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Post by cheerypeabrain on Nov 8, 2010 18:14:53 GMT
I was born in Leicester, and atho I've lived in London, Bedfordhire and Hertfordshire I'm really glad that we moved back to Leicester in the 1980s..I love the place! It's a beautiful, ugly, modern, ancient, sometimes scruffy place...so I will post pics here and you can make your own mind up. ;D The dialect here is pretty odd, not broad Northern but not the Flat Southern way of speaking either...we pronounce Bus 'BUS' (not 'Bass' like the southerners do...) Grass is 'Grass' not 'grarse' and we have many colloquiolisms....if somebody is moody we call them 'Mardy'...and commonly people call each other 'Me duck'....'Luv'...or 'Chick'....when I moved to the south (Bedfordshire) when I was 11 years old I was teased mercilessly by the children there because I had a Leicester accent....which I think I've lost now.... I'll start with my walk to work. I get off the bus on West Bridge in the city....the bridge is over the Grand Union Canal.... after crossing a busy road I cut through 'Castle Gardens' the site of Leicester castle... at the entrance to the gardens is a statue of Richard III, legend has it that his body was dumped into the river near this spot after the Battle of Bosworth Field...the statue has a stumpy sword...it used to be a longer one but vandals broke it! the gardens has some formal flower beds...lots of wildlife (I often see a fox and squirrels...the occasional rat ) A cut through leads to the Bishop's House and the St Mary de Castro church...lots of Saxon features... The old magistrate courts are in the courtyard (strangely enough) behind the church... more to follow...
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2010 18:25:00 GMT
Those are lovely, Cheery. England seems to have so many 'bishops' -- does the Church of England hand out the title like party favours? Or maybe the bishops just have a lot more houses than in other countries!
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Nov 8, 2010 18:39:27 GMT
are you bored yet? ;D Walking away from the church I pass under the Castle gateway..next to the Alms houses, nearby is the Castle Museum, a lovely little building. Past the church... Through Castle gateway one of the Alms Houses on the left, the Castle Museum on the right... I then trudge past the DeMontfort University buildings... The old hospital University buildings either side of the road... some of the buildings have rather nice doorways a new building...Queen Elizabeth Building strangey enough I don't have a pic of the hospital where I work...it's right at the end of the road in the fifth pic ;D
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2010 18:49:33 GMT
Oh, a squashed caryatid in photo #6! Have you no pity for caryatids?
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Post by mich64 on Nov 8, 2010 18:52:52 GMT
Bored, you must be joking. Wonderful photos, a very nice way to go to work each day.
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Post by bjd on Nov 8, 2010 18:54:11 GMT
How pretty -- it might even be a pleasure walking to work, at least in nice weather. Must look on a map to see where Leicestershire is.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Nov 8, 2010 18:57:05 GMT
Oh, a squashed caryatid in photo #6! Have you no pity for caryatids? cor, they are splendid aren't they? Leicester is only a small city.... admittedly with delusions of grandeur ;D
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Post by fumobici on Nov 8, 2010 19:41:53 GMT
A wonderful walk to begin the day! I am a bit jealous.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Nov 8, 2010 20:50:29 GMT
It was raining this morning..and windy..... ;D
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2010 23:13:20 GMT
It's so funny that your pictures of England are just as devoid of people as FMT's pictures of France (and quite a few of mine as well). It's enough to make one think that Europe is completely uninhabited, just a bunch of old buildings.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 10, 2010 0:54:18 GMT
Yur accense soun like good Amerahcun to me, from your description!
Cheery, I vote for "beautiful". I guess since you're from there, you're aware of any less than lovely parts, but the pictures are so pretty.
Can we have a little history, please? I'm assuming the canals were in service of the cities industries, correct? Are any of them still in commercial use?
What is the spiffy new Queen Elizabeth building?
Your walk is beautiful, amid all those trees, expanses of green, and mellow old buildings. I note the green on the facade of the St. Mary Castro church -- facing north? rainy time of year?
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Post by hwinpp on Nov 10, 2010 4:45:45 GMT
Closest I've been to Leicester is Leicester Square!
Nice pics, Peabrain! ;D
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Nov 11, 2010 20:56:45 GMT
Gosh...I know that there have been settlements in the area since way before the Romans....I really must get along to the Jewry Wall museum soon...there's a large excavation of the old Roman Baths...and a few mosaics. A lot of the villages around here have Saxon, Viking or Norman names as there's been continuous occupation here. The place is steeped in history, such as the fossils in Charnwood rocks, Bradgate Park the family seat of Lady Jane Grey (Queen of England for 10 days in 1553), we have an old Guild Hall goodness only knows how old that is!....the hospital where I work has been in existance in some form or other since 1771...
Of course we have the usual impersonal samey-samey shopping malls...with the usual shops selling the usual stuff....but we still have a thriving market...I will take my camera with me when I next vist the town. ;D
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Post by myrt on Nov 11, 2010 21:01:40 GMT
You certainly have NOT lost your accent, Cheery! Leicester is a lovely city but the roads are awful confusing......... I saw Santana at the De Montfort Hall many many moons ago......
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2010 21:04:56 GMT
Another foreign invasion?
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Nov 11, 2010 21:18:53 GMT
I saw Loudon Wainwright III there a coupla years back.... ;D
see....they just keep coming
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Post by onlymark on Nov 11, 2010 23:09:24 GMT
Cheery, I know you know that the Leicester accent is different to the Nottingham accent but my accent, though using a lot of the same words as you, is different again due to having been dragged up close to Derbyshire and Yorkshire (many, many miners came from Yorkshire to work in the North Notts coal fields and passed on their accents). But I'm sure we'd understand each other - m'duck.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Nov 13, 2010 18:16:49 GMT
I could probably understand you tho...as long as you speak s-l-o-o-o-o-o-w-l-y... ;D the Derbyshire accent is much rounder and more comfortable than the Leicestershire one...the thing that drives me mad is the insistance that my children have of not using ANY consonants....for example 'Have you got any?' becomes 'Ayago'reny?'
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Post by onlymark on Nov 13, 2010 19:09:49 GMT
I do try and modify my accent for you foreigners. But whenever I return I easily slip back into it. It drives my wife mad (one of many things unfortunately) when my children, who are complicated but now speak German, speak English - but often with my accent. My father speaks BBC English, my mother spoke with a central Nottingham city accent which is different again to mine and my brother has spent so long in Spain he frequently forgets English anyway. By the way- "Leicester was recently declared the birthplace of modern standard English by some language experts."www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/eastmidlands/series7/dialect_voices.shtmlWeather report - It's black oer Bill's mother's.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Nov 14, 2010 15:32:58 GMT
;D
recognition at last...
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Nov 19, 2010 18:13:53 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2010 5:52:55 GMT
These market pictures are great, because it is interesting to see the similarities as well as the differences with other markets, notably in neighbouring France. I am particularly intrigued by the fruit displayed in the metal bowls. Is this the "suggested quantity" that a person is expected to buy, ready to be placed on the scale?
The scarves are nice. I presume they have arrived at the market after a long plane journey...
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 22, 2010 7:16:31 GMT
What a great market! Is some of it on the same ground where a market has always been? Because of my romantic fantasies about England (& bbc imports + movies), I can almost see figures from long ago moving through the clean, modern aisles.
Cheery -- "stuff like wool etc on the other floors.." Leicestershire is sheep country, and this would be raw wool??
Gad, those cauliflower are showpieces!
The produce in metal bowls looks like a selling device used here -- the amount in the receptacle costs x amount of money. Is that what the bowls mean?
Ha ~~ I noticed the scarves, too. They are sold here also, but I swear they're cheaper in Cheery's market.
Is all the stuff you show available every day, Cheery, or is there a special market day(s)?
Interesting architecture in your town, and all the people look um, cheery!
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Nov 22, 2010 16:26:17 GMT
The market runs every day except Sunday, and I often nip to the fruits and veg section or the fish market before work as they start setting up around 7 am.
Apparently there's been a market on the site since 1300 and it's the biggest outdoor covered market in the UK.
Leicester has a huge 'ethnic' population, in fact in the city there are more people of Indian ancestry than Caucasian English, I work with people from India, Pakistan, China, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Poland, Somalia, Iraq, Iran and even Scotland, they all speak English better than I do and we all rub along very well. We do have some superb restaurants.... ;D
Globilisation in the form of scarves....I have very little experience of visiting markets across the world, so I can't really compare...all I know is that these days most cities in the UK seem to have the same shops...a Marks and Spencers, Tesco, Sainsbury's and the inevitable Starbucks, MacDonalds and KFC...
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Nov 22, 2010 16:28:13 GMT
Bixa, we wouldn't get raw wool in this market, it's more knitting yarn....Leicester used to be a centre for the wool trade, engineering, shoe manufacture and hosiery...but these days most of the old factories have closed down.
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Post by BigIain on Nov 29, 2010 19:38:50 GMT
What great pics, thanks for sharing. I have only ever been to the rugby ground at welford Rd before so it was nice to see what a pretty wee city Leicester is. Girlfriend went to Uni there and has been trying to convince me how nice it is.
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Post by cristina on Nov 30, 2010 4:33:17 GMT
Fantastic pictures cheery!
You have a lovely walk to work (when it isn't raining). Although I think the more rain one gets the more jealous I am of the photos.
I've never been to Leicestershire, but I would love to visit!
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Post by tod2 on Nov 30, 2010 5:32:37 GMT
cheerypeabrain - I was so pleased to see your lovely photos of Leicester. I have been to Leicester arriving by train from London. Our taxi man was of Indian descent and drove us to the hotel in what I can only describe as a mini version of a Sultan's Casbah with all the velvet curtaining, tasles, jingly things and naturally the music coming from the stereo was all bongo drums and nasal wailing. The next morning we caught a train to Sileby where we were met by the narrowboat hirers. They took us to Sileby Mill where our journey began on the River Soar. It was a big thrill for us as our surname is also Soar! It was wonderful sailing down the gentle moving river until we came to the locks! I have never worked so hard in my life, running to open the lock gates then closing them and still trying hop back on board! When we reached Nottingham we had a good 3 day rest before heading back. Unfortunately the River Soar came down in flood and we had to be fetched by car and taken back to Leicester to catch our train back to London.
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Post by onlymark on Nov 30, 2010 6:02:33 GMT
My home city, Nottingham, though I'm from north of the county. Anyway, narrow boats - wonderful, done it many times all around the central England area but it's so expensive now. My parents liked to do it a lot especially when my mother was unstable on her feet and she could just get on, sit at the window and watch the wildlife passing by. I've been looking at doing it again next year but the cost is too much.
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Post by tod2 on Nov 30, 2010 11:46:20 GMT
Mark - We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Nottingham - tying up near the carpark and Sainsbury's! We did the lace museum and know the owners of the Malmic Lace factory. We had a meal in that old pub built into the mountainside before touring the castle. We had a scarey experience on the fast flowing River Trent when our narrowboat engine overheated! Ah yes, narrowboating has it's moments and I am sorry to hear it has got expensive Mark are you a Yorkshireman? Apologies Cheery for chipping in here!
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