Walk

Tuesday

Yesterday I wandered into town to get my hair cut.

This is the town crier. Advertising a poster shop. He had a bell and was shouting Hear ye! Hear ye! It was really funny. Couldn't resist taking a photo.

In Medieval England, the town crier was like the local newspaper.

Royal proclamations, local bylaws, market days, adverts, even selling loaves of sugar were all proclaimed by a bellman or crier.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_crier

A town crier is a person who is employed by a town council to make public announcements in the streets. The crier can also be used in court or official announcements. Criers often dress elaborately, by a tradition dating to the 18th century, in a red and gold robe, white breeches, black boots and a tricorne hat.

They carry a handbell to attract people's attention, as they shout the words "Oyez, Oyez, Oyez!" before making their announcements. The word "Oyez" means "hear ye," which is a call for silence and attention. Oyez derives from the Anglo-Norman word for listen. The proclamations book in Chester from the early 19th century records this as O Yes, O Yes!

And this poor town crier is advertising a poster shop.

Another interesting sight was this sign.

I wasn't game to go down and find out what the "overnight facilities" were like !!

Wednesday

I went for a short walk today. The wind was blowing and it feels more like winter. The trees are starting to lose their leaves and reminding me of childhood in Canada.

I met a woman. She was old, with a walking stick and her dog. Something made me speak to her and say hello. Her dog was a Papillon and she told me that he had been a breeding dog in a past life. She told me about getting married in South Africa and moving to England with her husband. She told me about how the upper class English treated her as a South African emigrant to the UK. She was lovely and obviously well known in the neighbourhood because as we were talking, a man stopped and talked to her.

After a while, I left her and her dog to make their way where ever they were going and I headed home.

Also on my walk, I spotted this pub on the river.  We might just test out the food here. I like the idea of sitting in one of those windows and looking at the river, wind blowing and us nice and warm inside.

And these are some of the gardens that back onto the river.

And these are the houses on Helen Street. As you noticed Veedub. Most of the houses here are attached. There are not many that are freestanding like we have in Australia. Many also have bay windows. Apparently these are terrace houses. 

In architecture and city planning, a terrace(d) or row house or townhouse (though the latter term can also refer to patio houses) is a style of housing in use since the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls. The first and last of these houses is called an end terrace, often larger than those houses in the middle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraced_house

I'm afraid that's all for now folks. Quiet couple of days. Big weekend coming up. We have visitors coming, 2 adults for a couple of nights and then they are off to Paris leaving two little boys here. Could be interesting.

Madeleine

Wednesday, 15 October 2008