OK, totally fascinating

With thanks to john_arundel, who alerted me to it.

COLOUR film of London vignettes, circa 1927

Totally fascinating! On top of the basic reaction (I miss London!), I was interested by the mixture of omnibusses, motor cars, and horse-drawn carts. The lack of roadway markings in most areas (although the tiny "In" and "Out" signs on the gates of Hyde Park were wonderful). The volume of traffic on the Thames, with even the small motor launches clearly still coal or oil fired, rather than gasoline engines. Traffic policemen. TRAFFIC POLICEMEN! What a marvelous idea, snuffed out by electric lights. Hats. EVERYONE (men, women) wearing hats (OK, probably 80-90% of people). Even a small boy buying peanuts has his hat (and his tie!) The fellow at the Oval who had made a makeshift Havelock with his pocket handkerchief to keep the sun off the back of his neck (but no matter how "blazing" hot it is, everyone in the crowd is wearing his sturdy jacket and hat...) People, people everywhere, streets filled with dense crowds, hundreds and thousands of people who had a totally different experience of what were "current events" or recent history, who didn't know what the next 20 years would bring, who lived in such a different world to this one.

My dad was six when that film was shot. Some of those 'busses might have been used in France ten years before as troop transports during World War I. The stock market crash was still two years away. Forget travelling to the Moon or Mars, that same year was the first time someone flew nonstop across the Atlantic.

Such a different world....

(no subject)

My chum wcg has been commenting and expanding on posts he wrote last year that present some wonderful historical vignettes.

Last year he wrote this wonderful piece on some of the events of a 19th century election in the District of Columbia.

This year he updated it with some biographical detail on the officer involved.

Fascinating stuff!