Which book are you currently reading?

[kristina]

Currently reading "Pier Review". It is supposed to be an account of a trip round the coast of Britain and a review of every British seaside pier still standing. It is well written but they are doing it in a sort of "post modernist, piers are really naff so we are only doing this for book for a laugh" style which somewhat ruins it.

It is a great pity that the authors of this book were "doing" the book in a sort of "post modernist, piers are really naff, so we are only doing this book for a laugh" style, because many of these old piers, especially the Victorian ones are true works of art, especially with the decorative ironwork around them and it is very important to protect and keep them, especially, as these days no Council could afford to have such decorative piers created anymore ...
... I have been wondering, why the National Trust has not been involved in the protection of vulnerable piers, or have they and I have missed to read about it?
Many thanks Paul for pointing out this book and kind regards from Kristina.

[Paul]

many of these old piers, especially the Victorian ones are true works of art, especially with the decorative ironwork around them and it is very important to protect and keep them, especially, as these days no Council could afford to have such decorative piers created anymore

Here Here. I second that.

I have been wondering, why the National Trust has not been involved in the protection of vulnerable piers

As I read that through I thought "What a really good idea." Then a few seconds later I thought I thought "What a really bad idea." The National Trust would no doubt charge £20 to walk down the pier, £3 for an ice cream, £5 for tea and a scone in the coffee shop, close the arcade and turn it into an over priced gift shop, and allow you to look round the theatre as a historic building, but never allow shows to be performed in it. That is assuming they don't just lease it to some big business as a corporate headquarters and keep the public out, as they do with too many of their properties nowadays.

[MooseMom]

I'm currently reading "Bear Town" about a shrinking village in Sweden that prizes its youth hockey team above all else.  And then there is a crime....

[kristina]

many of these old piers, especially the Victorian ones are true works of art, especially with the decorative ironwork around them and it is very important to protect and keep them, especially, as these days no Council could afford to have such decorative piers created anymore

Here Here. I second that.

I have been wondering, why the National Trust has not been involved in the protection of vulnerable piers

As I read that through I thought "What a really good idea." Then a few seconds later I thought I thought "What a really bad idea." The National Trust would no doubt charge £20 to walk down the pier, £3 for an ice cream, £5 for tea and a scone in the coffee shop, close the arcade and turn it into an over priced gift shop, and allow you to look round the theatre as a historic building, but never allow shows to be performed in it. That is assuming they don't just lease it to some big business as a corporate headquarters and keep the public out, as they do with too many of their properties nowadays.

Hello Paul, what you mention about the National Trust is unfortunately very true and the National Trust has changed a lot over the years and these days it is almost unrecognizable from the National Trust we grew up with.  This is very sad, but there again that is unfortunately the way many Charitable Trusts have developed  ...
Nevertheless, I do hope, these piers are getting under some Protection Order, as they are really unique, very artistic and could not be replaced ...

[MooseMom]

We were members of the National Trust for so many years, and I am sad to hear that they have been a bit derelict in their duty to preserve historic properties while keeping entrance fees down so that everyone can enjoy them.

When I first moved to the UK, we visited many sites, and it made me feel so much less homesick.  How could I be homesick when I could view such wonderful places in my adopted nation?

[Paul]

I do hope, these piers are getting under some Protection Order

They are not, many are crumbling into the sea, getting knocked down by the council, or worse. There is one on the Isle of Wight that has been converted into a sewage farm, a great thing to have on one of their three main tourist beaches! I'm told that one of the Brighton piers has been converted into a tower block!!??! But the one that really annoys me the most is the one the Great Yarmouth Council paid to have knocked down several years ago. Not only was it several hundred years old, but it had been used by the town's local hero (and one of my two historic heroes) Admiral Lord Nelson. If being several hundred years old, and being used by one of Britain's greatest naval heroes is not a good enough reason to keep it, I doubt if any pier is safe!

(Sorry for the rant, piers are a special area of interest/love for me, as far as I am concerned we should bring back the death penalty for anyone who vandalises one, and when someone actually demolishes a pier it should be death by slow torture.)

[MooseMom]

Paul, why do you think this is being allowed to happen?  Is there a general apathy among the local populations?  Have there been any pushes for private infusions of cash, or are these piers just too expensive to rescue?  It is hard to imagine English coastal towns without a pier!

[Paul]

Paul, why do you think this is being allowed to happen?

Many councils feel they have better things to spend their money on. Plus holidays in Britain (other than in London) are a lot less popular than they used to be, so many begrudge spending money on the tourist industry.

[MooseMom]

That's too bad, Paul.  Holidaying in Britain can be such a joy, particularly self-catering holidays.

[irvinsen5]

I'm currently reading The Good Samaritan by John Marrs https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35451741-the-good-samaritan
The main character, Laura is despicable I could punch her, but I couldn't put the book down. It's good.

[MooseMom]

I'm reading "A Train in Winter" about a group of women in the French Resistance who were captured and eventually sent to Birkenau.  Some of them have survived to tell their story.  We all know of the horror of the Holocaust, but to follow a specific group of women from the time they joined the Resistance to the time they were released because the Allies freed them (though not all of them survived) is particularly harrowing.  One detail that I never knew about and found truly horrifying was that at one point at Birkenau, the Nazis ran out of Zyklon B pellets that provided the gas that killed the prisoners before their bodies were put into the ovens.  The Nazis knew their days were numbered, so to accelerate the process of killing and burning the bodies, they'd just throw live babies into the ovens.

So the next time you hear the words of a Holocaust denier, think about THAT

Sweet dreams, everyone!

[kristina]

Frank Arnau : Three Thousand Years  of DECEPTION in Art and Antiques.
              Translated from the German by J. Maxwell Brownjohn.
First published in the UK by Jonathan Cape Thirty Bedford Square London in 1961.
    To give an idea about the context of the book, here is the introduction:
 
                         According to the enlarged edition of his
             œuvre catalogue, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot 1796 -1875
                             painted over 2,000 paintings.
              Of these , more than 5,000 are in the United States.

                         

[iolaire]

If you want to have worlds libraries at your fingertips you should look at this
https://archive.org/details/nationalemergencylibrary

Basically its book scans offered to everyone due to the "emergency" they are ePub and PDF formatted.  For example if you search Lupus you get a lot of books on SLE type Lupus topics, as well some foreign kids books with the title Lupus unrealted to the auto immune condition.

[kitkatz]

If anyone wants to see some prepper booklets, I have some I can email you.  Just PM me. I am not a prepper I got these PDFs from a place I bought emergency things.
I am currently reading Arcady by Micheal Williams.


See how I am doing with my writing on my author site at http://katherineesoto-author.com, Sign up for my monthly newsletter.