Uncle Harry and World War II

Uncle Harry was one of the strongest influences in my childhood. He was actually my great uncle (Tom’s brother and Mum’s uncle). He was born on 24 October 1905 and died on  16 November 1991. Harry was quietly spoken and rather serious but had a sense of humor.

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Pictures of children in London

The kids in this photo are hoping to collect lumps of coal falling off the backs of lorries, during the General Strike of 1926 (in which Tom took part). The workers were defeated in the strike and their conditions worsened. The children look remarkably cheerful.

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An unusual shot of a Routemaster bus

This photo was taken at Millwall Dock in the 1960s. The bus being loaded on to the ship is a Routemaster, one of the most iconic sights to be seen in post-War London. Wiki has a very extensive entry on the bus (here). The technology that went in to the design of the bus was, [...]

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Petticoat Lane Market

When I was small, Tom used to take me on quite a few outings. One place that was always exciting to visit was Petticoat Lane market, across the river in the East End.

“More than a thousand stalls spread over two streets make up Petticoat Lane Market. This East End market which has been operating since [...]

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Sardinhas Assadas

A friend asked me what the women pictured on the beach in Nazaré were doing.
Sardines are a staple food in Portugal. As I read on one Web page, “When most of us think of sardines, we imagine tiny skinny, bony creatures compressed into a tiny tin can but in Portugal fresh, succulent sardines measure between [...]

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Nazaré, funiculars and Portuguese bullfighting

At university, I began studying Portuguese, along with Spanish. Few British universities at that time offered truly Latin American courses, which obviously had to include Brazil and the Portuguese language.
As part of the program, students were required to spend their summers taking courses at universities in Spain and Portugal. In my case, it was the [...]

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I have seen the Promised Land…

Last evening was very emotional for me and this morning, when I watched Obama’s acceptance speech, even more so. When America stirs itself to action for the right reasons, it can be a wonder to behold.
It will take a while for the significance of Obama’s victory to sink in. But when I saw Jesse Jackson [...]

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Finally, a break in the weather and a break from work

Yesterday was the first time I had been able to get out and relax since I got home nearly a month ago. The weather wasn’t great but at least it wasn’t raining. We love the beach and that’s where we headed. The only one to our liking is nearly 90 minutes away by car and [...]

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An old photo of The York

Today I received an old photo of the outside of The York from a niece of the former landlords (or “publicans”). Not sure about the year of the photo but it does give a feel of how it was many years ago. I added the photo to a previous post with a pic of the [...]

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“To have another language is to possess a second soul”

…so said the emperor Charlemagne. I know when I speak Spanish I slip into another mode, almost into another personality. I don’t understand the mechanics of it, but I know it to be true.
I read that “to learn another language involves far more than learning vocabulary or grammatical structures: it is a lengthy and demanding [...]

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