On the BBC4-Radio they have kind of a religious ‘thought
for the day’ throughout the week from a variety of credible sources. They are quite nice and thoughtful – always charitable
and inclusive. Published online today – this video, also as a transcript, was delivered
by the Pope, 24 December, this past year:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/today/pope-thought-for-the-day/. It was surprising
to me how much of what he says are thoughts we would all agree upon – very similar
to what we might hear coming from the First Presidency Christmas message. You
know, we are NOT so very different!
One of the reasons Adrian stays over here
in Weymouth, once the singles convention comes to an end, with a fairly
inexpensive, convenient location for a home away from home – outside of his ‘bump
on the east side of England,’ as he likes to call the Suffolk area where he’s
from – is that it fulfills an ongoing goal he has to visit places he has never
been before. One of the things he especially
likes to do is to frequent charity shops. (Now you know, of course, that I absolutely
‘detest’ them, but what’s a girl to do when she’s asked if she wants to come
along – couldn’t be rude, now, could I?!)
Today’s adventure was a 14 pound 60, including
return, 40-minute trip by train to Bournemouth, a large coastal resort town in the county of Dorset. According to the mid-year estimates for 2012 from
the Office for National Statistics, the town has a population of 186,100,
making it the largest settlement in Dorset. Bournemouth's location on
the south coast of England, the region around the mouth of the River Bourne,
has made it a popular destination for tourists. The arrival of the
railways in 1870, allowed a massive growth in seaside and summer visitors to
the town, especially from the Midlands (aka Birmingham) and London.
A little historical content: In 1574, the
Earl of Southamptom noted
that the area was, "devoid of all habitation" and, as late as 1795,
the Duke of Rutland recorded that
"...on this barren and uncultivated heath there was not a human to direct
us". Some of the first official residents, retired army officer
Lewis Tregonwell and his wife, built a home and moved in around
1815. The area would have been well-known to Lewis who, during the Napoleonic
wars, spent much of his time searching the heath and coastline for French
invaders and smugglers. Anticipating that people would come to the area to
indulge in the newly fashionable pastime of sea-bathing, an activity with
perceived health benefits, he built a series of villas on his land which he
hoped to let out. The common belief that pine-scented air was good for
lung conditions, and in particular tuberculosis, caused the Tregonwells to
plant hundreds of pine trees.
Although these early attempts to promote the town as a health
resort were unsuccessful, by the time Tregonwell had died, in 1832, Bournemouth
had grown into a small community with a scattering of houses, villas and
cottages. The town would ultimately grow up around the scattered
pines and tree-lined walk to the beach, later to become known as the 'Invalids
walk.’ Despite enormous investment, the town failed to take off and so in 1841,
the physician and writer Augustus Granville was
invited by the then Earl to visit Bournemouth. Granville was the author
of The Spas of England, which described health resorts around the country
and as a result of his stop, Dr. Granville included a chapter on the town in
the second edition of his book. The account in the publication, as well as the
growth of visitors to the seaside seeking the medicinal use of the seawater and
the fresh air of the pines, helped the town to grow and establish itself as an
early tourist destination. And the rest – as they say – is history.
Adrian has one of those extremely
analytical brains, (as evidenced by his cup sculpture – plus his retreating
hairline – from the previous day’s photo), so, not surprisingly, he had cased
out several burroughs around the main city where the greatest concentration of
charity shops could be found – and we came across even more! He had maps and
charts and everything we would need to get us around, and was well-prepared to ‘gitter’
done! We passed several lovely outdoor sites (think Central Park), plus the
center of the city with historical buildings, but we trudged right on by. It
was important to him to accomplish the things he had planned (we also stopped
at a number of electronic stores as he is researching replacing his present
computer) in order for him to be back to town to get his dinner by 7. Adrian had
told me before we left that we’d be doing a lot of walking, and he wasn’t
kidding! (I could tell by the comments
he made along the way that he was glad to find that I was a fast walker.) It
was fantastic getting out – I would have chosen a little more sight-seeing,
but, oh, well, I was along for the ‘ride’ – so it was okay.
The end of my day:
· * arrived back in town on the train from
Bournemouth with Adrian
· * he headed for the hotel and tea, while I headed
for Aldi and some food supplies (have kind of lost my appetite for the
‘homemade’ lasagna we serve at the Richmoor, having heard SO much about the
horse meat {and pork} showing up in UK ground beef! You heard about that,
right? It’s BIG in the news here, I can tell you. These sorts of revelations
always put me in mind of Sweeney Todd. Urp, urp.)*
· * fixed my own meal and joined Adrian, the last of
the diners in the dining room
· * finally joined by Loraine after a considerable, expected delay, as we sat at the table for hours while she ‘chatted’ with
us for hours, filling in a lot of the blanks of her life I may someday get
around to sharing
· * ended up in the bar, curious to meet Kieran’s dad,
who was ‘up there now’ I had been told by Charlotte. Chloe’s daddy, while
working with him yesterday morning, had told me that he (Chloe’s grandpa) was
coming to visit for several days. (An apt description: jolly Irish congeniality
demonstrated by a fair amount of woozy hands on my knee, punctuated with indiscriminate
expletives.) Also in attendance was the
long-haired, tattoed, ear-ringed, gorgeous-eyed, handsome, wasted Scottish‘former’
chef, John, I have met on numerous occasions, and who always appears to be hitting
on me – ‘feeling no pain’ as well. (Can’t remember the last time I’ve had to
deal with this form of ‘compliments’!)
[Also in the news: anniversary of the birth date of Charles
Darwin; also the 20th anniversary abduction, torture and murder of the
toddler, James Bulger, by two ten-year old boys from Liverpool. All day as we
walked around and came across toddlers and small children out and about with
their parents, all I could think about was the vulnerability of children in the
world – since the beginning of time, today more than ever. It was quite
sobering. I supposed that those parents had not read or heard the news today
and did not have the same thoughts rampaging through their minds as I did. In fact, these young parents would be about
the same age grown-up James would be today - if he had not been lured away from
his mother that earth-shattering day in a shopping mall – and may have been oblivious
to the circumstances, as the tragedy occurred all those many years ago.]
Photos_ Scenes from Bournemouth
1- aerial view
2- the old meets the new
3- shopping destinations (puts me in mind that outdoor shopping is much more common in England than back home)
4- reminds me of a similar Art Deco/Classic Revival structure in
Provo
5- mall art
6- underpass art
*7- look how quickly the media is all over this - Mini JCW Roadster (experience the MINI John Cooper Works Roadster - with an unexpectedly generous helping of 211 horsepower.)
*7- look how quickly the media is all over this - Mini JCW Roadster (experience the MINI John Cooper Works Roadster - with an unexpectedly generous helping of 211 horsepower.)
