It was the northern hemisphere's summer solstice last week which is generally referred to as being the "longest day". This actually means it's the longest day of sunlight whilst south of the equator it's the shortest. Some say that it also marks the start of summer but given that some places in the north of England had the equivalent of a month's rainfall on Friday night and Saturday morning, I don't think there will be many celebrating the new season. Once again communities have come together to help and support each other.
Monday June 25th of course was the midpoint between Christmases and means that the nights will now begin to draw in and we will be closer to Christmas Day 2012 than Christmas Day 2011. Now doesn't that make you feel better? No, I didn't think so - but as we're now officially in summer, we'd better make the most of it. Besides Wimbledon has started and that guarantees good weather doesn't it? I'm sure we had bad summer weather when I was young but I tend to remember only the sunny days.
I made the news this week - or rather one of my photos did. The image of the flower beds on the island at the southern end of Chalons Way was chosen as Ilkeston Advertiser's Picture of the Week. It also goes to show what good taste the visitors to Ilkeston Cam must have as over 90% of those who voted on the Latest Images page also chose the photo as their favourite. I still don't think of myself as a photographer but merely as a taker of snapshots who occasionally gets a good picture.
There was also a surprise in the same newspaper for an old black and white photo submitted by a reader for the Memory Lane spot showed a party of Charnos factory workers and their families on the platform of Trowell Station. The party was on its way to the Festival of Britain in 1951 and there in the middle of the photo is a man wearing a trilby hat with a little boy standing in front of him. That man was my Dad and the little boy, yours truly. My Mum who worked at Charnos must have been there too but I can't actually see her on the photo. It's somehow appropriate on this weekend when Fathers' Day is celebrated that the old picture is featured this week. It's also quite spooky - two photos with a personal link!
There was huge disappointment all round this weekend as the Annual Carnival had to be cancelled. It was not surprising really as the strong winds and heavy rainfall during the preceding week had left puddles on the car park (left) at the recreation ground and the ground itself was waterlogged. It would have been folly to stage the carnival here.
I think it was last year the the Summer Happening on Victoria Park also had to be cancelled due to similar conditions. Not only is it disappointing for the general public when these things happen but it is even more so for the organisers and charities who would normally have benefited from the events.
The truth is though you can look elsewhere and always see someone worse off. For example this week in west Wales, people have been driven from their homes by flash floods but it is in the face of such tragedies that communities come together to help each other. The people of Wales will come back even stronger, Ilkeston will have another Carnival and communities will continue to thrive. Life will go on with or without the help of the government. And David Cameron thinks the "Big Society" is something he thought up. Come into the real world David; open your eyes and see what has been happening for years. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-18387529
Prince Charles was on TV the other night in a documentary for the Diamond Jubilee. In it he claimed to have a vivid memory of his mother wearing the heavy crown whilst practising for the Coronation. That may well be so but personally I find it difficult to remember anything at all from when I was just four years old. One thing that does stick with me from infants school was when someone had a birthday. Friends were chosen to stand in front of the whole school holding candles aloft whilst "Happy Birthday" was sung. I dreaded being chosen as I hated the hot candle fat running down my fingers. Another early recollection from my childhood was as a six year old but even then I only have vague memories of a visit to the Festival of Britain in 1951.
I suppose if your mother is the Queen then perhaps it is possible that you will remember grand occasions from when you were a young child. Having said that for many years, I had a vivid picture in my mind's eye of a fire in a row of garages off South Street in Ilkeston and my uncle and my dad pushing cars out of the flames. As far as I can ascertain, if such a fire did occur, it was about a year before I was born and there's no-one left in my family to ask anymore. One suggestion that has been made is that I overheard a conversation whilst at an early age and this has been transformed into a memory. Maybe the same happened to Prince Charles but maybe he does in fact remember. Who am I to say?
