Taking five minutes to enjoy five things...
1. Stairs invite us in.
Like into Dr Johnson's House,
up the stairwell,
into his attic where facsimiles of his dictionary await your perusal.
2. Stairs can lead us down.
Into the First World War tunnels at Vimy Ridge,
in France but a National Historic Site of Canada.
Fourteen miles of tunnels leading to the front line,
built by Welsh miners for Canadian troops.
3. Sometimes it is necessary to make temporary arrangements.
Awaiting new stairs at the Brunel Museum.
The only way in and out of Brunel's underground chamber.
You can see where the stairs used to be,
helpfully illustrated on souvenir cups.
4. Stairs provide convenient places to hang portraits
Going left up the stairs to the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons,
you are introduced to past presidents.
Not gowned up (surgically speaking), but wearing RCS ties.
As the fashions for portraiture, ties and gowns have changed,
fortunately so have surgical instruments.
Doubt Professor Peter Morris here, ever had to work with the chicken bone or razor shell
that we had just seen in the Hunterian Museum.
Down the hatch on HMS Belfast.
Always face the ladder and best wear trousers.
Perhaps head to the Shell Room below the water-line.
Ladders and hatches on HMS Belfast accessing all nine decks.
I am joining in with Amy with Five on Friday,
taking five minutes from our day to enjoy five things.
Please visit the other bloggers who are also blogging about Five on Friday this week.
Want to kmow more about Dr Johnson's House, Vimy Ridge,
the Brunel Museum, the Hunterian Museum and HMS Belfast?
Click on the headings below to read my previous posts about them.
What a brilliant idea for a post!! I love it. The stairs at the Brunel Museum where obviously quite something. I hope they can restore/replace them soon. xx
ReplyDeleteForgot to say, thank you for taking part! xx
ReplyDeleteThanks Amy x
DeleteBrilliant take on Five in Friday!
ReplyDeleteThanks. Already feeling the pressure for next month. Best not to think about it til nearer the time.
DeleteGreat photos of some fab places. Yes I learnt the hard way when I wore a dress on a warship. My friend's husband was behind me. Neither of us have forgotten it. Enjoy your weekend :)
ReplyDeleteThanks. Have you been to HMS belfast. We love it. I'm always telling friends to go. It's not what people think it is, so much more.
DeleteWhat a lovely & interesting post. x
ReplyDeleteThanks Joanne. x
DeleteAnother great themed post. Fascinating quirky take on the world - always so readable.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lucille. That means a lot coming from you as I really admire your writing. My mum doesn't really do blogs, but is an avid reader, I got her to read your post about buying a leather jacket. She loved it .
DeleteWhat a great link using the theme of stairs. Love it. Love that it links back to your older posts. Genius. Thanks for sharing x
ReplyDeleteThanks Selma. I'm enjoying Five on Friday & hope to always have a theme. I like having a theme, something to link things together.
DeleteVery interesting five. I like the stairwell in Dr.Johnson's House. I think I'll enjoy visiting this place and HMS Belfast. Definitely best to wear trousers if you're going up and down steep ladders like those.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely weekend!
Hi Marion. I highly recommend both places to visit. Quirky bits of London.
DeleteWhat an interesting post! I've been to the Vimy Ridge site in France. It was a very sobering reminder of just how awful that war was. Nice to be joining up with you for Five on Friday!
ReplyDeleteHi kristie, thanks for commenting. I'm enjoying Five on Friday plus finding other blogs to visit. Even though I don't blog about crafts, I love crochet & enjoy seeing what others have made & where they've been.
DeleteIt's fascinating to see inside The Thames Tunnel! I have an antique horn beaker just like the one you show - so interesting to see how it looks now and to learn that there is a museum on the site.
ReplyDeleteHi Nilly. Yes I saw that beaker on your blog. If you visit the Brunel Museum, best to go when you can also visit the underground chamber.
DeleteWhat a fascinating post! They only place I've been to of all the above interesting locations is Vimy Ridge, a very thought-provoking trip
ReplyDeleteVimy Ridge was great. You'll have to check out the other places. They're all amazing, can't choose between them.
DeleteStairs are fab. We love stairs. Great post. Great looking places too, and we've been to none of them. That must clearly change.
ReplyDeleteBest place for kids in those 5 is HMS Belfast. Not quite what you'd expect. Lots of Life on Board stuff, museum mannequins, mess decks, hospital wing & stuffed ship's cats to capture the kids imaginations. Also it's very physical, with 9 decks & ladders to climb. If you get there, I'd love to know what you think.
DeleteWhat a great post, thank you Katharine.
ReplyDeleteThanks Alison.
DeleteSmashing post Katharine and so very interesting. Thankyou for sharing your love of museums, galleries and the like. Your photos are great. P x
ReplyDeleteThanks Patricia. I'm perhaps enjoying myself too much blogging about museums. It's stopping me studying. Then when I run out of ideas for posts, I have to visit somewhere. Any excuse!
DeleteWhat a clever idea for a post, Katharine. All are really interesting, and I know Hubs would particularly love Dr Johnson's house - he is quite the fan!
ReplyDeleteThanks patricia. I'm keeping an eye on your blog for more museum visits in Australia.
DeleteHello Katharine,
ReplyDeleteThank you for following our blog since, through this, we have now found you!
And, what delight we have had going upstairs and downstairs with you in these various places of interest, some of which we know and others which are far less familiar. We shall look forward to your uncovering many other things of interest and intrigue in future posts.
Nice to meet you. I'll be following you, seeing where you've been. Ideas for museum visits for me. Perhaps won't get abroad that much though. Well, we'll see. Everytime we go on holiday, I drag my family somewhere & they always enjoy it.
DeleteI've really enjoyed your post and so glad I've found your blog. As a retired museum person I have a lifelong love of them in all their guises. Thank you for your lovely comment on my blog. I'm off to read more of your now:)
ReplyDeleteThanks Rosie. Glad to be taking you on tours of new (& perhaps some already known to you) places.
DeleteI was wondering if you'd mention HMS Belfast! I took two little boys who were
ReplyDeletemortified by how hopeless I was on the ladders. I'm afraid it's on my never again list!