No.200

WELCOME

TO THE 200TH POST AT 80 PLUS

This blog’s first appearance was on 3rd July 2008.
Since then it has had more than 5,800 hits with just over 7,700 pages looked at.

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WISE MEN SAY

Forethought we may have, undoubtedly, but not foresight.
(Napoleon Bonaparte)

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In my young day some fathers, clever with their hands, were able to make things like stilts for their children and “bogies” constructed out of a wooden box and four pram wheels.

I doubt if my father could have managed anything like that, although he once made a kite which succeeded in staying airborne for a couple of minutes.

A few boys in our street went to the local blacksmith who made a “girr” (hoop) and “cleek” (iron rod) for them. There was very little traffic where we lived and so the place was ideal for running with those toys.

Searching for good chestnuts was a popular pastimes in autumn, but I don’t think I ever played conkers and although I had a collection of marbles I can’t remember playing “bools” with them.

My Saturday penny often went to buy another toy soldier for my tin fort. Made of metal, about 4cm in height, they were brightly painted - black busbies, red jackets and dark blue trousers. Unusually the fort was also home to one or two cowboys and a red Indian.

Like most boys at that time, I had a number of Dinky Toys. Modelled on real cars, vans, lorries and buses, those were much more expensive than the soldiers, and so it was only occasionally that one was added to my collection.

When playing with toys, I had a vivid imagination. While my pals all knelt down and pushed their little cars along the pavement, I remained standing, holding my car at eye level, for I could clearly see the imaginary road along which my car was speeding.

Both my sister and I were pretty good at “make believe”. When very small, she would sit for ages on the floor playing with papers and telling stories aloud to herself. As for me, a couple of clothes pegs (not the kind with metal hinges) could become people, the little round bit being the head and the two prongs their legs. Also if one of the pegs was fitted in to the other at right angles, the result was an aeroplane.

When I was very young, I could content myself with an old biscuit tin full of discarded buttons, arranging them in different patterns on the carpet.

Who needs toys if you have a good imagination?

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JOHN’S GALLERY

Children
by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1526/1530–1569)

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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

The Lamplighter
by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky,
It's time to take the window to see Leerie going by,
For every night at teatime and before you take your seat,
With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street.

Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea,
And my papa's a banker and as rich as he can be,
But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I'm to do,
O Leerie, I'll go round at night and light the lamps with you!

For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door,
And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more,
And oh! before you hurry by with ladder and with light,
O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him tonight!

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The music video I’ve chosen today is really quite astonishing -
four very young children from Chongjin City in North Korea, playing guitars!!!
Uploaded by Chojiro22



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A QUOTE FOR 80 PLUS

He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age,
but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden.
(Plato)

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Next post on 80 plus Music Mix - Thursday 22nd March
Julian Lloyd Webber, Charlie Kunz, Vera Lynn
and the Johann Strauss Ensemble
http://80plusmusicmix.blogspot.com

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No.199

WISE MEN SAY

I have a simple philosophy - fill what’s empty, empty what’s full, scratch where it itches.
(Alice Roosevelt Longworth)

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JOHN’S GALLERY

The Girl in White
by Arthur Hacker (1858-1919)

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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

Sweet Garden-Orchard
by William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

Sweet Garden-orchard! of all spots that are
The loveliest surely man hath ever found.
Farewell! we leave thee to heaven's peaceful care.
Thee and the cottage which thou dost surround -

Dear Spot! whom we have watched with tender heed,
Bringing thee chosen plants and blossoms blown
Among the distant mountains, flower and weed
Which thou hast taken to thee as thy own -

O happy Garden! loved for hours of sleep,
O quiet Garden! loved for waking hours.
For soft half-slumbers that did gently steep
Our spirits, carrying with them dreams of flowers.

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THROUGH THE CAMERA LENS

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Uploaded by agnesfashionart, La Belle Epoque is a collection of Victorian and Edwardian photos.



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A QUOTE FOR 80 PLUS

Should we slow down because we’re getting older, or hurry up because we’ll not get any younger? (Anon)

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Next post Wednesday 21st March

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No.198

WISE MEN SAY

A lonesome man on a rainy day is one who does not know how to read.
(Anon)

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THROUGH THE CAMERA LENS

Stivan Beach on Cres Island, Croatia

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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

It Couldn't Be Done
by Edgar A. Guest (1881-1959)

Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But he with a chuckle replied
That maybe it couldn't, but he would be one
Who wouldn't say so till he tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried, he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you'll never do that -
At least no one ever has done it."
But he took off his coat and took off his hat
And the first thing he knew he'd begun it.

With the lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.

But just buckle right in with a bit of a grin,
Then take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
That cannot be done, and you'll do it.

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JOHN’S GALLERY

A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society
by Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-1873)

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I chanced to pass a window
While walking through a mall
With nothing much upon my mind,
Quite blank as I recall.
I noticed in that window
A cranky-faced old man,
And why he looked so cranky
I didn't understand.
Just why he looked at ME that way
Was more than I could see
Until I came to realize
That cranky man was ME!

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Make sure the volume is turned up for this item.

Uploaded by sakura4250

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A QUOTE FOR 80 PLUS

I will never be an old man. To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am.
(Francis Bacon)

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Next post Monday 19th March

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No.197

WISE MEN SAY

Today is the absolute day, the only day in the eternity of time.
Every day is fresh and new, just as one’s life is new every day.
(Anon)

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JOHN’S GALLERY

On the Threshold
by Edmund Blair Leighton (1852-1922)

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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

The Market Girl
by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

Nobody took any notice of her as she stood on the causey kerb*,
All eager to sell her honey and apples and bunches of garden herb;
And if she had offered to give her wares and herself with them too that day,
I doubt if a soul would have cared to take a bargain so choice away.

But chancing to trace her sunburnt grace that morning as I passed nigh,
I went and I said "Poor maidy dear! - and will none of the people buy?"
And so it began; and soon we knew what the end of it all must be,
And I found that though no others had bid, a prize had been won by me.

*causey - a paved pathway

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THROUGH THE CAMERA LENS

I found this photo on the internet. There was no information about it, but it was said to be Scottish dated 1848

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DO YOU REMEMBER -

Nelson Eddy

In this YouTube uploaded by MusashiTzu he sings a popular ballad from 1909 “When you come to the end of a perfect day.” The words by Carrie Jacobs-Bond are shown below.

When you come to the end of a perfect day,
And you sit alone with your thought,
While the chimes ring out with a carol gay,
For the joy that the day has brought,
Do you think what the end of a perfect day
Can mean to a tired heart,
When the sun goes down with a flaming ray,
And the dear friends have to part?

Well, this is the end of a perfect day,
Near the end of a journey, too,
But it leaves a thought that is big and strong,
With a wish that is kind and true.
For memory has painted this perfect day
With colours that never fade,
And we find at the end of a perfect day,
The soul of a friend we've made.

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A QUOTE FOR 80 PLUS

The principal objection to old age is that there’s no future in it. (Anon)

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Tomorrow on 80 plus Music Mix
Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen
Natalia Kartashova
The 12 cellos of the Berlin Philharmonic
http://80plusmusicmix.blogspot.com

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No.196

WISE MEN SAY

Only as high as I reach can I grow,
Only as far as I seek can I go,
Only as deep as I look can I see,
Only as much as I dream can I be.
(Karen Ravn)

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JOHN’S GALLERY

The Admiring Glance

by Auguste Toulmouche (1829-1890)

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ON THE STREET WHERE WE LIVED

Kerr Street was one of contrasts.

Bisected halfway down by Oxford Street, the upper part where we lived consisted of well-kept tenements, 4 villas near us, a primary school, a church and 2 more private houses.

My pal Andrew lived in one of the bigger tenement flats across the road. He was one of a big family, and each time I called to ask if he was coming out to play, his mother, having answered the door, would go off to fetch him. That was when his siblings one by one would peep out from the kitchen door to inspect me, each head appearing at a different level.

The lower part of the street, which stretched down to the main road, had a picture house, a bus garage, and a small hall which may have been used by British Legion members. Quite a few of the houses were of the room and kitchen type with outside toilets, and the families who occupied them seemed to have a large numbers of children. I was inside one of those houses only once, and that was when I was teenager. I had to deliver a message to a semi-professional musician who lived there with his wife and 3 or 4 children. Where they all slept I don’t know, but Bob’s double bass took up valuable space in the bedroom!!!

There were two “sweetie” shops, one of which was really the living room of a house. Another one was used by a shoe repairer for his shop. We children had a morbid interest in the fact that he had just one leg and got about on crutches. A member of the Salvation Army band, he taught his two sons the trumpet and when they grew up both were well-known locally as dance band musicians. The younger one for a while worked in London with some of the country’s top dance bands.

I must say a little bit more about our picture house. Of the two cinemas in the town, the one in our street was the least attractive. The films shown there were often unknown and the brightness of the screen seemed to dim every twenty minutes or so.

In those days it took years for new films to come to a local picture house. However that didn’t stop many folk being enthusiastic cinema-goers, and, with each picture house changing their programme every two days, it was possible to see a different show six nights a week!!!

Most children in those days went to the Saturday matinee, but that was not for us. There were two reasons - first, my mother’s upbringing as a Baptist gave her serious doubts about picture houses and theatres, but more important than that was the terrible tragedy which occurred in Paisley on the afternoon of December 31st 1929.

Nine hundred children between the ages of eighteen months and twelve years had gathered in the Glen Cinema, when a fire broke out in the projection box. It was quickly brought under control but as smoke filled the hall panic ensued. Some of the exits couldn’t be opened and tragically 70 children were crushed to death in the stampede.

On rare occasions we went to the local cinema as a family. The films we saw were usually stories about children and starred either Freddie Bartholomew or Shirley Temple.

This video “Baby Face” is a tribute to Shirley Temple devised by afrenchindublin. The song is played by Art Mooney and his Orchestra.

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A friend has sent me this YouTube video and I'm pleased to to be able to show it here.
From it, you'll gather that there's a proposal to build houses in our village.
Naturally we're doing everything possible to oppose the scheme.

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Now on 80 plus Music Mix
The New Zealand singer Hayley Westenra:
Waltz II from Jazz Suite by Shostakovich:
Song of India by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.
http://80plusmusicmix.blogspot.com

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A QUOTE FOR 80 PLUS

Old age comes on suddenly, and not gradually as is thought.
(Emily Dickinson)

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No.195

WISE MEN SAY

Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same (Anon)

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THROUGH THE CAMERA LENS

Thanks to http://www.freefoto.com

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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

On a Tired Housewife
Anon

Here lies a poor woman who was always tired,
She lived in a house where help wasn't hired:
Her last words on earth were: “Dear friends, I am going
To where there's no cooking, or washing, or sewing,
For everything there is exact to my wishes,
For where they don't eat there's no washing of dishes.
I'll be where loud anthems will always be ringing,
But having no voice I'll be quit of the singing.
Don't mourn for me now, don't mourn for me never,
I am going to do nothing for ever and ever.”

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JOHN’S GALLERY

“The Expectant Wee Things”
an engraving by William Miller after John Faed

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This fun video was filmed in Bukit Bintang, Malaysia last July



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A QUOTE FOR 80 PLUS

Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you've got to start young.
(Theodore Roosevelt)

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Next post here Monday 12th March

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No.194

WISE MEN SAY

To talk without thinking is to shoot without aiming. (Anon)

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THROUGH THE CAMERA LENS

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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

The Quiet Life
by Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

Happy the man, whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air
In his own ground.

Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire;
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter fire.

Blest, who can unconcernedly find
Hours, days and years slide soft away
In health of body, peace of mind,
Quiet by day,

Sound sleep at night; study and ease
Together mixed; sweet recreation,
And innocence, which most does please
With meditation.

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone

Tell where I lie.

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JOHN’S GALLERY

His Master’s Voice
by Francis Barraud (1856-1924)

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This video uploaded by Aaron1912 is “The Year was 1912.” It lasts five and a half minutes.



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A QUOTE FOR 80 PLUS

To resist the frigidity of old age, one must combine the body, the mind, and the heart.
And to keep these in parallel vigour, one must exercise, study, and love.
(Alan Bleasdale)

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Next post here Friday 9th March

Tomorrow on 80 PLUS MUSIC MIX - the New Zealand singer Hayley Westenra, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and a famous waltz by the Russian composer Shostakovich.
http://80plusmusicmix.blogspot.com

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