“ Now we get a whiff of the gutta-percha works; then comes a faint gust from some floor-cloth shed; next we dash through an odoriferous belt of bone-boiling atmosphere; and after that through a film of fetor rank with the fumes from the glazing of potteries; whereupon this is followed by bands of nauseous vapoursContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Train Ride from London to Clapham Common: Through the Suburban Stench (Henry Mayhew)”
Category Archives: literature
RKS Literature: A Fearless Man May be the Most Dangerous Man (Herman Melville)
‘I will have no man in my boat’ said Starbuck, ‘who is not afraid of a whale.’ By this, he seemed to mean, not only that the most reliable and useful courage was that which arises from the fair estimation of the encountered peril, but that an utterly fearless man is a far more dangerousContinue reading “RKS Literature: A Fearless Man May be the Most Dangerous Man (Herman Melville)”
RKS Literature: A Disgusting and Immoral Performance at a London Penny Gaff (Henry Mayhew)
“There was one scene yet to come that was perfect in its wickedness. A ballet began with a man dressed up as a woman, and a country clown. The most disgusting attitudes were struck, the most immoral acts represented, without one dissenting voice. If there had been any feat of agility, any grimacing, or, inContinue reading “RKS Literature: A Disgusting and Immoral Performance at a London Penny Gaff (Henry Mayhew)”
RKS Literature: The Scramble for a Living in London’s Street Markets (Henry Mayhew)
“Each salesman tries his utmost to sell his wares, tempting the passers-by with his bargains. The boy with his stock of herbs offers ‘a double ‘andful of fine parsley for a penny;’ the man with a donkey cart filled with turnips has three lads to shout for him to their utmost with their ‘ Ho!Continue reading “RKS Literature: The Scramble for a Living in London’s Street Markets (Henry Mayhew)”
RKS Poetry Anthology (All We Get Are The Coffee Grinds): Will you kindly SHUT UP (COVID MEMORIES)
Will you kindly SHUT UP (COVID MEMORIES) Living the COVID imprisoned life hardly pleasant With too many thinking these bloody medicos turning statisticians are heaven sent But incessant “public service messaging” is making one’s mind bent Threatening if we do not obey we will all be deceased by Lent This public service chattering verging onContinue reading “RKS Poetry Anthology (All We Get Are The Coffee Grinds): Will you kindly SHUT UP (COVID MEMORIES)”
RKS Literature: London as Seen from a Balloon (Henry Mayhew)
“…..to grasp it in the eye-to take, as it were, an angel’s view of that huge town where, perhaps, there is more virtue and more inequity, more wealth and more want, brought together in one dense focus than in any other part of the earth-to hear the hubbub of the restless sea of life andContinue reading “RKS Literature: London as Seen from a Balloon (Henry Mayhew)”
RKS Literature: The Spice Cover Up in Street Pies! (Henry Mayhew)
“The pies in Tottenham-court-road are very highly seasoned. “I bought one there the other day, and it nearly took the skin off my mouth; it was full of pepper’ said a street pieman, with considerable bitterness, to me. The reason why so large a quantity of pepper is put in is, because persons can’t tellContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Spice Cover Up in Street Pies! (Henry Mayhew)”
RKS Literature: Meow Meow and Woof Woof in Street Pies! DENIED! (Henry Mayhew)
“The pie dealers usually make the pies themselves. The meat is bought in ‘pieces’ of the same part as sausage-makers purchase- the ‘sticklings’- at about 3d the pound. ‘People when I go into houses’ said one man ‘often begin by crying “Mee-yow” or “Bow-wow-wow! At me; but there’s nothing of that kind now. Meat youContinue reading “RKS Literature: Meow Meow and Woof Woof in Street Pies! DENIED! (Henry Mayhew)”
RKS Literature: The Regalness of Sperm Oil! (Herman Melville)
“But the only thing to be considered here, is this-what kind of oil is used at coronations? Certainly it cannot be olive oil, nor macassar oil, nor bear’s oil, nor train oil, nor cod liver oil. What then can it possibly be, but sperm oil in its unmanufactured, unpolluted state, the sweetest of all oils?Continue reading “RKS Literature: The Regalness of Sperm Oil! (Herman Melville)”
RKS Literature: Violent and Beautiful Death in Italy (D.H. Lawrence)
“The colonel, poor devil-we knew him afterwards-is now dead. It is strange that he is dead. There is something repulsive to me in the thought of him lying dead: such a humiliating, somehow degraded corpse. Death has no beauty in Italy, unless it be violent. The death of a man or woman through sickness isContinue reading “RKS Literature: Violent and Beautiful Death in Italy (D.H. Lawrence)”
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 