding building first under construction in the Norman era. Very unusual for a parish church are the transepts (the two side wings of the church ship); they are normal in cathedrals but only five churches in England are built this way. Like in every church I visited in England there was a child's corner; I like that.

 

 

The High Street, Melton Mowbray

The Pork Pie Shop in the High Street
in 2008 the European Union awarded the Melton Mowbray pork pie a Protected Geographical Indication status

The Market Square

The Grapes Public House
under which was a jail for prisoners awaiting trial and transfer to Leicester

The Church Street
On the left was all part of the Swan Inn (now the Grapes),
 under which ran a tunnel from the jail to the church.

St Mary's Parish Church

Read and learn facts about Melton Mowbray,
a contrast to the drivel I write

The Anne of Cleves Public House
The house was taken from the Roman Catholic Church and given to Anne of Cleves by King Henry VIII
when he annulled their marriage

The Bar

The beer garden
In front you can see my very dear friends Kerry and Lee
(be careful though when sitting at the same table when there are full glasses there upon "Überschwemmungsgefahr!")

The loo in the Anne of Cleves

That's it again for another stroll through my holiday in England.
Hope you enjoyed it.
Bye till tomorrow

My Daily Banana

 

 

Photo of the Day:

Proud that Opa chalked her nose.
Isn't it nice how little things can please?

 

 

Event of the Day:

 

8th July 1977

 

Vicky Huber aka "Nitro the Snake Dancer" belly-danced for over one hundred hours to gain her place in the Guinness Book of World Records

 

Birthday of the Day:

08th July 1934

Marty Feldman

British comedian with the resemblance of a chameleon.

Died on this Day:

8th July 2003

Ladan Bijani and Laleh Bijani

Conjoined twins from Iran; they died during the operation to separate them. They were joined at the head and had lived as one twenty-three years and separate a couple of hours.

 

Thoughts:

 

Today the legend Bob Dylan is giving a live concert in Flensburg, Germany

Although Flensburg is only an hour away from my home, I haven't bought myself a ticket. It's not because I can't afford it, or I wouldn't want to see and hear him, it's mainly because of laziness!

The lesser excuse is: I want to keep him in my memory as I remember and that was his music from thirty years ago. That is the reason why I hardly ever go to concerts anymore, most of the artists to whom I have positive musical memories are old.

This weekend Elton John is appearing in Kiel; that's only ninety minutes drive from here. He is one of my favourite artists, but like me he's getting on and it's about time he gave up giving live concerts, his live voice is beginning to croak!

James Taylor is another one, when he was young he was so cool, his voice so immaculate but now; he can still pick a guitar like a young god, his voice is live still good, but to sing like a he does he has developed a method that makes him contort his face; it looks unnatural, uncool.

You guys have earned your millions from the likes of me, why don't you step back? It's time!

 

Yesterday was Jan's birthday and we had a great time visiting the Petersens, we hadn't been there for four weeks; the wee one has grown!

 

Jan, the birthday man thirty-six already with "monster" Martje <3

Kirsty, Martje and Gretje

 

Fentje, hasn't she grown to a beautiful lady?
Next year she starts school (in Germany the kids start school at seven)

This little one (Gretje) has a few years longer before reality grabs her.

Thanks for having us yesterday, it was a very nice afternoon xxx

See you all tomorrow!

My Daily Banana

 

Photo of the Day:

 

Wide open countryside where I can see the horizon, that's the countryside I have learned to love.

 

Event of the Day:

7th July 1947

The Roswell Incident

An alien ship lands near Roswell, New Mexico. Little green aliens came from outer space to greet mankind.

7th July 2005

Four bombs were brought to explosion in London's Transport System killing fifty-six and injuring over seven hundred. The middle east war arrived in the United Kingdom.

Birthday of the Day

(a very fruitful day):

7th July 1978

Jan-Erik Petersen

Jan with Gretje in his arms
May 2014

Kirsty's hubbie and the father of Fentje Hailey, Martje Sommer and Gretje Amber.
Have a nice day Jan!

7th July 1880

Otto Frederik Rohwedder

An American; he invented a machine that sliced bread and on the 7th July 1928 it was first pit to use in the Chillicothe Baking Company, Missouri, United States.

 

7th July 1940

 

Richard Starkie aka Ringo Starr

 

The drummer of the Beatles;
 I have seen his son Zack playing live in Kiel, Germany; at the time he played for the Who.

 

 

Died on this Day:

 

7th July 1930

 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

 

The Scottish author and doctor. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1859 and died in East Sussex, England at seventy-one years old.

His most famous work was Sherlock Holmes, the morphine and cocaine using master detective.

 

 

Thoughts:

 

Today I did something that turned my face red. Heike and I were sat at our favourite café drinking our favourite cappuccino; I was in a talkative mood and a little over zealous. Two, whom we know from Niebüll, we are on greeting terms, arrived also at the café for a coffee. I blurted out "Where's the wall sign gone?“ They looked at me lost and wondering what the hell does this person want from us?

You'll also be wondering what I'm writing about: the story: the pair are one of our local pharmacists and own a chemists across the road from the café. During the last three weeks the entrance to the chemist has been redeveloped and during this refurbishing the antique sign "Jacobi" had been removed. The sign was from an owner of the chemist in times long gone by and until now the current owners had not removed it. For me it was part of the building and for them it was just an old sign.

I came out with the question thinking they would immediately know what I was on about, but they didn't so I felt the proper idiot and had to apologize for being so forthright.

 

In my thoughts I'm back in Lincoln, here are some photos from my first stroll after fifteen years of abstinence:

Sincil Bank
What wonders me is: why the façade of these terrace houses are built of limestone not like all the rest that have a red brick façade

A normal door and two midget doors.
Doesn't it look grubby having the dustbins on the path in front of the house?

I love terrace houses with bay windows

These look well kept, but with bay windows I would like them better

Terrace houses in the Robey's area

Robey's one of the heavy industrial factories founded in the nineteenth century

They built steam engines and in the Second World War aircraft for Sopwith's

The once imposing entrance
Here's a video showing how the workers streamed into the factory back in 1900:
Employees at Robey's Works, Lincoln (1900)
The video is blocked in Germany, I don't know about the rest of the world; try it
 

The lower High Street

The Sally Army

The Methodist Church

If I lived in Lincoln this would be the church for me.
Zoom in; they cater for all religious orientations



The Pelham Bridge
opened in 1958 by Queen Elizabeth II

That was another short excursion through the worker's Lincoln