you sound like your from laaaannnndaaaaaannnn

Today i went to London. Primarily to find my archive for the achive module at the national archives in kew. fastforward about 3 of the most frustrating hours of my life battling with micro films, security guards, catalogues and cabinets i was relieved to leave that stage of our project behind me. the national archives, awful, awful place.

Me and my long suffering mother, often at my side through my hairbrained heritage adventures, decided to not waste the day and visit somewhere actually inspiring and historically uplifting. unfortuneatly most of these places were shut and so we went to Dr Johnsons house instead.

camera and 2 4 1 to london attractions in tow, we made our way to temple, and begun the horrendous walk to areas unknown,

dear south west trains, when giving the address of your attractions, please, SPECIFY.

almost an hour later, around 4pm (the house shuts at 5) we eventually found it, and breathed a sigh of relief, we may even make the shops before they shut! we entered the house and were greeted by a very friendly front of house volunteer, paid our £2.25 (really..not worth it) and were told to leave our bags and coats (why i dont know as the house only has a few paintings and chairs and neither were particularly nice). The house has 4 floors of Dr Johnsons london home, birthplace of the english dictionary, one may walk around at leisure, taking in his few wooden chairs, and gloomy portraits of himself, and a couple of his friends, and his slave. wonderful. needless to say, we were finished with the house by 4.10pm.

i departed the house with just two exciting pieces of knowledge,
1. Dr Johnson was friends with David Garrick, the famous actor of the time, to which i responded 'Ooooooooh, like the Garricks head in Bath?'

2. Dr Johnsons next door neighbour was kitty fisher, the famous courtesan from the old nursery rhyme;

'lucy locket lost her pocket, kitty fisher found it'.
(lucy locket was also a real person, a sleazy barmaid).

so to those interested in going to visit this place of historical interest, by all means, dont let me put you off, but please..dont pay full price, you may be disappointed, i turned to dear old ma and said 'well, at least we can say we've been'. but unfortunaetly, i dont think i'll make that mistake again.

Home i came, to watch dear old Jack the Ripper, how they're expecting to ever call that a closed case i will never know, however entertaining, i enjoyed the dramatic reconstructions and the chosen thespians to recreate these ginned up working girls of days gone by was marvellous, especially when they were filmed against a still shot of some computer generated crack alley. simply marvellous.

Tomorrow i start my archive presentation, i doubt i'll sleep tonight from the excitement.

F.A.B

post christmas...post.

This is my first entry in quite a while, i hope you all had wonderful christmasses and over indulged..as thats what its all about!

This time of year may be a little lacking in terms of heritagey places to visit, the national trust have closed their doors and covered the furniture in dust cloths in order to do the conservation they need ready for the new season, out of interest i visited their websites and was pleased to see both sites were promoting the outdoors as an alternative time spender, for those seeking the active and keep fit dreams of the new year, let us not forget the thousands of acres the NT keep so lovely and clean for us, me on the other hand, i think i'll stay in with the left over xmas chocs and eastenders, and visit these lovely places on the tv through upstairs downstairs and my splendid period dramas. It is usually a treat for stately homes to open their doors at christmas time, to show us a different scene of upper class living from days gone by during the festive season. i remember a couple of years back visiting Uppark, (a country house near me) that opened its doors at christmas to show the preparations for this busy time in the servants quarters, i think ideas like that are a really good way of keeping the visitor numbers flowing, parents still need things to do with their kids over the xmas break, volunteers still need work and its a great way of giving these lovely houses a seasonal facelift. Bring on march and the start of the new stately season! (especially when you have a years membership and its only technically usable from march-nov).


over and out, F.A.B!