America’s that way…er, no it isn’t

The Christopher Columbus statue at the end of the Ramblas, Barcelona.

Christopher Columbus (October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an explorer, navigator, and colonizer, born in the Genoa in northwestern Italy.  Some modern historians have argued that Columbus was not from Genoa, but instead, from Catalonia, Portugal, or Spain.These claims have  been discounted by mainstream scholars. He  completed four voyages  across the Atlantic Ocean which helped establish permanent settlements in South America. In one of his writings, Columbus claims to have gone to the sea at the age of 10. In 1470, the Columbus family moved to Savona, where Domenico took over a tavern. In the same year, Columbus was on a Genoese ship hired in the service of Rene I of Anjou to support his attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Naples.

On his voyages Columbus discovered and named various places.

•  Montserrat (for Santa María de Montserrate, after the Blessed Virgin of the Monastery of Montserrat, which is located on the Mountain of Montserrat, in Catalonia, Spain),
•  Antigua(after a church in Seville, Spain, called Santa María la Antigua, meaning “Old St. Mary’s”),
• Redonda (Santa María la Redonda, Spanish for “St. Mary the Round”, owing to the island’s shape),
• Nevis (derived from the Spanish Nuestra Señora de las Nieves, “Our Lady of the Snows”, because Columbus thought the clouds over Nevis Peak made the island resemble a snow-capped mountain),
• Saint Kitts (for St Christopher, patron of sailors and travelers),
• Saint Eustatius (for the early Roman martyr, St. Eustachius)
  
•  Saba (after the Biblical Queen of Sheba)
  
• Saint Martin (San Martín), and Saint Crois (from the Spanish Santa Cruz, meaning Holy Cross)
  

Despite his seamanship, on the plinth he is pointing east. I’m pretty sure America isn’t that way.

Scotland’s First Rapper

Burns Cottage, Alloway

Rabbie Burns, arguably Scotland’s greatest poet and blogger, was born in this  cottage in Alloway on the 25th January 1759.  He blogged about his life experiences through poetry as he wandered around Scotland, womanising and working in various menial jobs.  One famous example is: To a Mouse, where Burns  regrets turning up the mouse in his plough. Incidentally, the poem also contains the words – of mice and men – the title of a book by John Steinbeck.

 

To A Mouse, On Turning Her Up In Her Nest With The Plough
(1785)

Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim’rous beastie,
O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty
Wi bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee,
Wi’ murdering pattle.

I’m truly sorry man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
An’ justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth born companion
An’ fellow mortal!

I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen icker in a thrave
‘S a sma’ request;
I’ll get a blessin wi’ the lave,
An’ never miss’t.

Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
It’s silly wa’s the win’s are strewin!
An’ naething, now, to big a new ane,
O’ foggage green!
An’ bleak December’s win’s ensuin,
Baith snell an’ keen!

Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste,
An’ weary winter comin fast,
An’ cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro’ thy cell.

That wee bit heap o’ leaves an’ stibble,
Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!
Now thou’s turned out, for a’ thy trouble,
But house or hald,
To thole the winter’s sleety dribble,
An’ cranreuch cauld.

But Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!

Still thou are blest, compared wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But och! I backward cast my e’e,
On prospects drear!
An’ forward, tho’ I canna see,
I guess an’ fear!

GLASGOW CITY CHAMBERS

Whether you work in a stuffy office or in  cramped conditions in a noisy factory, please spare a thought for our poor  politicians who have to work  in Victorian buildings filled with junk. (see photos)

The City Chambers initially housed Glasgow Town Council from 1888 to 1895, when it was replaced by Glasgow Corporation. It remained the Corporation’s headquarters until it was replaced by Glasgow District Council under the wider Strathclyde Regional Council in 1975. The City Chambers has been the headquarters of Glasgow City Council since 1996, when it replaced the District Council with the abolition of the Strathclyde Region.

The council had also sat  in  the old Tolbooth at Glasgow Cross until it was sold in 1814, but not the steeple which still remains. After that it moved to Jail Square in the Saltmarket, near Glasgow Green, then Wilson Street and Ingram Street.In the early 1880s, City Architect John Carrick was asked to identify a suitable site for a purpose-built City Council Chambers. He identified the east side of George Square, which was then bought.

The City Chambers boasts a marble staircase, the longest of its kind in Europe. A  ceiling decorated in gold leaf and a stained glass dome.  Now, who would want to work in a place like that?

Reflections

DEATH BY MOONLIGHT

Shivering trees

Pretty in sunlight

Shed their leaves

Dead by moonlight

EBONY AND IVORY

Flanked by pine trees

streaked in ivy

smoky chimney

snowy roof

A hidden cabin

in the woods

A broken door

creaking with age

floorboards squeaking

underfoot

An empty room

filled with heat

Flames lick the air

dance on the logs

small and crooked

in the hearth

A stone fireplace

next to me.

Bathed in firelight

asleep together

an ebony girl

and ivory boy.

A young couple

much in love

Small and crooked

creaking with age

floorboards squeaking

underfoot.

A vagabond

filled with hope.

WHY MUST I DIE

Bent naked, frozen stiff,

boughs splayed as if

asking, why must I die?

FOOTFALLS IN THE SNOW

Footfalls in the snow

on the path and out the gate

in the street and far away

no more love

no more hate

THE FROSTED WINDOW

Frosted window

Turns to grey

Another day

Fades like embers

Flintstone mantel

Scarred with cracks

And weeping wax

Falls in the fire

A floorboard creaks

Bent and broken

Words not spoken

Hushed by love

Five past midnight

Exchange of rings

As a choir sings

Silent Night

THE MAN OUTSIDE IS SOBBING

 Wind howls, rattles the window

shakes the house

blows down the chimney

coals throb red,

and glow.

The man outside

is sobbing

Who are you? Why should I care?

go away,

you’re not wanted here

where it’s warm

and snug.

The man outside

is sobbing

Have pity on this poor wretch

who’s guilty

of what you do now,

and regrets

it so

I am outside

and sobbing

THE VOYAGE TO GOD

Fare thee well, John McCann

the first of you to fail

Hasta Luego, Joan Bertran

stuck in a foreign jail

Auf wiedersehen, young Heidi

with the gentle touch

Arrividerci, señor Capaldi

who drank too much

Adieu, Jean Claude,

absolutely insane

I sail alone to God

with no captain.

RUINED PLANS

The storm came without warning

painted Jaca in grey

rain fell and a gale blew

ruining our plans for that day

STORM

Clouds weep

thunder roars

scared sheep

farm chores

I CAME TO BRING YOU FLOWERS

I came to bring you flowers

Sing a song in the wee hours

 Now you’ll never know

That I loved you so

Bright flash

gale blows

trees crash

last throes

Night sleeps

day wakes

child weeps

death takes

Antonio Canova’s statue Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss, first commissioned in 1787 represents the god Cupid after awakening the lifeless Psyche with a kiss. Their feelings for one another shows in their body language. Has a kiss ever left you feeling the same way?

A kiss

Awakes

Her love

And his

Like Wordsworth I wandered lonely as a cloud in the Spanish Pyrenees and came across this babbling stream.  It’s winter and icicles have formed on the grass and knots on the tree trunk. The fresh air and ambience cleansed my mind, leaving it open for fresh ideas. This little corner of paradise, this Garden of Eden, is far, far away from the concrete jungles of claustrophobic cities. How often we forget that this was what it was like many years ago when fewer people inhabited the earth. And it’s free to visit, yes free. But I won’t tell you exactly where it is – two’s a crowd.

Brig o’ Doon – where witches fear to tread

The Brig o’ Doon in Alloway is a late medieval bridge used as the setting for the final verse of the Rabbie Burns’ poem Tam o’ Shanter. Tam is on horseback and is being chased by Nannie the witch. He is just able to escape her by crossing the bridge (over a running stream) narrowly avoiding her attack as she is only able to grab the horse’s tail which comes away in her hands. The bridge crosses the River Doon and was rebuilt in the 18th century. The bridge is allegedly the inspiration for the name of the musical 1947 Brigadoon.

Today, the bridge features on the 2007 series of £5 notes issued by the Bank of Scotland, alongside the statue to Robert Burns which is located in Dumfries.

Tam o’ Shanter

When chapmen billies leave the street,
And drouthy neibors, neibors meet,
As market days are wearing late,
An’ folk begin to tak the gate;
While we sit bousing at the nappy,
And getting fou and unco happy,
We think na on the lang Scots miles,
The mosses, waters, slaps, and styles,
That lie between us and our hame,
Where sits our sulky sullen dame.
Gathering her brows like gathering storm,
Nursing her wrath to keep it warm.

This truth fand honest Tam o’ Shanter,
As he frae Ayr ae night did canter,
(Auld Ayr, wham ne’er a town surpasses
For honest men and bonie lasses.)

Scotland’s First Minister

(This statue is located at the top of Buchanan Street, Glasgow, outside Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall. )

Donald Campbell Dewar (21 August 1937 – 11 October 2000) was born in Renfrew Street, Glasgow.  He was a Scottish politician who served as a Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) in Scotland from 1966-1970, and then again from 1978 until his death in 2000.  Following the return of the Labour Party to government in 1997, Dewar became the Secretary of State for Scotland and campaigned for a ‘Yes-Yes’ vote in the successful referendum on Scottish Devolution.  When elections were held to the newly created Scottish Parliament in 1999, as leader of the Scottish Labour Party and through a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, Dewar became the inaugural holder of the First Minister of Scotland post.

Glasgow – Second City of the Empire

(Glasgow as seen  from Queen’s Park)

In my next series of blogs I am going to tell you about Glasgow. It was the second city of the British Empire for much of the Victorian period and Edwardian era. It is ranked as the 57th most livable city in the world. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Glasgow grew in population, eventually reaching a peak of 1,128,473 in 1939,and was the fourth-largest city in Europe, after London, Paris and Berlin.

The present site of Glasgow has been used since prehistoric times for settlement. After the Romans left Caledonia the settlement was part of the extensive Kingdom of Strathclyde, with its capital at Dumbarton 15 mi (24 km) downstream, which merged in the 9th century with other regions to create the united Kingdom of Scotland. The origins of Glasgow as an established city derive ultimately from its medieval position as Scotland’s second largest bishopric. Glasgow increased in importance during the 10th and 11th centuries as the site of this bishopric, reorganised by King Davis I of Scotland and John, Bishop of Glasgow. 

Glasgow grew over the following centuries, the first bridge over the River Clyde at Glasgow was recorded from around 1285, giving its name to the Briggait area of the city, forming the main North-South route over the river via Glasgow Cross. The founding of the University of Glasgow in 1451 and elevation of the bishopric to become the Archdiocese of Glasgow in 1492 served to increase the town’s religious and educational status, and landed wealth. Its early trade was in agriculture, brewing and fishing, with cured salmon and herring being exported to Europe and the Mediterranean.

Heraldry

THE COAT OF ARMS OF THE CITY OF GLASGOW
DETAILS
ADOPTED	1866
CREST	Saint Mungo
SUPPORTERS	Two salmon, bearing rings
MOTTO	Let Glasgow Flourish by the preaching of Your word, and the praising of Your name.

The coat of arms of the City of Glasgow was granted to the royal burgh  by th Lord Lyon  on 25 October 1866.It incorporates a number of symbols and emblems associated with the life of Glasgow’s patron saint, Mungo, which had been used on official seals prior to that date. The emblems represent miracles supposed to have been performed by Mungo and are listed in the traditional rhyme:

Here’s the bird that never flew

Here’s the tree that never grew

Here’s the bell that never rang

Here’s the fish that never swam

The Duke of Art

The Gallery of Modern Art is housed in a neoclassical building in Royal Exchange Square in the heart of Glasgow city centre. Built in 1778 as the townhouse of William Cunninghame of Lainshaw, a wealthy Glasgow Tobacco Lord, the building has undergone a series of different uses. It was bought in 1817 by the Royal Bank of Scotland who later moved onto Buchanan Street; it then became the Royal Exchange. Reconstruction for this use was undertaken by David Hamilton between 1827 and 1832 and resulted in many additions to the building, namely the Corinthian pillars to the Queen Street facade, the cupola above and the large hall to the rear of the old house.

Exhibits include works by David Hockney, Sebastiao Delagdo, and Andy Warhol as well as Scottish artists such as John Bellamy and Ken Currie. In front of the gallery, on the Queen Street pavement, stands an equestrian statue  of the Duke of Wellington sculpted by Carlo Marochetti  in 1844.The statue usually has a traffic cone on its head. For many years the authorities regularly removed cones, only for them to be replaced.The jauntily placed cone has come to represent, particularly in tourist guidebooks, the city’s light-hearted attitude to authority.

Slave On A Pedestal

Antonio Rossetti (fl. 1819-70) was born in Milan.  He studied and worked in Rome establishing an international reputation for his figurative work and ‘fancy’ pieces in white marble. A good example of his work is The Nubian Slave, in the Kibble Palace in Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens (c. 1850). The sculpture was bequeathed to Glasgow Museums by William Colvin, in 1881. The Nubian Slave is a copy of an earlier work, of 1858, which is now in a private collection, and features four relief panels on its pedestal depicting slavery. The statue and pedestal were cleaned as part of the refurbishment of the Kibble Palace in 2005-7.

The Willow Tea

The Willow  Tea  Rooms are at 217 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. It was designed by internationally renowned architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh. and opened for business in October 1903. They quickly gained enormous popularity, and are the most famous of the many Glasgow tea rooms that opened in the late 19th and early 20th century.Early in his career, in 1896, Mackintosh met Catherine Cranston  (widely known as Kate Cranston or simply Miss Cranston), an entrepreneurial local business woman who was the daughter of a Glasgow tea merchant and a strong believer in temperance.

The temperance movement was becoming increasingly popular in Glasgow at the turn of the century and Miss Cranston had conceived the idea of a series of “art tea rooms”, venues where people could meet to relax and enjoy non-alcoholic refreshments in a variety of different “rooms” within the same building. This proved to be the start of a long working relationship between Miss Cranston and Mackintosh. Between 1896 and 1917 he designed and re-styled interiors in all four of her Glasgow tea rooms, often in collaboration with his wife Margaret McDonald.