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Personal Note Archive June 2007

 

8th June 2007

Pantiles Tunbridge Wells

The summer holiday season has now begun. It seems quite natural for us to go on holiday, but the idea is actually a relatively recent innovation. It is only since the seventeenth century that the spa resorts frequented by the sick started to turn into resorts for the healthy. It might be wondered why healthy people would want to spend time in what amounted to hospitals. J.A.R. Pimlott in his book on the history of holidays has mused that "the borderland between health and sickness is narrow." Perfectly healthy people still go on holiday because they think in some vague way that "it will do me good." And of course very few of us are perfectly healthy and happy: and those that are in such a fortunate position would go on holiday in an effort to remain that way. If an excuse was needed to get away to relax at a spa, play a game of bowls, go for a nice walk and take in a show, then no doubt a good reason could be found. The same goes for the holidays we take today.

 

 

 

15th June 2007

So you're on a daytrip to some place of historical interest, reading the information signs, and maybe beginning to think that history is a bit dull. And for those who seek a sense of stability, this is no doubt an attraction. But really history is not like that. The Tower of London is a good example. Originally built by William the Conqueror, it's first job was to help suppress any potential rebellion against the Norman invasion. It then became a palace which acted as a place of safety and refuge for some, and a dreaded prison for others. The Tower is a very ambivalent symbol, one of Britain oldest landmarks, with a history rooted in invasion, rebellion and uncertainty. In Richard the Third Shakespeare had to put a jumpy King Richard somewhere to wait for news of his attempt to seize the throne. The walls of the Tower were the chosen location. Those ancient solid walls were so reassuring that at one point in the play poor Queen Elizabeth asks the ancient stones to look after her two young princes imprisoned inside. But those same solid walls seem to wobble beneath the feet of the treacherous Richard. Historical visits do not necessarily show you the bedrock on which a country stands. They can also tell the more exciting story of shifting sands. History is not set in stone.

 

 

 

 

 

30th June 2007

Cwmdonkin Park

In the last few days we've been on a trip to Swansea to help celebrate my grandfather's one hundredth birthday. After the meal there were photos on a terrace overlooking Singleton Park in Swansea where I played as a boy. We then drove a short distance to Cwmdonkin Park where the poet Dylan Thomas played when he was growing up. Dylan Thomas said that he never actually left Cwmdonkin park, but it simply grew with him. I felt a bit like that about Singleton Park. Dylan Thomas had a wonderful sense of place. He wrote about places in a way that made them universal, just like a little boy who imagines a small park in Swansea as a great, magical kingdom. Read more in Dylan Thomas Biography and Visits.