Innumerable people have warned me of how bad Newport winters
can be but until recently, its all been a bit of an anti-climax. Over the past couple
of weeks though there's been a last-minute lash of winter's tail with one quite heavy fall a couple of
days ago and another bad storm on the way, they say. As a result the College either opens late or
closes altogether as the Admiral doesn't want any of his people putting
themselves at risk on the roads - and few of them has as easy a drive in to
work as I do. I must say I am very impressed by Newport's very professional
reaction to snow. Dozens of snow plough trucks appear from nowhere - usually
quite small ones - pick-up trucks with a plough (or should I say 'plow')
attached to the front. I think many are privately owned. Certainly someone
appeared and cleared the long drive to the main house and my rather short one soon after I left on Friday morning
and I was even more impressed to see people clearing the pavements along
Bellevue with what looked like leaf-blowers, when I drove past at 0715. The
following Monday, after more snow, we were given another snow day off (which
only means I work at home !). I was a bit surprised actually as I can recall
driving into Greenwich from Kent in
conditions far worse than this, weaving my way between lorries jack-knifed
across the A2.
Perhaps the Navy is
frightened of being sued. In that
connection, it's certainly solicitous of its people. I had one rather alarming
e-mail at college last week entitled "Upcoming Mandatory
Suicide." Rather than being a way
of thinning staff numbers out ,I was relieved to find it was a training
course of what to look out for in the
behaviour of your colleagues....
There
might not be that much snow apart from the great heaps left by the snow-loughs
but it lasts for ever as it's really cold most of the time, way below freezing.
One unfortunate consequences is that a squirrel has taken to living in the loft
and its really noisy at the moment, despite my shouting insults at it and
banging the loft hatch with a broom. I gather though that the pest control man
is coming tomorrow so I'm hoping that will solve the problem. Despite the cold
though, Spring is on its way. Daffodils are showing and I've noticed more
little birds around, including this quite striking Cardinal.
The
Saturday morning before was sunny and inviting so I walked into town along the Avenue, camera
in hand to capture views of the Mansions in a blanket of snow, and also the
many magnificent beech trees in their grounds, and noticed that some long
stretches of pavement were clear and some weren't . It looked as though some
houses assumed responsibility for it and some didn't. I remember years ago Grandma
Till telling me that in her mother's day households in Portsmouth had to
keep the pavements outside their houses clean. Perhaps the same thing applies
here - I'll have to find out.
Its
interesting spotting similarities and dissimilarities between life here and
back in the UK. One thing I've noticed that's different is how many locals
start an answer to a question with the word 'so'... Very curious. They are also extremely
polite. Often motorists will stop or
markedly slow down if you look as though
you might want to cross a road even if nowhere near a zebra crossing - and absolutely rigorous if
you are. Quite embarrassing
sometimes. It might be a local
thing because I recall we were once quite shocked in Hawaii of all places
seeing a Japanese tourist actually arrested for jay walking, or that's what it
looked like anyway. Certainly she was given a very hard time. I can't imagine
that happening here. Another thing that's different are the adverts for health
products on the TV. Whatever they advertise is followed by a long and detailed
description of the side-effects you might have all the way up to premature
death that's so graphic they sound far worse than whatever it is you are trying
to cure. The BBC presence is very marked
too. The local radio station switches over to the BBC world service at 2100 or
2200 for the rest of the night. A similarity
Another
difference is their veneration for anything 'old'. The Newport Preservation
Society is really a force to be reckoned with here, extremely well-funded, and
to judge by the number of mansions they have bought extremely wealthy. The
result is a wealth of 17th-19th Century houses, big and small, and places like
the Redwood Library which I mentioned last time. I went in as a member for the
first time, to get some books, to revel
in the atmosphere and to 'do' their fantastic collection of Grandfather clocks.
Apparently there was a famous clock-making dynasty called the Claggetts here in
the first half of the 18th Century. I learned all about tombstone doors,
urn-and-flame finials, laquered putti,
rocking escapements and all the rest. They were certainly very grand and made
our family one from Chichester of about 1783 look quite plain. But ours is just
a 'country' clock even though it's very unusual in having an external strike
mechanism that makes clock-menders exclaim. It's been through the wars too. For
a long time its face was black and it didn't work (perhaps from the time when
it was in a small Portsmouth house with
a floor that sloped so much that it had to be propped up, something to which
pendulum clocks really take exception) until my father got his hands on it.
Part of the front panel of the top isn't wood but cunningly disguised lino. I'm quite looking forwards to seeing it
again, and shall do so with new eyes, as there's nothing quite like it in
Newport !
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