Create something today

My Gran didn't  know about facebook or the internet and didn't even keep a diary or journal so we know very little about her early life.  I wish she had kept a diary or journal so that we knew a little bit more about her.  People of my grandchildren's age however use networking sites like facebook or twitter as some kind of diary and are thus recording for posterity their activities and thoughts.

But how many think about that when they are posting silly selfies or  clicking "like" on something close to pornography ?

What will their grandchildren think about knowing just a bit too much about "Nan" when she was young ?  Then there will perhaps be great grandchildren, that they may not meet for whatever reason.  Will they be happy to know about the antics at those hen or stag nights ?

Next time that little box appears which says "write something" think about those grandchildren and their children and write something.

a poem, a little story about your first day at school for first job.

Cant write ?  Course you can.  You did it an primary and secondary school, you do it all the time
on the social networks.

So think about leaving something positive for those kids to know about you.  Life for some is all a laugh at the moment, but take care, it can turn round and bite you on the bum in no time at all.,

My Gran knew all about that.  Her mother died when she was 16 and she had to become "mum" to her younger brothers and sisters , siblings in modern day social work speak.  She married at 20 and had nine children of her own.  Her old Dad came to live with them and one day she found him cold in the back yard having had a fall.  He died soon after.  Her own husband died two years later and she was left with five children under 16 to care for, so if she wasn't working before then she needed to now, and she carried on working until she was over 70.

During the war she was bombed out of the house she had lived in for over thirty years and after a short time in the country, which she didnt like, she returned to London and ended her days in a first floor flat, reading the newspaper through a magnifying glass because she didn't, or wouldn't wear specs.

The Great Wall of Pennington Street.

Along the south side of Pennington Street in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets there is a 30 Foot high wall,  close to a quarter of a mile wall that was built in the early 19th century to be the northern boundary of the new London Docks. It was built this way as it was a part of the security of the bonded warehouses overseen by the customs and excise men.  There was only the one gate into the docks from Pennington Street which was called the Tobacco Gate.

With the decline of the docks due to their unsuitability to deal with the large containerised shipping  the area was later turned into an industrial area so that the the wall still had a security function.  When News Ltd moved their newspaper production to the area in 1986 the wall effectively kept out the striking print-workers and the inevitable scuffles which took place during picketing.  Newspaper reports referred to the" battle of Wapping" but of course Pennington Street was not in Wapping, it had never been.  Newspaper headlines need to be short and the "Battle of Stepney" would have made connotations with the "Battle of Cable Street" in 1936 when east London workers blocked the marches of Oswald Moseley's fascist black-shirts.  Comparisons would have been made.
News International have now gone and once again the site is to be redeveloped.

So will east London's Berlin wall come down ?  "Not on your Nellie" as any self-respecting cockney would say, supposing you were able to find one in Pennington Street these days.

No doubt the new development  will contain more yuppy accommodation and the wall will still be needed to keep the separation from the hoi poloi.   It will remain to cast its shadow over the street as it has done for close to two hundred years.

A hundred years ago my grandparents lived in Pennington Street in a  house which it was claimed had been built in 1767.  Two up and two down, no amenities and long since gone.  In 1881 almost opposite the Tobacco Gate was Lilac Place, just a few four roomed houses, one of which was occupied by 16 adults. Even by the normal overcrowded housing standards of the time for the east end, this was quite exceptional that the enumerator made a note "16 in 4!".  

A bicycle made for two or more

Bicycle made for six or even more.

Heard a story the other day.
There was this cycling club on Merseyside which decided to do a fundraiser for a charity or a new clubhouse or perhaps, given the location, just a pub crawl.
Anyway, they decided to do something different like a  ride from Lands end to John o groats, and some bright spark hit on the idea of using the longest tandem they could find.  A tandem used to be for two riders, but then it developed into three or more.  Most serious cyclists have got bits and pieces of bikes in their sheds or garages, remnants of crashes, adaptations or what have you, so these were all pooled and eventually there was a tandem for six riders.  Looked a bit weird but still rideable they thought.

Six club members were chosen for the team and a practice ride was agreed for a Saturday morning, just around the town to see if any adjustments were necessary.
Off they went in high spirits and it seemed to be ok at first, a few stops to adjust a chain here, a gear there and so on.  Eventually though they agreed that it was more thirsty work than usual, and there were no stewards along the way handing out bottles of beverage so a refreshment stop was agreed on.

A suitable hostelry appeared not long thereafter, this being Merseyside, and a stop it was.  Pub car parks are notoriously unsuitable for the parking of bikes, particularly one that was eight foot long.  Across the road was a group of old  shops with those little posts on the edge of the pavement with chains in between, so they parked the bike there.  This was just outside one of those local art gallery and artists supply shops, so whilst five of the team went over to the pub, one of them popped inside the gallery to find some finger painting stuff for his five year old daughter.

Whilst inside a long haired type came in and asked the shop owner who had created the installation displayed outside.  Shop owner was a bit perplexed as he only had a couple of paintings on easels and a smallish garden ornament masquarading as a sculpture on his forecourt.  Long hair explained that he was referring to the “ conjunction of circles and angles linked by chains and cogs into a symmetrical whole obviously inspired by one of da vincis drawings and suggesting that humans needed companionship through the lifes journey”
Being a gallery owner he was quite used to interpreting art speak and  realised right away what was going on, so decided to have a quiet laugh and pointed out the cyclist as being the owner.

"How much do you want for it " says longhair .
Now the cyclist had already decided that Lands end to John of wotsit was going to be a bloody long way, and not being slow says "couldn't take less than two undred"
"I'll give you a hundred and fifty" says long hair wanting to strike a bargain.
"Hundred and seventy five and it's yours"
"Done"

Longhair whips out a cheque book and writes a cheque for £175,000 hands it over and straight out the door, loads the tandem into the back of his specially adapted Rangerover and was off before the cycling artist could change his mind.
The gallery owner agrees to cash the cheque for a ten per cent commission and Leonardo da Cyclist goes over to the pub to give his  friends the bad news that the ride was off until they could build another tandem.

Don't know if this story is true or not, seems a bit unlikely  to me, but there is something like that tandem on display in a Art gallery not far from you