Cosmopolitan Nottingham

The old joke goes something like this: "If you call someone who speaks three languages, 'trilingual,' and you call someone who speaks two languages, 'bilingual,' what do you call someone who speaks only one language?

(Prepare rim-shot for punch line.) "Someone who speaks only one language is called, 'American.'" (Ba-dum!)

So, to our American ears, it's quite unusual to hear so many different languages spoken around the neighborhood. Just on a walk to the grocery store there are often more than we can identify. The British Empire encompassed many lands and peoples, a variety of whom have settled here in the East Midlands.

It may be Bombay "style," but they cook a little of everything!

As an example, all of the photos in this post were taken at one major intersection, just a short walk from our home. All are within 50 yards of one another. And this isn't just our neighborhood. One could go a half mile or so to the next large intersection and take a similar set. Certainly one could have a like set from the city centre.

First, the variety of accents varies so greatly by region that we still have trouble understanding all forms of English here (there are some great YouTube videos around, about Scots trying to use computer voice recognition programs, such as the iPhone's Siri)!

This grocery features "halal" meat for Muslims, as well as other ethnic foods.

Although about 85% of Britain's population of 60 million self-identify as "White British," even among this population are nearly 10% whose first language is some form of Gaelic (Scottish, Irish, Welsh, or Cornish versions). Many have the accents to prove it.

As I've mentioned previously in this space, many of our neighbors here are South Asians. So it's common to hear various forms of Hindi, Punjabi, Pashto, or Urdu (not that our American ears can tell which is which).

Just one of several mosques in the neighborhood.

On any given bus ride down to the city centre we pass through neighborhoods with large populations of West African and Jamaican immigrants. So hearing people speak in a Nigerian or Congolese language is not uncommon.

Men streaming out of the local mosque after Friday prayers may still be speaking Arabic.

Polish butcher shop.

There are also quite a few Eastern Europeans in our neighborhood. A first wave of Poles, Ukranians, Latvians, and others came immediately after World War II. Another wave of immigration from Bosnia, Slovakia, Russia and Poland has been more recent.

Not in our neighborhood, but in Nottingham generally, there is a fairly large Italian population, and many of the older generation, at least, are still most comfortable in that language.

In addition, the University of Nottingham has done a good job of recruiting international students from everywhere, but particularly large numbers from China. So hearing a group of students chatting in Mandarin is also not uncommon.

We typically hear any or all of these language groups just walking down the street or riding the local bus. It's not something we're used to in Iowa, but it has inspired our students. Some are auditing university language classes for no credit, just because their interest has been raised.

If this sort of thing keeps up, perhaps in a few generations the old joke about monolingual Americans won't get a laugh.

More Snowdon

Mary critiqued my post on Mt. Snowdon, saying that I hadn't done justice to the scenery. No picture does justice to the scenery there, but here are some more, just for good measure:

M&M at the summit.

Conquering Snowdon

Last weekend we took our students to northern Wales. Logistical problems regarding bus regulations caused us to rearrange the schedule at the last minute, which was somewhat upsetting. But the gorgeous, unseasonably mild weather made up for it.

We ALL made it!

Saturday morning we drove straight to the base of Mount Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa in Welsh), the highest peak in Wales or England (though Scotland has some higher). All 12 students plus Mary and I set off on the Llanberis Path, 3200 feet of climb over 4.5 miles. Amazingly, all made it to the top and back!

Who needs coats on a day like this?

We had planned for cool weather in March, so were lugging coats and extra layers of clothing. What we really needed was more water! The sky was clear and the sun warm, mid- to high 60sF.

Sore muscles at the hostel.

After spending the night in a hostel at Llandudno (thlann-DID-know), we awoke tired and sore, but nevertheless set off early for a walking tour of Conwy (konn-OOey), then to Caernarfon Castle (kyre-NAR-vonn) to explore the masterpiece of Medieval warfare built by Edward I in the 1200s.

Young Welsh boy tries his hand at splitting slate,
Welsh National Slate Museum, Llanberis.

We returned then to Llanberis (thlann-BER-riss) to visit the Welsh National Slate Museum at the site of an abandoned mine.

Students wave from a high tower at Caernarfon Castle.

In the picturesque little village of Capel Curig (KOP-pell KIR-rigg), the 700-year-old "capel" (chapel) of the name has been converted from a  bed & breakfast. Some of our students were/will be involved in a "help exchange" there over their winter and spring breaks (help exchange allows them to exchange some free labor for free lodging). So we stopped for a peek. Unfortunately, the proprietor was away, so we only got to see the outside and hike a bit nearby.

Even after climbing a mountain yesterday,
some are ready for more hiking at Capel Curig.

We stopped briefly and the tourist town of Betws-y-Coed (BET-tooss oh koid), and again briefly at the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, which was a bridge built in 1805 to take boats over a river (!) on the old British canal system.

A narrow boat crosses the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.

It was a full weekend, and we have all week to heal up our sore climbing muscles.

The Peak District

[I thought I had posted this one earlier, but I hadn't, so it's slightly out of sequence.] Mary and I took a Saturday [March 17] excursion into Derbyshire, the next county to the west, into an area known as The Peak District. This area of rugged land is the southern end of the Pennine Mountains.

Mary surveys the Peak District from Mam Tor.

The peaks here are not exactly the Himalayas -- some of the bluffs in northeast Iowa might fit right in here. Neither is it a large area -- one drives into and out of the peaks somewhat suddenly.

Unusually desolate terrain around Longshaw estate.

But the area is very beautiful and a very popular recreation area. We shared the narrow, winding roads with countless bicycles, numerous cars, a multitude of motorcycles, a few farm tractors, some riders on horseback, and several stray sheep.

Our first stop was the village of Eyam (pronounced "eem"), sometimes called, "The Plague Village" because of what happened here during the Black Death in 1666. When the plague struck, the villagers quarantined themselves to keep the disease from spreading to the neighboring villages, probably saving countless lives. Some years ago, Mary and I had both read the novelized version, Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks, so we found the site fascinating.

Catherine Mompesson, wife of the local parson, nursed the sick
before succumbing to the plague herself.

We walked the grounds of an estate called Longshaw, where the terrain and vegetation are quite unusual for this part of England. Next, we drove up one of the higher peaks, Mam Tor, and would have climbed to the top if a rain squall hadn't been moving through just at that time. Then we walked along a stream at a place called Dovedale, made famous by the writings of Izaac Walton.

Dovedale

Finally, on the way home, we stopped at Sudbury Hall, a National Trust mansion that was used for filming some interior scenes in the 2005 movie, Pride & Prejudice.

Sudbury Hall is noted for its intricate ceilings.

The Peak District is very scenic place to spend a day or many days. It's close at hand for us, but we are realizing just how little time a year really is to see the whole of England.

D. H. Lawrence

The birthplace and childhood home of D. H. Lawrence, the English poet and author (Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love, Lady Chatterley's Lover, etc., etc.), is just a few miles up the road from us. On Sunday afternoon we decided to take the 20 minute drive and have a look.

The house is at left. The museum at right was once a grocery store.

The village of Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, was a coal mine company town when Lawrence was born in 1885. It has been cleaned up considerably since those days, but like most of Nottingham, maintains a working class atmosphere.

Endless rows of coal company housing in Eastwood.

The old headquarters of the mine company is now a Lawrence museum (not pictured here), and the birth house has been restored. It did make me feel quite ancient to see things in the house that I recall from my grandparents' farm in northeastern Iowa!

The restored parlor of the Lawrence birth house.

Many of Lawrence's books were banned in Britain until as late as the 1960s, but seem pretty tame today. He was a rebel with few kind words for his home town or home country, so it's no wonder he died in self-imposed exile.

Plaque on the wall tells the story.

It's always good to spend some time meeting the neighbors.

Afternoons in Sherwood Forest

One can't very well live for a year in Nottingham, and then go home saying, "I've never been to Sherwood Forest."

Becca, Natalino, Alex, and Noah with the Major Oak.

So this past week, over three afternoons, I shuttled the group by car, four at a time, to the Sherwood Forest Country Park. The park is operated by the Nottinghamshire County Council as an interpretive center within the Sherwood National Nature Reserve.

Ben enjoys the interior of an ancient tree.

Actually, our students have been living in Sherwood Forest since they arrived! The forest once extended more than 100,000 acres, covering much of the county. But the agricultural revolution of the 1700s, and the industrial revolution of the 1800s, did enormous damage. The protected area is only about 400 acres today.

Elise strikes a pose, "being the tree."

There are oak trees in the preserve that are estimated to be 800-1000 years old. One of the oldest is known as "The Major Oak." It's a living tree, but tree surgeons have used so much steel cable and so many steel posts to hold up its branches, that one would have to say it's on life support.

Sherwood makes the most of the Robin Hood legend.

Of course, thanks to Hollywood, Sherwood Forest is best known as the home of Robin Hood. Most legends have a basis in fact, but the facts surrounding Robin Hood, Maid Marian, the Merry Men, and the evil Sheriff of Nottingham, are lost to history. It's unclear if such a person ever existed. But the statues (and the gift shops) at Sherwood Forest make the most of the legend.

Calke Abbey

On Sunday we took another three students with us to visit Calke Abbey (the pronunciation is a bit more like "coke" in the local dialect), a manor house in Derbyshire, about 40 minutes drive from home, which is now maintained by the National Trust.

Mary and our students walk toward Calke Abbey

This house is unique, first of all because generations of its owners were collectors -- mostly of stuffed birds and animals, but lots of other things, too. Second, the family were hoarders -- they almost never threw anything away. They were a bit excentric, and in some rooms things are piled high.

This small room was one of the last to be occupied,
and has been left as it was found.

Finally, as the family money ran out, and each successive generation was less able to maintain the house, they simply closed off portions of it and left everything as it was, until the final owner lived in only a few rooms. The trust has worked to keep everything just as they found it, peeling paint, piles of collections, and all. It's fascinating!

Display cases still covered with sheets, as they were found.

The house, built 1701-1704, had several interesting features in its day, including grand rooms, huge wine cellars, and a long tunnel connecting the house to the brewery and stables out back. They raised pigs, and images of swine are sort of a family symbol around the house.

A bedroom piled with "stuff" before being abandoned.

Calke Abbey is not so much a museum as a time capsule, stuffed haphazardly by some rather odd people.

Even the Victorian bathroom (note the shower at left) became
a storage space before being closed off.

On the way home, we stopped at the Attenborough Nature Centre, along the River Trent in southwest Nottingham. This is a collection of old gravel pits now established as a bird sanctuary, and very popular with hikers, dog-walkers, bird watchers, and photographers.

Attenborough Nature Centre

Our students were amazed to find such a place just a short distance from the hustle of the city and the huge university where they study.

Oxford

We took three of our students along on a trip to Oxford last Saturday. More probably would have come, but the car only seats five. It's a little less than a two hour drive to the outskirts of the city. Because it is still a Medieval town at heart, cars are generally not allowed. So we had to "park and ride" the local bus.

Oxford's Medieval streets ban cars.

The city, originally Oxen Ford because it was at a shallow point on the Thames where ox carts loaded with goods could ford the stream, was laid out by the Saxons in the 10th & 11th centuries. The basic layout hasn't changed, and many existing buildings date to the 13th century.

Our guide explains the details of the dining hall at Jesus College.

There are all sorts of "free" tours, commercial tours, etc. in Oxford, but we had read that the "official" tour was best, so we paid for that, and it did not disappoint. The guide was both an Oxford graduate and a retired university employee. He did not say in what capacity he was employed, but he was sufficiently knowledgeable to have been a professor -- an Oxford "don."

Grounds of Trinity College

As at Cambridge, the colleges are all independent entities. One does not apply to study at Oxford University, but to one of the 38 colleges or six "halls" that make up the system. Students live and eat in their college, and are assigned a "tutor" who is their primary teacher. But they attend lectures at any or all colleges, or at the university at large, and they graduate from the University.

Students and parents load up cars for end term break.

We did not realize, when we picked the day, that we would be visiting at the end of the winter term. Though cars are usually not allowed in the city, hundreds of parents had special permits this day to load up their offspring and all worldly goods to vacate the halls for a three week break. (Unlike our U.S. dorms, rooms must be totally vacated during all breaks, which means students tend to bring less stuff.) The place was bedlam, and very crowded. Many of the colleges were closed to visitors.

Above the entrance to Merton College, the bishop on the right holds a bag of gold.
Even in the Middle Ages, major donors get their honors!

We did manage to peek in through the gates at several of the famous colleges: Trinity College, Brasenose College, Merton College, Lincoln College, and All Souls College (the one with such a large endowment that it has an elite research faculty, but no students!). The tour got us past the "closed to visitors" sign at Jesus College, where we visited the Quad, the Great Hall, and the Chapel.

Dormitory at Jesus College decorated with boasting of the house crew (rowing) victories. 

We also paid to get inside Christ Church, perhaps the most famous of the colleges, and certainly one of the largest and most beautiful campuses. Christ Church Cathedral is here, and the Hall and the grand Staircase will be familiar to anyone who has seen any of the Harry Potter films. Unfortunately, the Hall was closed for a parents' banquet.

Interior of Christ Church Cathedral

We also paid for a short tour of one of the more notable facilities that does not belong to any college, but to the university as a whole: The Bodleian Library. This turned out to be the most fascinating half hour of the day!

The Bodleian Library entrance

While each college has a library of its own, the university began a central library early in the 14th century. Most of those precious, hand-copied books were burned as "Catholic" at the time of the Reformation.

The flat where Bill Clinton lived during his years as a  Rhodes Scholar.
It was in Oxford that he "smoked but did not inhale."
Decades later, Chelsea Clinton also lived here while studying at Oxford.

In 1598, Sir Thomas Bodley, an influential diplomat in the court of Queen Elizabeth I, volunteered, as a retirement project, to restore the library. Bodley was an innovator, bringing in new ideas such as setting books upright on shelves, rather than stacking them one on top of the other ("the stacks"), and creating a catalog system.

Entry to the Oxford Internet Institute. These people are also in my line of work.

In 1610, Bodley used his influence to negotiate an agreement to have a free copy of every book published in Britain sent to his library. The agreement is still in force, and the Bodleian now receives more the 6,000 volumes each week!

Our Luther students blend in with the Oxford crowd -- except for the tourist cameras.

While Cambridge has become more noted for the sciences in modern times, Oxford's strength remains in the liberal arts -- especially politics and economics. This is probably why 26 British Prime Ministers, including the current one, were educated here. Of the 26, 13 were members (students) of Christ Church college.