James Lanham Of St Ives And Newlyn - The Dark Side Of Old Cornwall

I do feel quite privileged (perhaps?) to own this very old James Lanham bottle ( it has still got a tiny drain of something inside it and is corked), because of his connection to both the St Ives and the Newlyn Art Schools.

If I had to pick, I think I actually prefer the Newlyn Art School to the St Ives Art School, because of the gritty pictures of fishermen and boats. The Newlyn School actually shows that there were lots of poor people about in Cornwall and the whole business of fishing and other connected industries was to earn money for survival and to keep a roof over the fisher folk's heads.

In his book 'The Vanishment,' Jonathan Aycliffe describes the streets of St Ives, Cornwall, in winter as very bleak, cold and windswept.

This bleak part of St Ives is carefully never sold to the public as a rule. I have read countless books on St Ives and Cornwall in general, including many historical ones, but all extol the virtues of this twee tourist destination which to be honest looks ram jam fuddy in the summer - hardly a relaxing break! Some of the video's on YouTube about the area are hilarious.

Bring on something gritty, dark and meaningful about the place, other than a few shipwrecks, the odd shark, old creaking mines and a bit of surfing!

J Wadsworth And The St Ives Of Cambridge Bottle - The Other St Ives

There is another town called St Ives in the UK, besides the one in Cornwall and that is situated in Huntingdonshire/Cambridgeshire.

This particular St Ives is mentioned in Rupert Brooke's poem - The Old Vicarage, Grantchester.

The bottle above says 'J Wadsworth, St Ives Cambridge' and refers to a wine shop which still exists.

Talking of Cambridgeshire towns, I have actually been to Grantchester and have seen 'Byron's Pool' which is supposed to be haunted by Lord Byron himself no less.

My father actually went in to the  garden at 'The Old Vicarage' and got me a piece of Ivy from the exact hedge that Rupert Brooke was once photographed standing in front of, over 100 years ago.
I am sure the garden is fenced off now but at the time it was open and the house stands sideways to the road. We then went to a nearby pub, called the Rose And Crown but which later changed its name to the Rupert Brooke. At the time, this pub displayed the original manuscript of Rupert Brooke's 'Old Vicarage, Grantchester' poem under glass, so it was good to see it.

The little Ivy cutting from the garden of The Old Vicarage in Grantchester grew in to a plant and lasted for many years.

We had arranged to stay at The Pickerel Inn which was situated in Cambridge itself. Now this was quite some time ago and I do have to say I am sure the place is absolutely nothing like that now.

Well firstly after the drive down to Cambridge, we found the inn did not have our rooms ready and my father had to sleep in one of the pub owner's family's personal bedrooms so he was surrounded by someone else's clothes and belongings all night . My mother and self were given a filthy room which had dirty sheets and cat doober all over under my bed. I decided to sleep in the chair in my clothes.

The next day we decided to leave immediately, instead of taking the four day break we had planned.

Breakfast was green mouldy cornflakes and just when we thought it couldn't get any more weird, we found we were sharing a breakfast table with the well known British actress Sheila Hancock. I am not in the least star stuck as I believe in Aleister Cowley's saying that 'Every man and every woman is a star' we all have our unique talents, so I couldn't have cared less who was at the table, especially in that place, but she was actually very polite. It turned out that Sheila Hancock was in a theatre production in Cambridge at the time and it was she who had gotten our other room.

On the way back home, we called at Grantchester, which was the reason I had persuaded my parents to actually go to Cambridge in the first place. Grantchester is roughly about three or four miles from Cambridge if I recall correctly.

Pippin's Lighthouse And The Mermaid Of Zennor

Cuddly little Pippin making his home by the sea. This very adaptable little dog has done a fair bit of travelling around in his time. He is a good swimmer and enjoys frolicking by the pools and rocks looking for mermaids, such as the famous 'Mermaid of Zennor' from Cornwall mythology.

Pippin can also go on his inter-stellar adventures as he is transported by the lighthouse beam to many far flung places, ones that you would never dream he has visited, but he has of course - he is just keeping it a secret.

When Pippin sleeps he astral travels far and wide. Not even the sea can hold him back...

Vampire Basilisk - I'm A Vampire

I have always had an interest in vampires since being a child and I used to watch the Hammer Horror Films with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing with a sense of great delight. Vincent Price was also thrilling in the film adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe's creepy stories, where nobody ever really wins.

In one of her book, Dion Fortune wrote about a doctor who removed attached psychic vampires that were actually soldiers' spirits from the first world war. Although they were written as fiction, the stories were based on a real doctor who ran a nursing home for those with shell shock and nerve trouble. This particular doctor was well known to Dion Fortune and he ran a sideline, which was treating patients for occult troubles and one of these treatments was the removal of energy draining psychic shades or psychic vampires.

We wanted to do something that was actually filmed on Halloween - or Samhain to use its old name, that actually connected to the time of year. I am a published writer and poet, though always under pseudonyms. I have also appeared  in various newspapers and magazines as well as on TV and radio, but we are currently working on other projects, although I really do love blogging and have quite a number of blogs and websites.

I hadn't used some of them for a while though, so it is quite a discipline getting back to blogging again as I don't have much time these days, I have to fit it in, as and when, but the blog calls me still....

Vampire Basilisk puts forward the spirit of the vampire in all its glory...

Pippin And The Pumpkins

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Lovely little Pippin The Pooch enjoyed his Halloween night with two large pumpkin lanterns for company. Pippin is quite an active doggie - he is really in to everything and he is just so energetic, but at the same time very friendly, although he does bark quite a bit sometimes....