Pub Signs (and some others)

When more or less restricted as to where I might go, I sometimes go wandering to places I have been. And of course, while looking for something else, you sometimes find a collections of things that spark a note of interest or nostalgia.

Thus while wandering through photos from our trip to the UK in 2010, I was intrigued by the signs--mostly advertising pubs. Some are decidedly fun.

Legal and clerical fields well represented.

Alice? where have you gone?



Some addresses address history.

more history?

fine clothing

Some addresses bring fictional characters to life.

from Edinburgh, Newcastle on Tyne, Lincoln, and London

Headbangers are at it again, and again a dilemna

Richard's first selection for a theme is "Through the Window" and if I recall his suggestion is that we take a picture this week through a window if possible, but also could comb our files for a good one.

I am torn.

I have a great selection of window photos from far and wide to choose from in the files, and here are some in no particular order.

Seen while traveling in India

Through a visitor center window at Arches National Park

Another visitor center window view--this one at Mt. Rainier

So which Edinburgh Castle window? This one?
 

Or this?

Off to Ullapool, Scotland

How about old glass at Lincoln Cathedral

Westminster Cathedral seen broken in sections in the window opposite

A Scotty's Castle window view, reflected, in Death Valley



a Kremlin window view.

The other day my husband came home from town and called out as he opened the door, "Come bring your camera. See what came home with me." He thought it was a strange creature, but it is the right season for preying mantises to crop up anywhere and I have preying mantis shots from years before. So I popped inside the car to take the picture through the window. A different view to be sure. Definitely not the best of my window shots, but I like the fact that it was through the window RIGHT NOW, and so will use it for my header. I'm a renegade.

 

Now let me tell you a couple of preying mantis stories from my days teaching first grade. We usually had a pet preying mantis in a tank in the classroom. The kids would go out with a butterfly net during recess to catch grasshoppers to feed them. The kids knew the drill, and they loved having the strange little guys as part of the family.

 

Adults had some strange encounters with our pets, though. For one, they are misunderstood critters, so, not realizing that in captivity they are cannibalistic, it happened more than once that a well-meaning member of staff gave our pet a friend during the weekend or while cleaning the classroom, only to stare in horror when they mentioned it to me and I had to tell them that our dear pet had eaten the new roommate. (Or vice versa--never quite sure.)

 

The best story, though, was parent open house. The kids had gathered a great jar of grasshoppers during the day. The parents had sat through the boring meeting in the gym and were now in the classrooms where we were to tell them about curriculum, class rules and all that stuff. Just before the group arrived in my classroom, I dropped half a dozen grasshoppers into the tank. As the parents were gathered to hear a bit about what first grade was about, one who was near the tank let out a cry. I don't recall the exact words--it has been years--but the result was all the parents in the room gathered around the take to watch the preying mantis, with one grasshopper under each arm, munching first one grasshopper head then the other.

 

They were mesmerized. And I didn't have to give a boring speech about curriculum.



Headbangers--Advertising

Christopher--Gailsman--gave us the theme of advertising for this week's headbangers' challenge. Not really having a chance to go out looking for a shot, I had some fun looking through the files for appropriate images.

Having done some traveling, I thought I would show you this ubiquitous image

 

along with some of its competition, in various locales and versions. 

In Russia:

In rural India:

In London's Picadilly Circus:

And when there is no cola, there is always coffee:

In Lincoln UK

 and Edinburgh (what? you thought it was Seattle?)

  Here!   This one is in Seattle.     Where else?  Italian style ice cream at the foot of a statue of Lenin.   From the ROYAL Grinders?

I did not choose any of those, despite how fun they might be to contemplate. With all the advertising that comes at us from every direction--every media--every hour of the day, it came to me that sometimes--just sometimes--this is all you need to know:

And so, as they say out by Mt. St. Helens:

ABC Revisiting E

View of historic Edinburgh and Edinburgh Castle from Calton Hill.

From our visit last year, here is a revisit of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. How I would love to revisit it in fact rather than just virtually and spend more time. For more views of Edinburgh see these posts from last year and these on my photoblog.

To see what others found for the letter E, look here at the ABC Wednesday site.

Monday Geometry in Edinburgh

A close is a narrow alley leading into a square or garden, sometimes as narrow as this staircase.








I don't know what we would have found at the end of Craig's Close, but taking a look into Dunbar Close we found the Dunbar's Close Gardens. Formal gardens laid out in a clear geometry.

I've added one more picture of the Dunbar Gardens so that you can better see the benches along the edges. I was so awed by the green (and the geometry) that I didn't think of benches specifically, but I will have some benches for Paulie and Rune later in the trip.

And the Pubs

I promised pub signs and here is one of the most famous--or is it infamous. The popular pub commemorates Deacon Brodie, good citizen by day, robber by night and possibly the real life persona of Dr. Jekyll (or Mr. Hyde.)

Those hanging signs are not just for pubs. The one above is obvious. The one below marks an exhibit on the history of conditions of the working class.

Pubs are not just beer and ale. They are a good spot for a meal. Our fish and chips were prepared in this tiny kitchen at the End of the World. The End of the World got its name because it is at the site of the city gates of the walled city of the 16th century. 

Since no one would consider going beyond those gates, it was the end of their world. Brass bricks mark the location in the street outside.

A pub at Greyfriars marks the neighborhood where  a pup named Bobby demonstrated his loyalty to his master. Bobby had been the companion of Jock, who guarded the cattle brought to market. When Jock took sick and died in the winter of 1858, Bobby followed his funeral procession to the graveyard, where he remained for fourteen years, leaving only for a meal in the nearby pub that Jock and he had frequented.