Friday 31 August 2012

Lost house, Dave and Little Johnny

31 August 2012

Here we go again!  Yet another nice warm sunny day and we have to stay in for a parcel delivery.  Today we are expecting the replacement lens from WEX Photographic.  Thing is, I haven't had an email to say it's been despatched so I hope it is on its way.

On the very day that my brother Dave was due to start work he was admitted into Bramcote Hospital a long term patient.  Sometime previous he had been sat on the backyard wall and fell off it onto my old tricycle, and huge great blue thing as I remember it.  The result of the fall was what was described to me as being a diseased hip bone.  I have my doubts about that though seeing as mam and dad were cousins.  Be that as it may, the front page story in today's News is that Bramcote Hospital is now up for sale.  The story calls it a 20 bed unit; yet when Dave was in there, there were a lot of wards there and a lot more patients than 20. 

Whatever was really wrong with Dave at that time, he was back home just before Christmas that same year.  He spent the next three years visiting outpatients at the Manor Hospital where his plaster cast was often replaced.  Of course it would need to be replaced regularly seeing as he was growing anyway.  He was eventually allowed to go to school properly three years late although he had a teacher come to visit every day while he was at home.
Another story in today's News concerns a mansion I knew nothing about until this morning when I read about.  Local historian Peter Lee has spent many years trying to find out about Haunchwood House.  Next weekend descendants of three families who once lived in the house will be meeting up and one of them will give a talk about his family and it's links to the Founding Fathers of the USA.  Haunchwood House was demolished in 1920, around the time that estate where it stood was built.  There used to be a lot of mansions within the town, Attleborough Hall being another.  We have a photo of that one but little if any idea of where it used to be.  There are no known photos of Haunchwood House though and Peter Lee would love to have one for his records.

Yesterday afternoon I had a creative streak on me that allowed me to get over the hump that had built up around Photo Finish.  That was a relief, I was starting to think that I was 'written out' of ideas.  I managed to get just short of 3000 words done.  I'm hoping to go on and do a lot more today, try to catch up a bit.  Jan is pushing me to get 18 Months Later finished and a proof copy ordered.  I might well get on and do that first ... we'll soon see.

BBC Midlands Toady ran a story about the restoration of Astley Castle a few days ago.  I was not impressed with what they had done with the place with huge great chunks of concrete all over the place.  here's what it looked like before they got started ...   

As you can see, what little was there really wasn't enough to restore; indeed, someone said that there are no photos of what it was like in its heyday so they were more or less working on a blank canvas.  Not sure it has worked though.

Funny time ...

A teacher notices that Little Johnny, at the back of the class, is squirming around, scratching his crotch and not paying attention. She goes back to find out what's up. He's quite embarrassed and whispers that he has just recently been circumcised and he's quite itchy.
The teacher has him go down to the principal's office to phone his mom, and ask her what he should do about it.
He does this, returns to the class, sits down in his seat and suddenly, there's a general commotion at the back of the room. Back down the teacher goes, only to find him sitting at his desk with his penis hanging out.
"I thought I told you to call your mom." she says.
"I did," he says, "and she told me that if I could stick it out till noon she'd come and pick me up from school"                      

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