Stargroves

During WWII after the bombing in 1940, my mother, sister and I, left the East End of London and moved to the rural countryside in Hampshire, England.

Strangely the tiny village we moved to was called East End, part of the larger village of East Woodhay.

I began school there in 1941; we lived there until 1946 a year after the war ended.

A short distance from the school were the gates to a large Victorian mansion called Stargroves, (Picture above.) at that time it was the home of Sir Frederick Cardin.

The title “Sir” meant that he had received a Knighthood from the King of England. It was my understanding that Sir Frederick was formally a high ranking army man, and probably received the Knighthood for services to his country.

We normally couldn’t see Stargroves as it stood on its own large grounds and was hidden from view. However, every Christmas, Sir Frederick would invite all the local children over for a Christmas Party.

We would assemble on the road outside the school, line up two by two, and then march through the big iron gates and about half a mile up the winding private driveway to Stargroves. (See the satellite picture below.)

We walked in though one of the large front doors, which opened into a huge central hall. If you look at the picture below, at the front door on the left, you will notice there are two large windows either side that span two floors.

That is because the central hall had no first floor ceiling and went all the way to the roof of this enormous building. There was a wide winding staircase at one end of the hall, leading up to a balcony that gave access to the upstairs rooms on the other half of the building.

At the end of the hall next to the staircase was a decorated Christmas Tree that had to be at least 25 foot tall. We all sat cross-legged on the polished hardwood floor, facing the tree, and various small groups got up to sing carols, and individuals recited poems that we had been rehearsing in the preceding weeks.

Then there would be a merry “Ho, ho, ho,” and looking up to the balcony, we would see Santa Claus, or Father Christmas as we knew him, as he made his way along and down the staircase with his sack full of presents. A whisper went around between the waiting children; “That’s old Freddy Cardin.”

Above: The tiny school I attended. I took this picture during a visit in the 1980s; the school was still in use then, not sure if it is now. 

Happy childhood memories during those hard wartime years. Stargroves has had an interesting history since those times; in the 1970s it was the home of Mick Jagger. He had a mobile recording studio and the Rolling Stones recorded Exile on Main Street, Sticky Fingers, and It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll, there.

I did read somewhere that the drums were set up in the large hall I spoke of, to take advantage of the natural reverb.

The Who recorded a number of songs there, including Won’t Get Fooled Again and Pure and Easy. In 1972 Led Zeppelin recorded parts of the albums, Houses of the Holy, and Physical Graffiti. Other artists who have recorder there are Deep Purple, Status Quo, Bob Marley, Santana, and Iron Maidon.

I wonder how Sir Frederick would have felt about all that. Stargroves is now owned by Rod Stewart, who bought the property in 1998. If he ever comes across this, there is an old ex-framebuilder who would love to take a peek inside that large central hall again. Just nostalgia

Footnote: This  article is written from my childhood memories. The later events and in particular the Rock n'Roll history is what I heard from other people and from information gathered from the Internet. Therefore I can't guarantee the accuracy of the information, and suggest you cross reference other scorches. Dave Moulton.

Thinking makes it so

Most people believe in the power of positive thinking.

People with a positive outlook on life tend to lead happier, successful and more fulfilling lives.

The medical profession is now accepting the idea that prayer can help a person sick or injured in their recovery.

Studies have shown that a person with a large group of family and friends praying for their recovery, heal faster than someone without such support. As I see it, a prayer is nothing more than a positive thought, and a positive thought is, in a way, an unspoken prayer.

So if a positive thought or prayer can help heal a sick or injured person, then I believe it is entirely possible that a negative thought caused the illness or accident in the first place.

I always find it interesting and satisfying when I discover something for myself, then find out that great minds have been thinking this way for hundreds of years. William Shakespeare, born over 400 years ago, said in Hamlet:

Nothing is either good or bad but thinking makes it so.

The Bard obviously had grasped the idea that positive and negative thoughts are indeed creative. I should point out that we all have negative thoughts from time to time.

However, it is only when we hold on to that thought and it becomes a firm belief, do we give it power. Negative thoughts need to be replaced with positive ones.

Another thing I have observed in my life, is this: When something tends to annoy me, whatever it is will keep re-occurring. I am talking here of the behavior of others that would appear to be out of my control.

I will give you an example. When I lived in California, whenever I was backing my car out of a parking space, someone would drive behind me at a great rate of speed. I would see someone flash by in my rear view mirror.

This would make me so angry. When backing out of a parking space, most times you cannot see because of other cars parked beside you. All you can do is back up slowly and carefully, and hope that others will have the kindness and consideration to slow and watch out for you.

In 1994 I moved to Eugene, Oregon; traffic there was lighter than California, and parking lots less crowded. However, my almost daily ritual of backing up slowly and someone zooming past behind me at a high rate of speed continued.

I would slam on the brakes, always a little late, because they were gone as quickly as they appeared, sit there and cuss and swear some, then continue backing out slowly.

Then one day I was leaving my apartment building, backing out from the parking lot, and sure enough in my rear view mirror I saw a car go flying past behind me. I began my usually tirade of verbal abuse, then I stopped and turned the engine off and sat there thinking about what had occurred.

This was a quiet private parking lot; there was an alleyway that ran parallel with the street, connecting all the parking lots behind the apartments and houses.

I realized I could sit there for another ten or fifteen minutes before another car passed behind me. What were the chances that a car would pass by at the precise moment I was backing out? I was at a point in my life where I was starting to observe my own thought patterns, and my own behavior.

The next time I was leaving a parking space I remembered this incident and again I thought about the chances that someone would drive by at that moment. I backed slowly out without incident.

Soon after, on occasions I would back out without thinking and sure enough someone would drive behind me. Instead of becoming angry, I would remember I had forgotten to reinforce my actions with a conscious positive thought. Eventually, this occurrence stopped completely. Today I rarely encounter this problem.

I constantly read on bike forums, and other bike blogs, of re-occurring bad experiences some cyclists have while riding. Someone drives too close, honks at them, hurls abuse or even trash. This would appear on the surface to be the behavior of others, over which the individual has no control.

However, if this is happening to you on a regular basis, let me point out there is a common denominator, and that is you. This type of thing rarely happens to me, why should it happen to you?

As an experiment, try this. Be aware of when and where this is happening, is there a pattern? If there is, ask yourself as I did; what are the chances that you encounter a different asshole, in the same place, or under the same circumstances.

Before you ride, reinforce your thoughts with a positive thought that you will not encounter this type of behavior. If it does happen, observe your own thoughts and reaction, and try not to become angry.

The anger is the negativity manifesting itself. There is a subconscious negative thought creating the bad occurrence. Because the event seems to be outside of our control, the negative thought goes undetected and the bad experience re-occurs.

Become an observer of your own thoughts and your reactions to them. Thoughts are creative, learned doctors say so, wise men throughout the ages have said so. Remember although it often appears we have no control over the behavior of others; we always have control over our own thoughts.

Marketing Nothing

I remember having a conversation with someone in the 1980s. I think the conversation arose out of the fact that I was producing a handmade product, which was becoming increasingly rare.

I can’t even remember who the person was, but I clearly remember what he said. Referring to The United States, he said:

“We will eventually become a Nation of People producing nothing; just selling insurance to each other.”

It seems to me this prediction looms ever closer to coming true; but by now the terminology has changed. No one is “Selling” anything anymore; it is now called “Marketing.”

The problem is whether you are selling or marketing, it only works if people are buying, and in today’s economic climate people do not have loads of spare cash lying around to buy much of anything.

Now the world is full of “Marketing Gurus.” These are people who can no longer make a living by selling stuff, because no one is buying. So now they are selling nothing more than an idea, that you can make a ton of money selling or marketing on the Internet.

Ask yourself this: If I found a way to make a lot of money, would I need to sell that idea to other people? No, I would be too busy making money.

There is an old story about a man in his neighbor’s garage when he notices a large amount of boxes containing cleaning products. He remarked, “You must sell a lot of cleaning supplies.”

The neighbor replied, “No, but the man who sells me this stuff, he sells a lot of cleaning supplies.” It is the Internet Marketing Gurus who are making money, not the poor suckers who buy their idea.

Over the years I attended my share of sales seminars, and read many books on the subject. What always troubled me was the messing with people’s minds, to convince that they needed what it was you were selling.

Often it was borderline trickery to convince them that having whatever it was you were selling would make them happier, and their lives better, than holding on to their hard earned cash. Although not illegal, it somehow seemed to me to be morally wrong.

Profit is not a dirty word, however, greed is. This whole mess we find ourselves in now was brought about by greed. People producing nothing and selling nothing tangible; just an idea that people could keep buying and selling real estate loans to make money.

Companies and corporations need to start thinking about the people who work for them as well as their bottom line. Is it really necessary to lay people off and send jobs overseas?

Okay, so your product may cost a little more, and you sell a little less. But there are always people who will pay the extra for a quality product, and some because of the fact it is home produced. Downsizing and cutting back on some employees is better than firing everyone and sending the entire production offshore.

I always bought British made automobiles when I lived in the UK; when I moved to the US I bought American. It is something I have always done on principal.

When I had my bike business I was competing head on with the large Italian bike builders, who would send over in one container shipment more than my entire year’s production. But I was able to compete because I didn’t have the shipping and wholesale costs that they had.

I didn’t have their advertising costs of my large competitors either, because I only needed to sell a fraction of what they did.

I think the good thing that will come out of this recession is that people will become used to getting by on a little less. They will live simpler lives, less dependent on all this material stuff.

And the people listening to these Internet Marketing Gurus, because it seems the only avenue open to them. Think again; they are selling nothing but an idea. False hope, or worse, a scam that will take what little you have, rather than make you money.

You cannot produce nothing and sell it indefinitely. What is needed is people producing worthwhile products, or providing worthwhile services that other people need. Provide that and the marketing will take care of itself.

Taking the Piss

Britain and America have been described as two countries separated by a common language.

That statement sums it up pretty well I think.

We each use different words when talking about the same things; “Trash” in the US is “Rubbish” in the UK.

To complicate things further a “Trash Can” in America, is a “Dustbin” in Britain.

The problem has been over the years that Americans keep changing things to suit their own ends. Football is called Soccer, to avoid confusion with the game where, out of the whole team, only one player actually kicks the ball with his foot.

They bring this player on the field only when the ball needs to be kicked, because he is the only one who knows how to do it.

Where they don’t change the word, they spell it differently. In America they took the “U” out of colour and spell it color, which is fine, it simplifies things.

However, when Americans come across a name like mine, “Moulton,” they don’t know the rule is; when these two vowels are together, the second one is silent.

They try to put the “U” in there and it comes out sounding something like Mow-ull-ton, instead of Mol-ton. I have to explain, it is like when sheep make love; the ewe (U) is silent.

Here is a joke that no American will get.

What’s the difference between a Kangaroo, and a Kangaroot? A Kangaroo is an animal, and a Kangaroot is a Geordie stuck in a lift.

To translate for those used to American English. From the end of the punch line; a lift is an elevator, a Geordie is a native of Newcastle, which is a town in the far North of England. They speak in a dialect that even most English people can’t understand.

In fact if it wasn’t for Newcastle Brown Ale, most Americans would not have heard of the place. So a person from Newcastle, trapped in an elevator, would make the statement, “I can’t get out.” However, with this strange dialect they speak there, it would sound like “A Kangaroot.”

Of course jokes are never funny when you have to explain them, but it does serve to illustrate the many different dialects that exist within the tiny island made up of England, Scotland and Wales.

I grew up in the East End of London so developed a strong Cockney accent early on. As a teen my parents moved to Luton, which is only 30 miles North of London, so the dialect didn’t change that much. Locals from Luton, leave the “T” out of the name of their town, and call it Lu’on.

In my early twenties I moved back to the East End of London, so my accent was pretty well established; even though I moved to the North of England in the 1960s, and to Worcester in the West in the 1970s. 

When I came to the United States in 1979, I may as well have spoken a foreign language. I had no problem understanding Americans, but they could not understand me.

I remember walking into a Produce Market in New Jersey and asking for Grapefruit; I was met with blank stares. In frustration I walked over to a pile of grapefruit, and holding one up asked, “Was’sat then?”

“Grapefruit,” they answered.

“Wot the faack did I just say?” I responded. Luckily, they didn’t understand that either. I bought my grapefruit and left.

There followed years of frustration until I adapted my version of the English so it could be understood. Now the Cockney dialect, bastardised with American, people think I’m Australian.

The problem is most Americans think that the English all talk like the Monty Python crew. When they realize I am English they say something like, “Pip, pip old chap, absolutely spiffing, jolly good, what.” 

They think it is funny, but after thiry years it is bloody annoying, ‘cos no one in England actually speaks like that. Which lead me to the realization that in America there is no slang for “Taking the Piss.” Which is exactly what they are doing with the mock accent.

To explain once more to my US readers, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central, is “Taking the Piss” out of the American News Media. There is no slang expression for that in America; it is not the same as “Are you kidding?” or “Are you shittin’ me?” There is a subtle difference.

John Cleese and the rest of the Monty Python cast were taking the piss out of the British upper class twit, by exaggerating the upper class accent.

The thing is in England, Piss Taking is an art form, and you don’t always realize it is happening. When you do you ask, “Are you taking the piss?”

Every one laughs, and the piss taking stops. Without the “Piss Taking” expression in America the piss taking continues.

Sometimes amongst strangers I can go with the pretence that I'm Australian. Americans think all Australians are like Crocodile Dundee (Paul Hogan.) or Russell Crow, and it's best not to take the piss out of those people.

Other than that, all I can do is endure it and occasionally write piss taking articles like this one.

The Sawmill Branch Trail

The Sawmill Branch Trail in Summerville, South Carolina, is a bike and walking trail that follows along side the old Sawmill Branch Canal.

The final section is now finished and runs from East Richardson Avenue in the North, close to the center of Downtown Summerville. 

From that point there is now close to 7 miles of smooth paved bike path, about 12 or 15 feet wide that will take you to the South End of Old Trolley Road, near Dorchester Road.

Out and back on this trail will give you 14 miles of motor traffic free riding. Where the path crosses the busy Gahagan Rd, Old Trolley Rd, and Bacon’s Bridge Rd, in each case the path goes under a bridge, so there is no stopping or slowing. 

The photo above shows the approach towards the North End of Old Trolley Road.

Here you have the option of going right under the busy four lane Old Trolley and on towards Richardson Ave. Or you can go straight and turn right on Old Trolley; there is a busy intersection at Bacon’s Bridge Rd., but there is a traffic light at this point.

Once past Bacon’s Bridge, Old Trolley Rd., has a bike lane its entire length. You can ride to the South End and turn right on Cross Creek Drive, and join up with the bike trail again. This makes about an 8 or 9 mile loop. (See map below.)

There are 4 different parking areas. My favorite is Luden Street, a quiet residential neighborhood. The trail switches from one side of the canal to the other at this point; don’t go straight across from the car park as the paved trail on that side runs out in about 200 yards.

The trail switches sides at another point just after you go under Old Trolley Road; again this is on a quiet street with little traffic.

A word of warning as you go under the bridges; earlier this summer, some vandals piled large rocks from the canal bank, across the path, under the Old Trolley Rd. Bridge. When you come out of the bright sunlight it is quite dark and hard to see.

An older man, a regular user of the path, hit these rocks, fell heavily, and was hospitalized as a result of his injuries. There was just this one incident and I have since seen the police patrolling the path from time to time.

Unfortunately, the local kids also love to break glass bottles on the path too, usually thrown from the bridges above.

Apart from these unfortunate but somewhat isolated incidents, I can highly recommend this trail.

Much of the trail is shaded by trees, which is great on a hot day. You will see Blue Herons and Egrets in the water.

There are warning signs saying “Alligators may live here.” But I haven’t seen any yet.

Here are some more photos. 

  

(Above.) Egrets; one of the more common birds you will see on the trail