Let's start at the very beginning
Sep. 14th, 2002 10:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lady_t_220Had a really weird dream last night. I was part of some kind of urban scavenger hunt/motor race event. I don't remember entirely but I remember that I was running towards my car, which was at the bottom of the loooong looong line of trucks and HGVs and cars and busses and bikes and all kind of assorted vehicles. I was running really quite fast because a lot of other competitors were already pulling away, but the line had to be a good couple of miles long and I was getting kind of out of breath. So I was heading down the row and I noticed that were a bunch of blue lorries, all with white lettering on and (Oh Jesus I can't believe I'm admitting to this) one of them had "HUGH" written on the spoiler on top of the cab. (Yes, that Hugh. He was standing by it too.)
Now being a dream, naturally I decided that, what the hey, I'd take HIS lorry instead of MY car, though I remember being a little worried that being all knackered and out of breath from running really wouldn't give the best impression.
In the end I musta' decided that it would be better than trying to find my own little Nataku (yes my car has a name)
Oddly enough I had the keys for Hugh's lorry on me already, so I hopped in the driver's side and asked if he was coming along for the ride. He said yes and climbed in the passenger seat, but said I'd have to stop and let him out at the halfway point cause he had to get back in time for something or other. I don't remember what.
I remember though that it was a left hand drive vehicle, which is an oddly recurrant theme in my dreams. Don't ask me why.
Next thing I remember is that we were driving in reverse cause we were facing the wrong way on a one way street. So apparently reverse seemed the most logical option. I also remember that I wasn't really steering for a little while and I managed to total 2 cars with the back of the lorry trailer. (All messed up and squished kinda' totalled)
I also remember telling dream-Hugh that we just kinda' clipped them a bit and no one would notice, though after that I actually started steering again while looking through the window in the back of the cab which I SWEAR hadn't been there before.
Next thign I remember is that we reached some kind of chaotic roundabout with all sorts of other competitors in the race spewing around and all heading to and coming from wildly different directions. I think this musta' been the halfway point cause dream-Hugh got out (and no, not because of my evidently lousy driving).
I have NO idea what happened after that and the next thing I remember is getting woken up by my mum at around 10ish.
Damnit, golden opportunity wasted.
So, what else happened today...?
Went with the family to Haddon Hall in Derbyshire. Former home of the Duke and Dutchess of Rutland before the family moved to Belvoir Castle some time in the 1800's.
We went as part of a special party of John's Winston Churchill fellowship collegues, specially organised for us by the Duke's former nanny.
It's a rarity among medieval-based buildings in that it escaped much of the extensive remodelling that happened to its peers as the family where living elsewhere when the building's style was suffering its most architecturally unfashionable era.
So it's got a fantastic mish-mash of extensions and it possesses the most wonderful "Squinch."
Somewhere between a squeeze and a pinch, it's a part of the corner of the courtyard where they found that the walls didn't actually meet. They were out by a good 10', not just in distance but also out by 3' in height, so the space is made up with a random assortment of things going left a bit and up a little and left a bit more and then up again... it's wonderful. It's a total shambles, it even has odd-shaped windows stuck in at random places along the squinch because it was the only place they would fit.
So anyhow, you can see how the building got added to by successive generations. It swirls around through Elizabethan and Tudor and this and that and the other. It even has a chunk of the retaining wall that required special permission from Prince John to build.
The kitchens, always may favourite part, were very cool. They even had the original chopping and slaughtering block in the meat house.
Well, that and the thought that at one point in history the room was filled with 40 nekkid men basting a hog-roast certainly made it a very entertaining place.
*insert snikkering*
The long gallery was interesting too. It was entirely panneled in oak, but the family were so sick of all the oak panneling in the house they had it PAINTED to look like cedar.
During the 18 and early 1900's people were allowed to visit the house even though it was empty, and one nosey historian gained permission to remove a chunk of paint from one section of the long gallery's walls because he wanted to know what was underneath it. You can still see the patch that's missing. It's a strange-coloured smear in the bottom corner of one of the panels.
The family chapel was gorgeous too. When it was first built it was the church for the entire village of Haddon.
Haddon no longer exists, of course. It was somewhere underneath where the car park is now. But the chapel is still there and so is most of the fresco work. It's truly amazing.
One wall is covered in the most astounding fresco of the creation and another with a painfully detailed picture of St Christopher. The added extention on the chapel is covered in brightly coloured biblical scenes and while most of the colour has faded away, when it was first built it would have been a truly awe-inspiring sight.
The green and patches of red are still visible but mostly only the back remains now.
Also, in the stained glass window there are two faceless saints.
Faceless because in 1820 someone stole the glass from the window. Not all of it, just the faces, and despite a hefty reward for their return they were never seen again.
The faces were replaced with clear glass.
There's also the most beautiful carving of one of the sons of the family. Born 1885 and died 1894, it is truly the most wonderful piece of sculpture over his tomb. Pure white marble, so lifelike you half expect to be able to ruffle the sheets that he's lying on.
Oh, and darnit, he was TALL for a 9yr old
After the tour we had dinner and John, being the kinda' guy that he is, seems to be a favourite of the terribly posh lady Chairman. Hilary someone or other, OBE.
I think that's her name... anyway she seemed to seek him out at every opportunity and is putting him forward for some kind of board position if he wants one. Maybe not this year or even next, but definitely at some point.
He and I ended up sitting opposite her and her oft-ignored husband Basil over dinner, so... I got to hob-nob with the posh folks and try to explain to her the difference between a chatroom and a message board, and how it is that people can meet their future husband/wife over the internet.
*shrugs* Well, she asked.
Mum and JR sat on one of the other tables, which is probably a good thing cause JR had an ice-cream after dinner and managed to get it all over his chin. m(_ _)m~~#
Not the best impression to give when holding your own in a sea of the terribly posh.
Cahirwoman asked about him later and John mentioned that we weren't actually related, he's just that guy, which I think made him feel better... XD
JR's lovely, bless 'im, but not built for society events.
Um, I guess that's about it. I drove us all out there and I'm still getting problems with my car. It's doing that juddering thing again. JR thinks it could be the fuel pump.
I think they'll just keep trying random things until they accidentally hit on what's causing it.
Mum drove us back, which was nice as far as I was concerned cause I was bloody knackered.
I'm now feeling all randomly historical plot-bunny-ish. *shakes fist at cultural outings* Damn you for giving me ideas!
Now being a dream, naturally I decided that, what the hey, I'd take HIS lorry instead of MY car, though I remember being a little worried that being all knackered and out of breath from running really wouldn't give the best impression.
In the end I musta' decided that it would be better than trying to find my own little Nataku (yes my car has a name)
Oddly enough I had the keys for Hugh's lorry on me already, so I hopped in the driver's side and asked if he was coming along for the ride. He said yes and climbed in the passenger seat, but said I'd have to stop and let him out at the halfway point cause he had to get back in time for something or other. I don't remember what.
I remember though that it was a left hand drive vehicle, which is an oddly recurrant theme in my dreams. Don't ask me why.
Next thing I remember is that we were driving in reverse cause we were facing the wrong way on a one way street. So apparently reverse seemed the most logical option. I also remember that I wasn't really steering for a little while and I managed to total 2 cars with the back of the lorry trailer. (All messed up and squished kinda' totalled)
I also remember telling dream-Hugh that we just kinda' clipped them a bit and no one would notice, though after that I actually started steering again while looking through the window in the back of the cab which I SWEAR hadn't been there before.
Next thign I remember is that we reached some kind of chaotic roundabout with all sorts of other competitors in the race spewing around and all heading to and coming from wildly different directions. I think this musta' been the halfway point cause dream-Hugh got out (and no, not because of my evidently lousy driving).
I have NO idea what happened after that and the next thing I remember is getting woken up by my mum at around 10ish.
Damnit, golden opportunity wasted.
So, what else happened today...?
Went with the family to Haddon Hall in Derbyshire. Former home of the Duke and Dutchess of Rutland before the family moved to Belvoir Castle some time in the 1800's.
We went as part of a special party of John's Winston Churchill fellowship collegues, specially organised for us by the Duke's former nanny.
It's a rarity among medieval-based buildings in that it escaped much of the extensive remodelling that happened to its peers as the family where living elsewhere when the building's style was suffering its most architecturally unfashionable era.
So it's got a fantastic mish-mash of extensions and it possesses the most wonderful "Squinch."
Somewhere between a squeeze and a pinch, it's a part of the corner of the courtyard where they found that the walls didn't actually meet. They were out by a good 10', not just in distance but also out by 3' in height, so the space is made up with a random assortment of things going left a bit and up a little and left a bit more and then up again... it's wonderful. It's a total shambles, it even has odd-shaped windows stuck in at random places along the squinch because it was the only place they would fit.
So anyhow, you can see how the building got added to by successive generations. It swirls around through Elizabethan and Tudor and this and that and the other. It even has a chunk of the retaining wall that required special permission from Prince John to build.
The kitchens, always may favourite part, were very cool. They even had the original chopping and slaughtering block in the meat house.
Well, that and the thought that at one point in history the room was filled with 40 nekkid men basting a hog-roast certainly made it a very entertaining place.
*insert snikkering*
The long gallery was interesting too. It was entirely panneled in oak, but the family were so sick of all the oak panneling in the house they had it PAINTED to look like cedar.
During the 18 and early 1900's people were allowed to visit the house even though it was empty, and one nosey historian gained permission to remove a chunk of paint from one section of the long gallery's walls because he wanted to know what was underneath it. You can still see the patch that's missing. It's a strange-coloured smear in the bottom corner of one of the panels.
The family chapel was gorgeous too. When it was first built it was the church for the entire village of Haddon.
Haddon no longer exists, of course. It was somewhere underneath where the car park is now. But the chapel is still there and so is most of the fresco work. It's truly amazing.
One wall is covered in the most astounding fresco of the creation and another with a painfully detailed picture of St Christopher. The added extention on the chapel is covered in brightly coloured biblical scenes and while most of the colour has faded away, when it was first built it would have been a truly awe-inspiring sight.
The green and patches of red are still visible but mostly only the back remains now.
Also, in the stained glass window there are two faceless saints.
Faceless because in 1820 someone stole the glass from the window. Not all of it, just the faces, and despite a hefty reward for their return they were never seen again.
The faces were replaced with clear glass.
There's also the most beautiful carving of one of the sons of the family. Born 1885 and died 1894, it is truly the most wonderful piece of sculpture over his tomb. Pure white marble, so lifelike you half expect to be able to ruffle the sheets that he's lying on.
Oh, and darnit, he was TALL for a 9yr old
After the tour we had dinner and John, being the kinda' guy that he is, seems to be a favourite of the terribly posh lady Chairman. Hilary someone or other, OBE.
I think that's her name... anyway she seemed to seek him out at every opportunity and is putting him forward for some kind of board position if he wants one. Maybe not this year or even next, but definitely at some point.
He and I ended up sitting opposite her and her oft-ignored husband Basil over dinner, so... I got to hob-nob with the posh folks and try to explain to her the difference between a chatroom and a message board, and how it is that people can meet their future husband/wife over the internet.
*shrugs* Well, she asked.
Mum and JR sat on one of the other tables, which is probably a good thing cause JR had an ice-cream after dinner and managed to get it all over his chin. m(_ _)m~~#
Not the best impression to give when holding your own in a sea of the terribly posh.
Cahirwoman asked about him later and John mentioned that we weren't actually related, he's just that guy, which I think made him feel better... XD
JR's lovely, bless 'im, but not built for society events.
Um, I guess that's about it. I drove us all out there and I'm still getting problems with my car. It's doing that juddering thing again. JR thinks it could be the fuel pump.
I think they'll just keep trying random things until they accidentally hit on what's causing it.
Mum drove us back, which was nice as far as I was concerned cause I was bloody knackered.
I'm now feeling all randomly historical plot-bunny-ish. *shakes fist at cultural outings* Damn you for giving me ideas!
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no subject
Date: 2002-09-14 06:59 pm (UTC)Your post had me in stitches! I love it!
Personally, I think you're doing all this left-hand driving because you're jealous of Kat and me driving on the right side of the road and you're regreting your decision not to drive on the TCHRT.
Good on you for setting the posh old bird straight on chatrooms, and good on John for making inroads into society. And if you can't disavow all knowledge of JR, at least you can say there's no blood there. :D Sweet, sweet man, though I can see where he might not have a...er...complete set of social graces. Oh well, as long as Mum loves him.
BTW, thank you so much for the very detailed tour of the manse. Budding British historian that I am, it's great to hear about this stuff. THANKS!
Re:
Date: 2002-09-15 02:26 am (UTC)Y'know, if I hadn't been dreaming of left-hand-drive-cars since I was about 7, I would probably believe you XD
BTW, thank you so much for the very detailed tour of the manse. Budding British historian that I am, it's great to hear about this stuff. THANKS!
No probs... if JR had remembered to unpack the flipping digital camera I could have supplied pictures as well ^^;