UK2018 Trip - Dec 11

[johncomic]

Short and sweet today - didn't visit any new streets, and spent a good chunk of the day pushing a wheelchair which didn't give me much opportunity to free up my hands and take a plethora of pics. But there are some! Never fear!

First thing this morning I popped out to M&S to get milk for breakfast -- and noticed that M&S has a nifty clock:



Later on, I popped out to Greggs for lunch, and decided to go via Fossgate -- noticed that there was a hint of fog in the air now:



BTW, that view shows you the entirety of Fossgate -- it runs for one not-super-long block! And that little stretch there contains, among numerous other establishments, something like fifteen eateries and three hairdressers... as well as a tiny old-fashioned pub:



Today I also noticed a plaque at the far end of Fossgate:



It got me thinking -- in the 13th century, people were here conducting their fish business. In the 13th century, Canada as a nation didn't even exist as an idea or a dream. [Nor for several centuries thereafter.] The immensity of this country's history never ceases to strike awe in the heart of this simple lad from a young-upstart nation. I love how the British maintain their history and continue to make it an active and vital part of their current lives.

Sharon spotted this red door between a couple of shops this afternoon, and loved it and wanted a shot of it -- so here ya go!

Comments

[ginsu]

The immensity of this country's history never ceases to strike awe in the heart of this simple lad from a young-upstart nation. I love how the British maintain their history and continue to make it an active and vital part of their current lives.

I feel the same way, coming from another young and upstart nation... though in some senses it isn't true. Native Americans/First Nations have been in America and Canada since before agriculture was invented; they just didn't leave behind much architecture or government. Yet many of their people, myths, languages, and culture remain.

There is a tribe that says it remembers a time when there was nothing in the world but ocean on one side, ice on the other side, and a thin strip of land in between. This is a fairly accurate description of the Pacific NW coast at the time human beings would have wandered over what is now the Bering Strait, some 15K-20K years ago.

[johncomic]

Granted, very valid point. I was speaking of my culture and my nation as I know it. I admit, while I was having these thoughts of my country, I also gave some toward the whole concept of the colonialist evils that underlie my Canada... a sense that it has become less acceptable over time for me to be "proud to be a Canadian", because of the implications of my taking pride in white imperialism, etc. It occurs to me now that England has its own history of foreign conquests, several times over -- and I suppose that the British face similar issues with reconciling love of country and national pride with its violent past.

[ginsu]

Yes, I wasn't really thinking of "imperialism," so much as the continuity of history in any given chunk of land, which is always maintained but also always in peril, everywhere you look throughout history.

For instance, whatever political structures were put in place in the Americas in the 15-20K years before Europeans were constantly being invaded and overthrown for that entire period of time by other groups of what we now call indigenous peoples of the Americas. They weren't just living in monolithic harmony, and this is evident today in the extreme fragmentation of their languages. And as you say, this is not unlike how Celts came to Britain, and Romans, and Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings/Danes, and Normans, and they really didn't get along with anything resembling perfect peace and goodwill.

Even now, what we call "British" or "Canadian" or "American" seems a relatively newfangled concept and still seems rather fragmented in many ways. I am proud of being American, yet well aware that my concept of America and its values is wildly different from what you would get from someone living in a rural setting in central Nebraska. Going by current Brexit discussions I wonder if that's not true for Britain as well.

And yet all that said, it's really something going to a place like Salisbury and seeing everyday houses older than any standing architecture in what is now called North America, never mind sites like Westminster... or Stonehenge. There is more visible, overt continuity in Britain than in the Americas, by far.