So, I watched an episode of Midsomer Murders last night, after getting nostalgic… it seems the programme could be seen as one of Britain’s best exports, in part because of its evocation of “rural England”. The body count may not be strictly authentic to the real U.K….
Anyone have those books that you buy but never get around to reading? I tend to get stacks at charity shops, then often can’t find the time to actually read them. This was especially bad with some shops in England – I would regularly go looking, and find books for 10 or 20p … cheap enough to buy, and then keep, or donate back to the shop on the next clearout..
One of the books I’ve had for a while is “In Search of England” by H.V.Morton. I’ve been stuck in bed most of the day, so it seemed an ideal time to have a look…
A basic Google search reveals that the author may not have been the cheerful chappy he portrays himself to be in the text; nevertheless, I’ve been enjoying my reading. The book was published in 1927, and reflects the time after the Great War, the One to end all wars, when the world changed… there seems to be sense of hopefulness, a collective sigh that the worst was over, and things could get better. There is no hint of the coming of that next war, when the world changed again…
The book starts from London, then moves through to Hampshire, to places that I know. I could walk through Winchester to the cathedral with him, and stand at the Bargate in Southampton… there are stories that I remember about these places, and some that I had forgotten – that Richard the Lionheart sailed to the Crusades from Southampton, or the story of the townspeople of Romsey buying the Abbey from Henry VIII, to save it from being demolished in the dissolution of the monasteries. In some ways, the narrative is almost alien – there were no backpackers and hostels then, and cars were still a rarity in places. A good evening’s entertainment could be listening to the wireless, in the front room of the one man in the village to have one… there are echoes of history that seem contemporary as well – places like Stonehenge, or traces of long-dead villages, just as ancient in the beginning of the last century as they are now.
Perhaps the book is not a strictly truthful retelling of the journey. Perhaps it just reflects the England that we want to remember. I don’t know…. There is a sense of wonder and discovery to the writing – beautiful word paintings of a time long gone, but could still, maybe, be seen out of the corner of an eye, when the light is right…
Here’s a bit of a picture –
“…the next thing (I saw) was a village that was trying to climb a hill. One whitewashed cottage had reached the top, but all the others had stuck half-way, with their gardens gazing in a rather surprised manner over their chimney pots.”
…or this quote capturing the “stiff upper lip” of a young woman who lived alone in the ruins of Beaulieu Abbey, a place widely believed to be haunted, especially during the night –
“Things do happen, of course,” said Miss Cheshire in a matter-of-fact voice, “but I won’t have anything to do with them. I just turn over and go to sleep.”
The “things” she’s talking about are footsteps, keys in locks, choirs and voices in a place where there are no other inhabitants…
I haven’t finished reading the book. Perhaps it is mostly a fabricated documentary…. but it feels like I’m seeing the scenes before me as I read. I like that.
1000 Fields of Roses 