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October & November 2005 - England
(Morris dancers, World conker championships & Bath
roman baths)
June 2006 was dominated by the World Cup and this
was followed by the warmest summer on record in July,
In England. The world may become messed up in fifty
years time from global warming, but peomed happy this
July as they basked in the heat. The first two pictures
below, we took on Bristol Waterfront as we celebrated
my (Paul) passing his driving test. Fancy dress is very
popular in England, with people dressing up whenever
they have the chance: probably more so than in any country
we have visited.
All
photos by Valeria Lo Iacono & Paul Symonds - 2006
After a year living in Newcastle in the North of
England, at the beginning of October we left Newcastle
to move 2 hours South of London, to the City of
Bristol. Before moving into an apartment in Bristol
though, we headed up to a place called Market Harbough,
near Leicester - to visit one of our good friends,
Hannah White. This trip coincided with the World
Conker Championships which were being held the same
weekend, in a nearby village called Ashton.
The photo above was taken at the Conker Championships
and it shows a performance by the traditional 'Morris
Dancers'. The Morris Dancers (who are always only
men), performed several ancient dances for the bemused
crowd. This particular group of Morris Dancers,
were a slightly more aggressive bunch of dancers
than usual, with their hats with skulls and with
their faces painted in black. People came from different
corners of the world to take part in the Championships,
which even though focused on the Conkers competition,
also provided a great insight into the eccentric
British people and the British countryside.
Below (left), a picture of our friend Hannah as
she shops (unaware of someone lurking nearby with
a camera) and below (right), a close-up picture
of one of the Morris Dancers.
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So what are conkers? According to dictionary.com
they are ".. the name used in Britain, Ireland
and some former British colonies for the nuts of
the Horse-chestnut tree". If you are really
interested in learning about the rules of conkers
(which you are probably not) then visit http://www.worldconkerchampionships.com
for more info. Below (left) is a picture of 2 competitors
competing whilst on the right, a picture of a stall
displaying many varieties of 'fudge', a soft rich
sweat/candy made from sugar, milk and butter.
The two pictures below are
typical of the type of eccentricity that exists
in England. Two men below are dressed as YellowBelly's
(No I do not know what this means) and in the other
picture a picture of a guy with a red mohican haircut
and a couple dressed up as the Adams family. In
festivals in England in the summertime, people often
like to dress up for fun. There was also a guy with
a huge piece of plastic on his head, which looked
like a huge chuck on cheese - and another guy who
walked around with a stuffed pigeon on his shoulder.
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Towards the end of November, we decided to visit the
nearby and beatiful English town of 'Bath', (just a few
miles from Bristol). Bath is a city famous for its ancient
Roman baths and it is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Below (left) is the entrance to the 'Roman Baths' and
on the (right), our friend Louise with Valeria, stood
outside a very typical English pub.
Below (left) a view of a bridge in Bath, which was designed
as a copy of the 'Ponte Vecchio' in Florence, Italy. On
the right the Roman Baths -a natural hot spring which
is still active.
And finally the last two pictures for this newsletter.
A natural work of art on the left, taken outside our apartment
in Bristol. On this freezing cold day, a perfectly formed
spiders web was accentuated by the way in which it was frozen
to the drain-pipe. A masterpiece if ever I saw one. On the
right, a South African convention in our apartment in Bristol.
From the left: Letitia, Kyle and Louise, three South African
friends living in England (although Louise insists she is
English :) having been born in England but lived most of
her life in South Africa.
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