Agency Instead Of History - What The Dickens?!
I hadn't been able to get much sleep last night so when I got up again this morning I was still feeling pretty tired. We had been intending to head for the coast but as it was a fairly long journey and I was suffering the after effects of so little sleep we just took the short hop back to The Tudor Rose at Upper Upnor for a pint and then stopped off at Rochester on the way back for an early afternoon stroll.
As we ambled along the very quiet High Street, looking for any image based opportunities along the way, we got to meet a delightful little back cat called Maisie who, unlike a lot of cats these days, was more than amenable to being stroked by strangers.
After our feline based interlude we continued our walk past Eastgate House, a Grade 1 listed townhouse that dates back to the 16th and 17th Centuries and is one of the town's most impressive and distinctive buildings with a history that includes being the home of Sir Peter Buck, a senior office at the Royal Tudor dockyard, a Victorian boarding school, a hostel, a museum and an inspiration to the great author Charles Dickens.
Of course, I completely ignored all that history and decided to capture the scene in the opposite direction past the vibrant planting display outside the house and towards an estate agency's window! I'd just turned round when my attention was caught by a passer-by and I liked how her bright yellow jacket and one bag she was carrying seemed to match the brightly coloured flowers in the foreground whilst her other bag conveniently co-ordinated with the black and white background.
Some people (o.k, mostly nobody!) might express annoyance or surprise at my choice by uttering "What the dickens?!" However, the original expression of this term actually has nothing to do with the esteemed novelist but was in use much earlier with one explanation being that it is a euphemism for the devil or Old Nick, with the saying first found in print in 1602 in Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor : "I cannot tell what the dickens his name is".
My extra is part of a gloriously illustrated poster outside Eastgate House for an upcoming event called "Strictly Steampunk" which is described as a "weekend of colourful characters and crazy costumes" where you can come and learn about the weird and wonderful traditions of Steampunk and even indulge in such activities as "Tea Duelling" and "Familiar Flinging"!
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