Single Aspect Blog

Part i | Part ii | Part iii

“You will not get to Vienna in this rustbucket”

Nearly fifty years ago I had to decide whether to say goodbye to my girlfriend at the airport, or drive her back to Vienna in order that we could spend some more time together before saying goodbye. A friend of hers owned an old Morris Minor ready for the scrap heap, in spite of which we accepted the offer of a loan. Such is the folly of youth.

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“Das lichtmaschine ist kaput”

After two eventful weeks in the Austrian capital we said our goodbyes. It was the end of a relationship for me and so a blue return home alleviated by the company of a bi-lingual native who knew the region. The journey would have been far more difficult without him which leads me to wonder if he had been encouraged to travel on my behalf as much as his own desire to visit London.

I don’t remember the journey back from Vienna until the German city of Wurzburg where the red light on the dashboard came on once again indicating a loss of charging from the dynamo and this time it was terminal. “Das lichtmaschine ist kaput” were the mechanics exact words, late at night at a garage in Wurzburg, which is where from memory we spent the night while I believe the battery was charged while we slept, since there would be no more engine charging available.

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“I wouldn’t take that out if it was made of gold”

The evening of our arrival consisted of a welcome home for my girlfriend and a buffet. For me, meeting the family and at last a good night’s sleep – but the state of the car weighed heavily on my mind and the following days were devoted to its further repair.

My two week stay in Vienna involved spending the first few days underneath the car in a garage pit made available by a friend of the family. The missing fourth gear had become a priority being one of many items preventing any chance of a return to England in that vehicle, and I could not afford another.

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The absence of posts in recent years and the occasional down time may be ascribed to two different causes. The former owing to my relocation from Cambridge to Cromer in Norfolk, beyond easy reach of London, and the latter to technical issues.

“November 8th 2018 UPDATE: I went round Maiden Lane with a resident and two friends earlier this year to see what had been done. The new blocks are out of scale with the older blocks while mimicking them architecturally; and the sunken gardens are badly shaded.”

My last London visit was to Maiden Lane with Tom Cordell of Utopia London fame, in order to review the changes made by Camden to pay for long overdue maintenance of the estate. The architects added a tall block for private sale, built some additional low rise housing and painted the estate. See the quote above.

Norfolk

Cromer doesn’t offer the 55 minute journey to Kings Cross that Cambridge did, day trips and blogged walks have been out of the question for some years and don’t seem likely to return. I am unwilling to spend three hours each way on a train in order to spend not much more than that time walking the streets and will have to leave that to others in closer proximity.

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This film has reappeared in time for the 40th anniversary of its second showing on the BBC on 10th May 1980
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The only sensible thing I’ve seen written about the election result since the day it happened.

Taken from @Sheff_socialist with link at the end:-

A long thread about my own personal experiences during this election dealing with my Labour voting family deciding to out themselves as casual racists by voting Tory / Brexit Party in traditional Labour “Red Wall” heartlands

I come from a genuine working class family .

Grandparents were miners and domestic cleaning staff
Dad was butcher , mum was a cleaner and when she remarried after their divorce she married a miner .
I grew up in a two up two down terrace house that my parents rented from the local Co-op society and then moved into a council house in Kendray (Barnsley) when my mum remarried

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Cressingham Gardens – a village within a city

I used to have a page here http://www.singleaspect.org.uk/?p=8

At some point during the several blog failures and restarts it was changed without my noticing

to here https://www.singleaspect.org.uk/?p=21425

So if you are looking for my page on single aspect flat from

February 9th, 2010

it’s here -> https://www.singleaspect.org.uk/?p=21425

Sorry for the confusion.

We are moving house this year, even further from London, which will mean fewer if any trips to the capital. So the blog is over but remains useful (in my eyes) for its take on housing standards and as an easily accessible table of Parker Morris standards.