A young woman in a bobble hat sits upon a rock on The Bole Hills looking westwards to the Sheffield suburb of Stannington and beyond that to the Loxley Valley and Broomhead Moors. Several small metalworking industries were once located on The Bole Hills. Those men of old harnessed the winds that surged up the valleys to increase the temperatures in their boles and little furnaces. It wasn't easy to melt metal.
Perhaps those lead, bronze and iron men of yore would sometimes take breaks from their labours and sit upon that selfsame rock looking to the west, considering their lives and their futures and wondering about the beauty of our world.
And then I walked to Slinn Street, Sheffield 10 close to where we used to live before moving to our present house in Sheffield 11. I took this picture of a house called "Mount Pleasant" which enjoys a commanding view of The Don Valley:-
Suddenly feeling the urge to use a lavatory, I nipped into "The Princess Royal" public house. Upon lifting the seat, I spotted this:-
Sheffield United is one of this city's professional football teams. The other is Sheffield Wednesday. As you may have already guessed "The Princess Royal" is a Wednesday pub. What could be more insulting to a sporting adversary than to advertise its existence upon a toilet seat? Perhaps this kind of toilet humour is a Yorkshire thing.
For "Shooting Parrots" Sunday Round-Up. Go here.
The football team "ad" on the toilet seat just sends a shudder through me. I understand the humour but I just can't imagine putting the sticker there, or cleaning it. Ugh
ReplyDeleteWell. I never realised that you were such an obsessively hygienic human being Kylie!
DeleteI'm not! I'm more chaotic than obsessive!
DeleteI had a girlfriend from the bole hills!
ReplyDeletePerhaps that was her sitting on the rock, pining for her Johnny.
DeleteI'd sit on a rock and take in that beautiful view as well.
ReplyDeleteThe woman with the bobble hat might tell you to sling your hook Red!
DeleteIt sounds like I should avoid this babe!
DeleteI guess the men from the lead/iron/bronze ages would have had a prettier view from that rock.
ReplyDeleteYeah, no high rise blocks back then.
DeleteIt's interesting to consider who might have sat on that rock through the years, isn't it? Even more so to see pictures from different times looking out over the same view. I followed the link for "boles" - the old ways were fascinating, how people managed to do the things that needed done with open fires, water power, gravity, etc. We have a grist mill in our area from the times of water power. The grindstones are huge, the wooden water wheel is huge. I'm not sure the computer generation even knows these things exist.
ReplyDeleteThe computer generation could always google "ancient history"... and yes it is interesting to think about the people that rock has seen through many hundreds of years.
DeleteNot the view I was expecting. I think I'll stick with the views from the windows and doors of my cabin...of blossoming (and non-blossoming) trees, green grass, birds...and no neighbours or neighbours' houses (or toilets) within eye view.
ReplyDeleteThose trees in the first picture will all be green in two months time.
DeleteI really was referring to the toilet, Yorkie. :)
DeleteThat rock looks like the perfect place to sit and ponder, or simply let the sun shine on your face after long months of being cooped up inside an office with not much chance to see daylight during the week.
ReplyDeleteDo you know the poem "Leisure" by William Davies?
DeleteWhat is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
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ReplyDelete