※All the pictures in this page were taken by John Mingins who lives in
Norwich.
.
John M's favourite Dick Whittington's cat.
He said, "Somebody has sprayed the cat's head with gold paint, but I still gave it a rub for good luck."
The statue of the cat is placed here
because it is supposed to be the site where Dick Whittington heard the
bells of London ring out,
"turn again Whittington Lord Mayor of London"*.
* According to "All Info About London", "Most English people
are familiar with the legend of Dick Whittington and his cat. The legend
is the Dick Whittington, a poor country boy, came to London with his cat
seeking his fortune. When he reached Highgate Hill, he lost heart and turned
to go back home. Then he heard the bells of London ringing out saying "Turn
again, Dick Whittington, three times Lord Mayor of London." However,
in fact, probably, he didn't take a cat
When I asked John Mingins who lives in Norwich, "Where is your favourite
place in London?", he listed some places such as Camden Lock and Portbello
Road for the markets. He continued, "I'll finish by saying that two
of my favourite views of London are from Parliament Hill on Hamstead Heath
and the view from Alexandra Palace + Highgate Cemetery." Moreover,
he added a comment in bracket, "Don't think I'm weird, but it is interesting.
Karl Marx is buried there."
In Highgate Cemetery, there are some graves of famous people such as John
Galsworthy("The Forsythe Saga"), George Eliot("The Mill
On The Floss"), Radclyff Hall("The Well Of Loneliness").
John M. told me three homepages related to the cemetery. He listed it soon
after he had sent me his first e-mail, so I actually thought that he was
a little strange because he recommended a cemetery and told me its related
homepages. However, I couldn't say directly to him, "You are a little
strange.", so I wrote to him, "It seems to be interesting, but
I don't want to visit alone and probably nobody would want to go with me!"
Then, as if he had heard my voice, he said, "You are quite right though
it is not really a place to visit on your own…I think they run
organized tours if you are still interested…From reading your pages I
get the impression that you like to experience the atmosphere of places.
"
Yes, he's right! After I saw some hokepages which he told me about and
found out that Bram Stoker, who is famous for his vampire series, chose
the cemetery as a burial site of the vampire Lucy Westenra, I really began
to be interested in Highgate Cemetery. I like a creepy atmosphere which
a vampire obviously evokes. He knows my taste! Amazing! Does it means that
he has read many pages of my homepage? Wow!
In England, I heard that some people sunbathed on the tombstones. Karl
Marx's grave whicn I saw on the homepage of Highgate Cemetery is very artistic.
Gradually, I began to feel like visiting Highgate Cemetery.
After that, I knew that Freddie Mercury's tomb was in London. Therefore, I thought that the next trip's purpose should be visiting some cemetery! Unfortunately, soon I found out that Freddie's tomb had been moved to Zanzibar, his birth place, so I can't fulfill the plan. However, I still want to visit Highgate Cemetery.
After I wrote to John M. that I wanted to go there, he sent me some photos
of the area sorrounding the cemetery. He said that he disappointed because
he didn't have time to enter the cemetery, but he could say hello to his
favourite cat（the top picture）.
Here, Ill show you some of his photos.
If you go to Hightgate Cemetery, you have to walk through Waterlow Park.
The photo above is the exit of the park.
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On his way back from the cemtery to the station, he took some pictures from the Archway Bridge.
This bridge is also called, "suicide bridge". When he walked
on the bridge,he said that he suffered from mild vertigo.
If you want to get more information about Highgate Cemetery, click the
below,
http://highgate-cemetery.org/index.asp
http://www.literature.org/authors/stoker-bram/dracula/
http://www.nauticom.net/users/ata/karlmarx.html
(2002.11.29)
John's Longest Day
Bruce Castle
Hampstead
mysterious, longed-for bitter lemon
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