So that was the end of my mini European holiday but I had 1.5 weeks in England before heading home. In that time I did spend a few days on the Isle Of Wight which turned out to be quite interesting. It’s a bigger island than I originally thought and there is a lot to it from a cute little village with a cute model village, beaches of varying quality, plenty of old houses and gardens, the home and place of death of Queen Victoria, old steam trains, a falconry and a town called Ryde which went down well with the family.
I stayed in a pub called the Veteran, a not-for-profit designed to help keep the returned vets off the streets with a safe place to live. They had an open mic night and I thought I would have a go and did I Was Only 19. Thought that was fitting.
The thing that took me by surprise was how close it was to the mainland. It was 45 minutes by ferry but most of that time was the go slow that the ferry does when leaving and arriving at the ports. Mind you, this short trip cost about $200 each way.
Whilst there I visited Osborne House which was at one stage a residence used by Queen Victoria and her family. It’s an amazing place right near the sea and was in fact where Victoria died. That was pretty freaky, standing in the room looking at the bed where she died.
The house was chockers full of paintings and sculptures, a little over the top from my preferences. I did learn that it was pretty much the same today as it was when they lived there. Really not my kind of minimalist approach that is for sure.
It did say a lot about them I must say. A lot of nudity, a lot of buff dudes, a lot of embracing. I think that Vic and Albert were a pair of raunchy characters if I’d have to bet on it.
Then of course there were the special relationships old Vic had. There were a few young Indian chaps and of course the Scottish Mr Brown made famous and played brilliantly by Billy Connolly in the movie Mrs Brown. I do not want to speak evil of the dead but I am not sure that old Vic always played ay home.
In yet another example of “oh my God, she walked along here” I strolled along the path from the house to the sea, a path the family walked often so they could have a swim in the The Solent (the strip of water that divides IOW and England). Albert built a portable pool (hand in and out of the bed apparently) which was used to teach the kids how to swim. Then of course there was the converted train carriage that the women used to change into their swimmers (more like clothes they didn’t mind getting wet) and then it rolled into the water and the children would go out the back door for their swim and no-one would see their ankles heaven forbid. So it seems old Vic was a cracker in the bedroom but very much a prude in public from what it seems. Maybe she knew what her three friends and Albert were like and wanted to keep the boys away from her girls.
And on the point of kids, I saw some stuff that explained why there is a element that really do detest the royals. Firstly, there was a whole play area on the estate including a very much oversized toy house. One of the girls locked her carer in there and refused to let her out until she barked like a dog. You can make anyone do anything when there’s the threat of the royal family hanging over you. Lovely kids hey.
Secondly, the kids had an Austrian styled tree house play house (including fireplaces with chimneys) that would fetch easily $1.5M in most suburbs of Sydney. It was huge. Again, when you have enough lackies anything is possible if so desired. Never could they go without anything they wanted. They had personalised kiddie wheelbarrows so never the need to learn to share.
And thirdly, and this shook me the most, there was a battle area complete with trenches, a mini life like canon and a fortification. Apparently the boys would enact battles where they would send their imaginary soldiers over the top and raid the enemy. Sound familiar? How easy was it then for Victoria’s grandsons and grandson in-law to allow the mowing down of their countries young and fit all for the so called King and Country. It did shake me up a bit I must admit.
Glad I came to the Isle Of Wight. Not a place many would visit but it did seem popular with the English families and I can see why. It’s pretty chilled and lots to do with the kiddies but also somewhere you could easily relax without them.
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