Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

Many of us will already know this poem TO AUTUMN by John Keats. It is a celebration of autumn when the mists descend and the land is swelling with over-ripe fruit, winding down to winter. He finds pleasure in almost everything he sees or hears. For me, it is a season I hate. I do not welcome the long, dark, cold evenings when I cannot get out into the garden and feel less like going out in the car in the dark to get to choir rehearsals. I don't enjoy seeing leafless trees or being battered by the strong winds. The clocks went back an hour yesterday. It will now be dark at 5 in the afternoon. and my body clock will be all over the place for days to come.  "Roll on Spring" is all I can say. But John Keats will no doubt disagree.

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
  Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
  With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
  And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
     To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
  With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
    For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
  Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
  Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
  Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
     Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers;
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
  Steady thy laden head across a brook;
  Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
     Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
  Think not of them, thou hast thy music too –
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
  And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
  Among the river sallows, borne aloft
     Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
  Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
  The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;

    And gathering swallows twitter in the skies. 

What's in a name?

For the last 33 years, my daughter has shared my married surname. Four months ago she married. She's keeping her maiden surname for work purposes, as all her medical certificates and achievements (such as papers written and published) are in her maiden name and it is too complicated to change. But otherwise she has assumed her husband's surname for all other purposes. Seeing her now referred to as the new Mrs  ******** still hits me as very strange. I just can't get used to it. I suppose my parents went through the same emotions when I married and changed my surname. Of course it is no longer a requirement that women change their surname on marriage anyway, or they adopt double-barrelled names to incorporate both. If they have children then the double-barrelled names would become quadruple-barrelled and so on. That would make form-filling a nightmare as there'd never be enough space. Probably changing one's surname on marriage is the most straightforward, but it's still taking me a while to adjust to hers.

PORTSMOUTH (PART 3)

At the end of our first full day, we took a harbour tour (all included in the Ultimate Explorer price). As I've mentioned before, it is well worth getting the Ultimate Explorer ticket, because, for a  few pounds more, you can visit the dockyard as many times as you want over a year as opposed to just a day ticket. For us, as we were in Portsmouth for three days, it meant we could go every day and not pay an extra penny. And there was still loads to see when we left, so another visit sometime is tempting. Here is a map of the Dockyard to give you an idea of how much there is to see.

At the time of our tour, there were two massive aircraft carriers in dock for maintenance. They are the only two we currently use, being HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. They were enormous and towered above the sea, the bows curled upwards to facilitate the take-off of planes on a short runway.

Other naval ships vied for attention  and even a humungous cruise ship (how on earth does that thing float?)

The following day we returned to look at another historic ship, The HMS Warrior, launched in 1860. Again, it was incredible to see how shipbuilding had progressed in the century since HMS Victory. The ship seemed wider, the ceilings higher and somehow with more comfortable conditions, although probably not when all 800 men were on board! The dockyard staff on board, whom we could approach to ask questions, were actors dressed in Victorian sailors' costumes and played their part well. At one stage, we were in the officers' dining cabin and I spied two paintings on the wall. One was of Victoria and I assumed the other was of Albert. My friend and I were musing over this when one of the officers approached us and confirmed that it was indeed Albert. "He died two years ago", the man said. Other crew members addressed us both as "M'am". It  was a lovely touch and got us into the spirit of the time. Here are some pictures taken of HMS Warrior (the first one is the first thing you see as you step outside Portsmouth Harbour train station!)

Officer's cabin

Officers' dining room

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and can recommend it. Sadly we didn't have time to see everything in three days, but we still have the option to return within the year. Watch this space!! Why don't you give it a try too? I can recommend the Premier Inn Hotel which is literally a two-minute walk from the Dockyard.  It is also a ten-minute walk to Gunwharf Quays - a modern harbour-front shopping mall with loads of pubs and restaurants to eat out at in the evenings, as well as the famous Spinnaker tower.

I apologise that the photos are not great - the weather, as is always my luck was not great. Thunder and lightning were forecast most days but thankfully it did not rain for long. so we were still able to get about and cover most things we wanted to do.

PORTSMOUTH (PART 2)

The following day, we returned to the Historic Dockyard, intending to get everything done in a day, but there is just so much to see, it is impossible to do in a day. In fact, if I'm honest, you probably need a week.

We started off with the Mary Rose exhibition and that in itself is worth at least 3 hours. Henry VIII's flag ship, The Mary Rose, sank in 1545 fighting off the French who had reached as far as the Isle of Wight with their fleet. Henry VIII later tried to have it pulled up with ropes attached to the mast, but the mast snapped and it lay at the bottom of the sea for many centuries, despite attempts in 1836, when it was discovered by fisherman and later professional divers who also failed to bring it to the surface. It was rediscovered in 1971 and this time a project to bring it to the surface was successful in 1982. Since then a museum has been built around it and attempts to recover more of the ship continue. You can read more about it here.

Half of the ship is beautifully restored behind glass to preserve the temperature and right humidity for the timbers. Hundreds of artefacts found on board have given great insight into various aspects of Tudor life and even the nationalities and medical conditions of those found on board, including a little dog. Video projections onto the ship show life on board ship. It was really interesting.  The climax of our tour, ended in a realistic theatre experience with 3D glasses to experience the dive down to the bottom of the seabed, when they found it in the 1970s. You got the sensation of diving yourself, the wind on your face as you resurfaced. It was truly amazing. Here again are some pictures of that morning. Incidentally, the ship was named after Henry's sister Mary and the Tudor emblem of a rose.

cross-section of the decks which would have housed 500 men

Figurehead of the Mary Rose

The afternoon of that day was spent going on board HMS Victory, Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar, where he lost his life in 1805. It was another fascinating experience to see how shipbuilding had advanced in the centuries between Mary Rose and Victory. The ship seemed more spacious, luxurious even for the officers such as Captain Hardy and Admiral Nelson. Most men slept in hammocks strung from beams, whereas Nelson had a proper bed which was easier for him to get in and out of, as he only had one arm by then. The decks were wider and longer, giving the impression of more space, although with 800 men on board it was probably unbearably overcrowded with noisy smoky cannons being fired at the enemy.  Here are some pictures of HMS Victory.

The officers' 'luxury' quarters

below deck

Nelson's quarters

Nelson's bed

There was still some time left in the day to do a harbour tour, but, so as not to overwhelm you with photos, I'll write more about that another time, together with a visit to HMS Warrior, a Victorian naval ship. I did say there was so much to see and how lucky we were to get a ticket that would enable us to visit the dockyard as many times as we wanted (for a whole year) and not be constricted to just one day.