“I haven't been myself of late
I haven't slept for several days
But coming home I feel like I Designed these buildings I walk by”
Copyright Elbow
Back to my currently favourite band, Elbow this week they seem to have a song that reflects my every mood and no wonder they have such dedicated fans. We are travelling yet again this week and taking a last chance to visit our folks again in Sunderland over in NE England this week. Chris is spending some time looking after her mum leaving me to be looked after by my lovely mother – a real hard job but hey such is life! I’am being fed to excess and generally spoilt – bliss! Chris and me had a great day yesterday and headed out for a long walk round some of my old patch from when I was a kid, I took Chris up to Tunstall Hills which brought back great memories ranging from going up playing to going up rather later with bottles of cider – all good stuff and great memories from a great child hood, as I hope my regular readers realise I love our life in Ireland but there is always something magical about going back to where you grew up. That’s what I think my Guy Garvey is talking about as he returns to Manchester in the above quote, this feeling might be peculiar to us Northerners but I have a feeling it wouldn’t matter where you grew up the feelings remain the same, its just it’s a bit more ‘grim up north!” – only kidding!
I have spent a great day today in Sunderland just aimlessly walking around and taking in the sights and sounds of a city that has changed beyond recognition since my childhood. Sunderland was one of the biggest ship building ports in England as well as a major coal mining town and I always felt it was an amazing place to grow up, I could write a book about sights and sounds but I will just share a couple of vivid memories:
The launch of a ship was always a big event and I well remember seeing one, the ship would tower above the buildings and if you think a ship looks massive in the water it is nothing compared to how it looks on the slipway. There would be the platform at the bow which would contain the inevitable dignitaries like yard directors, ship owners and the chosen one for the naming ceremony! After the long and inevitably boring speeches would come the breaking of the bottle of champagne over the bow! While all this was going on the underside of the ship would be a hive of activity as workers started removing chocks and shoring before the leading ganger would knock out the last chock and several thousands of tons of steel would start gracefully moving towards the river punctuated by chains snapping and clouds of dust. The ship would then float into the river where it would be caught by tugs, turned around and moored before the start of months of fitting and finally sea trials. There are still Sunderland built ships around the world so they certainly built them well!
As well as the ship yards there were dozens of other industries involved in supplies components and equipment so here goes one more, when I was a kid and inevitably being sent to bed early I became aware of a strange but somehow comforting sound that could be heard in the still night air over the town, it was a kind of low drone or rumble which would vary in pitch every few minutes. I never really thought about what this could be until curiosity got the better of me and I found out that the noise was a Doxford engine. Doxfords built some of the finest marine diesel engines in the world and when an engine was completed it was tested and set up on a test bed for several hours right through the night. I never reallt thought about this until recently but I think this might account for the “diesel in my veins” but I do still have a love for the sound of a good internal combustion engine in particular the mechanical symphony offered by a Napier Deltic – all another story!
I hope that you have enjoyed this bit of indulgence, I promise I will be back to business next week!
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