Tinker, Tailor, Soldier….
Library worker?!!!...






What-ho, Blog spy-spotters!




Well now, inspired by the release of the latest cinematic manifestation of John le Carre’s George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy I`ve been inspired to do a bit of snooping myself recently…Spying on customers and colleagues, actually, to see if any of ‘em are ‘lefties`….


Have you noticed how many left-handers there are these days?...What on earth’s going on?...






And all these left-handed authors, too?...


Mark Twain


Hans Christian Andersen


Bill Bryson


Thomas Carlyle


Lewis Carroll


Franz Kafka


Douglas Adams


HG Wells


Germaine Greer …Lefties, every man-jack of ‘em!






And another thing…Have you EVER spied how many library staff are lefties? It’s astonishing how many of ‘em are, dear readers…It’s a veritable phenomenon!






…One lefty library colleague - who wishes to remain anonymous - (let’s call him ‘David’, just to protect his identity) says being left-handed makes him “clumsy”, and prone to cause his biro to leak…Or is he just really what we call in the library profession “a M**** P**?”






Intrigued?...Why not do a bit of spying on our library staff yourselves?...


…Sneak up on one, quietly, of course…Ssshhh...Take a peek…


Are they lefties?...


Or are YOU a lefty?...


Let us know – right away.


Tell me, it’ll be our little secret…(Because, of course, there are NO  secret spy scandals here in Bexley, are there?)...






TTFN

BRONTES ‘R’ US!

Confessions and confusions…

Very well, dear reader…I ”fess up” as young people – apparently – say…

I`m bewildered by these Bronte girls…I get ‘em all mixed up, you know, (Anne, Emily, Charlotte), and can’t remember who was who, or who wrote what…


Jane - heir?...


The ten ants of Wildfell Hall?...


Wurthering originals?...


And where does Kate Bush come into it?


And then there’s the new films, it seems? And, apparently, masses of teenage Goth girls (?...) are flocking back to the books, inspired by their sense of wild, doomed romanticism - whatever that may be!…




No, no…it’s all too much for a doddery old cove like me! Give me good, sound Branwell Bronte, any day – that’s the sort of chap whose jib I can admire the cut of (apart from his opium addiction, fondness for intoxicating liquor, romantic "dabbling" and predilection towards lassitude, naturally….)


So, it’s on with m’cape, m’walking cane, and m’mutton-chop whiskers…I’m off to stride the moors…


But, if you do want to know more about them there Brontes, dear readers, then you could always click here: …


And, naturally, Bexley Libraries have a cracking cornucopia of Bronte biographies.


Enjoy!






TTFN

It’s OPEN HOUSE time –Splendid!

Bexley’s Best Bits go on display - 17th - 18th September

 

Greetings, heritage hunters – what ho!


As you can tell, I always get particularly excited around this time of year…

Not just because it’s the season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness … and I`m able to pull on my tweed suits, plus fours, and indulge my passion for raking up copious bundles of damp leaf mould, but it’s also OPEN HOUSE time. Yay!

I love poking around in old buildings, don’t you, dear reader? It’s splendid fun!

And this year, in Bexley it’s even better – take a peek!



Keen-eyed Blogfollowers will, doubtless, recognize the illustration at the masthead of this week’s online broadcast? It is, of course, the russet-tiled turret of the west-wing of my own, dear, modestly proportioned shed – (loosely modelled on Bexley’s own architectural gem, the Red House). And that’s set me thinking, dear reader…What other splendid buildings have we to marvel at here in the Borough?

Big or small, grand or humble - architecturally speaking - what are Bexley’s Best Bits?
Have you a favourite? Do tell. Just use the comments thingummy down below.


I look forward to hearing your suggestions – and, as a further inducement to encourage your input, I shall offer the winning contributor a small trowel-full of my own, special leaf mould*



Enjoy Open House, dear readers, and the wonderful legacy of those historic buildings we still have here, because – in the words of my old gardening pal, Joni Mitchell – “Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone”.



TTFN, my old historical house hunters!

* Terms and conditions apply – click HERE for details

The Hole Truth…

By Crikey! What an astonishing plethora of road works we do seem to be encountering at present, don’t you think, dear readers?...

Holes here, trenches there, excavations everywhere!




Personally, I always find it strangely fascinating, peering down into holes in the road – archaeology in action! – although I know that some of you are, occasionally, a trifle miffed about them…



(Did you know, though, by the way…you can dig up lots of useful local info about road works in Bexley online, via these marvellous new computer-jobbies…just click here…good, eh?)


Now, being a chap of a more philosophical or literary bent, I`ve turned my few remaining ‘little grey cells’ to the matter of road works, holes, tunnels and the like; or, to paraphrase the words of the late, great John Lennon

“I read the news today oh boy


Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire


And though the holes were rather small


They had to count them all


Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.


I'd love to turn you on”

Well, what ‘turns me on’ John, old chap, apart from the delights of a neatly turned trench, is BOOKS…and what more exciting tome could I unearth than this one? –London Under.

Splendid stuff! I always like Peter Ackroyd’s books, and this one in particular sounds just up (or under?) my street. Let me quote from the blurb:

“An atmospheric and historical study of everything that goes on under London, from original springs and streams and Roman amphitheatres to Victorian sewers and gang hide-outs. The book also meets the creatures that dwell in the darkness, real and fictional: rats and eels, monsters and ghosts”.

(Now, as you know, I`m not one to gossip or spread tittle-tattle but a very reliable friend of mine – “Mulletman” – once told me that a friend of a friend of his who works “down the sewers” found – actually directly underneath Buckingham Palace – a set of antlers and an antique Bible, in Welsh…Fascinating, no?)

And, if you think that’s fascinating, then you could always try this….

Or visit our wonderful Local Studies & Archives Centre, for all the murky history of underground Bexley…

Well, dear readers, that’s me done. Am off home immediately now to indulge in my new and relaxing hobby (which I`ve just started to practice, alone, behind the back of my garden shed) - road works permitting, of course...



TTFN!