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Sundae 12-12-2008 06:29 AM

Aylesbury, England
 
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Okay. Third of my location threads. I do move around, don't I?

I've always been interested in what my fellow Dwellars see every day anyway - I just happened to live somewhere tourists visited last time.

No longer. So at least the title of the thread should stop anyone not interested in becoming intimately acquainted with a market town (County Town!) in Buckinghamshire from wandering in. FTR, any Dwellars are welcome to a tour of Bucks if you happen to visit here. In fact I'd offer a tour of London if the existing walking tours weren't so damned good.

Right. We start with two pics of the clock in the Market Square. I'm afraid I am of the point and shoot school of photography, but when I saw how the first shot came I thought it was suitably gothic, so I kept it. The second is so you can see it properly. It is draped in lights at present, which gives the lighter picture a blurry appearance - they're not on, but they are hung in strands in the middle third.

Taken from two slightly different locations, but both Market Square.

Sundae 12-12-2008 06:41 AM

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Again, two pictures of essentially the same place.
The first is taken with the (sinking) sun behind the County Offices - of which more later - the second from the long shadows.

In the first you see the clock as before. The cobbled square is Market Square, there are markets four days a week - I just caught it on an off day. The building on the lower left is the County Court. Gorgeous building. The thing looming in the right is the County Offices - evidence that Aylesbury fully embraced the style of brutalism in the 60s. I love it because it was always there in my childhood, because I think we should learn from our mistakes and frankly, because other people hate it.

The second simply shows the view up Market Square if you stand in front of the Court.

Sundae 12-12-2008 06:49 AM

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A better view of the County Court. We have it because Buckingham (the obvious choice for County Town) refused to have a railway station back in the Victorian era of industrialisation. So we're County Town, and we have the County things - courts, museum, library etc. Like State Capital, but smaller.... way smaller.

Again, first pic is from the entrance of the main shopping centre. If you swing round 45 degrees (ish) you'd have the view of the clock in the lighter picture above. You can also see - barely - the arch through which you go to get to the next picture. And if that gingery fellow in the glasses wasn't there, you'd be able to see the lion which I will show in another photo.

The second pic is through the arch (built to honour the visit of Queen Victoria). It's the back of the County Court and used to be part of Aylesbury Gaol. Again, the concrete of the County Offices loom brutally over the soft red brick. I love them.

Shawnee123 12-12-2008 07:22 AM

Beautiful. I always perceive your towns as quaint and homey. Can't wait to visit. ;)

I should do something like that, since you said I've always been interested in what my fellow Dwellars see every day anyway - I just happened to live somewhere tourists visited last time.

There might be some interesting things to show you!

Sundae 12-12-2008 07:24 AM

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And finally...

The arch mentioned above from the outside (with my back to the clock). And one of the lions at the bottom of the Square. This is the lion of peace - note how he lolls. The lion on the other side of the Square is the lion of war - he roars. Same sculptor who made the lions in Trafalgar Square.

The second pic is a statue of Disraeli. I meant to couple it with the picture of John Hampden opposite, but got caught up in other things. The Victorians were big on statues. Anyway, when I was twelve, the legend, "I [heart] CR" (my initials at the time) were spray painted onto Disraeli's statue. Yup, the school badboy fancied me. Sadly, it was the summer holidays by then, and we went to different schools after that. I still dream about him - literally. Still, Mark did less damamge over the years than the pigeons, who make the Jewish firebrand look like Francis of Assissi.

Sundae 12-12-2008 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawnee123 (Post 512894)
I should do something like that, since you said I've always been interested in what my fellow Dwellars see every day anyway - I just happened to live somewhere tourists visited last time.

There might be some interesting things to show you!

Please do! Honestly, just your local supermarket would be strange and foreign to me! And just seeing something you see every day would be interesting.

Shawnee123 12-12-2008 07:34 AM

They finally remodeled an old turn of the century hotel and it is now our public library. There are a lot of backstories there so I will try to get some pics this weekend and will explain my love of the place.

I need to get off my butt and get home internet...it's hard to do those kinds of things here.

TheMercenary 12-12-2008 09:22 AM

Beautiful.

lookout123 12-12-2008 10:20 AM

Beautiful. Now if you could just make it sunny there I would pick up and move immediately. No I'm not kidding.

xoxoxoBruce 12-12-2008 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl (Post 512895)
I meant to couple it with the picture of John Hampden opposite, but got caught up in other things.

Quote:

The towns of Hamden, Connecticut and Hampden, Maine, as well as the county of Hampden, Massachusetts are named in his honour.
Hey, they left out the town of Hampden, Massachusetts. My Mommy lives there. :D

Sundae 12-12-2008 10:39 AM

Ha!
Well there you go.

My first ever job was washing up and prepping at The John Hampden Restaurant on Aylesbury High Street. That's when I learned that Hampden is pronounced Ham-den. Unlike Hampton Court which is pronounced as it is written.

xoxoxoBruce 12-12-2008 10:45 AM

Yeah, in Hampden you have to p silently. ;)

lumberjim 12-12-2008 02:26 PM

neato, SG

Perry Winkle 12-12-2008 05:25 PM

The pics in the first two posts look a lot like Ponteland, near Newcastle upon Tyne.

Elspode 12-13-2008 10:35 AM

I may have asked this before, and it may be none of my goddamn business, but...why the new relocation, SG?


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