Blog: Life of Sophie

... I wish I lived there sometimes, but no, I do not. I spent about 4 months there back in the mid 80s though and I presumed not that much had changed. There are a few more skyscrapers and some additions to the underground, but for the most part London looks the same, which isn't a bad thing to me.

The thing I loved about the UK is you could roll up on a pub which had been a pub for the last 500 years, and sit in the very spot some poor sod sat 5 centuries before. You don't get that sense of history and continuity on this side of the pond.

 

I wasn't around in the Mid 80's, but from what i've read its changed in quite a lot of ways (but it would in 30+ years) and not in other ways.

Its really changed on the Underground, you can use Paper tickets (but don't they're more expensive) but people use the Oyster Card and increasingly their Credit Card/Contractless Credit Card to travel around London on the Underground/Buses & trams.

Plus compared to the 1980's you can't smoke on Transport London, but i'd say that's everywhere now.

That's true and that's still in the UK and Ireland where i saw a Butchers shop founded in 1621 and "The Brazen Head" which is the oldest pub in Ireland which was founded in 1198, the oldest pub in England is Ye Olde Man & Scythe founded in 1251.

 

I should imagine there's been quite a few changes, but the overall look ot the city has not changed as dramatically as elements. One of the things I like about the UK is the attention they give to history. I know that this can be a pain in the ass for developers, but when a bit of history is unearthed, the UK will dispatch archaeologists, etc. to ensure significant and important historical sites are not just bulldozed under. It's that attention to history that I really appreciate and it's likely why many of the oldest structures are still around.

I'm surprised by those changes. One would expect that more efficient means of paying for transport would evolve, along with increasing safety measures and security. I do remember that one could smoke on the tube, but hell, I remember being able to smoke on planes as well. So it's hardly shocking those practices have been eliminated.

That's the thing I really love about the UK and Europe. To be able to grab a pint at a place that has been serving pints for nearly a millenia is mindboggling but really, really cool!

I trust you're having a good time being there, even if it is for work.

I wish I could just take 5 years to do nothing but travel around the UK and Europe. I'd let a flat and do nothing but explore those places the tourists never go. I'd use Will Durant's The Story of Civilization as my guide book and hit all the most important historical sites. It's one of those impossible bucket-list items of mine.

 

Have you been to a wrap party and speak from experience?

 

Been to a few, mostly it's the free bar.

 

Was hoping you would say that yes, you have seen a starlet getting naked lol. The envy for you would be off the charts here if you had

 

That would be telling

 

Doing that tour of Europe sounds brilliant!!!

If you were going i'd point you in the direction of Edinburgh (one of my fav places) as well, i'm going to check out Will Durant's The Story of Civilization.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Civilization

In terms of buildings, sadly so much was lost as a cause of WWII and the rebuilding after and before it during the 1920's & 30's, when because of the Death Duties (taxes) it was cheaper to bulldoze big houses in the Countryside rather than trying to keep them running as homes.

During the Blitz during WWII in London so many historical buildings were lost; buildings and the area that had survived the Great Fire of London around St.Pauls Cathedral were completely destroyed.
Birmingham was completely changed as a result of night after night of bombing there.

Thankfully buildings are preserved and buildings sites where remains/buildings are found are either preserved or recorded before building continues.

I actually listened during history in school & wanted to be a Civil Engineer, but was told that girls don't do Civil Engineering.

 

I remember reading of this destruction in the course of my studies of history. It's such a damn shame that so many historical places were destroyed during the Great Fire and WWII. And the losses on the Continent were even greater. It saddens me to think of all the history that has been lost in wars, but this has been going on for as long as mankind has been building cities. Civil structures, palaces, libraries, great gardens, paintings, sculptures, books on history, medicine, sciences, philosophy and religion... the losses down through the millenia have been incalculable. And sadly, the one indestrucable and imutable thing through all that history has been human nature itself. And thus it will always be apparently. At least if history be any guide.

 

Oh, and you're still young, never too late to become a civil engineer. I think they let women do that now...

 

Better version

I was thinking of adding it to Celeb Extra but the quality is so crap, what do you think?
It looks like Emma took a photograph of a Polaroid & posted it on her Insty.

 

Celebrity Extra is actually the perfect place for that pic, I'd post it were I you.

 

Oh Edinburgh and many other places in Scotland would definitely be on my list1

As for Durant's work, I highly recommend it! Many scholars would be quick to point out that those books were written a long time ago and that more recent discoveries respecting historical events would differ from those by Durant.

What those critics miss is that one does not read Durant's chef-d'œuvre for historical minutae but for the big picture. But it's so much more than that! Honestly, I could type for an hour on this work. He doesn't just cover the grand events in history, art, philosphy and the sciences, but he digs down into every period to give one a sense of what life was like for the average person, their workaday world, their labors, attitudes, religious observances and superstitions.

And even more surprising to me was that though the 11-volume work was truly formidable in length, it was one of the most enjoyable reads I've ever experienced! He was not only insightful but downright funny! He never takes himself too seriously and will tell you when various accounts in history are questionable or speculative. There just aren't enough nice things I can say about this series. It is both profound and highly entertaining... such was Will Durant's genius.

It took me a few years to read all 11 volumes. I had to fit in my work and other books on history and economics. But I promise you that once you've completed your reading you will never look at history and life the same way ever again.

Okay, I've blathered on enough, I now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging.

 

I shouldn't worry about that were I you... Emma posted it to her Insta, that should be good enough for everyone else.

 

It is a primary conceit of scholars and intellects that they consider their pronouncements as equivalent to the word of God.

The lack of that conceit in Durant's works are what compelled to read through the 11 massive volumes that comprise The Story of Civilization. In fact, in his very first book of that series, Our Oriental Heritage, he pokes fun at such pronouncements and speculations by ivory tower intellects. After reading that, and seeing the humor that he brought to a typically dry subject, I knew I would have to read all 11 books, and everything else he has written.

He is able to paint such vivid pictures of various parts of the world because he traveled to just about every place he had written about, many times in most cases.

And if advances a theory of some historical event or personage, he will tell you that it is just a prevailing theory and should not be taken as the gospel!

I enjoyed his writings even more than I did of those by Churchill... his 4-volume work A History of the English Speaking Peoples had been one of my favorites, but Durant surpassed that by a handy margin!

The only caution I would give one before reading Durant; invest in a good dictionary, the complete OED Compact Edition is what I used, far more often that I would have thought! That man has a vocabulary on him!

Oh, and a good language translator app will be needed as well. Durant started writing this work back in the 1920s and seems to have assumed that anyone who would read such a work would know a little ancient Greek, Latin and at least a half dozen other languages - mostly French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German etc.

But believe me, it's soooo worth the work it will take to get through all 11 volumes.

 

Added it in Celeb Extra.

Meanwhile

True Maisie true.