Saturday 30 May 2009

Don't come to Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes is a new town somewhere north of Watford. Don't go there. It is filled with fat addicts on DFS sofas drinking alcohol, smoking, watching XXX movies and having sex with kittens. And they drink the blood of virgins.

There. That should do it. I use this tactic for celery, apple and nut salad. So far, that has worked.

Because if those kids of mine get a whiff of what a divine, Eden inspired taste this salad is, then they will scoff the entire bowl and there will be nothing left for me. So that salad is bad, children. BAD. Only BAD people eat it. And the same for blueberry fruit salad, which will KILL you. And cake. Especially doublechoc cake over which I have poured rum, brandy, creme de menthe and port.

Actually, that last one may be true.

Well the truth about Milton Keynes is that it is a pretty amazing place. And don't think it's all new. The town rises on ancient settlements. The round house post holes discovered at Blue Bridge next to the Roman villa are thought Bronze Age. As are the torcs found locally, made of enough gold to make that ring round your finger look like painted plastic.

If Bronze Age ain't enough, there are Saxon and Medieval finds, Tudor buildings and a complete Victorian town. If you're interested, wander here and here.

So it's a fascinating place. And when we visit the Milton Keynes Museum today in pursuit of an education about a medieval lifestyle, that amalgamation of time zones makes perfect sense.

What a day! Water divining, archery, medieval justice, the reenacted manorial court sessions, the early music songsters Lumina, calligraphy with quill and ink, a spot of Victorian hooping, and a talk from a fine lady who scrapes dead animal skins to make parchment and vellum because that's how it's done for hundreds of years. And the local Cowley is now the only maker in the UK of the parchment and vellum used in the House of Lords.

But like I say, don't come here.

Because we people who love Milton Keynes and all its history can have this place ALL TO OURSELVES.

Shark tries her hand at dowsing, or water divining, at Milton Keynes Museum.
We don't have the knack. You see that square she's standing on? It's a well. We didn't find it.

Much better at the quill business though.

And this should be suitable attire for mama's driving style.

Here's a dead sheep stretched over a frame for parchment making.
Don't come to Milton Keynes. We will do this to your cat.


But if you are ever brave enough to visit a place where the inhabitants have wall eyes, no teeth and machetes, we will punish you by forcing you to roll Victorian iron hoops.

You have been warned.

11 comments:

Jax Blunt said...

All looks rather fab.

Grit said...

damn!

Irene said...

I'm almost afraid to go there now, but I'm like a cat and have great curiosity, so when in England...

Angela said...

You always make me speechless, grit, at your imagination and EVERYTHING! In my next life I want to be your child and get home-schooled by you!

kelly said...

Milton Keynes you say? Home to the indoor ski place also known as Xscape.

We are planning to go there in the Autumn, do the crazies go there too or is their a bouncer on the door?

kelly said...

I mean there, not their. Damn. Don't let the LEA see.

Coding Mamma (Tasha) said...

I have heard good things about Milton Keynes. Probably heard more bad things, but still!

There's an award for you over at mine.

Grit said...

hi irene, milton keynes would be most welcoming, and it is great for cycling!

aw angela, that is too nice. i have my horrormother days too, when everyone should take cover.

xscape is um, well, it has a snow slope. a climbing wall. and extremely comfortable cinema. and fast food outlets. um, it's all very down with the youth, kelly!

thank you for the award, tasha! (i will even try and collect it.) and milton keynes is more good than bad, definitely.

Iota said...

I used to live in Bletchley. True fact.

Anonymous said...

I used to live in Aylesbury, spent 4 years there, not far from Stoke Mandeville hospital. Visited Milton Keynes so often, loved the shopping mall.

CJ xx

Grit said...

hi iota and cj - there you are. you are testimony to the fact that milton keynes is not the bermuda triangle of bucks. you have been here, survived, and have tales to tell. what greater tribute is there to a town than that?