The Organ Grinder's Monkey: April 2010

Thursday, 29 April 2010

Gold Plated Taps.

"An Exotic Pet"

Way back in 1968, clutching my newly awarded degree, I left University in Birmingham and moved south to Taplow to start my new job.

I stayed in bed-sits in those days in Maidenhead and walked each day to work along the Thames past Boulters Lock. I thought I was living in paradise after my time in Brum.

Can you improve on paradise? I thought not at the time but one day I noticed an ad in the paper for a two room pad for £4 10s a week. (£4.50) with use of a garage for an extra 10 bob (50p).

I took it.

It was a very large white house alongside the Thames at Cookham, just between the church and the bridge. I had two rooms right up in the roof with beautiful views out across the river. One room was the kitchen/diner and the other a bedroom/lounge.

I was told I had to share the bathroom and it was on the floor below.

This bathroom was like nothing I had seen before. The room was huge, at least 15 feet square. A great bath in one corner with one large gold plated tap in the centre. The plug hole was operated by pulling a knob on the wall alongside the knobs for hot and cold water. All gold plated and very plush!

I enjoyed my stay at ‘Riverdene’ as the house was named but eventually moved into a flat in Taplow with some other chaps from work.

Some years later, maybe ten, I can’t remember, but this very house appeared up for sale in the local paper.

Imagine my surprise. It was ’Riverdene’ and used to belong to Diana Dors.

No wonder it had gold plated taps! (click to enlarge the cutting)

With all this sunny weather I decided to take a riverside stroll to Cookham to see the ‘old pad’.

It is a lovely walk from Bourne End. This is the approach to Cookham Bridge, which is visible in the background. It is a good place to moor a boat, as this one had, and very unusual to see this........

Fish for tea again?

And there it was - Riverdene.

Those two little windows up in the roof on the left were my rooms.

All very, very expensive. It has four bedroom suites, each with two rooms and a bathroom.

In total, it now has SIX bathrooms, all with shower cubicles and three with spa baths.

The Master suite has a 'King size' whirlpool version decorated with 22 carat Wedgewood Gold.

A view from Cookham Bridge.

My, how I've gone down in the world?

Tuesday, 27 April 2010

Birthday Girl

A couple of apologies - I'm sorry, but it's cats again and I'm a bit late because I was trying to get a nice photo of my Birthday girl.

Happy 18th Birthday Hazel.

I managed to get her out in the garden for a 'photo-op' but she wouldn't sit still.

Wesley watching as usual.

She does look a wee bit grumpy this morning, considering she had polished of a plate of chicken.

This is her garden, her world. She has lived her for eighteen years from almost the day she was born. I had her at six weeks old from a family friend. Her mother was a 'British Cream' and she was one of four, all females. All four had remained in the 'family' although only Hazel and one of her sisters, Rosie still survive.

I searched for an early photo of her as a kitten, but I'm afraid my photo filing system eighteen years ago was rather poor.

This was the only one I could find.

When she was young the British Cream markings were much more pronounced.

Monday, 26 April 2010

Many Little Beaks to Feed.

During the nice weather, my old Tom cat likes to eat alfresco. Not that he speaks Italian mind you!

I put his plate of food in sight of the back door so that I can get to it when he has finished and before the flies and ants discover it.

But there is always another beady eye on Wesley’s leftovers. A Blackbird sits on the shed roof waiting for him to finish and wander off.

Last year I did a similar post here. with Hazel sitting on the back door step.

Well the Blackbirds have nested again and no doubt have many 'little beaks to feed'.

Just a bit whilst Hazel is not looking.

Woops. - I've been spotted.

Now Hazel herself, prefers the comfort of carpet under her paws when eating so she gets her breakfast in the conservatory.

I was washing up the other day and as it was a warm sunny day I had the back door open. Imagine my surprise when the Blackbird this year hopped over to help himself to the plate of food in the conservatory. He was a bit wary as Hazel was half asleep under one of the chairs. She just watched him out of the corner of her eye.

This is actually the female bird just eyeing it up.

The male returned and hopped in 'as bold as brass'.

I managed to get my camera and a few shots, as he kept flying off with a beak full of food and then, after feeding the young, came back for more.

Both the cats virtually ignore him and I guess the Blackbird can sense this.

Yesterday I went to the kitchen to discover this cheeky bird eating Hazel’s food in the kitchen. Of course he flew off as I entered - right out the kitchen door, across the conservatory and out the back door! He knew the way.

I took the last three photos from the kitchen door, so he didn't mind me either.

Saturday, 24 April 2010

Just a Photo and a Thought

My thoughts this Spring morning are with my

blogging friend Cherie.

Her dear father passed away on Thursday evening.

May he rest in peace.

"The Chestnuts light their candles, for those who die in Spring."

Friday, 23 April 2010

Have a Nice Day.

An Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman are discussing family.

Englishman says,

"My son was born on St.George's Day so I called him George!"

"What a coincidence!" says the Scotsman,

"My son was born on St.Andrews Day so I called him Andrew!"

"Jaysus!" says the Irishman,

"That's amazing!, wait 'til I get home and tell our son Pancake!!!

Have a nice day.

(wherever you come from)

Thursday, 22 April 2010

Roll Out the Barrel.

A bit of a mixed bag today.

Foody has a “whole post in honour of Uncle B who likes a bit of the old nostalgia”.

Gosh, thanks Foody. What have I done to deserve this?

When is a Barrel Organ not a Barrel Organ? she asks.

Well, it is a barrel organ when it has a barrel.

There are several ways of storing the tune inside the instrument. The oldest method was to place ‘pins’, or ‘wire bridges’ for longer notes, into a wooden barrel. On rotating the barrel the pins/bridges would raise a wooden key which in turn would uncover a hole to allow air to the pipe. There is a good example on YouTube and if I can find it I will link to it here.

This worked well but there was a problem. You could only play tunes that fitted round one turn of the barrel. Fairly short tunes, although if you kept turning it would repeat over and over again.

They then found that you could fit other rows of pins alongside the first row, even six or eight rows, and by sliding the barrel sideways, select another tune.

But still there was the problem of the length of the tunes. They all had to be the same length (say 16 or 32 bars, depending on the diameter of the barrel).

Here is a picture of the inside of a large instrument, but the principle is the same for the smaller ones.

The same idea was applied to pianos and hence we had the Barrel Piano as shown above.

You can usually tell a Barrel instrument from the outside, as they have a large round wooden cover on the end outside, in order that the barrel can be removed for repair. (see above).

The next development was to use many pieces of card joined together and folded as in a long 'book'. These cards were punched with holes and slots to let the air through. Long slots, long notes. This 'book music' enabled much longer tunes to be played. There was now no limit to the number of tunes that could be played. The lady in blue (under BOGA badge down RH side) is playing book music.

Another system uses rolls of paper and this is the type I have on mine.

Turning the handle winds the paper onto the right hand spool, and if you are turning correctly, the paper moves at 70mm per second. I arrange all my music for this speed but it could vary from this. In the centre you can see the 'Tracker Bar' with its row of 26 holes to correspond to the 26 notes of the organ scale. The two spools and tracker-bar are enclosed in an airtight box (pressure box) when that raised lid is closed. Air is then blown into the box and when a hole passes over the tracker-bar hole a puff of air will activate a valve to sound the correct pipe.

This is a much simplified explanation as there are many system around. Some with 'suck' and some with 'blow' ; some with valves and some without.

Hope this helps.

I went back to Cliveden yesterday to see if those 10,000 were out.

Not One!

Tuesday, 20 April 2010

Grow Your Own

A well know Dittie by Q. Kumber

I was reading yesterday about how the flight ban was affecting supplies of fresh fruit and vegetables. True, a great deal of tropical fruit, bananas, oranges and grapefruit will have to be imported by sea and air, but surely not so for popular vegetables like potatoes, carrots and beans.

The sad fact is, this country does import potatoes from Egypt, carrots from Holland and beans from Kenya. Just think of the air-miles and additional cost.

When we were isolated and stood alone during World War II, everywhere you looked there were allotments, fields and even parks cultivated and producing fresh and healthy fruit and vegetables. “Dig for Victory” was the call.

I still have some of those leaflets - they were tucked away in my mother’s old cookbook.

After the war things were very slow to improve and my father had an allotment in addition to the back garden. Plants that needed lots of watering, like lettuce and tomatoes were grown at home, and potatoes, cabbage and carrots were in long rows up at the allotment.

How do I remember all this?

Because Dad got me to help.

Whether I managed to help or just got in the way I know not! - but I do remember climbing into a huge wheelbarrow (which he had build) and being pushed up to the allotment.

I remember this large shed where gardeners could keep their tools, seeds and fertilizers - and I can still remember that wonderful ‘earthy’ smell that it contained.

Dried chicken manure no doubt, and things like “Blood, fish and bone”.

This was usually early on Sundays mornings and dad would dig up potatoes and carrots whilst I would pick the sprouts. There was no ride home for me as the barrow was now loaded up and the contents rushed home for Sunday dinner.

How fresh can you get?

We managed and were all well fed and healthy.

So the country now sits here almost totally dependent on imports.

Buy British - save air-miles.

So when the politicians knock on your door this week, ask them who is to blame if you cannot feed your family properly this election time, just make it clear to them that without the eu, its rules and regulations, this country could grow what it wanted, it could fish where it liked, it could reduce our dependency on overseas food imports to a minimum, so that natural disasters such as this latest volcano ‘thing’ would have a minimum impact on families here.

My ‘hero’ Boris Johnson (London’s Lord Mayor) came out with a gem the other day.

He said "What crouton of substance did Clegg offer last Thursday, in the opaque minestrone of waffle?”

And what’s this?

“The Health Food Manufacturers’ Association released a report a couple of years ago saying that two thirds of Britons thought chips counted as a five-a-day vegetable.”

Is it not true?

For two years I've thought chips came from Potatoes?

Spoilt my day!

Sunday, 18 April 2010

Amazing work at Cliveden

Well the sun rose once again over Cliveden this morning. There were no spectacular images caused by this elusive dust here in Bourne End.

However I did pay Cliveden a visit the other day. It is National Trust property and being ‘on my doorstep‘ so to speak, I like to have my money’s worth from the membership.

At this time of the year, with no leaves on the trees, I can see the house from my upstairs room.

(Click on photos to enlarge)

The Fountain of Love

The gardens are not at their best until the summer months when all the beds are planted up. At the moment there are millions of daffs out, but as you know what they look like, you will be spared a ’daffodil picture’. What I was hoping to photograph though was the 10,000 tulip bulbs that had been planted in the Long Garden.

Sorry, there were 9,998 tulip buds but only two in flower! I shall have to go back later.

The Water Gardens had been really well cleared of old and dying plants. It looked very bare, but I expect it will all recover in time and perhaps give us a better show this year.

One new addition to the gardens is a maze.

The proposed layout.

In 1894 Lord Astor created a large Yew Maze near the Water Garden, but up until recently only a few scraggy bushes remained. Starting in 2009 The National Trust has begun to recreate the Cliveden Maze on the same site. The maze, which is due for completion in 2011, is based on Lord Astor’s original plan and will cover an area of approximately 1/3 of an acre.

You can see work is well under way in laying down the steel edging to contain the gravel pathways. When these are complete there is the task of planting the 1,100 young yew trees.

The sun began to sink behind the Clock Tower (actually a water tower) and still no spectacular sunsets. Never mind - a good half day out.

Loads of Mistletoe.

PS. If you haven't guessed -

I was joking about the name of the maze!

Friday, 16 April 2010

“Sound of Silence”

I didn’t watch the leaders debate last night.

I didn’t have enough pairs of shoes to throw at the telly!

No, not true, actually - I don’t have a TV.

I went outside instead to look at this volcanic dust cloud.

It’s just a smokescreen they’re throwing up to distract us from the real issues, I thought.

Someone in one of the papers said we could expect some fantastic sunsets and sunrises as the light catches the dust particles. They are supposed to be like little glass beads.

Well the sun sank behind Winter Hill last night, rose again this morning from behind Cliveden, and I saw nothing spectacular. But I will tell you what is spectaclar - the skies overhead have been free of aircraft. Not since 11th Sept (9/11) have all the aircraft been grounded. The silence was amazing.

“Sound of Silence”

I love this song. It scores equally with “Bridge over Troubled Waters” as my favourite Simon & Garfunkel song. Simon when interviewed, admitted there was no profoundly deep meaning to the lyrics when he wrote them. He said he was possibly expressing teenage angst and frustration as to how they are largely ignored by society.

So nothing changes, except that those that are now ignored, includes virtually everybody.

In the garden this morning, without those pilots going through their ‘landing procedures’ - without passengers ’remaining seated and securing seat belts’ - you could have heard a tadpole fart.

Hazel joined me to count the tadpoles.

I could hear the trickle of water as one pond overflowed into the next - so soothing.

But did you know that 'water sounds', supposedly so effective at soothing the human ear, only works if you can see the source of the sound. If the source of the sound, like fountain, is out of sight and next to your office, it’s annoying.

If it is audible from your bedroom, like a dripping bathroom tap, it drives you crazy.

A certain Mr Kang has conducted Europe-wide research on water noise. (what a drip).

In England and the rest of northern Europe, nearly 90 per cent of us liked it. But in Italy, that dropped to 20 per cent. Why? Because the Italians have so many fountains in residential areas, they can’t escape it.

However, in some apartments in Berne, men are not allowed to urinate standing up after 10pm — nor women either, for that matter!

Imagine living in an apartment with a wall that thin. I’d have to permanently wear ear plugs.

Actually, talking of earplugs, I do use them when punching music. I also read that sales of earplugs have been rising steadily over the years, and sales of noise-cancelling headphones are booming.

The threshold at which people get annoyed by noise is 65 decibels but in many parts of cities that level is now exceeded.

“A place of silence must be closely held secret or, it will be invaded by noise.”

The garden at sunrise this morning.

Wednesday, 14 April 2010

I'm in Good Shape Today!

I was up early this morning at five - like you would.

Went into the kitchen - like you could.

Bent down to feed the cats - like you should.

And I ended up looking at the lino or ‘cushion floor vinyl’ as it is now known.

It was the pattern that I found interesting.

Not squares or hexagons but, many repetitions of a complicated single shape which interlocked and covered the whole floor. This is a very common feature on Italian kitchen floors (so I’m told).

In mathematics these shapes are called tessellations. They were the brainchild of a Dr Lation, and named after his third wife, Tessa.

First off, we have the three regular tessellations, squares, equilateral triangles and the favourite of all the quilting ladies, hexagons. (or hexies as Kath calls them).

The versions comprising squares are found everywhere - as in a chessboard. The hexagons can be see in honeycombs and wire netting. The triangles are not so common, but I believe orchards are, or were, planted in this way to improve pollination. One identical shape to fill the whole space (or quilt).

If we introduce two shapes, say a square and a triangle, these are known as semi-regular tessellations and of course there are many designs to be had.

Favourites with vinyl floor manufactures in this country, are the ‘hexagons & triangles’ and the ‘octagons & squares’.

Now if we visit Italy, tile manufacturers have a field day there with very intricate interlocking shapes.

But the ultimate for me is the incredible work done by the Dutch artist M.C. Escher.

Here is a real challenge to all those lady quilters.

Shake off your ’Hexies’ and cut out a few of these fantastic shapes to make a

“Quilt to beat all Quilts“.

I do apologise for the layout. I'm no expert at getting these 'medium' and 'small' pictures to appear in the right place. Think I'll have to stick to all 'large' size in future.

(Unless someone has a few hints or tips).