Trespassing the Future by Sombrero Guy
February 16th, 2008 8:29 AM / Location: 50.723511,-1.833000Next to the courts there is a large building, Shelley Manor. It was the home of the poet Percy Shelley, who was related (I forget how) to mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein. Recently, part of it has been demolished and there are plans to redevelop some of it and build new parts. What we are uncertain of is the future of our tennis club. It may not exist in 10 years time. The photo below is from Google, and shows what the site once looked like:
Now, however, our clubhouse has been demolished to make way for... something. You may be able to make out the site in the photo and video below, however due to putting the camera on the wrong settings it is focusing close-up. I didn't realise this before I got home.
A full plan of the development can be found at www.shelleypark.org. Below is one version of what it will look like:
Our tennis club was promised some storage for balls and spare rackets etc, but in the floor plan for the ground floor, I don't see any evidence of this:
So I am now not sure what is going to happen to our club.
The second site which will not be there in 10 years is my favourite shop, Weigh and Save, which closed down last week. this is what it was like then:
Now they have painted over the windows and, what is worse, taken my notice down (see http://sf0.org/JMB22/Object-Annotation/):
Thus, I have visited two places which will be completely different in the future. What would be really interesting is if I actually went back in 10 years time. But you'll have to wait a while for that.
Tennis
The tennis courts, with Shelley Manor in the background.
Weigh and Save - 1 week on
A week after closure.
Weigh and Save
The shop on its closing day.
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Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley were married.
It is funny, as Percy Shelley for long was by far the more famous of the two, but I think Frankenstein has finally pushed Mary into the brighter limelight. This wasn't always the case. If you watch the 1931 Universal film version of Frankenstein with Boris Karloff a card at the beginning of the film says, "by Mrs. Percy B. Shelley," totally defining her by her husband. I've seen it like that elsewhere.
The irony of this is even greater when it is considered that Mary's mother, Mary Wolstoncraft, who I believe died in childbirth with her or soon thereafter, was the author of a treatise entitled, "Vindication on the Rights of Women". I guess Mary was vindicated with the 1994 Kenneth Branaugh adaptation called "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein"... if you can call that Vindication.
Oh, and Mary and Percy were friends with Lord Byron, and it was on a dare to tell scary stories late at night that Frankenstein was created. Neither Shelley's nor Byron's stories remain, which I think goes to show that Mary wrote rings around them both. ---- sorry, just a big Frankenstein fan.
Yes, Mary Wollstonecraft died giving birth to her daughter Mary Godwin (whose dad was the philosopher William Godwin). Mary later married Percy Shelley. Percy Shelley and Lord Byron were primarily poets, not novelists and yes, their poetry remains and it's not shabby.
Frankenstein is about the terror of childbirth. Mary Shelley had some things to say about that, both from never having met her famous mother and her own difficult delivery of her own child. BTW it's Kenneth Branagh. Otherwise, No comment.
"Otherwise, No comment."
Actually, that was a lot of comment science"guru". And good comment, too. The best I've seen you give. Thanks.
Yay! Guru said something non-trollesque!
Cheers for Frankenstein facts!
It is sad how few people know anything at all about the actual story (as opposed to the monster, pitchforks, and Igor type mutilations).
I totally rearranged one of my special reading classes to read the original to students here and drive home the point that Frankenstein was not the name of the monster!
Also, nice job on the task:D
Yes, I always find it a pity that the 'monster' has been turned into a kind of evil being now, whereas in the original story it was simply misunderstood and unloved.
Too few people realise that.
Ah Weigh and Save, there was one of those in Lowestoft. It was a hillarious place, the idea that you could save money by weighing what you buy.
The new theatre looks like a good development.