bleak house

a sunny day calls
for lunch strolls
no matter how cold.

Had a moment today where I wished I lived in this gardener's cottage in Princess St Gardens, then changed my mind when I read this blog that republishes actual Victorian newspaper articles..

They are all from 1861 and were posted week by week over the course of 2011, exactly 150 years later. I'm no Victorian history buff but these are really fascinating - the gory moralistic editorial style, the odd cruel and tragic content, and the very "normal" protagonists really sucked me in. Then there's the headlines..

THE MANSLAUGHTER OF A FRIENDLESS AMERICAN
The deceased never recovered from the last beating she received, when the fiend continued his violence as she knelt upon the ground and begged for mercy, because she was without any friend in England.
<jeepers tug the heart strings why doncha?>

SUICIDE OF A GERMAN ARTIST
On entering, the body of the unfortunate gentleman was found lying on the hearth in front of the fire-place, with his head literally blown to atoms, and a large pistol lying nearby. The ball had passed completely through the deceased's head, and lodged in the style of the middle room door.
<atoms? lodged? so much grisly detail..>

A CHILD STRIPPER
she had been convicted of stealing a child and cutting off its eyebrows so as to make it an object of pity... His lordship said it was a most atrocious case, and the prisoner must be made an example of. The sentence on her was three years penal servitude. As the prisoner was leaving the dock, she gave one of the witnesses a blow on the eye
<WIT!! eyebrows.. what kind of sadist thinks of that? eyebrows..>

AN INSANE PENSIONER WHO LIVED IN THE CENTRE OF THE SUN
am not going to ruin this one for you, you just have to read it - from August

As the blogger Diarmid concludes there's little to get sentimental about here

The main lesson I picked up from the project-which might not come as a surprise-was that 1861 was a truly miserable, brutal and unforgiving year in which to be alive. Anyone who believes that society is breaking down in the 21st century or that our spirit is being stifled by the welfare state or health and safety legislation should spend a year reading Victorian papers, with their murdered babies abandoned in gutters, young men crushed by unsafe factory machinery, servant girls starved to death in wealthy houses and all the rest of the commonplace cruelty, and reflect on how far we've come in a relatively short time.

It's the same year that the American civil war started and Prince Albert died but these courtroom titbits brought me closer to these forgotten lives. Close enough to be glad I wasn't there. Weird how they seem almost like a structured reality show with clear moral narratives ("fiends" and punishing wickedness are a common trope).

Do you think 150 years from now our great great great great grandchildren will be watching the only way is Essex in horror?
maybe they'll read our blips..

PS speaking of Victorian conditions, it's affirmative what's eating the bird food. A large rat has just appeared on my window ledge about 60 cm from me. This means it has crawled up the ivy outside (3 floors / 35 metres ish?) and is currently trying to get into the bird feeder. We had a long mammal to mammal eyeball, then he got camera shy and sloped off.
Am disgusted but slightly impressed..