Monday, August 23, 2021

23rd August 2021

 Sunday meal.  We went out to the Italian restaurant, smart, simple lines, sat out in their conservatory which was rather cold, where has the warm weather gone? I was facing the canal and the opposite bank and so took in the fact that there was a steep road up the hill and a very large house opposite amongst the trees (the camera will come one day).  Apparently flats now and an old rectory, must be to do with the Unitarian church.  Further up the lane are these two very tall, thin houses, obviously being renovated.  Why are they so tall?  could be to get some sunlight to the rooms but houses on slopes are a bit of a worry.

We all had different dishes of pasta, mine passed muster but was rich and a little too al dente for my taste but of course I enjoyed the company.  We must have been a disparate group.  L with her red hair now fading from two weeks camping with the scouts. T my grown-up grandson, reserved and gentle. My daughter, slightly flamboyant in her long black 'Sherlock' coat, and me perfectly respectable ;) ;)

Walking back I noticed some 'weaver' windows along a row of terraced houses, a man was sitting watching out of the window. Here are some from Hepstonstall..


The houses fascinate me, 18th to 19th century, working from home is no new idea but probably not well paid in these centuries.  Heptonstall is one of the places I will visit.  Weaver's window are of course do with light for the process of weaving in the home which the man normally did, the wife spinning the wool maybe, until the great industrial revolution overtook this valley and the weaving mills with their machinery took over the jobs.

Heptonstall is famous because of Sylvia Plath (Hughes) grave in the churchyard.  This American poet, married to the handsome Ted Hughes was humiliated by her husband and in a fit of despair killed herself, a story we all know well.  But the name Hughes on the gravestone has several times been obliterated by people angry about Hughes behaviour to his wife.  There is probably reams written on this sad subject.  It fits in nicely with what I think of as the women's movement for 'rights and equality'.  But their personal lives should of course exist within the realms of privacy.

Update on flying people out of Afghanistan

10 comments:

  1. Interesting and I would not have know those were weaver windows. How fast life changes and moves on.

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    1. They were still small though, because large sheets of glass was still not made, so that is why they had masonry in between.

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  2. Went to Heptonstall a couple of times looking for Plath's grave. The third time it dawned on me it was in the NEW part of the cemetery and I finally found it!

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  3. And written on it of course - 'Even amongst fierce flames the golden lotus can be planted' Somehow it seems a quote for today's sorrows.

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  4. It is a place I have always wanted to visit ; it looks fascinating. It is lovely to hear of you going out to eat with friends and family near.

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  5. Yes there is a strong tradition in the family of eating out, and now we can.

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  6. Sounds like you are enjoying yourself in your setting!

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    1. I am getting used to it Ellen. Different environment but my daughter says I am striding around with confidence now.

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  7. Hughes lost both his wives in this way. He came to our school once to read his poetry, but I was underwhelmed. At 15 I didn't have a clue who he was! Arilx

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    1. He was a miserable fellow Aril, I reckon it is this bleak Yorkshire landscape that turned him into a dark poet.

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