With dance competition season right around the corner, it's time to make sure we have everything we need to make costume changes smooth and easy. We learned last year that tap shoes can eat tights if they are left unattended in the dance bag. So this year, tap and clogging shoes will get their very own covers to protect tights and other costume pieces in the dance bag. To achieve this goal, we have decided to make soft shoe boxes for each pair of shoes. This has the added benefit of the shoes not rubbing against and scratching each other as well.
Instead of making a flat bag, my daughter wanted something with more shape to it, so the shoes fit more easily down inside. We have decided to make a soft shoe box so that the shoes fit easily down inside and are easily and quickly accessible. After all, time is always critical on competition day. After some trial and error, I have come up with a rectangular box-shaped bag that fits each shoe. So to fit a pair of shoes, you will need to make 2 of these. These fit my daughter's ladies size 6 1/2 and 7 1/2 tap shoes.
Take two sheets of felt and cut each in half along the long side so that each piece is about 4 1/2 inches wide. If you are cutting a piece of fabric, the pieces will be 4 1/2" x 12". These will become the top and bottom of the box. You will need 4 strips that are 4 1/2" x 12" to make 2 shoe boxes.
Take another sheet of felt and cut it into 4 strips along the long side so that each strip will be about 2 1/4 inches wide. You will have 4 strips that measure 2 1/2" x 12". These will become the sides of the boxes.
Out of the last sheet of felt, cut the top flaps (optional) and the bottoms of the boxes. For the top flaps, you will need to cut 2 pieces that are 4" x 9". For the bottoms of the boxes, you will need to cut 2 pieces that are 4 1/2" x 2 1/2" rectangles.
Now that all the pieces are cut, it's time to pin it together. We laid all the pieces out to determine which side was softest on each piece. The soft side will face the shoes so it will be on the inside of the box.
Since we want our seams on the inside of our box and the soft sides of our felt on the inside of our box, we put our rough sides together. The rough sides will be considered the right sides since they will become the outside of the box.
First, lay out your 12" strips beside each other. They should alternate in size so that they will make a rectangle when they are sewn together, 2 1/2" beside 4 1/2" beside 2 1/2" beside the last 4 1/2" strip. The long sides should be next to each other.
Take one of the 4 1/2" x 12" pieces and match it up along the long side with one of the 2 1/4" x 12" pieces. Line up the edges and pin them together.
Using a straight stitch, stitch down the edge of the felt pieces to sew them together. I am using the guide on my presser foot to keep the hem about 3/8" from the edge of the fabric.
On the opposite long side of the 2 1/2" strip of fabric on the strips you have just sewn, line up and pin the long edge of the second 4 1/2" strip. Pin the edges together then stitch down the edge.
Match up the long edge of the last 2 1/2" strip with the long edge of either 4 1/2" strip. Pin the edges together and stitch them together. Now you have a larger rectangle made up of 4 strips.
Now that your sides are together, it's time to sew the bottom and actually turn it into a box.
With the box sides laying flat on your work surface, line up one of the narrow (2 1/2") sides of the 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangle with the 2 1/2" section of the strip that is on the outside edge of your box sides. Pin the short edge of the bottom strip to the edge of the narrow strip on the sides. Sew them together.
Once that edge is sewn together, turn the bottom piece so that the long side is lined up with the end of the adjoining 4 1/2" strip. Pin the edges together and sew them. This can be done on your work surface or without removing the fabric from the machine.
If you want to do this without removing the fabric from the machine, after you have sewn the 2 1/2" edge, lift the presser foot. Carefully rotate the pieces so that the edges of the 4 1/2" strips are lined up. Lower the presser foot and continue sewing. When you reach the end of the 4 1/2" strip, lift the presser foot again and rotate so that you can sew the remaining 2 1/2" side.
Now the bottom should be sewn to all 4 sides of the box and your box should have one 12" side that is still unsewn.
Carefully pin the last side seam together. Starting at the bottom, sew up the remaining side of the box.
Now your box is sewn together. Turn the box right side out (so the soft side is facing in) Make sure your shoe fits inside your box. Repeat with the remaining pieces so that you have a box for both of your shoes.
Once our boxes were finished, we decided we wanted to make a top flap to help keep the shoe inside while traveling. This is where the 4" x 9" strip comes in. If you decide you want a flap to cover the top, turn the box inside out again. Carefully match up one of the 4" sides of the strip with one of the 4" sides of the box. Pin the edges together and sew the seam with a straight stitch.
Now that you have 2 shoe boxes for your pair of shoes, the boxes can be embellished any way you want. If you want it to have a button on the flap, you can add a button. Or you could use velcro to fasten the top flap to the side of the box.
These bags were made to fit our size 6 1/2 and 7 1/2 tap shoes. I made another set of bags out of velveteen that I had left over from another project and it did not stretch as much so the shoes fit more tightly in the bag. If you are using fabric that doesn't have as much stretch to it, you may want to increase the size of the pieces. For those shoe boxes I'm going to make an outside bag to go around them because I wanted the soft fabric against the shoes and I want to hide all the seams. These box bags are easy to customize and make for any purpose, not just shoes. They would make great little gift bags too.
For the velveteen shoe boxes, I didn't make a top flap for them. Instead I sewed a simple drawstring bag to slide them down into. I cut a piece of felt that was wide enough to go around the shoe boxes and stitched up each side. To create the channel for the drawstring, I folded over the top edge of the felt about an inch and sewed a straight stitch along the folded edge.


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Victorian London - Entertainment and Recreation - Parks, Commons and Heaths - Hyde Park
Hyde Park, long the favourite resort of the fashionable world, is an extremely beautiful and very delightful spot, embracing in extent an area of 395 acres, in which the combination of hill and dale, wood and water, are so happily blended, as to pro duce, though not an extensive, a rich and varied landscape. The view from Apsley House, terminated by Kensington Gardens, is eminently beautiful; the vicinity of the latter is studded with stately trees, and presents some very pleasing scenery. The house of the keeper is in a beautifully secluded situation. Hyde Park has within the last twelve years been very much improved, by the addition of many plantations and drives, and the erection of a bridge across the Serpentine River. The most fashionable drive for carriages at the present day is the road next Park Lane, which, with a view to increased accommodation, has been extended to four times its former width. The sheet of water termed the Serpentine River is in form nearly a parallelogram, the water being supplied by a small stream that rises near Hampstead and falls into the Thames at Chelsea. On the north side of the Serpentine is a station of the Humane Society, the keeper's lodge, two powder magazines, and a guard-house; here are also two mineral springs. On the south side are barracks for the Life Guards. Hyde Park is much frequented as a promenade, particularly on Sundays, between the hours of two and six in the afternoon There are six entrances, five of which are adorned with neat modern lodges, and the sixth, at Hyde Park Corner, with a triumphal arch. This was erected in 1828, from designs by Mr. Decimus Burton : it consists of a screen of fluted Ionic columns with three arches for carriages, and two for foot passengers; the whole frontage extends about 170 feet. It possesses an air of great elegance, and the gates, which are of bronzed iron-work, are very beautiful: near it is a neat lodge. On the right of this entrance stands Apsley House, the town residence of the greatest hero of any age or nation, - the Duke of Wellington; and facing the entrance is a colossal statue, executed by Mr. Westmacott Its expense was defrayed by a subscription raised by the Ladies of England, by whose order it was erected, in honour of the Duke of Wellington and his brave companions in arms, for the gallantry displayed in their various struggles with the Continental despot The figure of Achilles, eighteen feet high, stands on a basement of granite; it was cast from cannon, twelve 24-pounders, taken in the battles of Salamanca, Victoria, Toulouse, and Waterloo.
Victoria Gate, and improvements in its vicinity. - The Victoria Gate in Hyde Park, within a minute's walk of Kensington Gardens, is a new opening to that delightful spot, made by order of her present Majesty, with the view of affording increased accommodation to the nobility and gentry whose dwellings border its northern boundary. These, from Park Lane to Victoria Gate, form, with some few exceptions, a continued range of stately edifices, of which Connaught Place, Hyde Park Terrace, and last, though not least, Hyde Park Gardens, with its well-disposed inclosure, are the leading features. The view they command is eminently beautiful; the foreground being filled by Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, with its mass of foliage, and, ex~ tending for some miles over the valley of the Thames, is terminated by the Surrey hills. In the rear of these are rapidly rising ranges of streets and squares, that, when completed, will constitute one of the most beautiful localities and best modern improvements of which the metropolis can boast.
Mogg's New Picture of London and Visitor's Guide to it Sights, 1844
Sir, - A meeting, crowded to excess, hundreds being dismissed from want of room by the police, was held lately to petition the House of Commons for a supply of wholesome water in the Serpentine, which has long been infamous for impurity and stench. The petition, signed by about 2,000 inhabitant householders of the West-end, was the result of this meeting, which Lord Morpeth, I am informed, is to present. Allow me, Sir, to enlist your valuable columns in behalf of this important sanitary cause.
At the present time the Serpentine is truly a water-hole - a stagnant pond - the recipient of delinquent or unfortunate dogs and cats - the outlet for much other indescribable filth, and the reservoir of sickening and putrefying fish. Several eminent physicians addressed the meeting held on this subject, and they most distinctly pointed out the many evils resulting from it. The Free Watermen complain that no one will ride in their boats on account of the filthy water; the medical profession advise their patients not to lounge near this cloaca maxima; and the bathers are fairly frightened away. As one of the many (for we are numbered by the Royal Humane Society at "half a million annually") who bathed hitherto in Hyde-park, but now one of the multitude who dread such a method of lubricating our skins, I beseech you, Sir, pray take us under your protection; for if you will but take up the cudgels, the matter will be settled.
Rome had nearly 1,000 public baths, well supplied with every appliance for health and luxury: London, the first city in the world, has one bath - a stagnant pool - the receptacle of extensive sewerage - the grave of every unnecessary domestic quadruped - the nucleus of malaria - the disgrace of this vast metropolis.
I am, Sir, most obediently, yours,
June 26, T.E.
letter in The Times, June 28, 1848
Victorian London - Publications - Humour - Punch - cartoon 57 - Manners and Customs of Ye Englyshe in 1849 No.3
Ye Fashonable Worlde Takynge its Exercyse in Hyde Parke
Punch, Jan.-Jun. 1849
HYDE PARK. One of the lungs of London, connecting the Green Park with Kensington Gardens, and thus carrying a continuous tract of open ground, or park, from the Horse Guards, at Whitehall, to the hamlet of Kensington. The whole park is intersected with well-kept foot-paths, and the carriage driers are spacious and well-attended. The Park is accessible for private carriages but hackney-coaches and cabs are excluded. ... A review of troops in Hyde Park is a sight worth seeing, but reviews of late years have been of very rare occurrence.
Peter Cunningham, Hand-Book of London, 1850
RING (THE). A circle in Hyde Park, surrounded with trees, and forming, in the height of the season, a fashionable ride and promenade. It was made in the reign of Charles I., and partly destroyed at the time the Serpentine was formed, by Caroline, Queen of George II. Oldys had seen a poem in sixteen pages, entitled The Circus, or British Olympicks, a Satyr on the Ring in Hyde Park. "This is a poem," says Oldys, "satirising many fops under fictitious names. Near a thousand coaches," he adds, "have been seen there in an evening." Several of the trees still remain.
ROTTEN ROW, HYDE PARK. A road-way for saddle horses only, on the south side of Hyde Park, between Hyde Park corner and Kensington, which in the months of May, June, and part of July, between the hours of five and seven, is crowded with hundreds of equestrians, and ladies in great numbers, adding brilliancy to the scene.
SERPENTINE RIVER. 50 acres of water, partly in Hyde Park and partly in Kensington Gardens, formed, 1730-1733, by Caroline, Queen of George II., who threw several ponds into one, and carried a stream into it which had its rise near West- end, in the parish of Hampstead. This small tributary Stream, for many years the Bayswater sewer, was cut from the Serpentine in 1834, and the loss of water, or rather sewerage, which the river sustained in consequence, was supplied from the Thames by the Chelsea Water-works Company. After quitting the Park at Albert Gate, the Serpentine joins the Ranelagh sewer, and falls into the Thames at Chelsea. ... The waterfall at the east end (frequently dumb and dry) was made in 1820. The stone bridge was built by Ronnie in 1826. On the north side is the neat classic edifice erected by D. Burton as the head-quarters of the Royal Humane Society; near it the Boat-house, where boats are let for hire. The ornamental sheets of water in Buckingham Palace Gardens and in St. James's Park are fed by the Serpentine. The depth varies from one to forty feet. There is some talk of removing the mud deposits from the bottom of this river, of reducing it throughout to one uniform depth, and of devising means so as to insure a constant stream of pure water throughout. When we reflect how many bathe in the river, even in its present dirty state, (12,000 on one Sunday),* (*Sunday July 8th, 1849. See Report of Humane Society in Times of 12 July, 1849) and how many more inhale its stagnant waters by driving or walking along its banks, or by living in its neighbourhood, it is much to be regretted that the contemplated change is not at once carried into effect. Sir John Rennie's estimate for making the improvements was 30,000l.
see also London by Day and Night - click here
Let an Englishman make a park, and his production will be admirable; but if you wish for an entrance into a park, you had better not apply to him. Fortunately Hyde Park is much larger than its two splendid portals. There is plenty of room to lose them from your sight; and there are a great many agreeable scenes which will banish them from your memory. Passing through the Marble-arch to those regions where the Exhibition building stands, we cross a meadow large enough to induce us to believe that we are far away from London. In the west, the ground rises in gentle hills with picturesque groups of trees on their summits and in the valleys; here and there an old tufted oak, with its gnarled branches boldly stretched out; the grass is fresh and green, though all the passengers walk on it. It is green up to the very trunks of the trees, whose shade is generally inju?rious to vegetation; it is green throughout the winter and through the summer months, though there is not a drop of rain for many weeks, for the mild and moist atmosphere nourishes it and fa?vours the growth of ivy which clusters round any tree too old to resist its approaches. Thus does Hyde Park extend far to the west and the south, until it finds its limits in bricks and mortar. A slight blue mist hangs on the distant trees; and through the mist down in the south there are church towers looming in the far distance like the battlements of turretted castles in the midst of romantic forests. The trees recede; a small lake comes in view, it is an artificial extension of the Serpentine, which has the honor of seeing the elegance of London riding and driving on its banks. Early in the morning the lake is ple?beian. The children of the neighbourhood swim their boats on it; apprentices on their way to work make desperate casts for some half-starved gudgeon; the ducks come forward in dirty morning wrappers. Nursery-maids with babies innumerable take walks by order; and at a very early hour a great many plebeians have the impertinence to bathe in the little lake. But today the park and the river are in true aristocratic splendour; here and there, there is indeed some stray nursery-maid walking on the grass, and some little tub of a boat with a ragged sail floating on the lake; there is also a group of anglers demonstrating to one another with great patience that the fish wont bite today, but all along the banks of the river far down to the end of the park and up to the majestic shades of Kensington gardens there is an interminable throng of horses and carriages. Those who have seen the Prater of Vienna in the first weeks of May will be rather disappointed with the aspect of the drive in Hyde Park, where the upper classes of London congregate in the evening between five and seven o?clock, partly to take the air, and partly because it is considered fashionable to see now and then in order to be seen. Extravagant turn-outs and liveries, such as the Vien?nese produce with great ostentation, are not to be found in London. The English aristocracy like to make an impression by the simplicity and solidity of their appearance ; and the metropolis is the last of all places where they would wish to excite attention by a dashing and extravagant exterior. They have not the least desire either to dazzle or to awe the trades?people or to make them envious. They are too sure of their position to be tempted to advertise it: whoever wants this assurance cannot pretend to belong to the aristocracy. By far more interesting, and indeed unrivalled, is Rotten-row, the long broad road for horsemen, where, on fine summer evenings, all the youth, beauty, celebrity, and wealth of London may be seen on horse-back.
Hundreds of equestrians, ladies and gentlemen, gallop to and fro. How fresh and rosy these English girls are! How firmly they sit! What splendid forms and expressive features! Free, fresh, bold, and natural. The blue veil flutters, and so does the riding-habit; a word to the horse and movement of the bridle, and they gallop on, nodding to friends to the right and left, the happiness of youth expressed in face and form, and no idea, no thought, for the thousand sorrows of this earth. A man of a harmless and merry mind may pass a happy summer?s evening in looking at this the most splendid of all female cavalcades but he who has become conscious of those all-pervading sufferings of humanity which, felt through thousands of years, denied through thousands of years, and asserted only within the last few years by the millions of our earth?he who has pressed this thorny knowledge of the world to his heart, let him avoid this spot of happiness-breathing splendour, lest the thorns wound him more severely still. Then comes an old man, with his horse walking at a slow pace, his low hat pushed back that the white hair on his temples may have the benefit of the breeze. His head bent forward, the bridle dangling in a hand weak with age, the splendour of the eyes half-dimmed, his cheeks sunken, wrinkles round his mouth and on his forehead, his aquiline nose bony and protruding; who does not know him? His horse walks gently on the sand; every one takes off his hat; the young horse-women get out of his way; and the Duke smiles to the right and to the left. Few persons can boast of so happy a youth as this old man?s age. He turns round the corner; the long broad row becomes still more crowded; large groups of ten or twenty move up and down; fast riding is quite out of the question, when all of a sudden a couple come forward at a quick pace. There is room for them and their horses in the midst of Rotten-row, however full it may be, for every one is eager to make way for them: it is the Queen and her husband, without martial pomp and splendour, without a single naked sword within sight. The crowd closes in behind her; the young women appear excited; the old men smile with great glee at seeing their Queen in such good health. Dandies in marvellous trowsers, incredible waist?coats, and stunning ties, put up their glasses; the anglers on the lake crowd to one side in order to see the Queen; the nursery-maids, the babies, and the boys with their hoops come up to the railings; the grass plots, where just now large groups of people sat chatting, are left vacant, and the shades of the evening are over the park. The sun is going down behind the trees; its parting rays rest on the Crystal Palace with a purple and golden glare, whose reflection falls on Rotten-row and its horse-men.
In a very short time this spot will be empty.
But all hail to thee, Colossus of glass! thou most moral pro?duction of these latter days; iron-ribbed, many-eyed, with thy many-coloured flags, which would make believe that all the nations are united by the bonds of brotherhood ; and that peace, universal peace, shall henceforth reign among the soils of men.
Max Schlesinger, Saunterings in and about London, 1853
see also George Sala in Twice Round the Clock - click here
HYDE PARK, which derives its name from the Hyde, an ancient manor of the priory of Westminster, suppressed by Henry VIII., occupies an area of about 300 acres, and lies between Park Lane and Kensington Gardens, and is separated from the Green Park by Piccadilly. During the season, Hyde Park attracts within its precincts all the wealth, fashion, and beauty of London, and in no other civilised country can be seen such a spectacle as is then presented by the "Lady's Mile" and "Rotten Row."
"Rotten Row," the long bridle-road stretching from 7 Apsley House to Kensington Gardens, is supposed to have been originally Route du Roi, or the King's Drive. The richly-wrought gates at the west entrance were made by the Coalbrook Dale Ironworks Company for the Exhibition of 1851.
The Lady's Mile is the carriage-drive along the northern-bank of the Serpentine.
The Serpentine, a fine sheet of water, which is by no means of a sinuous outline, was formed by Queen Caroline, consort of George II. Bathing is allowed here before 8 a.m. Boats are let for hire, near the Royal Humane Society's Receiving-house. When frozen over, the Serpentine is a favourite resort with London skaters, and the torchlight displays which are then got up infuse something of the picturesque and romantic into our monotonous metropolitan life.
The Archway and Iron Screen, at Hyde Park Corner, were designed by Decimus Burton, in 1828. The bas-reliefs were imitated from the Elgin marbles, by Mr. Henning; total cost, 17,0691. On the opposite side of the Park (and facing Great Cumberland Street), the entrance is dignified by a stately Marble Arch, removed from its position at Buckingham Palace, in 1850-51. Its original cost was 80,0001.; the cost of removal, about 11,000l. Chantrey's equestrian statue of George IV., now in Trafalgar Square, was intended to surmount this arch. The south front was executed by E. H. Bailey; the north front by Westmacott the younger.
The Achilles Statue was imitated from an antique on the Monte Cavallo at Rome; but it is now admitted that the antique was not designed as a figure of the Homeric hero.
The principal entrances are: Albert Gate, near Knightsbridge Barracks, S.E.; Prince's Gate, S.; Iron Gates, near Kensington Gardens, S.W.; Hyde Park Corner, Stanhope and Grosvenor Gates, Park Lane, E.; Cumberland Gate (and Marble Arch), Oxford Street, N.E.; Albany Street, for foot passengers, N.: and Victoria Gate, Bayswater, N.W.
Cruchley's London in 1865 : A Handbook for Strangers, 1865
see also Andrew Wynter in Our Social Bees - click here
But we now enter the great Hyde Park itself, assuredly the most brilliant spectacle of the kind which the world can show. It is a scene which may well tax all your powers of reasoning and of philosophy. And you must know the Park very well, this large open drawing-room which in the season London daily holds, before you can sufficiently temper your senses to be critical and analytical---before you can eliminate the lower world, the would-be fashionable element, from the most affluent and highest kind of metropolitan life---before you can judge of the splendid mounts and the splendid comparisons, between fine carriages and fine horses---fine carriages where perhaps the cattle are lean and poor, or fine horses where the carriages are old and worn; the carriages and horses absolutely gorgeous, but with too great a display; and, again, where the perfection is absolute, but with as much quietude as possible, the style that chiefly invites admiration by the apparent desire to elude it. In St. James's Park you may lounge and be listless if you like; but in Hyde Park, though you may lounge, you must still be alert. Very pleasant is the lounge to the outer man, but in the inner mind you must be observant, prepared to enjoy either the solitude of the crowd, or to catch the quick glance, the silvery music of momentary merriment, then have a few seconds of rapid, acute dialogue, or perhaps be beckoned into a carriage by a friend with space to spare. As you lean over the railings you perhaps catch a sight of a most exquisite face---a face that is photographed on the memory for its features and expression. If you have really noticed such a face the day is a whiter day to you; somehow or other you have made an advance. But it is mortifying, when you contemplate this beautiful image, to see some gilded youth advance, soulless, brainless, to touch the fingers dear to yourself and look into eyes which he cannot fathom or comprehend. Still more annoying to think that a game is going on in the matrimonial money market. I sometimes think that the Ladies' Mile is a veritable female Tattersall's, where feminine charms are on view and the price may be appraised---the infinite gambols and curvettings of high-spirited maidenhood. But I declare on my conscience that I believe the Girl of the Period has a heart, and that the Girl of the Period is not so much to blame as her mamma or her chaperone.
But, speaking of alterations, I cannot say that all the alterations are exactly to my mind. It is not at all pleasing that the habit of smoking has crept into Rotten Row. The excuse is that the Prince smokes. But because one person of an exceptional and unique position, doubtless under exceptional circumstances, smokes, that is no reason why the mass should follow the example. Things have indeed changed within the last few years; the race is degenerating into politeness. In the best of his stories, "My Novel," Lord Lytton makes Harley, his hero, jeer at English liberty; and he says: "I no more dare smoke this cigar in the Park at half-past six, when all the world is abroad, than I dare pick my Lord Chancellor's pocket, or hit the Archbishop of Canterbury a thump on the nose." Lord Hatherley's pocket is still safe, and we are not yet come to days, though we seem to be nearing them, when a man in a crowd may send a blow into a prelate's face. We have had such days before, and we may have them again. But smoking is now common enough, and ought to be abated as a nuisance. Some ladies like it, and really like it; and that is all very well, but other ladies are exceedingly annoyed. A lady takes her chair to watch the moving panorama, intending perhaps to make a call presently, and men are smoking within a few paces to her infinite annoyance and the spoiling of her pleasure. Her dress is really spoilt, and there is the trouble of another toilet. Talking of toilets, I heard a calculation the other day of how many the Princess of Wales had made in a single day. She had gone to the laying of the foundation stone of Earlswood asylum, and then to the great State breakfast at Buckingham Palace, and then a dinner and a ball, and one or two other things. The Princess truly works very hard, harder indeed than people really know. I went the other day to a concert, where many a one was asked to go, and the Princess was there, in her desire to oblige worthy people, and sat it all through to the very last with the pleasantest smiles and the most intelligent attention. Let me also, since I am criticizing, say that the new restaurant in the Park is a decided innovation, and that to complete the new ride, to carry Rotten Row all round the Park, is certainly to interfere with the enjoyment of pedestrians. It is, however, to be said, in justice, that the pedestrians have the other parks pretty much to themselves. There is, however, a worse error still, in the rapid increase of the demi-monde in the Park. A man hardly feels easy in conducting a lady into the Park and answering all the questions that may be put to him respecting the inmates of gorgeous carriages that sweep by. These demireps make peremptory conditions that they shall have broughams for the Park and tickets for the Horticultural, and even for the fetes at the Botanical Gardens. This is a nuisance that requires to be abated as much as any in Regent Street or the Haymarket. The police ought to have peremptory orders to exclude such carriages and their occupants. Twenty years ago there was a dead set made in Cheshire, against the aspirants of Liverpool and Manchester, by the gentry of that county most famous for the pedigree of the gentry, who wished to maintain the splendour of family pride. For instance, the steward of a county ball went up to a manufacturer who was making his eighty thousand a year, and told him that no tradesman was admitted. That was of course absurd; but still, if that was actually done, an inspector should step up to the most fashionable Mabel or Lais, and turn her horses' heads, if obstreperous, in the direction of Bridewell or Bow Street. Anonyma has ruled the Park too much. The favourite drive used to be round the Serpentine; but when the prettiest equipage in London drew all gazers to the Ladies' Mile, the Serpentine became comparatively unused, and the Ladies' Mile, ground infinitely inferior, became the favourite until the renovated Serpentine or change of whim shall mould anew the fickle, volatile shape of fashionable vagary.
At this present time Mr. Alfred Austin's clever satire "The Season"---a third edition of which is published---occurs to me. The poem is a very clever one, and it is even better appreciated on the other side of the Channel than on this, as is evidenced by M. Forques' article on the subject in the "Revue des Deux Mondes." We will group together a few passages from Mr. Austin's vigorous poem, belonging to the Parks.
"I sing the Season, Muse! whose sway extends
Where Hyde begins, beyond where Tyburn ends;
Gone the broad glare, save where with borrowed bays
Some female Phaeton sets the drive ablaze.
Dear pretty fledglings! come from country nest,
To nibble, chirp, and flutter in the west;
Whose clear, fresh faces, with their fickle frown
And favour, start like Spring upon the town;
Less dear, for damaged damsels, doomed to wait;
Whose third---fourth? season makes half desperate,
Waking with warmth, less potent hour by hour
(As magnets heated lose attractive power).
Or you, nor dear nor damsels, tough and tart,
Unmarketable maidens of the mart,
Who, plumpness gone, fine delicacy feint,
And hide your sin in piety and paint.
"Incongruous group, they come; the judge's hack,
With knees as broken as its rider's back;
The counsel's courser, stumbling through the throng,
With wind e'en shorter than its lord's is long;
The foreign marquis's accomplished colt
Sharing its owner's tendency to bolt.
"Come let us back, and whilst the Park's alive,
Lean o'er the railings, and inspect the Drive.
Still sweeps the long procession, whose array
Gives to the lounger's gaze, as wanes the day,
Its rich reclining and reposeful forms,
Still as bright sunsets after mists or storms;
Who sit and smile (their morning wrangling o'er,
Or dragged and dawdled through one dull day more),
As though the life of widow, wife and girl,
Were one long lapsing and voluptuous whirl.
O, poor pretence! what eyes so blind but see
The sad, however elegant ennui?
Think you that blazoned panel, prancing pair,
Befool our vision to the weight they bear?
The softest ribbon, pink-lined parasol,
Screen not the woman, though they deck the doll.
The padded corsage and the well-matched hair,
Judicious jupon spreading out the spare,
Sleeves well designed false plumpness to impart,
Leave vacant still the hollows of the heart.
Is not our Lesbia lovely? In her soul
Lesbia is troubled: Lesbia hath a mole;
And all the splendours of that matchless neck
Console not Lesbia for its single speck.
Kate comes from Paris, and a wardrobe brings,
To which poor Edith's are 'such common things;'
Her pet lace shawl has grown not fit to wear,
And ruined Edith dresses in despair."
Mr. Austin is sufficiently severe upon the ladies, especially those whose afternoons in the Park have some correspondence with their "afternoon of life." I think that the elderly men who affect youthful airs are every whit as numerous and as open to sarcasm. Your ancient buck is always a fair butt. And who does not know these would-be juveniles, their thin, wasp-like waists, their elongated necks and suspensory eye-glasses, their elaborate and manufactured hair? They like the dissipations of youth so well that they can conceive of nothing more glorious, entirely ignoring that autumnal fruit is, after all, better than the blossom or foliage of spring or early autumn. All they know indeed of autumn is the variegation and motley of colour. The antiquated juvenile is certainly one of the veriest subjects for satire; and antiquated juveniles do abound of an afternoon in Rotten Row. Nothing we can say about a woman's padding can be worse than the padding which is theirs. All their idiotic grinning cannot hide the hated crows'-feet about their goggle, idiotic eyes. They try, indeed, the power of dress to the utmost; but in a day when all classes are alike extravagant in dress, even the falsity of the first impression will not save them from minute criticism. Talk to them and they will draw largely on the reminiscences of their youth, perhaps still more largely on their faculty of invention. What a happy dispensation it is in the case of men intensely wicked and worldly, that in youth, when they might do infinite evil, they have not the necessary knowledge of the world and of human nature to enable them to do so; and when they have a store of wicked experience, the powers have fled which would have enabled them to turn it to full account! At this moment I remember a hoary old villain talking ribaldry with his middle-aged son, both of them dressed to an inch of their lives, and believing that the fashion of this world necessarily endures forever. Granting the tyranny and perpetuity of fashion---for in the worst times of the French revolution fashion still maintained its sway, and the operas and theatres were never closed---still each individual tyrant of fashion has only his day, and often the day is a very brief one. Nothing is more becoming than gray hairs worn gallantly and well, and when accompanied with sense and worth they have often borne away a lovely bride, rich and accomplished, too, from some silly, gilded youth. I have known marriages between January and May, where May has been really very fond of January. After all, the aged Adonis generally pairs off with some antiquated Venus; the juvenilities on each side are eliminated as being common to both and of no real import, and the settlement is arranged by the lawyers and by family friends on a sound commercial basis.
It is very easy for those who devote themselves to the study of satirical composition, and cultivate a sneer for things in general, to be witty on the frivolities of the Park. And this is the worst of satire, that it is bound to be pungent, and cannot pause to be discriminating and just. Even the most sombre religionist begins to understand that he may use the world, without trying to drain its sparkling cup to the dregs. Hyde Park is certainly not abandoned to idlesse. The most practical men recognise its importance and utility to them. There are good wives who go down to the clubs or the Houses in their carriages to insist that their lords shall take a drive before they dine and go back to the House. And when you see saddle-horses led up and down in Palace Yard, the rider will most probably take a gallop before he comes back to be squeezed and heated by the House of Commons, or be blown away by the over-ventilation of the House of Lords. A man begins to understand that it is part of his regular vocation in life to move about in the Park. And all men do so, especially when the sun's beams are tempered and when the cooling evening breeze is springing up. The merchant from the City, the lawyer from his office, the clergyman from his parish, the governess in her spare hours, the artist in his love of nature and human nature, all feel that the fresh air and the fresh faces will do them good. There was a literary man who took a Brompton apartment with the back windows fronting the Park. Hither he used to resort, giving way to the fascination which led him, hour after hour, to study the appearances presented to him. The subject is, indeed, very interesting and attractive, including especially the very popular study of flirtation in all its forms and branches. If you really want to see the Row you must go very early in the afternoon. Early in the afternoon the equestrians ride for exercise; later they ride much in the same way as they promenade. The Prince, for a long time, used to ride early in the afternoon, if only to save himself the trouble of that incessant salutation which must be a serious drawback on H. R. H.'s enjoyment of his leisure. Or, again, late in the evening, it is interesting to note the gradual thinning of the Park and its new occupants come upon the scene. The habitue of Rotten Row is able, with nice gradations, to point out how the cold winds and rains of the early summer have, night after night, emptied the Park at an earlier hour, or how a fete at the Horticultural, or a gala at the Crystal Palace, has sensibly thinned the attendance. As the affluent go home to dress and dine, the sons and daughters of penury who have shunned the broad sunlight creep out into the vacant spaces. The last carriages of those who are going home from the promenade meet the first carriages of those who are going out to dine. Only two nights ago I met the carriage of Mr. Disraeli and his wife. I promise you the Viscountess Beaconsfield looked magnificent. Curiously enough, they were dining at the same house where, not many years ago, Mr. Disraeli dined with poor George Hudson. When Mr. Hudson had a dinner given to him lately, it is said that he was much affected, and told his hosts that its cost would have kept him and his for a month.
The overwhelming importance of the Parks in London is well brought out by that shrewd observer, Crabb Robinson, in his Diary. Under February 15, 1818, he writes: "At two I took a ride into the Regent's Park, which I had never seen before. When the trees are grown this will be really an ornament to the capital; and not a mere ornament, but a healthful appendage. The Highgate and Hampstead Hill is a beautiful object; and within the Park the artificial water, the circular belt or coppice, the few scattered bridges, &c., are objects of taste. I really think this enclosure, with the new street leading to it from Carlton House (Regent Street) will give a sort of glory to the Regent's government, greater than the victories of Trafalgar and Waterloo, glorious as these are." Here again, almost at haphazard, is a quotation from an American writer: "So vast is the extent of these successive ranges, and so much of England can one find, as it were, in the midst of London. Oh, wise and prudent John Bull, to enoble thy metropolis with such spacious country walks, and to sweeten it so much with coutry air! Truly these lungs of London are vital to such a Babylon, and there is no beauty to be compared to them in any city I have ever seen. I do not think the English are half proud enough of their capital, conceited as they are about so many things besides. Here you see the best of horse-flesh, laden with the 'porcelain clay' of human flesh. Ah! how daringly the ladies go by, and how ambitiously their favoured companions display their good fortune in attending them. Here a gay creature rides independently enough with her footman at a respectful distance. She is an heiress, and the young gallants she scarce deigns to notice are dying for love of her and her guineas."
But, after all, is there anything more enjoyable in its way than Kensington Gardens? You are not so neglige as in St. James's, but it is comparative undress compared with Hyde Park. Truly there are days---and even in the height of the season too---when you may lie down on the grass and gaze into the depth of the sky, listening to the murmurous breeze, and that far-off hum which might be a sound of distant waves, and fancy yourself in Ravenna's immemorial wood. Ah, what thrilling scenes have come off beneath these horse-chestnuts with their thick leaves and pyramidal blossoms! And if only those whispers were audible, if only those tell-tale leaves might murmur their confessions, what narratives might these supply of the idyllic side of London life, sufficient to content a legion of romancists! It is a fine thing for Orlando to have a gallop by the side of his pretty ladylove down the Row, but Orlando knows very well that if he could only draw her arm through his and lead her down some vista in those gardens, it would be well for him. Oh, yielding hands and eyes! oh, mantling blushes and eloquent tears! oh, soft glances and all fine tremor of speech, in those gardens more than in Armina's own are ye abounding. There is an intense human interest about Kensington Gardens which grows more and more, as one takes one's walks abroad and the scene becomes intelligible. See that slim maid demurely reading beneath yonder trees, those old trees which artists love in the morning to come and sketch. She glances more than once at her watch, and then suddenly with surprise she greets a lounger. I thought at the very first that her surprise was an affection; and as I see how she disappears with him through that overarching leafy arcade my surmise becomes conviction. As for the nursery maids who let their little charges loiter or riot about, or even sedater governesses with their more serious aims, who will let gentlemanly little boys and girls grow very conversational, while they are very conversational themselves with tall whiskered cousins or casual acquaintance, why, I can only say, that for the sake of the most maternal hearts beating in this great metropolis, I am truly rejoiced to think that there are no carriage roads through the Gardens, and the little ones can hardly come to any very serious mischief.
Are you now inclined, my friends, for a little---and I promise you it shall really be a little---discourse concerning those Parks, that shall have a slight dash of literature and history about it? First of all, let me tell you that in a park you ought always to feel loyal, since for our Parks we are indebted to our kings. The very definition of a park is---I assure you I am quoting the great Blackstone himself---"an enclosed chase, extending only over a man's own grounds," and the Parks have been the grounds of the sovereign's own self. It is true of more than one British Caesar:---
"Moreover he hath left you all his walks,
His private arbours and new-planted orchards,
On this side Tibur; he hath left them you
And to your heirs for ever; common pleasures
To walk abroad and recreate yourselves."
Once in the far distant time they were genuine parks with beasts of chase. We are told that the City corporation hunted the hare at the head of the conduit, where Conduit Street now stands, and killed the fox at the end of St. Giles's. St. James's Park was especially the courtier's park, a very drawing-room of parks. How splendidly over the gorgeous scene floats the royal banner of England, at the foot of Constitution Hill, which has been truly called the most chastely-gorgeous banner in the world! If you look at the dramatists of the Restoration you find frequent notices of the Park, which are totally wanting in the Elizabethan dramatists, when it was only a nursery for deer. Cromwell had shut up Spring Gardens, but Charles II gave us St. James's Park. In the next century the Duke of Buckingham, describing his house, says: "The avenues to this house are along St. James's Park, through rows of goodly elms on one hand and flourishing limes on the other; that for coaches, this for walking, with the Mall lying between them." It was in the Park that the grave Evelyn saw and heard his gracious sovereign "hold a very familiar discourse with Mrs. Nellie, as they called an impudent comedian, she looking out of her garden on a terrace at the top of the wall." Here Pepys saw "above all Mrs. Stuart in this dress, with her hat cocked and a red plume, with her sweet eye, little Roman nose, and excellent taille, the greatest beauty I ever saw, I think, in my life." Or take a play from Etheridge:---
"Enter Sir Fopling Flutter and his equipage.
"Sir Fop. Hey! bid the coachman send home four of his horses and bring the coach to Whitehall; I'll walk over the Park. Madam, the honour of kissing your fair hands is a happiness I missed this afternoon at my lady Townly's.
"Leo. You were very obliging, Sir Fopling, the last time I saw you there.
"Sir Fop. The preference was due to your wit and beauty. Madam, your servant. There never was so sweet an evening.
"Bellinda. It has drawn all the rabble of the town hither.
"Sir Fop. 'Tis pity there is not an order made that none but the beau monde should walk here."
In Swift's "Journal to Stella" we have much mentioning of the Park: "to bring himself down," he says, that being the Banting system of that day, he used to start on his walk about sunset. Horace Walpole says: "My lady Coventry and niece Waldegrave have been mobbed in the Park. I am sorry the people of England take all their liberty out in insulting pretty women." He elsewhere tells us with what state he and the ladies went. "We sailed up the Mall with all our colours flying." We do not hear much of the Green Park. It was for a long time most likely a village green, where the citizens would enjoy rough games, and in the early morning duellists would resort hither to heal their wounded honour.
Originally, Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park were all one. Addison speaks of it in the "Spectator," and it is only since the time of Geaorge II that a severance has been made. Hyde Park has its own place in literature and in history. There was a certain first of May when both Pepys and Evelyn were interested in Hyde Park. Pepys says: "I went to Hyde Park to take the air, where was his Majesty and an innumerable appearance of gallants and rich coaches, being now a time of universal festivity and joy." It was always a great place for reviews. They are held there still, and the Volunteers have often given great liveliness to the Park on Saturday. Here Cromwell used to review his terrible Ironsides. It was Queen Caroline who threw a set of ponds into one sheet of water, and as the water-line was not a direct one, it was called the Serpentine. The fosse and low wall was then a new invention; "an attempt deemed so astonishing that the common people called them ha-has to express their surprise at finding a sudden and unperceived check to their walk." It is said that a nobleman who had a house abutting on the Park engraved the words---
" 'Tis my delight to be
In the town and the countree."
Antiquaries may find out countless points of interest, and may be able to identify special localities. Once there were chalybeate springs in a sweet glen, now spoilt by the canker of ugly barracks. It was on the cards that the Park might have been adorned with a rotunda instead. Most of the literary associations cluster around Kensington Gardens, concerning which Leigh Hunt has written much pleasant gossip in his "Old Court Suburb." A considerable amount of history and an infinite amount of gossip belong to Kensington Palace, now assigned to the Duchess of Inverness, the morganatic wife of the Duke of Sussex; gossip about Gearge II and his wife, about Lord Hervey, the queen and her maids of honour, the bad beautiful Duchess of Kingston, the charming Sarah Lennox, Selwyn, March, Bubb Doddington, and that crew, whom Mr. Thackeray delighted to reproduce. There is at least one pure scene dear to memory serene, that the Princess Victoria was born and bred here, and at five o'clock one morning was aroused from her slumbers, to come down with dishevelled hair to hear from great nobles that she was now the Queen of the broad empire on which the morning and the evening star ever shines.
I am very fond of lounging through the Park at an hour when it is well-nigh all deserted. I am not, indeed, altogether solitary in my ways and modes. There are certain carriages which roll into the Park almost at the time when all other carriages have left or are leaving. In my solitariness I feel a sympathy with those who desire the coolness and freshness when they are most perfect. I have an interest, too, in the very roughs that lounge about the parks. I think them far superior to the roughs that lounge about the streets. Here is an athletic scamp. I admire his easy litheness and excellent proportion of limb. He is a scamp and a tramp, but then he is such, on an intelligible aesthetical principle. He has flung himself down, in the pure physical enjoyment of life, just as a Neapolitan will bask in the sunshine, to enjoy the turf and the atmosphere. In his splendid animal life he will sleep for hours, unfearing draught or miasma, untroubled with ache or pain, obtaining something of a compensation for his negative troubles and privations. If you come to talk to the vagrant sons and daughters of poverty loitering till the Park is cleared, or even sleeping here the livelong night, you would obtain a clear view of that night side which is never far from the bright side of London. I am not sure that I might not commend such a beat as this to some philanthropist for his special attention. The handsome, wilful boy who has run away from home or school; the thoughtless clerk or shopman out of work; the poor usher, whose little store has been spent in illness; the servant-girl who has been so long without a place, and is now hovering on the borders of penury and the extreme limit of temptation; they are by no means rare, with their easily-yielded secrets, doubtless with some amount of imposture, and always, when the truth comes to be known, with large blame attachable to their faults or weakness, but still with a very large percentage where some sympathy or substantial help will be of the greatest possible assistance. As one knocks about London, one accumulates souvenirs of all kinds---some, perhaps, that will not very well bear much inspection; and it may be a pleasing reflection that you went to some little expenditure of time or coin to save some lad from the hulks or some girl from ruin.
for the rest of this book, including pictures, click here
W.S.Gilbert , London Characters and the Humorous Side of London Life, 1870?
see also Charles Maurice Davies in Mystic London - click here
Hyde Park? ?the park? par excellence ? forms the western boundary of Mayfair, and is the great fashionable promenade and public lounge of London. It stands high, and forms with Kensington gardens?which are simply a continuation of it, under somewhat different rules in respect of hours of closing, &c. - a vast open spa nearly a mile and a half in length by three-quarters of a mile width. The park proper, which is crossed in every direction by carefully kept footpaths, is rounded by a carriage-drive of about two and a half miles, and has eight gates, viz, two at the N.W. and NE. corners, Victoria and Cumberland (Marble Arch); two on the east side, Grosvenor and Stanhope, opposite the respective streets; two at the S. E. and S.W. corners, Knightsbridge (Hyde-park-corner) and Queen?s-gate ; and two on the south-side, Albert-gate and Prince?s-gate. A large piece of ornamental water called by the authorities the Serpentine where it traverses the park, and the Long Water so far as concerns the portion in Kensington gardens, runs in a sort of irregular quadrant from N by way of S.W to E., and is commonly known as the Serpentine throughout. It is a favourite place for skating, and about the most dangerous in London. Indeed, skating has recently been prohibited on that portion of the water which is in Hyde Park, and is really the Serpentine. The Humane Society?s establishment stands at about the middle of the north shore; and a portion of the south bank, exactly opposite, and between the water and Rotten-row, is set apart before 8 a.m. and after 7.30 pm. for bathing. Boats are to be had on hire on the north shore. Rotten-row is a piece of road set apart for equestrians, and extending originally from Hyde-park-corner to Queen?s-gate. A supplementary ride has now been laid out on the other side of the Serpentine, and runs from, the Magazine by Victoria-gate to Cumberland-gate. From Hyde-park-corner to Queen?s-gate runs also a carriage-drive, the site of the original Great Exhibition of 1851 lying between. Near the west end of this drive stands on its north side the Albert Memorial. For two or three hours every afternoon in the season, except Sunday, the particular section of the drive which happens that year to he ?the fashion? is densely thronged with carriages moving round and round at little more than a walking pace, and every now and then coming to a dead-lock. The portion of the road specially affected varies from time to time, but is usually either that along the north side of the Serpentine or that between Hyde-park-corner and Queen?s-gate. For the last few seasons it has drifted back to the latter, but in no case does the orthodox Londoner think of extending her drive to any other part of the park. The road from Queen?s-gate to Victoria-gate is now open to cabs, &c,; the remainder of the park to private carriages only. The park-gates open at 5 am, and close at 12 p.m. all the year round. The minor gates are closed at 10 p.m. The great omnibus routes of the Strand and Holborn skirt it on the north and south sides, and that from Victoria to Royal Oak on the east. The nearest stations are ?on the south, Victoria (Dist.), about three-quarters of a mile down Grosvenor-place; and on the north, Edgware-road (Metrop.), a few yards less.
see also Henry Vigar-Harris in London at Midnight - click here
see also Skating on the Serpentine - click here
I spent from five o'clock until seven this evening watching the spectacle of London society airing itself in Hyde Park. There can be no more wonderful sight anywhere. Certainly there is no place on this earth where there can be seen at one time so many gorgeous equipages, such beautiful horses, and such a display of elegance. Queen Victoria, who is said not to like London, and is therefore seldom seen in the capital, has been out every day of this momentous week. She drove into the Park at a quarter-past five - all traffic being waved to one side - in a great C-springed landau with outriders and gentlemen riding alongside. Shortly after she was followed by the Princess of Wales [Alexandra] a most beautiful woman whose great popularity with the people, especially the women, is in no doubt. There were hundreds of carriages, landaus, barouches, victorias, curricles and private hansoms, and such horses! The powdered and bewigged foot- men in front and behind the vehicles, the red, blue and yellow plush of breeches, the silk stockings of the flunkeys, the flashing buckles just like a fairy tale. The great thing to do, if you are a " blood " and in the swim, is to lean over the iron rails and be recognised by milady as equipage after equipage rolls by in lordly grandeur. There was not a shabby-looking turn-out to be seen. It is one of the worst of social misdemeanours to send a carriage and pair into the Park indifferently accoutred.
R.D.Blumenfeld's Diary, June 27, 1887
HYDE PARK ... This fine park of 388 acres is open free. Great improvements have recently been made here, by large additions of flowering plants, the formation of shrubberies, &c. In the London Season, the fashionable rides and drives present a very animated scene. On the lake are boats, which may be hired for rowing.
Reynolds' Shilling Coloured Map of London, 1895
HYDE PARK AT NIGHT
Sir, - The state of this part after dark is known (must be known) to all who have the misfortune to make a short cut across it after nightfall. The reason is simple: it is not lighted. Applications have been made over and over again to the proper authorities, but, although we are spending Imperially one hundred millions per annum, there is no money forthcoming to light up Hyde Park. And yet it is open to the public until, I believe, 12.30 a.m. How can one wonder at the danger of the place? "They love darkness because their deeds are evil." The very worst of characters, male and female, abound the park. The remedy, as I have said, is simple. The electric light well place and well distributed would alter the conditions of the place half an hour after lighting up, and for ever.
Let us hope that, now public attention and indignation have been aroused, thanks to your reverend correspondent, her Majesty's Office of Works (which has done so much for the improvement of all the Royal parks) may immediately (even without waiting for a supplementary vote in Supply) give the necessary instructions for lighting Hyde Park in such a way as to prevent any recurrence of the evil complained of.
EDWARD J. WATHERSTON
Pall-mall east, Sept. 6
Victorian London - Publications - Humour - Punch - cartoon 25
HYDE PARK MAY 1.
Country Cousin. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS, POLICEMAN?" Constable. "LABOUR DAY, MISS."
Punch, 7th May, 1898
see also Coaching Clubs - click here
Victorian London - Publications - History - The Queen's London : a Pictorial and Descriptive Record of the Streets, Buildings, Parks and Scenery of the Great Metropolis, 1896 - The Drive and Rotten Row, Hyde Park
THE DRIVE AND ROTTEN ROW, HYDE PARK.
Hyde Park is the largest breathing-space which can be fairly reckoned as belonging to London itself. It was laid out in the days of King Hal, but was actually sold to private buyers by the Parliament. It was of course reclaimed at the Restoration. Charles II. established the Ring, a fashionable circular drive; but since the early part of the present century this has been superseded by the Drive and the Row. In the former are seen unbroken lines of sumptuous equipages drawn by the finest coach-horses money can purchase, and occupied by some of the best dressed and most beautiful women in the world, who drive here at stated hours. In the Row are to be found those from the same ranks of society who prefer horse-exercise ; the ground being carefully laid down in tan and gravel for their use.
see also A.R.Bennett in London and Londoners - click here

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: How to change font properties of a control (e.g. label) at runtime I've got the need to change the font properties of the text in a Label and in an Item of a ListView during runtime. I thought it was easy, writing:
label1->font->Bold=true;

But its not possible, because 'Bold' has just got a get() but no set() method. Infact, the compiler doesn't accept it:
error C2039: 'set': its not a  member of 'System::Drawing::Font::Bold'

Is there any other possibility to influence the font of a text in a Label or Item of a ListView? And if Yes, which one is it?
Thanks 4 Your help

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Home » Brainy Pleasures
Brainy Pleasures
East Lansing High School Science Olympiad Team Headed to State Tournament
East Lansing High School's Science Olympiad Club outscored 14 other high school teams to take first place in the Region 11 Tournament at Lansing Community College. The victory has earned the Trojans a berth in the state tournament April 27 at Michigan State University.
MacDonald MS Science Olympiad Team Participates in First Invitational
MacDonald Middle School students participated in the school's first ever Science Olympiad on Saturday. ELi's Victoria Solomon tells you about the team, the variety of science subjects covered, and what the team needs from the community.
Escape Room Game Space to Open Downtown
Above: Matthew Ao presenting the plan to East Lansing's City Council.
A new type of gaming business will be opening downtown in the coming weeks: escape rooms. The for-profit business known as "ESC The Room" will be located in the basement of 301 M.A.C. Avenue (the northwest corner of M.A.C. Avenue and Albert Street).
Big Library Book Sale October 10-11
The annual book sale sponsored by Friends of the East Lansing Public Library (FOELPL) is a tradition many people don't want to miss. This year, because of major renovation at the library, the event will be held in a new location---Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbot Road in East Lansing. Book sale hours have been expanded, from 9 am to 6 pm on Saturday, October 10, and from 1 to 4 pm on Sunday, October 11.
ASK ELi: 63000 Strong
Photo credit: Zachary D. Blount.
Ever wonder about those big numbers posted in a window in that tall building on the east side of Farm Lane, across from the entrance to the MSU Dairy Store?
Right now, the digits read 63000. That's the number of generations in an experiment that's been running in my lab for over a quarter century.
ELI ON EARTH: Bird Breath
Image: A hawk (probably sharp-shinned) in MSU's Beal Gardens earlier this year.
Simply put, East Lansing birds, like the one shown above, breathe differently from East Lansing reptiles and mammals, including this author.
ASK ELI: Poetry Attack
A reader asks: What's up with all the posters on trees in front of the East Lansing Public Library?
Eli answers: The "posters" are actually poems, part of the most recent Poetry Attack executed by members of The East Lansing Street Arts Commission (ELSAC).
Eli spoke with Carolyn White, a founder of both ELSAC and East Lansing's Poetry Attacks. White is a professional story teller, the world's foremost expert on leprechauns, and a children's book author.
This Weekend: Capital City Comic Con
Six months after filming for "Batman vs. Superman" took over East Lansing, the comic world is again poised to take over the Lansing area with the start of Capital City Comic Con.
Starting Saturday morning at Haslett High School, Capital City Comic Con is bringing together artists, writers, collectors, vendors and fans for a celebration of all things comic, science fiction and game. Unlike the larger national events that inspired it, Capital City Comic Con has a decidedly local flavor.
SHOW OF THE WEEK:: MSU Science Festival
Almost 100 years ago, a man won a Nobel Prize for his discoveries, explaining the nature of space and time. He developed a theory of relativity that would come to be the foundation for modern physics. Mr. Einstein claimed, "I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious."
This weekend, explore your own curiosities and unearth the complexities of our vast universe at Michigan State's 3rd annual Science Festival.
MSU Observatory Public Night Viewing
Photo courtesy of MSU Observatory, courtesy of MSU
As the weather warms each year in East Lansing, the MSU Observatory begins its season of Public Observing Nights at the MSU Observatory. The MSU Observatory is located at the corner of Forest and College Roads, just southwest of the MSU Pavilion.
The first Public Observing Nights of the spring will be this Thursday, April 16, and this Saturday, April 18, from 9-11 pm.
ELi ON EARTH: Time Change Will Help the Lazy of East Lansing See Zodiacal Light
Image, courtesy of NASA: City lights are at the horizon on the left, zodiacal light is the faint, white light that starts in the center and angles up and left, while the light of the Milky Way starts in the center and angles up and right.
In the astronomical spring days, about an hour before dawn, the observant East Lansing resident has a shot at seeing zodiacal light in the east.
SHOW OF THE WEEK: Theater2Film Project at MSU
Some people love the live action of live theatre performances, and others like watching a favorite film on the big screen. But what happens when you combine both? MSU's Theatre2Film Project is combining these experiences, and is excited to see where it takes them.
ELi ON EARTH: Redwoods in East Lansing
Image: The author's coast redwood. The leaves are very similar to those of the dawn redwood, but there is a key distinction: the leaves of the coast redwood alternate on each side of the stem while the dawn redwood leaves grow exactly opposite each other on the stem.
ANN ABOUT TOWN: The Comet Lovejoy
In pursuit of a comet on a cold East Lansing night.
ELi ON EARTH: Lovejoy Comet Cometh
Image: Another Comet Lovejoy (C/2011 W3) as photographed by Dan Burbank from the International Space Station in 2011; courtesy of NASA.
Last week ELi on Earth (EoE) focused its binoculars on the moons of Jupiter, and this week we will point our binoculars to comet Lovejoy.. The comet is bright enough to be seen with binoculars in East Lansing, or even with the naked eye if you are in a darker area.


Writing a novel is hard. And I'm definitely not going to be done in 8 days.
What I'm learning while trying to do #Nanowrimo2015 as a full time working mom.
I have a new-found appreciation for parent entrepreneurs who are still working full time.


OWNER WILL LOOK AT ALL OFFERS FOR THIS TURNKEY BUSINESS AND WILL CARRY !! Well-established tire and brake shop plus real estate. Owners are retiring and are very motivated.
Shop currently offers tires, brakes, alignment, computer balancing, CV-boot & axle work, struts, shocks, front end repair.
Fully equipped with 2 pad lifts, 1 (2Post) lift, 12,000 lb. bend pk alignment rack, 2 Coats-tire mount, 1 conventional-style tire mount, 2 Coats-computer wheel spin balance, Aamco brake lathe for rotors. There is also an outside steel-covered lighted work area and alignment rack. More equipment and tools are included in the purchase.
Other services such as engine repair, oil change, smog check and A/C service could be added to increase income.
The property consists of two lots, both completely fenced. The rear lot could be used for storage or leased to a towing company, RV storage, repo yard or ??
The owner will provide support and training and the employees will remain. This shop currently nets over $100,000 per year.
Owners will consider selling the business only ($325k) and leasing the premises to the new owner.
On Mission Blvd. just past La Rue, next to the newly built City Services building. Five minutes off the 60 freeway in the heart of the Rubidoux-Mission Blvd. redevelopment area.


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Peer-to-peer lender JustUs launches "transparent" IFISA
By Emily Nicolle on 9th March 2018
P2P/Marketplace Lending
IFISA season is beginning to diversify for investors with this latest addition.
Ethical peer-to-peer lender JustUs has announced today it is launching an Innovative Finance Individual Savings Account (IFISA) with three levels of risk and a "fully transparent" investment portfolio.
Chaired by former vice chairman of KPMG UK Derek Zissman, JustUs promises its investors a target tax-free return of up to 9.61 per cent, dependent on the level of risk a client chooses to pursue.
Aimed at savers who are after decent returns but do not wish to invest in the stock market, the platform allows investors to choose exactly where they want to invest their money, along with providing pictures and detailed plans of the property or development that their money will support.
"Individuals and investors will for the first time know exactly what they are investing in," said founder and chief executive of JustUs, Lee Birkett. "Lots of the other peer-to-peer platforms started out like this but somewhere along the way reverted to a 'black box' system, with no visibility for people to know where their money is going."
All three wrappers pay monthly interest, with no fees, and have security in property with cash being held within ring-fenced Barclays Bank UK accounts. JustUs, which received full FCA authorisation as a peer-to-peer lender in August 2017, will also be supporting transfers in from existing ISAs.
AltFi's own IFISA report found that there is still large scale ignorance about the tax wrapper, despite launching two years ago.
The product is much more likely to be used by the younger generation, as those aged between 18-34 are three times more likely to take out an IFISA than those aged 34 and above.
Funding Circle launches TV campaign featuring baby singing along to Alice Cooper song
Creditshelf and BNP Paribas AM launch strategic partnership
Christian Faes hands over the CEO reins at LendInvest
Jimubox Launches Online Wealth Management Platform
Guglielmo de Stefano
ThinCats heralds "record" 2019 as lending reaches £200m


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Privacy and the Princess
Posted on October 11, 2012 by James Lawless
Whilst none of us like the idea of intimate moments being invaded, worse publicised, and we would all hate for it to happen to us, there are two conflicting rights at play in any scenario like this, privacy versus freedom of the press.
A right to privacy does is found in Irish law although it is not documented as such, it exists as an 'unenumerated' right which Judges have "read into" the wording of the constitution although it is not specifically detailed there (or enumerated). This approach is common and encompasses many other rights which are felt to be left open by the constitutional text and Judges have 'discovered' their existence at different times, from which point they are law.
The Irish right to privacy was first argued by Senator Norris in his attempts to decriminalise homosexuality and later more successfully argued by Geraldine Kennedy when suing the state for the invasion of tapping her telephone. More recent cases such as Dillon v. DPP have veered to the other extreme where a Garda who answered a suspect's mobile on a call which sought drugs was found to have violated privacy law and was inadmissible as evidence at trial.
Though a Privacy law has been mooted and got as far as draft legislation the potential "chilling effect" on freedom of expression and of the press may be too great to justify and such a law may foul fall of the European Convention on Human Rights.
In a recent landmark judgment the highly respected Justice Fennelly of the Supreme Court upheld the priority of free expression over rights to privacy stating there whilst there may be some cases where privacy would triumph they would be the exception and generally only where an illegality had been committed in obtaining the information.
Similarly the ECHR have repeatedly ruled that public figures in particular will not be protected by the court from media coverage and that domestic privacy laws in each state may not be sufficient to hamper free press reporting. The recent Axel Springer case where a TV celebrity had the press 'gagged' from reporting a minor drugs conviction in the German courts was overturned at the ECHR which found the public had a right to such information and the press a right to report it. The potentially contradictory case of Von Hanover found public figures did have a right to privacy when engaged in private activities (such as horse riding on own grounds) but the later Von Hanover case found no difficulty with publication of a photograph of the family out shopping.
Eoin O'Dell has written at length about the concept of privacy in a public place, and indeed whether any such right is possible. The unfortunate case of Sinnott v. Carlow Nationalist concerned a Gaelic player who was inadvertently photographed with private parts on display during a match resulted in a small payout by the paper though O'Dell argues convincingly that the game was a public spectacle and therefore reporting on it should be similarly unencumbered regardless of any such social embarrassment.
The argument could be summarised as a sort of 'Amplification effect' where if one person could see something in a public place then capture and reproduction of that image should be permitted also. In reality this means that if one person on a public road could see the Duchess of York sans bikini top then there should be no restriction on publishing that photograph to millions more around the world.
Another recent irish case concerned the love rival of 'Twink' who registered birth of her child at the normal registry and was photographed doing so in images reproduced by the Sunday World. When the woman took an action for breach of privacy the court found the act was in a public place and could have easily been witnessed by passersby and therefore no protection of privacy existed in such a situation.
The case of DPP v. Atherton again found that a video tape of a neighbour cutting a shared hedge was legal and admissible as evidence despite claims that it violated privacy, the reason being that the contents of the tape could be viewed from the public road as easily as from the recorded video and therefore no protection could be claimed.
Applying all the above to the royal ruckus the central question regards how private was the location and to what degree could it be considered a public place? It could be queried whether other guests or staff were present in the villa and also whether it was exclusively on royal reserve or whether other holidaymakers had access also (probably unlikely). Given the pool was evidently visible from the public road (and indeed other reporters had remarked of surprise at how open the access was) under Atherton or Twink it seems unlikely the Duchess could enjoy much, if any, protection under Irish law.
It does appear a form of privacy law does exist in France which the couple may seek recourse to. This appears to have criminal sanction also. Whilst this may represent the domestic law of France, as a signatory to the ECHR there is no guarantee any protection or award of damages would be upheld on appeal. In fact it is quite likely such a law may be felt to have a 'chilling effect' on freedom of press and be rejected by the ECHR if it came before it.
Finally there is the argument that those who seek equity must do equity – if one makes one's name (or fame or fortune) by virtue of being in the public eye one must be prepared to suffer the occasional indignities arising from. The Royals are perhaps in an unusual place here by virtue of birth rather than seeking publicity as such however it is arguable their lifestyle and wealth is directly attributable to their being in the public spotlight and therefore arguments re privacy and actions/claims contrary to a free press are likely to carry less weight in this context.
That's just a short summary of the arguments for and against privacy law in such contexts. It would seem that any 'outrage' is misplaced, at least legally, as one who is constantly in the public eye and benefits from such exposure, has little recourse in crying foul if one dislikes the images published later – certainly when the images have been gained with no greater intrusion than the glance of any passerby.
Considering all such grounds the decision by the part-owner of the Irish Star (former Porn baron and British 'worthy') to begin shutdown of the Star newspaper is legally unjustified and morally hypocritical. Costing jobs to real people for a standard-issue scandal is neither legally nor morally coherent.
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Photo by , Left to right/De gauche à droite : Honie B, by/par Guillaume Boucher; Sarahmée by/par Félix Renaud; Frannie Holder by/par Marilou Nadeau.
Women in Québec's increasingly inclusive hip-hop scene
Story by Olivier Boisvert-Magnen | Wednesday April 24th, 2019
Despite its constant mutation, Québec's hip-hop scene is still a male-dominated affair. Systematically relegated to the background, female rappers are still hopeful that things will change, and that the industry will lend them a strong hand in the near future.
"The time for female rappers to get more exposure is long overdue," wrote journalist Yasmine Seck in VICE Québec back in January 2018. "Have women been left behind during Québec's Golden Age of rap?" wrote La Presse journalist Stéphanie Vallet in an exhaustive special report that instantly turned into a hot-button issue on social networks.
For Frannie Holder of rap trio Random Recipe, this sudden media frenzy around women's place on the local rap scene can only be beneficial. "We need to talk about it constantly," she says. "If you ever hear people saying they're fed up hearing about this, tell them that we're even more fed up of having to endure this situation."
Rapper Sarahmée has recently launched her second album, Irréversible, and she wants the current debate to turn into concrete action. "All has been said in the media, now is the time for bookers to show us what they've got," she says. "Things are moving very slowly, so far… It's always the same headliners at festivals. When I look at what all those events are offering, it feels like we're three years behind. In the long run, it's going to get boring for audiences. A lot of people have written to me saying that I'm not getting booked enough despite the excellent media coverage I've been getting."
This situation also bothers Frannie Holder. "Festivals argue that they're at the tail end of the production chain, and that they depend on what's on offer, but ultimately, they often book only popular artists in the hopes of seeling as many tickets as possible," she says. "I find that hypocritical, because if a booker only goes for what's the most popular, they could easily be replaced by an algorithm. How does that deserve public subsidies [grants]? In Canada, there is an educational duty that comes with the arts. The arts must embody social change, and meet the needs of the people. I performed in an equal representation festival in Brazil, and I saw a ton of great female rappers that inspired me."
Gatineau-born, Montréal-based battle rapper Honie B is also preoccupied by the issue of female representation in hip-hop. However, the 22-year-old rapper – who's working on her first solo project – says she wants to avoid any kind of positive discrimination. "I wouldn't want to be booked for a show just because the promoters have to meet a female quota," she says. "I'd find that insulting."
To her, it's only a matter of time before women take the place they deserve. "Rap is still in its infancy here," she says. "We're slowly getting accustomed to the culture, and that means women need some time to emancipate. Whether you like it or not, it's still a rough scene. You need to be very self-assured to stand out."
That's precisely what's happening to Naya Ali. As the only rapper signed to the heavily hip-hop-oriented label Coyote Records, the Anglophone Montrealer has enjoyed new-found success since the release of her debut EP, Higher Self, last fall. Label President and founder Rafael Perez was instantly on board. "She's fresh, she has a strong personality and a lot of drive," he says. "As soon as I heard her demo, I was like 'Wow! Where did she come from?' We weren't looking to sign a female rapper, but when you're as impressed as I was, it's awesome."
But he's the first to admit he doesn't get a lot of demos from female rappers. "There's probably a lot of great music that never makes it to my ears, young artists doing exceptional music in their basement," he says. "And quite frankly, try as I might, I don't find a lot of new female rappers… I believe keeping the conversation going in the media is a good thing, because it might inspire others to want to showcase their music."
"We need projects that correspond to the reality of women… We need to consolidate this mentoring and career development into actual programs." — Frannie Holder
All this talk has gotten the ball rolling. Recently, Fondation Musicaction – a Québec-based organization that supports the production and marketing of a fair share of albums by Francophone artists in Canada – launched a pilot program supporting the mothers of infants (0 to 2 years old) in the development of their international careers. "This initiative came about because a lot of women musicians felt hindered professionally because they had a child; going on tour became way too expensive," says Anne-Karine Tremblay, Musicaction Director of Corporate and Legal Affairs, about this exploratory measure that "allows the expenditure for an assistant entirely devoted to caring for a child while travelling."
Sarahmée welcomes such an initiative with open arms. "I was told time and time again that having a child when you're a female rapper is difficult," she says. "People close to me were told stuff like, 'Are you sure? How are you going to manage?' It's a truly great idea that's in sync with the lifestyle of women, which is a lot less sedentary than it used to be."
Frannie Holder agrees: "It's like telling women that they don't have to give up their careers to be a mother. I've seen many women delay their career way into their thirties, while men are often at their peak by then."
According to the 34-year-old singer-songwriter, it's through such initiatives, centred around women's needs, that female rappers will be able to stand out more. "We need projects that correspond to the reality of women," she says. "Helping each other out as female rappers is great, but we need to consolidate this mentoring and career development into actual programs."
One source of financing for the development of a specific skill – whether it's through a conference, a course, a workshop or a seminar – is the SOCAN Foundation's Professional Development Assistance Program. Just as accessible to young female rappers, the Foundation's Travel Assistance Program covers a sizable portion of travel expenses when participating in a showcase or residency, for example. As a matter of fact, Frannie Holder and Montréal rapper Hua Li have both taken advantage of that subsidy in recent years.
Also available are training sessions provided by the Société professionnelle des auteurs et des compositeurs du Québec (SPACQ), which allow artists to fine-tune their trade (training sessions in writing, interpretation, stage presence…) and develop their business-related skills (legal advice about contracts, and how to protect their songs against theft or plagiarism). The over-600-member-strong organization is constantly looking for new artists who want to "professionalize" themselves.
Otherwise, two of the most accessible subsidies for Francophone female rappers are Musicaction's emerging artist support and song production and promotion programs. The first program is for self-produced, emerging artists, while the second is aimed at independent or signed artists who want to produce four songs "for immediate promotion." Beyond that, Musicaction's grants are often geared towards, and more easily obtained by, established record labels. Bear in mind that currently, the three main hip-hop labels in Québec – Disques 7ième Ciel, Explicit Productions, Joy Ride Records – are recognized by Musicaction, and as such receive a yearly stipend from that organization to produce their roster's albums. Yet none of them has signed a female rapper.
To counter-balance this male domination, Frannie Holder suggests following in the footsteps of the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC), which recently tabled an action plan to achieve gender equality in film before 2020. From now on, a producer can only present two fictional feature-length projects "if one of them is written or directed by a woman."
"It has made a world of difference in only two years," says Holder, who's been sitting of the SOCAN Foundation Board of Directors for about a year. "Now, it's time to look at the financing offered to musicians by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ), and other such bodies, to gradually move towards gender equality."
That idea is making progress at Musicaction. "The latest versions of our forms include a male-female survey question, so that we get accurate data on the projects we finance," says Anne-Karine Tremblay. "Our short-term goal is not gender equality, but we are aware of this issue in top management. We do make an effort to have more female juries. It gives us different ears."
Without going as far as supporting gender-equal financing for Québe hip-hop, Rafael Perez welcomes change. "I'll leave that question to the Boards of Directors, because it's a sensitive issue for me," says the man who's signed on Laurence Nerbonne and Marième, two singers with marked rap influences, to his Coyote imprint. "But at the end of the day, I appreciate that the people involved are making more and more efforts [towards the representation of women on the local rap scene]. I think it's a good thing."
Feature Stories - Themes Hip-Hop/Rap Industrie de la musique Music Industry Quebec
2016: The Year of Hip-Hop in Québec
Growth of the scene, challenges still ahead
Cape Breton's fertile music scene
What makes it such a hothouse for music?
Musicians and Stage Directors
A Marriage of Convenience?


You can see and hear it all around and in almost every company: When the market situation is struggling during economic crises, such as the one we're in at the moment, managers and executives require and demand more figures and measures. Details become highly important, and lower-level managers as well as IT departments and information managers find themselves processing one ad-hoc request after another. In HR, these kinds of requests are not uncommon. Sometimes, they're even more prevalent than in other business processes, since HR analytics is less mature than, for example, finance analytics or logistics analytics.
It seems logical that when times get tough, you want to know exactly what's going on and how to respond to it proactively. For the market, partner organizations, competitors, clients, employees and other stakeholders in and around an organization, it's not that easy spending large amounts on new projects, and there's a need to rethink a couple of times before making any move at all. This doesn't necessarily mean, however, that a company should follow a completely different path from what it has been taking. Sure, innovation and out-of-the-box tactics for sales and product or service development are great ideas. But haven't they always been?
The behavior of requesting or demanding more figures and reports is, simply, illogical. Looking at the impact of these requests, managers themselves should realize they are causing more pain and problems to the business than needed. These new requests are often ad hoc and not structural; meaning, they need to be created anew by hand and Excel, as is often the case. This consumes so much time that should have been used instead for productive tasks. This is not to imply, though, that ad hoc questions and reports take less priority; on the contrary, they are completely understandable. But why should you request more of these during tougher times? This could indicate that the current (or former) reporting and analytics environment has not provided the right answers and insight managers need.
On the HR reporting side, tough times require insight on leavers and talent flows but of course, also on FTE and cost figures. Management starts looking into hire processes and minimizing time to hire, illness rates and cost per employee. Processes are assessed for optimization, and efficiency and effectiveness measures are brought to life. These refer not only to human capital figures like FTE count, headcount and illness rates, but also to HR function measures like time to hire, number of reports, number of figures, and IT alignment and automation.
Last, but really not least, are figures concerning HR impact that become more and more crucial during an economic crisis. HR impact is the level at which HR figures—but more importantly, HR processes and their results— support the organization and its core business processes in realizing the organization's overall vision, mission and strategy. Especially in people-driven businesses, HR impact is a subject of higher importance.
So, do tough times, like the current economic crisis, make a valid reason for demanding more figures and reports? The answer to this question has two sides, because a simple "no" is just too easy. Initially, the answer would be: No, during these times, there should be no demand for more figures, reports and measures, because these should already be available and in use within the company. If you are running a people business, it is assumed that the above-mentioned rates, scores and measures are already being reviewed during regular management meetings or business reviews.
But the second part of the answer is: In tough times, the true need for proper and aligned analytics and information management often becomes visible and urgent. So the conclusive answer, therefore, is this: The questions and requests for insight on numbers are totally understandable, but it is advisable to spend as much time as possible on setting up a formal structure for processing these, so that it will be available in the future.
As a global HR Consulting and Outsourcing company, NorthgateArinso helps clients with struggles in analytics and information management in their search for efficiency and effectiveness. We call this service HR Analytics Enterprise Assessment.


2001-2006 Kia Optima front frame rust free from south. Shipping set for 100 miles all others call first.
2001-2006 Hyundai Santa Fe front frame v6. From the south clean. Shipping set for 100 miles all other must call first.
Rust free from south frame fits Suzuki Vitara XL-7 years 2007-2009. Shipping price set for 100 miles all others call first.


PhoNatic's Banh Mi Sliders feature all the makings of traditional Vietnamese banh mi – grilled marinated pork shoulder, cucumber, pickled carrots and daikon, fresh jalapeno, cilantro and house made aioli – but are served in a steamed Chinese bao bun, transforming the dish into a slider-sized bite.
Thinly slice pork. About 1/8 inch thick or so. Make this process easier by freezing the meat for about an hour or so before slicing. Just enough to firm up the pork to make it easier to slice.
Combine the rest of the ingredients in a blender and give it a good mix.
Add pork to a shallow dish or zip lock freezer bag. Pour marinade mixture out of blender and mix well with pork.
Cover/Seal and allow to marinate in the fridge over night or at least 6 hours.
Remove marinated meat from refrigerator after it has been marinated at least 6 hours.
Using a wire grilling basket, arrange pork in an even layer and secure basket.
Prepare a charcoal or gas grill with two heat zones. One direct and one indirect. First place basket in direct heat zone, turning frequently to avoid flare ups. About 5 minutes on each side. Once pork has a nice char, move the basket to the low or indirect heat zone to finish. Cover grill and allow grilled pork to finish cooking checking frequently. About 5-7 minutes on each side. Time will depend on the temperature of your grill.
Remove from heat once pork has cooked and serve with rice or vermicelli.


For the first four days we were staying in an incredible apartment in the Camp's Bay area right on the coast and majorly lucked out as it was honestly the most beautiful apartment, in an amazing location and had a gorgeous terrace with a pool overlooking the beach, where we had breakfast everyday and went for runs each morning along the coastal road (the first training sessions for RunDeForce in July – Eeek!) Absolutely dreamy… We initially found it really hard to find accommodation in Camp's Bay as everything seemed to get booked up really far in advance. After looking around we found this place through The Luxury Travel Book – If you're planning a holiday any time soon, I'd definitely recommend taking a look as it worked out cheaper than staying in the nicer hotels in the area, was definitely much nicer and undoubtedly more private!
On our way out to the wedding, we all stopped at another incredible farm called Babylonstoren and had lunch at their farm-to-table restaurant, Babel. This was without a doubt the best food we ate on our trip (and the competition was high!) If you make a trip out to Stellenbosch, you must visit this place. You can also wander around the farm after lunch and see the fruit and veg growing, as well as their resident family of ducks that been looked after by the same keeper for over 50 years. They are actually used as natural pest control as they eat all the creepy crawlies from the vegetable patches! I took a few outfit shots here too, which turned out really nicely I think (what do you reckon?) I cracked out my new starry shirt from All Saints for the first time, which I think is very quickly going to become a wardrobe staple for me – I'm obsessed with it! The next couple of days were taken up by wedding festivities, and to be honest we were all having so much fun at the wedding, we didn't really take many photos, but there are a couple of me and mike that I've posted below so you can see – I've known the bride and her family for almost 20 years so it was a pretty special day. It was a really emotional ceremony and the party afterwards was so much fun – without a doubt one of the best weddings I've ever been to regardless of the beautiful setting… but combined with the sunshine and glorious mountain views over the vineyard, it was just perfect.
For our final day, we took a day trip to Franschoek which came highly recommended by so many people we spoke to. Again, it was so pretty and well worth a visit, if a little touristy. We had a lovely final lunch in the sunshine there before some of our friends flew home and we flew off for safari the next day. It was so lovely looking back on the whole trip… we packed a lot into our week here, although I definitely feel like we didn't see it all, so know we'll be back before long. I loved every minute!
*This post is part of a collaboration with Light & Free for 2017. The trip was my personal holiday and paid for entirely by me.
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