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BB1805
: All Cakes and Culture
Thursday
15th February 2018
Is
this the shape of things to come?
The
sun was shining brightly in the sky as the BOOTboys
strode out for what? Well, actually it was the short
stroll from the car to the railway platform to catch
the train to Carlisle. Bryan must despair. He
intended going up Helvellyn despite the forecasts of
heavy snow and violent winds plus comments about the
benefit of double waterproofs being the only way of
staying even remotely dry. Instead, we were headed
for museums and castles and churches and art galleries.
Or
so we thought. However we arrived at the station
to discover that our train had
been cancelled. Information was vague as to whether
it was due to a jumper or a signal failure.
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Whichever,
there was a huge line of people waiting to board coaches
to take them south.
I pity those who were anxiously
hoping to catch planes.
And I pity those who were
caught standing outside in the queue through a brief
but torrential hailstorm.
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For a moment we pitied
Bryan if he had been caught in it but then returned
to chat, coffee and cake in the Artisan bakery outside
the station.
The
aptly names beers were tempting but we resisted.
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The
“we” was Tony, Chris and me.
Although both have
been involved with the BOOTboys
for many years, albeit in Chris’ case more as a follower
than a participant, they had never actually met.
However,
they have a lot in common as each had a relationship
with what is now known as the Three
Shires Inn in
Little Langdale (as featured in BB1132
: Perfect Pies).
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This gave them plenty to chat about
on the
next northbound train which set off on time so we arrived
in Carlisle only about an hour behind schedule.
Our
cultural visit started at the
Castle.....,
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..... not
so much to explore the castle itself (though we did
that first, shivering in the chilling gale that blew
around the battlements and marvelling at the mysterious
carvings).....
..... or to sample its café
(which we did next for coffee, butties and brick sized
helpings of cake) but to explore its Museum
of Military Life,
mostly focusing on the Border Regiment and its antecedents
- A Story of Human Endeavour.
And a very
well laid out exhibition it proved to be. Not too large
to be overwhelming but sufficient to give a good impression
of how military life changed as they fought their various
campaigns.
The
next place on our itinerary is the most amazing antiquarian
bookshop, Bookcase.
Room after room after room of old and ancient
books, CDs, LPs and sheet music piled high.
We
only explored the ground floor and the basement. There
is more upstairs but we didn’t have the opportunity
to explore further. Thanks to the train problems, Chris
had lost valuable exploration time as he had to be back
in Windermere relatively early. Consequently he had to cut his
visit short in order to be certain of catching a train
that was actually running. Tony and I had no such
problems.
We moved on to explore the Cathedral
and its Treasury. I wish I had had a look at its
Hidden
Treasures webpage
before we went- it is well worth a prior look. I
am afraid you will have to make do with these meagre
offerings instead.
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Tullie
House was our next stop. Outside, there is a mosaic
of Carlisle's motto of
BE
JUST AND FEAR NOT
together
with the city's two coats of arms.
Inside,
there is an exhibition
of the work of Percy
Kelly that had
had good reviews so we decided to pop in and have a
look.
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What
a sad man he must have been. His early pictures
are rather Lowry like but with very little colour and,
unlike Lowry, no people whatsoever. Nor dogs,
cats, cows, sheep birds or any other living creatures.
For
more information visit the Percy
Kelly
website
Later
he took to wearing women’s clothes. He changed
his name to Roberta and a new style emerged, becoming
more floral and colourful. But still no creatures.
The most lively things seemed to be his many decorated
letters but unfortunately it was difficult to examine
them properly.
Across
the foyer is the Tullie House museum. I was amazed
at how big and varied it is.
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It merits a much
longer visit than we had time to devote to it. Or
perhaps, more manageably, it merits several shorter visits.
We just focused mainly on the Border wars and
the Vikings and
that took us long enough.
There
was the opportunity for young children to
draw and then clip their impressions of
Vikings to the wall so this 70 year old
child added his.
Not
many people know that Kilroy was actually
a Viking.
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It
was time for us to return home although we were unsure
what train we would be able to catch. It is a
good job Tony was with me as I was about to leap on
a London bound train till he pointed out that it didn’t
actually stop at Oxenholme. Fortunately, not long afterwards
(just time for a coffee and cake), there was one that
did.
So
is this the shape of things to come? If so, then
the culture will no doubt broaden my mind but the volume
of cake consumed is going to radically broaden my belly.
As I said in my last report "I must get
back into proper action again next week!"
Don,
Thursday 15th February 2018
Afternote:
Subsequently I discovered that there is currently
a Percy
Kelly Display
in Abbott Hall, Kendal. This is smaller but just
as enjoyable and features several illustrated letters
that were sent to the former Chairman of the erstwhile
Kendal based Provincial
Insurance, Peter F Scott.
Afterafternote:
The Guardian has an interesting Percy
Kelly webpage.
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