3rd July 2023 - George Orwell

Tina Modotti - 1924 -Roses

Orwell 'could not blow his nose without moralising on conditions in the handkerchief industry.

Some of us just suffer from that bug, taking a stand on what we think! But first our meal, brunch to be precise, in Todmorden yesterday.  It was good, mine halloumi, mushrooms, egg and homemade baked beans with bruschetta bread. We all enjoyed it though the walk to the restaurant was a tad windy.  Think it is coming down from the cold North, a change in the weather definitely.  

Why Orwell at the top? Well I am listening to Rebecca Solnit reading her book 'Orwell's Roses' and of course delving into links as I listen.  George Orwell died when he was I believe 45 years old from tuberculosis, though during his sojourn in Spain he was shot through the neck and miraculously survived.  He came back and wrote about the Spanish war but his writings weren't welcomed either by the socialists or the conservatives, he spoke his own truth.

Do Orwell's roses still exist? I doubt it, he bought them from Woolworths, also at different stages, 6 fruit trees and fruiting shrubs.  He wanted to be a small time farmer I think, with his two goats and two dozen chickens he kept at his cottage in Wallington in Hertfordshire. His proper name was Eric Blair, George Orwell was just his pseudonym name for writing purposes.  He had also just got married and the couple rented this cottage with its little shop at the front, which sadly did not make them much profit.

rambler roses (from Woolworth's), three polyantha roses, two bush roses, six fruit trees, two gooseberry bushes, and he had hopes of planting walnut, quince, and mulberry trees. (According to a later occupant of the house, which is now known as Monk's Fitchett, the survival rate was not high, and there is nothing left to show of Orwell's tenancy but a few of the roses in front of the house.)"

The useful link for that quote can be found here.

A picture of two photos one in the time Orwell of this cottage will perhaps echo his point between poverty and what we now have today.  Any romantic thoughts of 'rose clad cottages' would soon be undermined by the noisy, leaking corrugated roof that Orwell had to put up with, and of course no electricity or water.

Kit's Cottage

The Cottage now with pargetting - Wiki, Colin 

Though I must admit that thatch looks in need of some repair.  Solnit, in that romantic nonsense of an American writer wanted to see if the roses still existed.  Though you can definitely see roses in the front garden here, whether they are original or not I doubt it.  Apparently there is an Albertine rambler rose which might be the one at front.