D-day and world pain: 'Weltschmerz' ...

 

As it was D-day and I was remembering my parents who were 19 or 20 at the beginning of the war and 24 or 25 at the end … my father's birthday being at this time of year.

Melancholy - 1891

So in these tempestuous times … I wondered how to title the post … then frustratingly after the internet went down for nigh on 24 hours ...

… just when I needed it to be up and running for work that needed to get done, the ideal title for this post courtesy of Big Think appeared … link also below ... 

Suits me … melancholy at this time, yet uplifting as we're so fortunate to be alive and well … we all have our ups and downs …

Anxiety (1894)

... while in the last 80 years – since the end of the 2^nd World War - which was meant to be the end of all wars … discord never stopped and perhaps more so now as there's the non-stop news, social media traction – all of which add to people's insecurity …

... so rightly described in this article … where reality often doesn't live up to people's ideals and expectations.

Separation (1896)

I was going to include photos of three churches I visited recently ... covering 1,000 years of history - including many skirmishes, conflicts, war-mongering peoples ... locals and invaders ... but that can wait ... weltschmerz is more suitable ... 

An Optimist and a Pessimist by the
Russian artist Vladimir Makovsky (1893)

World Pain - unfairly affects the poor, the disenfranchised ... it also applies to our communities ... especially in these days of the 21st century ... 

As the BigThink article mentions … we can soften our weltschmerz by keeping our positivity out there, and refusing to be dulled by others … our spirits need to be up … 

Syrian girl in Istanbul ... looking wistful 
but with hope ... 

... we can all do it, I know we can … all those little positive actions, optimistic thoughts add up giving us a more generous view of life.

Big Think article: The upside of feeling dissatisfied with the world: How to work your "weltschmerz".

Please note unless mentioned the art is by Edvard Munch (1863 - 1944) - his Melancholy is the one chosen by Big Think to illustrate their article.  

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Phosphatodraco … Happy Thanksgiving …

 

It was blustery here, overcast and rather dismal while I thought about Thanksgiving times … and that poor turkey – mind you - here they'd only have a few more weeks before Christmas turkeys get into the shops …

Featured yesterday in Wikipedia

I was wondering if this magnificent creature could have been an early progenitor of the turkey -  you are or will be eating?

Apologies – I just was bemused by the image … let alone its name Phosphatodraco … and don't usually get down about 'life' beyond these shores … but it has got to me – I count my blessings, but am inwardly weeping …

Clade of Pterosauria

The vandalism, barbarous demeanour, rude, crude uneducated, uncivilised people of this world – who raid, maim, kill, herd into isolation – has been and is  awful …

… yet what has really triggered my mental distress has been the pillaging of all things cultural from Kherson and its Art Museum … I cannot get my head round this dismembering of a country's art collection …

A room in the Kherson Art Museum
prior to the looting

… having recently given three 'talks' on Russian art pre 1917 … and following the artistic story on into the early Stalin years to 1932 … I couldn't believe the repeat horrors I heard were happening in Ukraine.

War is not a subject I've been interested in – I intensely dislike it … but this has struck at my heart strings … I so admire the Ukrainians in this instance, and all, particularly refugees, who do not have freedom, yet who strive, hope and expect their worlds to improve …

I know it's Thanksgiving when we count our blessings, while to cheer myself up and get back to simpler things …

These scented narcissi from the Scilly Isles are available for sending out in time for those early parties – just sent some to the family …

The islands about 25 miles from the mainland

The Scilly Isles always remind me of my mother and times in Cornwall … happy memories of earlier times … when our parents had been through World War Two to give us our freedom … that so many of us live today …

Apologies – I'm not usually this morbid, and especially here on the blog – but this once … here's one that's different to my usual posts.

I know this is a wild one - but I'd rather
have this for my Christmas dinner!

I just hope a Phosphatodraco has not landed on your dinner table? I am looking forward to my Christmas turkey a month today!

With thoughts to one and all …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Positive Stories

Treasure those Memories – Carbis Bay and G7 Summit operative preparations …

 

Hey-ho … select one of the most out of the way places in little old England … this be long … so be warned!

 

St Ives, Penzance across the peninsula - both shown
... Newquay airport and Falmouth both marked

… Carbis Bay: a village of ribbon development above a cliff beach … population about 2,000 … where my Cornish roots stem from and where I took my first beach walk – has to be about as major an event as walking on the moon – surely?!

Ordnance Survey map One-Inch map - sheet 189: Land's End

… a post with tongue in cheek as I write, or facetiously stated …

If you can get here - you can shop

… don’t worry about the residents or people who have businesses in the area or locality …

… bring in the sewer police – check all the waste pipes and drainage sewers for potential trouble-makers …

… close down the roads, trails, coastal paths …

… alternative routes – have you lived down there? practically none available …

Digging the meeting rooms

… chop down ancient trees … because there aren’t enough ‘break-out’ rooms for the various meetings – in what is not a very large hotel at the best of times … but was originally decided just right for the G7 Summit … what was planned?  

Also no planning permission was given – it was just ‘done’ … chop, chop, chop …

… with all that expansion – I wonder where the parking will be …

Tregenna Castle Hotel

... the VIPs are all staying about a mile away at Tregenna Castle Hotel ... plenty of room for helicopters and for accommodation ... it's above St Ives ... 

The cruiser accommodating the extra security

... the Media is being put up at Falmouth, the police too in a cruiser brought in ...

... tower over the little bit of land - St Ives a Royal Navy vessel, and the cruiser in Falmouth ... 

… Hayle Towans, across the bay from the Carbis Bay Hotel, is Mount Recyclemore – highlighting the growing threat of e-waste … climate change, and building a greener future all subjects on the G7’s agenda …

Adam Handling - the chef

… Food – a subject after my own heart … the chef, Adam Handling, was selected for his sustainable menus … and focuses his restaurants on food, drink, art and music – the newly created meeting rooms will be used by the Ugly Butterfly group after the event for both teaching and as a restaurant …

… a favourite I spotted was lamb sweetbreads with seaweed and Cornish potatoes – yummy! … for my 21^st I requested that we serve sweetbreads … took the family and guests by surprise, as too the hotel … delicious! = a memory …

The Ugly Butterfly logo

... my Ma's care home was in Newlyn, just outside Penzance very near the crabbery (crab is on the menu) ... so guess where we went when I visited!

… the meat, fish, vegetables, herbs and desserts will as far as possible be made from local foods …

Royal Navy guarding St Ives - but towering
above the town ... 

... spread 5,500 police officers, every ten feet,  around for security …

… further security detail will be there too …

… have your two pieces of ID available and probably a lock-down certificate or two, or even three … just check the zone though … it might have gone from green, to zombie amber … ready for show at all times … even leaving your home, should you live there …

All closed with nowhere to go ... 
I love these wooden signposts we use here

… cars are banned, train stations closed, buses suspended, and as I mentioned the South West Coast Path blocked … to keep protesters out …

… some will benefit, some will just move out for the duration … a local b+b has no bookings, but is full of police! = benefit …

… police are insisting that protests must be held in designated areas … is that normally the case, when you protest – me thinks not.

Roadside verges - I hope ..
and planted around Newquay
airport

… some benefits – how long lasting is another thing … wild-flower roadsides, potholes filled – it’d be nice if they would do the rest of the country’s potholes …

… Newquay airport … tidy it up, fill those potholes too … look who’s coming G7 leaders perhaps … they could balloon in, or glide in, or even drive … if they’ve enough IDs on them – passports at the ready … or for that matter sail in …

… time is of no essence – the powers that be are coming … more importantly the Boris man – will he wear a wetsuit, or just a cozzie – that’d be interesting … my imagination reels!

From Newlyn looking towards
Penzance ... on a very wet day (c 1900)

… oh or he could go to the Penzance Jubilee Pool (one of the oldest surviving Art Deco pools) – now heated utilising thermal energy from the rocks below … 

...the interesting thing is that my mother seriously looked into that for heating the care home business she owned in Newlyn back in the early 1980s … way too expensive then – but it was an option …

Boris prevailed – the pool is heated!

Closed off tomorrow 10th June

… Penzance – by the way is over the other side of the peninsula – they’ve closed the promenade to traffic – only pedestrians and bikes … as one chap said – there were traffic jams before – guess what now: impossible to drive locally … queues already on the main road into to Cornwall – let alone the Penwith area …

… I have now found out that Stanley, Boris' father, an Ottoman by descent, was born in Penzance – that was a surprise … not sure what my mother would have said!

Working on the new meeting rooms -
they were still being built last week

… there’s a ‘green push’ going on by our Government … though with the trees being felled, I’m somewhat befuddled …

… the Cornish are great – they’ll embrace anything … cow-poo is being collected and the carbon gas emitted is being used to run the Council vans …

Tin Mining +/- 1890
Camborne and Redruth

… they’re looking into mining again … this time Lithium – a necessity in the requirement to go green – batteries will be needed.  It was found in Cornwall at Wheal Clifford, when mined for copper and tin during the years 1835 – 61 … so what now: start mining again …

… I thought these security guys could fly their planes and helicopters … but they seem to be practicing a lot!

Looking down from St Michael's Mount
battlements ... 

… they’re staying at Tregenna Castle Hotel … so helicopters in and out there … as well as Exeter, Devon and Newquay, Cornwall airports … and good heavens – in the garden area at St Michael’s Mount … and at Carlyon Bay, St Austell, Cornwall …

Looking up ... 

… the helicopters were ‘dropped off’ from the US Air Force plane, the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III (for anyone interested) …

Windsor Castle -
Crimson Drawing Room
after restoration from 
1992 fire

… the powers that be – the President and his wife, will stop over to meet the Queen at Windsor Castle on Sunday …

 

Botallack Engine buildings

Promote all areas of Penwith … including Poldark’s area … these were very early ‘wheals’ (engine houses) – another memory: I had my reception at the Botallack Count House, when it was a restaurant – back in 1980 … stunning food then, the setting was shrouded in mist (and it was this time of year) – says much for the future of the two protagonists … !!  Enough said …

 

Let’s hope that whatever is agreed, is then pursued and achieved …

… the Cornish economy is supported in the foreseeable future … and that the fishing businesses have their lives sorted out …

Mount Recyclable G7 summit - built on
Hayle Towans facing across St Ives Bay
towards Carbis Bay

… that everyone leaves, taking their rubbish with them … so the Cornish coasts and countryside are left as nature intended, and that the people can be peace again …

… I hope it will not be a county of haves with second homes, and have nots - no jobs to apply for, no opportunities …

 

The links I used to write up this post … with many thanks for all their information and pics I’ve ‘borrowed’ … they bring the post to life so I’m very grateful …

Cornwall Live - which has been regularly updating details of the 'goings on' ... 

Ugly Butterfly - details re the chef and general info ... wonderful reading: I think!

iNews G7 Summit - introduces us to the menu ... 

PS - that yellow sand on Carbis Bay beach has been shipped in ... oh the expense!  After all I was toddling on that beach in 1949 and ever after ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Treasure those Memories … part 12 … St Ives in overview …

 

My mother’s family are from St Ives, and though I don’t specifically know, from their occupation I would hazard a guess they had been there for a few centuries … they were fishing, shipping and town administration folk …

Carbis Bay Hotel, where the 
G47 Summit will be held

… all of St Ives would be linked to the early trades fishermen and shipwrights, before the advent of steam and the change of direction as necessitated by events of time in the 1800s and onwards …

 

 

We so easily forget how far our history goes back … and today where we came from can be traced … whether I go back as far as being a Phoenician is rather a matter of unnecessary conjecture …

 

Fish, Tin and Copper - the
three main industries of Cornwall

… the Phoenicians (eastern Mediterranean) were serious maritime traders … coming to prominence in the Late Bronze Age (c 1150 – 600 BCE) – we know they traded for tin – Cornwall’s surface seams could be ‘easily’ mined …

 

There was settlement from pre-Roman times … Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age … then the Romans visited this western peninsula – both on land, and via the sea routes …

 

Men-an-Tol standing stones near
Madron, Penzance
(from the late Neolithic or
early Bronze Age era)

So we know Cornwall was occupied with early peoples, traded and barbarically enslaved, some stayed and settled … our early history is spread along the coasts, the stories that have sprung up through the centuries ...

 

 

Society of Genealogists
(established 1911)

Fortunately recorded history has already reminded us about significant events … with the leading characters … in 1538 Henry VIII issued an injunction requiring each parish to maintain a Parish Register to hold details of all baptisms, marriages and burials. 

 

Domesday Book - completed 1088

The Domesday Book of William the Conqueror’s time (1066 and all that) had recorded in detail the land surveyed, as well as how it was occupied, but without the general population’s names.  (Part 7)  Fortunately the Parish Registers in part overcame that …

West Penwith: St Ives to the north,
Falmouth harbour to the south-west

St Ives harbour has always been a shelter from the storms … during the Spanish Armada in 1597, Sir Walter Raleigh captured two Spanish ships, who had hoped to shelter in the Bay from the same storm.  Apparently vital information was learnt from the prisoners.

 

 

St Ives was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1639 … copies of King Charles I’s Letter of Thanks to the Cornish People are to be seen in a number of Cornish churches – St Uny’s on the Lelant towans being one – Part 5.

 "We are so highly sensible of the extraordinary merit of Our County of Cornwall, of their zeale for the Defence of Our Person, and the just Rights of Our Crown, of their great and eminent Courage and Patience."  (part of King Charles I's Letter of Thanks to the Cornish People).

 

From the Knavocks to
Godrevy Point

Part 7 describes the loss of Charles’ goods andchattels, on the ship wrecked by the Stones Reef, out of which Virginia Woolf’s famous lighthouse, Godrevy, arises … and the coincidence of the ship’s loss on the same day he was executed.

 

 

Knill's Steeple

We have John Knill (1733 – 1811), mayor of St Ives, with his extraordinary quintennial disbursements … still being administered to this day … see part 3 …

 

Barnoon Cemetery

Our family records go back to the late 1700s and onwards … but there’s no-one I know who’s taken an interest … Barnoon Cemetery was opened in 1857 – by then the graveyards would have been full …

  

 

St Ives from a distance

Now to my time in St Ives … we would go fairly often when on holiday … my great uncle and his wife lived high on the hill with these views … 

Family photo on beach c mid
1920s (as a young man my great
uncle must be here somewhere)

... the highlights being turned upside down by my uncle, giggling furiously, but unable to get away … playing tennis … walking down and then up?! to the beach …

 

Rodda's - established 1890

… coming back to wonderful thunder and lightning teas … here shown on bread … we would always have home-made scones … Cornish cream and treacle …

 

 

Wheal Trenwith

120 years ago or so, whether you elected to come in to St Ives by road, the fields or the high moors, you couldn’t fail to notice the vast Trenwith Mine above Stennack, where (surprisingly) they (were) searching for radium.  Bearing in mind that it had only been discovered by the Curies in 1898 …

 

 

Bernard Leach by
Ryusei Kishida (1913)

The mine is now a car-park and part of the settlement high above the town … interestingly Bernard Leach (regarded as the “Father of British studio pottery”) established his Leach Pottery in 1920, next to the Stennack river … where it is to this day.

 

 

View from high up above St Ives

From these high points we see a wonderful combination of blue sea, towering rocks, purple and yellow moors, nor come so near to the heart of prehistoric man … hovering above a tiny fishing harbour … holding sway to the memories of many early artists bewitched by the light, views, and ever changing beauty …

Fore Street, St Ives (2005)
tiny streets are the norm

On to the 1950s – my time … we’d visit from Carbis Bay when we were in Cornwall … times had changed … a Woolworths store had arrived in Fore Street, with a back entry onto the Wharf … where the Sloop Inn … originally from 1312 … is situated …

 

Sloop Inn, St Ives - on the Wharf

… Fish and chip shops, early ice-cream stalls, lots of seagulls’ eyes wide open for any inadvertent treat by tourist or fisherman …

 

 

Now this little part of Britain is being host to the 47^th G7 Summit – an intergovernmental organisation – that is creating havoc for the locals …

 

Tregenna Castle Hotel

The main meetings I gather are being held at the Carbis Bay Hotel Carbis Bay – where we used to visit as kids … but other venues are the Tregenna Castle Hotel, where there’s a heliport, just below my great uncle and aunt’s house when they still lived in St Ives …

 

St Ives fishing fleet
by H I Babbage (1875 - 1916)

… while the media is being housed over in Falmouth (at the National Maritime Museum) … it is 28 miles away and might take 40 minutes to drive … but who knows what will happen when the Summit is on … there is the local train – but that involves probably two changes and takes considerably longer …

 

Steam train coming into Carbis Bay
with sailing boat in harbour

I wonder if posh boats will be used – there’s no pier off Carbis Bay … 

West Penwith logo

I’ve been ‘prevaricating’ or just brain wandering more likely and not getting on with things … but as always a co-incidence arises …

 

 

A company, 'Identity', in Eastbourne (where I now live) has been chosen as the Events Agency for the Summit … strange but true … goodness knows what it will all entail …

Cornwall c/o World-Guides

I feel for them all … it’s a tiny area … there are no alternative routes – unless you want to surf the Atlantic and find a way round … I can’t think Boris, Biden, Merkel, Macron et al would want to get their suits wet …

 

Life goes on doesn’t it … stay safe and enjoy some joys of Summer … I'm taking it slowly ... 

 

Bathing Beauty on
on Carbis Bay beach

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories