View allAll Photos Tagged disarray
Poor chicken she's moulting the spiky spiny hedgehog appearance are her new feathers the fluffy bits are the old feathers being cast aside. Settled up for the night roost but i've got a lens to try so hens it is. She will be fine...later...
Still trying to catch up to the flood of EB Yourself orders when I realized what an awesome state of disarray my formerly beautiful mailroom was in.
My studio has been in disarray for a few months now. I finally had time to redress most of my pullips and rearrange things so I could display the new additions I got over the holidays.
Recorded on a shooting outing with Pam's Pics, mragan and FotoEdge.
Back when Kansas City was a glitzy gangster town with a thriving jazz scene, the Drum Room at the President Hotel was a swanky hang for guys and molls. KC’s dangerous, cool rep and the hotel both fell into disarray over the years, but downtown’s revival has included the restoration of the President to its former beauty, Drum Room included. The rebuilt venue lacks the kitschy appeal of its previous incarnation; the bar with drums for a top was destroyed in a fire years ago. But the retro sign outside the door is back, announcing a new Drum that is sleek, sexy and modern. A line of cushioned seating along one wall attracts well-dressed women who sip colorful martinis and flirt with the high-rolling gentlemen who frequent this hip, pricey joint. Live jazz lives again here, with local legends-in-the-making Megan Birdsall and Everette DeVan appearing regularly on weekends. (quoted from The Pitch).
39Pine is in somewhat disarray as it gets rearranged. :<(
This was initiated after the mountain module became the starting focal point on the table.
The module has 2 mainlines (MLTC Club Standard) and I decided to incorporate these into my home layout.
In the past I had 2x mainlines focused pretty much circling only the city & train yard sections, but definitely wanted now include the mountain.
This meant a reshuffle of all of the baseplates (as the mountain was aligned against the far table edge - whereas previously the city was aligned to the front edge) and in some instances a rebuild of certain infrastructure. It also has meant that I needed to add some additional table bases to allow for the mountain mainlines to swing back around the mountain to join the rest of the layout.
So at the moment definitely a work in progress while this piece of work continues.
I'm also changing all of the track to the MLTC ballasted standard (using not only reddish brown sleepers but also a black version) so that I can use it on club modules as and when required. This will mean that the existing red brick based ballast of my mainlines will eventually disappear. This is a long and somewhat expensive exercise but I think the end result will be well worth it.
You can also see my (work in progress) warehouse & container yard module in the front. At the moment the entire module (i.e. the front row of 48x48 baseplates) doesn't fit on the table. :<( With the rework of the layout the plan is to correct that resulting in an additional working circuit for this module located fully on the table.
My studio has been in disarray for a few months now. I finally had time to redress most of my pullips and rearrange things so I could display the new additions I got over the holidays.
Civil Wars. AD 68-69. AR Denarius (3.55 g, 5h). Revolt of Vindex issue. Vienna (Vienne) mint. Struck March-May AD 68. Victory standing left on globe, holding wreath and palm frond / S P Q R within laurel wreath. Cf. RIC I 72 var. (oak wreath); cf. AM 77 var. (same); cf. RSC 420 var. (same).
Gaius Julius Vindex (37-69): Roman senator, governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, first to revolt against the emperor Nero.
Gaius Julius Vindex was a member of the former royal family of Aquitania, which had lost its throne when Julius Caesar had subdued their country. However, it was still an influential family, and the father of Julius Vindex became a Roman senator after the emperor Claudius had permitted noblemen from Gaul to enter the august college (48).
His son was a senator too, and after his praetorship, he was appointed governor of Gallia Lugdunensis (Central France). Since senator's sons usually held the praetorship at the age of thirty, we may assume that Vindex was 31 years old when he arrived in his new capital Lyon (68). According to the great historian Cassius Dio, he "was powerful in body and of shrewd intelligence, was skilled in warfare and full of daring for any great enterprise; and he had a passionate love of freedom and a vast ambition" (Roman History, 63.22.1²).
He had been in Rome for several years, and had seen how the emperor Nero had indulged in his cultural passions and odd love for the Greek way of life. Like many other senators, he thought that it would be better to overthrow the ruler, and he invited representatives of the communities of Gaul to discuss the subject.
Vindex called together the Gauls, who had suffered much by the numerous forced levies of money and were still suffering at Nero's hands. And ascending a tribunal he delivered a long and detailed speech against Nero, saying that they ought to revolt from the emperor and join the speaker in an attack upon him, "because," as he said, "he has despoiled the while Roman world, because he has destroyed all the flower of the senate, because he debauched and then killed his mother, and does not preserve even the semblance of sovereignty. Many murders, robberies and outrages, it is true, have often been committed by others; but as for the other deeds committed by Nero, how could one find words fittingly to describe them? I have seen him, my friends and allies -believe me- I have seen that man [...] in the circle of the theater, that is, in the orchestra, sometimes holding the lyre and dressed in loose tunic and buskins, and again wearing in general-soled shoes and mask. I have often heard him sing, play the herald, and act in tragedies. I have seen him in chains, hustled about as a miscreant, heavy with child, aye, in the travail of childbirth - in short, imitating all the situations of mythology by what he said and what was said to him, by what he submitted to and by what he did. Will anyone, then, style such a person Caesar and emperor and Augustus? Never! Let no one abuse those sacred titles. They were held by Augustus and by Claudius, whereas this fellow might most properly be termed Thyestes, Oedipus, Alcmeon, or Orestes; for these are the characters that he represents on the stage and it is these titles that he has assumed in place of the others. Therefore rise now at length against him; succour yourselves and succour the Romans; liberate the entire world!"
[Cassius Dio, Roman history 63.22.2-6;
tr. Earnest Cary]
Vindex was a Roman senator and a nobleman, and behaved according to the principle that nobility obliges. He did not fight to get the empire for himself, but started to search for a distinguished and decent man. In April 68, he found Servius Sulpicius Galba, the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, an honest man who was skilled in warfare, and by common consent possessed the makings of a ruler.
Galba (Musei Vaticani, Rome)
Now, Vindex revolted. He recruited soldiers and announced that he no longer obeyed the orders of Nero. We don't know what he said to inspire his people, but a late source that sometimes contains reliable information, the Life of Apollonius by Philostratus, says:
He declared in it that Nero was anything rather than a harpist, and a harpist rather than a sovereign. And he taxed him with madness and avarice and cruelty and wantonness of every kind, though he omitted to tax him with the cruelest of crimes; for he said that he had quite rightly put to death his mother, because she had borne such a monster.
[Philostratus, Life of Apollonius, 5.10;
tr. F.C. Conybeare]
The emperor responded by sending the First legion Italica, which had recently been constituted, to Lyon. When it arrived, however, the revolt had already been suppressed by another force: the legions XXI Rapax, IIII Macedonica and XXII Primigenia of the army of the Upper Rhine, commanded by Lucius Verginius Rufus.
Rufus, the governor of Germania Superior, set out to make war on Vindex; but when he reached Besançon, he proceeded to besiege the city, for the alleged reason that it had not received him. But Vindex came to the aid of the city against him and encamped not far off, whereupon they sent messages back and forth to each other and finally held a conference by themselves at which no one else was present and came to a mutual agreement against Nero, as was conjectured. After this Vindex set out with his army ostensibly to occupy the town; and the soldiers of Rufus, becoming aware of their approach and thinking the force was marching straight against them, marched out in their turn, on their own initiative, and falling upon them while they were off their guard and in disarray, cut down great numbers of them.
As the revolt continued, Vindex slew himself; for he felt exceedingly grieved because of the peril of his soldiers and was vexed at Fate because he had not been able to attain his goal in an undertaking of so great magnitude, namely the overthrow of Nero and the liberation of the Romans. This is the truth of the matter; but many afterwards inflicted wounds on his body, and so gave rise to the false impression that they themselves had killed him.
[Cassius Dio, Roman history 63.23.1-24.4;
tr. Earnest Cary]
This was the end of Vindex' rebellion and life. Galba, who was marching on Rome, now feared for his life and retreated. However, Nero panicked and lost the support of the Senate, which recognized the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis as emperor of the Roman world. Nero committed suicide (8 June), so that, in the end, Vindex had been successful. Galba struck coins to commemorate the man to whom he owed the throne.
I discovered this location while driving to the franco-cypriot school in Nicosia, Cyprus. These are governmental buildings next to the police academy. The complex is to be destroyed in the near future. I was interested in catching the effects of time on official government owned buildings.
At the end of May 1942, the Free French 1st brigade occupied the southern sector of the British 8th Army's deployment in the heart of Libyan desert, facing German and Italian Axis troops. This was a key point on the extreme left of the position since it could prevent any potential encirclement from the south of Allied forces retreating in disarray from the defeat and the fall of Tobruk that had opened the road to Cairo for the German tanks.
At the end of May 1942, the Free French 1st brigade occupied the southern sector of the British 8th Army's deployment in the heart of Libyan desert, facing German and Italian Axis troops. This was a key point on the extreme left of the position since it could prevent any potential encirclement from the south of Allied forces retreating in disarray from the defeat and the fall of Tobruk that had opened the road to Cairo for the German tanks.
~Credits~
Hair: Doe: Spring Breeze (twotone) - Candy RARE From: Whimsical May 2017
Make-Up: Lovely Disarray - The Kitsune Tribe - Catwa [Unisex] @ The Kawaii Project May 2017
Eyebrows: [CX] Noh + Oiran Eyebrow
Outfit: -00-Houou- from: Kagami - July 2017
Includes:
- -00-Houou-Earrings B:No.8
- -00-Houou-Hair accessories B:No.6
- -00-Houou-Haori B:No.13
- -00-Houou-F-Kimono B:No.18::RARE
Background: -00-Houou-Cage:No.15
Kitsune: CURELESS [+] Yokai Chronicles / Zenko Kitsune Ascending / NOIR
&
CURELESS [+] Yokai Chronicles / Zenko Kitsune Descending / PURE @ The Epiphany - July 2017
In celebration of the first lustrum of the Bridport event, I wanted to do something really, really special for this year's poster. It is dedicated to the people who helped to make the Bridport events special in any way possible. On stage, behind the mixing desk, taking care of the organisation and bookings, bringing an amp for everybody to use, putting fish on the barbie, allowing a bunch of loonies in their homes, gardens and inns, or simply just by visiting.
Beside that, the poster is also dedicated to the members of various fora who haven't been to one of the meets - and may never will - but their contributions to these fora brought so many smiles to so many faces. 74 Of these smiles are gathered on this poster.
Row 1
The good families who helped organising the meet over the years on the left, some of the guest musicians on the right.
Sylvia, Lauren, Phil47uk, John Vasco, Son of Vasco, Anne Vasco, Michael, Dan Wheeler, Chris Lonergan, Mutter Slater
Row 2
Avid Bridport visitors and contributors to various fora on the left, the rest of the guest musicians on the right.
Ted, Sliding Tom, Stowburst, Cookie-boy, Luggsy, LouieTM, Johnbeloe, Tom Compton, Toby Tomanov, Fuzzy
Row 3
Three Bridport visitors with the mates or brother they brought along to get on stage for this edition or a previous one, then three visitors who traveled all the way from a different continent to make it to one of the meets. On the right, the lovely couple that run the inn where the event is held every year.
Flameburst, Tim, Bluenote, Joe, Liam, Gumboot Craig, FrankieOliver, kernelofwisdom, joeobrien, Rachael, Simon.
Row 4
Bridport visitors from various fora on the left, visitors who mostly frequent Drude's forum these days on the left and a few more Drudites who have yet to visit a meet.
Gyro, Happy Grumpz, Rankleson, jimmyq, Paulygates, Drudeboy, Snaredrum, CuthbertG, L60N, Cowpuncher, Stevie777.
Row 5
Some of those for whom this year's meet is their first visit on the left and a couple more members from Drude's forum on the right. Between them, the three loveable old geezers without whom the world of guitar music would have looked quite different.
RedSkwirrell, Woderwick, Cpt Matt Sparrow, Ibis, WholeLottaIzzy, Rizla, Leo Fender, Jim Marshall, Les Paul, Slick, Ratso.
Row 6
On the left, forum members from the United Kingdom and Ireland. On the right, members from the United States of America.
doctorpaul, General Disarray, MenaceMartin, Lurcher, BrianGT, Thermionik, spacebubby, boleskinehouse, alligatorbling, X-RAY, onehippie.
Row 7
Last, but not least, members of various fora from various parts of the world. The Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, Continental Europe and more from the United States of America.
kmk108, Lyrica, colchar, Muck Fe, Shifty, meursault, VIN, MelvinDale, LazyDays, Leumas.
There's a limited number of tags Flickr allows per photograph, so I only tagged those who are tagged in other uploads to my account.
Jesus is Crowned with Thorns.
Who would have ever thought that the power of a single choice could bear over the destiny of the entire world.
God had seen so much potential in the good that man could accomplish that He took a huge risk and empowered humanity with the authority to become the steward of creation.
It is no wonder that through the act of disobedience, Adam sent the cosmos in disarray as everything under his authority, including the earth, got cursed. In Genesis, thorns are symbolic for that curse.
Since then, we've inherited a world where the innocent suffer, the weak are enslaved, and justice is hard to come by.
Beyond that, nature convulses every so often as typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis and volcano eruptions claim the lives of thousands, reminding us that earth was ours to tend, but we had dropped the ball.
The crown of thorns symbolizes that Jesus has borne the curse of sin for us. Let it also remind us that we have been invited to participate in the ongoing redemption of the world. Our choices continue to shape the destiny of life on planet earth for generations to come.
Act: The barren thorn bush in front of you represent the deterioration brought about by man's continued abdication of his authority to tend the earth.
As you take a green strip of cloth from the bin, let it represent a challenge to yourself to do all you can to take care of God's creation, the environment, and resources around us. Over time, as God honors our choices, we believe that we will be able to leave a better world behind for our children and our children's children.
Now pin your green strip of cloth to the thorn bush.
We would also like to give you an opportunity to sign a petition encouraging the local government to plan trees even as they pursue the development of the city.
We have partnered with Alveo Land who has committed to fund the purchase of seedlings to be planted in various areas in the city of Taguig. Alveo will also be initiating a planting of 300 trees within the areas of their current development.
WARNING THE FOLLOW TAKES PLACE 17 YEARS, BEFORE THE CURRENT EVENTS:
Maverick: *singing* I am the sinnerman! *falsettos* ahhhh-aaahh.
The music stops and Maverick grabs the mic.
Maverick: Alright, everyone I got some news. This is the last show for us. Gravitas will be splitting up, due to artistic differences.
Crowd: *gasps and boos*
Gage: calm down everyone and listen.
Maverick: Thanks for that, Gage.
However, we will perform one final song. We are gonna take a five-minute break and announce the final song.
The curtains close and the mics are cut, for a discussion.
Maverick: Alright, so we need to figure out what song.
Johnny: Banners Of War?
Gage: actually I think we can all agree on that right now...
Maverick: ok it's decided then, make the solo rock.
Gage & Johnny: *nods*
The bands take their places, and the curtains rise up. Maverick looks at the crowd grabbing the mic once more.
Maverick: *grabs mic* So we have decided that the final song will be Banners Of War.
Crowd: *cheers and chants* ENCORE! ENCORE! ENCORE!
Maverick: *looks at the other two, and nods to them* ARE YOU ALL READY?!
Crowd: HELL YEA!
Maverick: *starts playing a very rocking bass riff*
Johnny: *waits for 8 beats before starting off with just the kick pedal*
Gage: *joins in after 4 beats with a badass guitar riff*
Maverick: *steps up to the mic and sings* Maybe it's a brick, that's dragging me down!
Mortars raining now, whether or not they fear it.
I don't want anything to be destroyed and sent into oblivion.
I'm in disarray, so lift up like a banner.
And Step into the ring for a battle you can't win. Swing all you want, it still means nothing.
You should've seen it coming bringing a knife to a gunfight.
And that banner you wave will be wrapped around your grave.
So, light up the banners, and let's go to war. ( *sung by Johnny* GO TO WAR!)
You've gone too far, wondering who'll save you when you're six feet under.
Raise up the banners of war. ( *sung by all three* BANNERS OF WAR!)
Say anything you want, but there's no getting out. (*sung by Gage* no getting out)
If this war doesn't end, then ill take you down with me! (*sung by Gage and Johnny* DOWN WITH ME!)
I don't need time to take this pain from me or change my mind.
You should've seen it coming bringing a knife to a gunfight.
And that banner you wave will be wrapped around your grave.
So, light up the banners, and let's go to war. ( *sung by Johnny* GO TO WAR!)
You've gone too far, wondering who'll save you when you're six feet under.
Raise up the banners of war. ( *sung by all three* BANNERS OF WAR!)
Gage: *steps forwards and starts shredding*
Johnny: *changes the drumbeat to synch with the solo*
Maverick: *changes the riff to match the solo. Goes back towards the mic and sings* So, light up the banners and let's go to war. ( *sung by Johnny* GO TO WAR!)
You've gone too far, wondering who'll save you when you're six feet under.
Raise up the banners of war. ( *sung by all three* BANNERS OF WAR!)
The music stops playing and the crowd cheers. The curtains fall, and the band walks off stage. When they step outside they see a limo parked.
Gravitas Manager: you three get in we got a client for a job.
Gage: But, we broke up the band.
Manager: This isn't about the band. It's about the other job you three do.
Johnny: Ok.
The three of them step into the limo and their manager closes the door as he sits in.
The Org CEO: I need to hire you three to take out my biggest competitor, The Blood-grave Corporation. I'll pay for everything you need for this job and the transport. *takes a puff on a cigar and blows the smoke*
Manager: They will do it.
CEO: money upfront for them, now get out of my limo.
The four of them leave the limo and prepare for the mission.
A LITTLE WHILE LATER IN THE CHOPPER:
Gage: Of course you have to use your gold and red guns.
Maverick: Sorry I didn't spend all my money from the gigs, on cybernetics like you two. They happen to be custom made pistols designed specifically for me.
Gage: WHO THE FUCK CARES! YOU ARE EASILY SPOTTED!
Maverick: ATLEAST IM STEALTHIER THAN YOU!
Johnny: See, this is why we agreed to split the band up.
Maverick & Gage: *in unison* SHUT UP JOHNNY!
Johnny: *sighs*
The chopper arrives on the roof.
Maverick: *notices a rocket launcher* EVERYBODY JUMP!
The three of them jump with the bomb. They make their way to the weakest part of the tower.
Gage: *changes into a suit and tosses the other two their suits* I'm Going to walk out the front as I work here. Get changed you two.
Maverick: I'll find my own way out.
Maverick and Johnny make their way to the roof, killing the private militia. They get to the roof and a big guy in armor knocks Maverick to his ass. the armored guy stomps on Maverick's left arm completely breaking it.
Maverick: *screams out in agony*
The armored guy pulls out a badass revolver, lifting up Maverick to a sitting position. He places the gun near Maverick's left ear and pulls the trigger. The sound of the shot, ruptures Mavericks left eardrum. The bullet kills Johnny. Maverick pulls out the gun from the right holster and shoots the armored guy in between the eyes.
Maverick: *looks over at Johnny's dead body and holsters his right gun* Rest In Peace, old friend. *bends down pick up his left gun and sees a second chopper*
Manager: *dressed in protective clothing* Hurry up Maverick, it's about to go off*
The bomb goes off. Maverick bites down on his gun and woozily runs toward the edge of the building. He Jumps off the edge almost missing the helicopter. The manager grabs him and pulls him aboard the helicopter and closing the door*
Manager: Good thing an Evac was requested. Where are the other two?
Maverick: *woozily and drops the gun from his mouth* Johnny is dead, the other no idea. *passes out*
Two days later, Maverick wakes up and sees a cybernetic arm.
Maverick: WHAT THE FUCK? *stands up quickly*
Doctor: Relax, you now have a cybernetic arm and able to hear better now than ever before. I must tell you that your arm will only work for five to five-and-a-half hours, then you got to charge it. I'll give you the charger that holds up to 100 charges.
Maverick hears the news...
Newscaster: Two days ago, the Blood-grave Corporation tower was destroyed by a bomb.
It was believed to be by the hands of the former guitarist of Gravitas, Gage. He was arrested on the scene with weapons. Guess he had to do something after the band split up.
St John's Gate dates back to Tudor times; it was built in 1504 as the new southern entrance to the Priory of St John in Clerkenwell.
The Order of the Hospital of St John in Jerusalem was originally established to care for and protect pilgrims who had travelled to the Holy Land; by 1099 the Order had established a hospital in Jerusalem, where they cared for the sick and for the pilgrims who needed to recover after their long journeys. In subsequent years the Order moved to Acre, then Rhodes and Malta, in each case establishing hospitals. The Order fell into disarray after 1798 when Napoleon of France invaded Malta, but still has premises in Rome.
The Order had Priories in many countries, and the English Order was established in 1140 on ten acres of land in Clerkenwell. Over the years the Priory became very rich and influential. However it did not survive the Dissolution of the religious houses by Henry VIII, who closed it in 1540 and seized its assets.
The Gate had a number of uses during the following three centuries. Henry VIII used it as a store for hunting equipment (the area at the time was still rural). Elizabeth I used it as the office of the Master of the Revels, an early form of censor. She had many enemies, and all new plays had to be reviewed in case they contained seditious references. In the 1700s the Gate was the headquarters of 'The Gentleman's Magazine'; it also saw use as a coffee shop run by the father of the artist William Hogarth (he spent part of his childhood here). By the 1860s it was in use as a pub the Jerusalem Tavern, but was pretty run-down and dilapidated.
At this time, there was a move to revive the English Order, and its ideals of care for the sick. It was the Industrial Revolution, and accidents were common in the new factories. The St John Ambulance Brigade was formed to teach first aid techniques so that victims could be kept alive until medical help could arrive, and to provide means or transporting victims to hospital. Queen Victoria re-established the order in 1888, and the Order decided to refurbish the Gate for use as its headquarters.
Today, the Gate houses a museum, which traces the history of the Order from the hospital in Jerusalem, through to the work of the St John Ambulance today. The Museum of the Order of St John is open Monday-Saturday, 10am to 5pm, and is free. Guided tours of the Gate take place on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 11am and 2pm; these are free but a donation of £5, to fund the Order's work, is suggested. The Priory church, which contains the original 12th Century crypt, can also be visited free of charge.
1. The Horse You Rode In On, 2. I can see my Cubicle From Here!, 3. Stick Fetus, 4. Exhibit in Yellow and Blue, 5. The Man from Florida State, 6. Dr. Girlfriend, 7. Extremely Dangerous, 8. Arches Ad Infinitum,
9. You Don't Know He's Looking at You, 10. A Frayed Knot, 11. Bucket Baby, 12. Buttons of Peril, 13. Soap Bubble, 14. The Danger of Death, 15. Last one in..., 16. Free Advice*,
17. Marbled Tulip, 18. Shocker, 19. The Sun King, 20. Now that's what I call express!, 21. A Branch of Hope, 22. Encapsulating Darkness, 23. Otakon, 24. No Future,
25. Never Trust a One Eyed Monkey, 26. Shower Tester, 27. Crushing Hazard, 28. Virgin at the Top of the Stairs, 29. columbia tree, 30. She's Not What You Think, 31. A Peeling Bokeh, 32. We Have Ways of Making You Talk,
33. And the Whole Thing Ground to a Halt, 34. Good Food Served Here, 35. Kayaks, 36. Someone Once Told Me..., 37. My First Car, 38. Kaboom!, 39. Red Ornate and Shadowy, 40. White Lines,
41. Baltimore by boat., 42. Single Right Shoe Seeking Sole Mate, 43. Tower Envy, 44. It's the Holiday Season, 45. Nearly Blank, 46. I Can't Read, 47. Mahogany, Topless, 48. Tunnel,
49. Some Assembly Required, 50. Blue Blades of Glass, 51. Joce, 52. Crossed Walk, 53. The Orange Accordian Facade, 54. No Pooping, 55. This way be Bears, 56. Bee Clock,
57. Red Brick Disarray, 58. Jodi and Debi, 59. Purple Planks, 60. Firey Fence, 61. Beware the Shrubbery, 62. Graffiti Artist, 63. Window Garden, 64. Peace Flag,
65. Magical Christmas Wisk, 66. I Will Possess Your Heart, 67. 2 Benches, 1 Green, 68. None Through the Blue Window, 69. The Mural Painter, 70. The Brick Curtain, 71. Rusty Hops, 72. I'll Never Be Without Bacon Again
Created with fd's Flickr Toys.
Half the time as I sit in disarray
I am thinking of a dream I never had
Then I awake, and for a while
I call your name in Colins house
But tiny children have a way of falling down
Oh, I could make a meal
Of that wonderful despair I feel
But waking up I turn and face the wall
The car arrives and takes me back again
Drifting through imaginary planes
And fighting men aboard a raft
A sailing ship has run aground
And confidence is valued in these days
But each character
Is plundering my home
And taking everything that is my own
Oh no, Im not sure about
Those things that I care about
Oh no, Im not sure, not any more...
Tiny Children by Julian Cope/Teardop Explodes
Finally we gave up with the scraping. A bit later, we had painted some parts of it in case we were inspected, but had also decided that it was going to be replaced. (So we got to waste money painting a window that was being removed in a few weeks. Our thinking was that it was a sign of good faith towards our insurance overlords that we were indeed in the middle of "dealing with" this window, so don't put it on an inspection report.)
scraping.
house maintenance, living room window, peeling paint.
side yard, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
May 27, 2011.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com
BACKSTORY: So our homeowners insurance (Farmers) got dropped due to having peeling paint on our window sills (among other things). Weak. It was a LOT of work AND money for us to repaint all our sills. Wood windows SUCK!! Modern vinyl windows are MAINTANENCE-FREE!! Wood windows... You gotta re-glaze the panes when they fall out, and then the wood itself is always going to slowly rot away. We already had our cats knock a pane out, so we already had glazing compound for pane repairs. This came in handy when we painted our various window sills, as some also needed glazing compound.
So the largest window in our house -- actually 3 windows -- was a major pain, and one of the few single-pane windows in the house. It would leak heat/cold in the summer/winter, and looked really bad compared to the new siding we had installed 6 or so years ago. So we decided to go ahead and replace just this window (actually 3 separate windows). Man was it expensive! $2,350! Thompson Creek had the best pitch and data, whereas Home Depot required $30 up front for an appointment they never showed upfor and a list of 4 phone numbers to escalate (all 4 failed). So we had Thompson Creek do it of course! They did it, said they did it wrong, made us wait a month while making a new window (pro: they are all custom-made just for you; con: they are all custom-made, so a screw-up requires waiting for a new one to be made), then installed the new window, and finally everything was good and we were satisfied.
It was just kind of a pain because it cost so much money and had our living room in disarray for so many months, and the whole insurance basis for the situation was pretty bullshitty in the first place. We're not going to make a property damage claim due to moisture that occurs because our paint was peeling! Ridiculous...
Hasselblad 500cm 80mmCF, Acros. Hoya 9 stop ND filter.
Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia, March 2011.
Disappearing act A.K.A. lets play hide the tourists. So you come to this place to see it for yourself and yet you forget that you must share it the masses. Its estimated that approximately 1000,000 people visit this site every year, which equates to around 2-3000 each day, but thats before you figure in the seasonality of the site. Yes surprisingly enough people dont come here as much when its pouring down (monsoon anyone?) or when it creeps upwards of 40 degrees C by 10am. Yeah so as you can imagine there are a good many people crawling over every nook and cranny on any given day in peak season.
The game for photography is to either incorporate these masses into your photography, go to more remote sites where the crowds are not or simply try and hide them.
The above scene presented itself to me on the end of a long day of touring. After hiking to the top of a near by hill only to find a few hundred people lined up for sunset I decided quickly to move on and went for something classic, the view of Angkor Wat as seen from the bridge/crossing. Lining up the disarrayed blocks seemed to make an interesting composition but I knew that the tourists present would be highly distracting. The solution: use a ND filter to add them to the scene as opposed to distract from it. Here they are seen in my minds eye the way the temple itself might see them, comparable a geological time scale, as wisps of movement and energy buzzing around, never still.
This one really works for me. Hope you like (get) it too!
What happens in the Green Room stays in the Green Room. Behind the scenes the models are kinda in disarray. Only Alex is ashamed.
King Tutankamun's tomb was robbed in antiquity but the robbers were apparently caught in the act. Plundered items were hastily reinterred leaving the chamber in disarray when reopened in 1922 by Howard Carter.
Photographed at the King Tut Museum in the Luxor Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada
This papercraft is Sprite, from the Hob, which is a suspenseful adventure game set on a stunning and brutal world in disarray, the papercraft is created by Gabe Jackson for Runic Games.
You can download this papercraft template here: Hob - Sprite Free Papercraft Download
www.papercraftsquare.com/hob-sprite-free-papercraft-downl...
In this full-length four-page letter addressed "York town Ma 2n 1778" Honorable Wm. Ellery writes possibly William Whipple on various naval matters, lack of supplies, and general disarray of commissary operations. Mentions looking for new Commissary General-- "We have chosen Genl. Greene Quarter Master generals,...". He writes, "Genl. Howe is upon the kidnapping plan at present..." Matters pertaining to Congress at York.
1/365 ////
I deleted most of my old photos because I needed a fresh start. My life has been in a state of disarray for too long now, but I'm finally putting it all together again so of course I started my third 365 project (and hopefully I'll actually finish this one)
EDIT: yeah i gave up
Abdur Rahman Khan (Pashto: عبد رحمان خان) (between 1830 and 1844 – October 1, 1901) was Emir of Afghanistan from 1880 to 1901.
He was the third son of Mohammad Afzal Khan, and grandson of Dost Mohammad Khan. Abdur Rahman Khan re-established the writ of the Afghan government after the disarray that followed the second Anglo-Afghan war. He became known as The Iron Amir after defeating a number of rebellions by various tribes who were led by his relatives.
ATHENS: Just four years ago, this ancient capital was remade for the summer Olympics by a new government that surged to power promising reform. Today, Athenians are faced with the worst unrest in decades.
As the capital slowly returned to its workday bustle on Thursday after days of violent protests following the shooting death by the police of a 15-year-old boy, the question on many minds was simply: What happened?
Or perhaps: What didn't happen?
For most Greeks, raised in a culture with a high tolerance for protest and disarray, it appeared that the Olympics were the anomaly, not the violence and government inertia on display here this week.
"The Olympics were a utopia," said Paraskievas Golfis, who was having coffee with his family in an upscale shopping mall that opened two weeks ago in a former Olympics venue here. "Greek reality is what we're living today."
A range of issues - economic stagnation, widespread corruption, a troubled education system, rising poverty, precarious security - were thrust to the fore this week as thousands of Greeks spilled onto the streets to protest against the government.
But were the riots a security situation handled badly or a social uprising waiting to happen?
Many demonstrations turned violent, guided by a relatively small group of self-styled anarchists. Although the government said it would not tolerate violence, it ordered the police not to use force to avoid further bloodshed. In the melee, hundreds of businesses were destroyed around the country, resulting in an estimated $1.3 billion in damage.
That even the peaceful demonstrations became so fierce speaks to the deep well of discontent in Greece today. Conversations with Athenians revealed a widespread feeling that they have been neglected - and this week abandoned - by a government they see as corrupt.
"The government just shows that it's disinterested," said Paraskievas Tilipakis, the manager of a shoe store in the mall. "We've lost our team spirit. That's why we're where we are today."
It wasn't supposed to be this way. In 2004, Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis and his center-right New Democracy party soared to power promising to push the country into the future after decades of Socialist rule.
It pulled off the Olympics, reduced the national debt and boosted employment, but troubles remained. In 2006, the government revised the country's gross domestic product up 25 percent after taking into account the underground economy.
Since narrowly winning re-election in 2007, Karamanlis's government has been beset by corruption scandals and criticized for its handling of forest fires that burned out of control and killed 80 in the summer of 2007.
If people were angry with the government before the protests this week - and angry at what they see as police brutality in the teenager's death - they are equally angry at the government's response.
"Greeks don't feel safe and secure. They don't trust that the police will protect them," said Flora Vamvokou, 32, who was sitting at a Starbucks in the mall with two colleagues from the housewares store where they work. "The president hasn't even come out to address the Greeks and assure them and try to instill some sense of calm."
Her colleague Nicole Tsoukalis added, "This isn't going to end here." Salaries remain fixed at around 700 a month, she said, and the cost of living is rising. All this adds fuel to the fire. "It's a revolution we're living," she said, "an uprising."
But in the Exarchia neighborhood surrounding the Polytechnic University, an anarchist stronghold, some said the situation was not so much a revolution as a security situation that had spiraled out of control.
After the boy's death on Saturday, the violent protests began.
"The first night there was a reaction met with no response by the government," said Dimitris, a clerk in the Stournari bookstore near the university who declined to give his last name for fear of reprisals. "That gave them further impetus - that's why the riots spread."
On a street of charred shops and burned-out cars, he said that anarchists had spared the shop this time but had routinely given it trouble. Still, he would not consider calling the police.
"If you call the police, they say, 'We won't come to Exarchia,"' Dimitris said.
Hundreds of self-styled anarchists have long occupied the Polytechnic University. But since the 1970s, when the police opened fire on students at the school, the police are banned from college campuses unless asked to do so by administrators. They have so far been reluctant, for fear the anarchists will burn the universities down, said Christos Kittas, the rector of Athens University.
Stathis Kalyvas, a political science professor at Yale University and the director of its Program on Order, Conflict, and Violence, said: "Greek society has changed enormously since the mid-'70s. At the time, it was poor, isolated and politically and socially repressed. It is now a wealthy, liberal European society."
Yet the student uprisings in the 1970s still loom large in the public imagination, and the Greek press continues to foster a climate of hostility toward the police.
While violence may not be welcome, the anarchists meet with some popular support.
"The bottom line, in my opinion, is that their hold on Greece can only be explained by the culture of tolerance toward them," Kalyvas said.
Although there were no large demonstrations on Thursday, small groups of militant youths targeted police stations around Athens.
"Things are a scale or two lower today," Panayotis Stathis, the National Police spokesman, said Thursday. "There is a gradual de-escalation, and that's how things will be going."
Yet students have announced more protests for Friday and Monday.
Asked whether they think the crisis will force change, Athenians inevitably say no.
"This is the reality we like because it doesn't seem like we're not doing anything to change it," said Golfis, at the mall. "This is what we like. This is who we are."
I discovered this location while driving to the franco-cypriot school in Nicosia, Cyprus. These are governmental buildings next to the police academy. The complex is to be destroyed in the near future. I was interested in catching the effects of time on official government owned buildings.
In the far reaches of northern Scotland, within a village where time meanders at its own tranquil pace, a series of images unfolds, painting a tableau of life's relentless march amidst the shadows of climate's dismay and the distant rumbles of war that threaten to engulf Europe. It is a Wednesday evening, draped in the quietude of rainfall, a scene reminiscent of an Edward Hopper collection—imbued with solitude, emptiness, yet a profound continuance.
A Poem:
In this hamlet 'neath Scottish skies so wide,
Where the rains whisper and the winds confide,
Looms the spectre of a world in disarray,
Yet within these bounds, life finds its way.
Upon the cusp of night, shadows merge and dance,
In the pub's warm glow, eyes steal a glance.
The hearth's soft crackle, a comforting song,
In this northern retreat, where hearts belong.
The world outside may churn and roar,
With climates wracked and the drums of war.
Yet here we stand, in this time-suspended place,
Where tomorrow's worries are but a trace.
The local pub, our living room, our sphere,
A sanctuary from doubt, from dread, from fear.
We'll return come dusk, as sure as the tide,
In the rhythm of the ordinary, we take pride.
For what are we, but passengers in time,
Through days mundane, through nights sublime?
The question lingers, in the air, it floats,
Is this all there is? In whispers, it denotes.
Yet, as we stand 'neath the gentle pour,
We find beauty in the repeat, in the encore.
For in these moments, life's essence we distill,
In the quiet of the village, in the peace, so still.
A Haiku:
Rain veils the night's face,
Quiet pub bids farewell—
Life's quiet march on.
Lucius Verginius Rufus (14-97): Roman senator, famous for his renunciation of the emperorship in 69.
Lucius Verginius Rufus was born in the neighborhood of Como in northern Italy as the son of a Roman knight and was the first one of his family to enter the Senate. He was extremely successful, because he not only reached the lower magistracies, but also the highest one, the consulship, in 63. His earlier career is unknown to us, but he must have occupied all the lower magistracies and was at one stage involved in regulating the finances of Smyrna, a Greek town in Asia.
He probably also showed his military qualities. This can be deduced from the fact that in 65, the emperor Nero made him governor of a province with no less than three legions (XXI Rapax, IIII Macedonica and XXII Primigenia): Germania Superior, or the Rhineland between Switzerland and Remagen. This appointment would have been foolish if Verginius had not been an experienced soldier.
To these few facts, one can be added: he was befriended with a Roman knight named Lucius Caecilius Secundus, who died in the sixties. Verginius became the guard of his son Gaius, who received an excellent education and was later adopted by his uncle, an army officer and encyclopedist named Pliny the Elder. The boy used the name of his new father and is known as Pliny the Younger; he is the author of a charming collection of Latin epistles.
At that time, the Roman empire was still tranquil, and the only thing we know about this stage of Verginius' career is that he was involved in a quarrel with Nicetes, a famous Greek orator. Nero intervened, sent Nicetes to Germania Superior, where the two men forgave each other, settled the affair, and became friends. Nicetes was to be the teacher of Pliny.
However, in 64, Rome burnt down, and Nero spent lots of money to pay for the reconstruction of his capital (and his palace, the notorious Golden house). New taxes were introduced, and the Jews revolted. People who were unwilling to pay, were executed (e.g., several landowners in northern Africa). Nero's behavior was regarded as outrageous, especially after he discovered that several senators wanted to kill him. The emperor started to behave as a despot, and many senators felt that something had to be done.
One of them was Gaius Julius Vindex, an Aquitanian prince who had entered the Senate and was now governor of Gallia Lugdunensis. In the winter of 67/68, he decided to put an end to the oppression. Being a senator, he tried to do this constitutionally, so he first searched for a worthy successor to the throne. In April 68 he found his man: the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, Servius Sulpicius Galba. Now, Vindex revolted.
He recruited soldiers and announced that he no longer obeyed the orders of Nero. The emperor responded by sending the First legion Italica, which had recently been constituted, to Lyon. When it arrived, however, another force had already suppressed the revolt.
The governor of Germania Superior, Lucius Verginius Rufus, set out to make war on Vindex; but when he reached Besançon, he proceeded to besiege the city, for the alleged reason that it had not received him. But Vindex came to the aid of the city against him and encamped not far off, whereupon they sent messages back and forth to each other and finally held a conference by themselves at which no one else was present and came to a mutual agreement against Nero, as was conjectured. After this Vindex set out with his army ostensibly to occupy the town; and the soldiers of Rufus, becoming aware of their approach and thinking the force was marching straight against them, marched out in their turn, on their own initiative, and falling upon them while they were off their guard and in disarray, cut down great numbers of them.
As the revolt continued, Vindex slew himself; for he felt exceedingly grieved because of the peril of his soldiers and was vexed at Fate because he had not been able to attain his goal in an undertaking of so great magnitude, namely the overthrow of Nero and the liberation of the Romans. This is the truth of the matter; but many afterwards inflicted wounds on his body, and so gave rise to the false impression that they themselves had killed him.
[Cassius Dio, Roman history 63.23.1-24.4;
tr. Earnest Cary]
This was the end of Vindex' rebellion and life. For Verginius, it was only the beginning.
Verginius was many repeated times saluted emperor by his soldiers and was pressed to take the title upon him, but he declared that he neither would assume that honor himself, nor see it given to any other than whom the Senate should elect.
[Plutarch of Chaeronea, Life of Galba 10]
This was honorable behavior, and the legionaries were forced to accept it. Meanwhile, however, Nero had panicked and made himself impossible. In June, the Senate recognized Galba as the new ruler of the empire, and Nero committed suicide. Our sources say that Verginius was recalled during the autumn because he was considered to be too dangerous to remain with an army, but this is probably not true; it is more probable that his time in office was simply over. But we can not have certainty about this. (He was succeeded by Hordeonius Flaccus.)
More or less at the same time as his return to Rome, Galba was murdered and Marcus Salvius Otho proclaimed emperor (January 69). Verginius, now consul for the second time, loyally supported the man of the Senate's choosing, but his position became untenable when Otho was defeated by the army of another emperor, Vitellius. Oddly enough, he had more or less been responsible for the rise of Vitellius.
What had happened was this. By refusing the emperorship, Verginius left the soldiers in a very difficult position, because Galba knew that they had loyally supported Nero, and interpreted this as obstruction of his accession. The fact that Verginius had been recalled, even when it was his time to retire, had done little to acquiesce them. The soldiers were angry, and killed the governor of Germania Inferior, Fonteius Capito, because he refused the purple too. (Others believed that Galba had him executed because he believed that Capito wanted to revolt, which amounts to the same: the soldiers were distrusted.) So, the seven legions of the two Rhine provinces felt uneasy and hailed the new governor of Germania Inferior as their new emperor, Vitellius.
In April 69, Otho's troops were defeated by the legions of Vitellius, and the defeated soldiers arrested the consul Verginius -we do not know why- but he managed to escape. During the next days, he did what a consul had to do: recommend the victor to the Senate, which duly recognized Vitellius, and visit the new emperor at Pavia. The soldiers of the legions that he had once commanded almost threatened to kill the man who had refused the emperorship when they had offered it to him, but Vitellius saved the consul.
However, it was not wise to return to Rome, which was now occupied by Vitellian soldiers who hated the man who had despised their offer and had sided with their enemy Otho. This did not change when the emperor Vespasian succeeded Vitellius in the last days of 69. He was regarded as one who was capax imperii, capable of being emperor, and this made him suspect.
Verginius retreated to an estate at Alsium (a small coastal town northwest of Rome, modern Ladispoli), where he studied, composed poems, and had a literary salon. The younger Pliny and his teacher Quintilian must have belonged to his visitors. The historians of the age of Vespasian often praised Verginius, which caused Pliny to remark:
For thirty years after his hour of glory he lived on to read about himself in history and verse, so that he was a living witness of his fame to come.
[Pliny the Younger, Letter 2.1.2;
tr. B. Radice]
In 96, Vespasian's son and successor Domitian was killed, and succeeded by the emperor Nerva, who was the first emperor to be chosen by the Senate. He asked Verginius to be consul with him in 97, as a signal to the generals of the armies that there had been generals in the past who had refused the imperial purple and preferred to obey the Senate. However, when Verginius was to keep his speech, he dropped the book he was carrying, bent down to pick it up, slipped on the polished floor, fell, and broke his hip. During the last months of his life, he suffered terribly, but people admired the way he faced the pain that finally killed him.
He received a state funeral and the speech was delivered by the consul Cornelius Tacitus, himself a promising author who had recently published a Life of Agricola, and may well have benefited from Verginius' literary patronage. Pliny characterizes his guard with the remark that he died "full in years and rich in honors, even those which he refused".
His virtues had been suspected and resented by certain of the emperors, but he had escaped arrest and lived to see a truly good and friendly ruler safely established [...]. He had reached the age of eighty-three, living in close retirement and deeply respected by us all, and his health was good, apart from a trembling of the hands, not enough to trouble him.
[Pliny the Younger, Letter 2.1.4-5;
tr. B. Radice]
Verginius had written his own epigraph:
Here lies Rufus, who once defeated Vindex
and set free the imperial power
not for himself, but for his country.
He left his home at Alsium to Pliny, who gave it to his mother-in-law. When he paid her a visit nine years after Verginius' death, Pliny discovered that the modest tomb lay still unfinished.
I discovered this location while driving to the franco-cypriot school in Nicosia, Cyprus. These are governmental buildings next to the police academy. The complex is to be destroyed in the near future. I was interested in catching the effects of time on official government owned buildings.
I discovered this location while driving to the franco-cypriot school in Nicosia, Cyprus. These are governmental buildings next to the police academy. The complex is to be destroyed in the near future. I was interested in catching the effects of time on official government owned buildings.
Those who trust in the Lord, shall be like Mount Zion,
Steadfast, immovable, forever a beacon.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so shall the Lord surround,
His people, from this time forth, forever unbound.
For the scepter of wickedness, shall not rest,
On the land allotted, to the righteous and blessed.
Lest the righteous put forth, their hands to iniquity,
And fall away from the Lord, to the enemy's captivity.
Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
And to those who are upright, in heart and in mood.
But as for those who turn aside, to their crooked ways,
The Lord shall lead them away, with evildoers, in disarray.
November 21, 2015
Day: Saturday
Time: 06:03
I can't believe we both fell asleep!
I know we're exhausted and stressed, and Ramirez lost a lot of blood, but we both know better! We're damn lucky nothing got through my kitchen barricade, or any other part of the house. I don't know if the locked study doors could have resisted a direct assault. We're just damn lucky, that's all.
The fog is gone, and the ambulance is still there. Honestly, I half-expected it to have vanished with the fog. It's been that kind of a week.
In fact -- maybe it's stranger that the ambulance is still out there.
Whatever. We'll figure it out after we get the hell out of here.
07:48
I have to think -- about a lot of things. Mainly about what happened when we went out to the ambulance.
With Ramirez sitting on a chair in the foyer, prepared to shoot anything that came through the door that we didn't want coming through it, I opened the front door.
That was the first odd thing, that the front door opened. It had mysteriously resisted for so long that its new compliance was equally mysterious. Nothing stirred outside. There wasn't a trace of fog, no sign of the ambulance guys , but the ambulance still stood there.
I helped Ramirez up and we crossed the foyer, the weathered front porch, and slowly descended the creaking steps, Ramirez leaning on me and limping badly, his leg having stiffened up during the night on the floor.
We kept paranoid watch all around us, but nothing moved in the overgrown garden, or between the surrounding trees. We reached the ambulance, and I helped him into the front, driver's seat then stood guard with his gun while he fiddled with the ignition.
Ramirez knows a lot of expletives. He can swear in dead languages , which is damn impressive, but the reason for his swearing didn't amuse me. He told me to look under the hood of the ambulance, that he'd talk me through various things to inspect that could cause the engine to be unresponsive.
I didn't need to be a mechanic to figure out why the engine wouldn't turn over.
Hoses, belts, and wires were torn apart, hanging out in a colorful disarray like machine entrails -- just like the intestines and other internal organs of the partial torso wedged grotesquely into the engine compartment. I knew it was one of the ambulance guys only because of the shredded, gory tatters of the uniform still clinging to the ravaged torso.
Dead bodies don't bother me, not in any condition. I've seen so many by now that I realize they won't harm me, only the living do that. My stomach might turn if they smell bad, but that's a physical reaction, not emotional. Still, this was a lot like having a corpse hurled in my face, so I was startled. I swore and dropped the hood, which alerted Ramirez to something not being exactly as it should be.
I quickly collected myself and went back to him, telling him what I'd found. We debated about whether we should strike out for town, or retreat back inside the house. We decided to take the gurney from the ambulance and Ramirez could ride while I pushed. It would be faster, and save his leg, plus he could be ready to shoot anyone, or anything, that might attack.
The plan was working perfectly until we reached the front gate. The damn thing was locked again and wouldn't budge!
I was able to get a signal on my cell and I called Devon, but right in the middle of my description about what had happened, my battery finally gave up the ghost. Ramirez decided to call the cops with his cell, and he managed to tell them there had been a murder, and the address, before his battery died too.
We decided to wait at the gates for the cops, anticipating a lot of activity in response to news about a murder. An hour passed and there wasn't a sign, or sound, of cops.
We heard singing.
That's right, singing. From the tune and tempo it sounded like a typical Christian hymn -- you know what I mean. It was coming from down the road, faint at first, getting louder as the singers (quite a crowd, from the number of voices), grew closer.
It wasn't right. I knew it in a second, although Ramirez thought I was overreacting. It was too coincidental, and while they happen, I couldn't believe in this much of one; choir instead of cops.
I wheeled Ramirez back to the house, left the gurney at the foot of the steps, and helped him back inside, locking the door and keeping an eye on the driveway through one of the front windows.
Not long after we got inside, a crowd of figure dressed all in black approached the house. They'd obviously just come through the gates that had been locked against us. Their entrance into the estate made it obvious that they were "in" on whatever was happening.
We were ready for them, if they tried to break in, but they simply continued singing, passing the ambulance and taking the path that led around the side of the house, toward the chapel.
Ramirez urged me strongly (he yelled at me), to get the hell out of the house and make a run for the gates; and if the gates were locked again I was to get the hell over the fence and find help, but not in the nearest town since the police there were definitely suspect.
He insisted he'd only slow me down, and he'd never be able to get over the fence, so I had to go alone. We fought about it for a while, until he got it through his thick skull that there was no way in hell I was going to leave him here, alone.
He called me stubborn.
I called him a jerk.
10:15
Devon called on the house phone.
I came right out and accused him of being involved in every-freaking-thing that was going on in the damn house. (I mean, not EVERYthing. Clearly he had nothing to do with what happened in the journals and papers we'd found.)
Devon protested his innocence then got all freaked out about the torso in the ambulance and the fact that the cops never showed up which, he says, they told him, they had. In fact, he said the cops told him they talked to us and we had no idea what Devon's problem was, the house phone was out, that was all.
He sounded so damn sincere that I think -- I think I was wrong about suspecting him. I think the cops in the nearest town ARE part of this freak show, improbably as that sounds.
Devon said he's contacting the state police, alerting them of, not only our plight, but the apparent involvement of the local cops, based on their failure to respond and blatant lies to him.
If you'd heard him -- he sounded SO worried about us that I just can't believe he ever had a hand in any of this at all. Hell, if that's true, and he's totally innocent of all of the awful things I've been thinking about him, I'm going to owe him something expensive, as an apology. Maybe a pair of those Salvatore Ferraro's he's always gushing about.
10:50
The chapel must have amazing acoustics; we can hear them singing in Latin all the way in here. The Latin is probably why it sounds extra depressing and ominous. Ramirez is translating the song.
11:13
Ramirez translated the song. It does NOT sound like these people believe in a kind and gentle deity.
The song is all about wrath, and eye-for-an-eye kind of stuff, not to mention graphic edicts about slaying monsters, heretics, witches and the like, too. I'm just betting that these are the kind of folk who will find a convenient elimination clause for us.
11:57
I hope the state cops didn't get a call out to one of their people, but it they did, I hope a whole squadron responds. After what just happened -- they'll need a squadron -- or maybe one guy with a tank.
This tremendous wash of relief swept over me when the state patrol car rolled up to the house, lights flashing, red and blue playing up and down the walls inside the house.
It parked right behind the ambulance, and two tall men wearing "Smokey Bear" covers, got out on either side. I was delighted by their alert demeanor; holsters unstrapped, hands poised over their weapons, prepared to draw. Devon must have painted a pretty grim picture of our situation. Well, maybe not grim enough, in hindsight.
I helped Ramirez to the door, unlocking and opening it.
It occurred to me that the weird choir wasn't singing anymore even as the door swung open and I prepared to tell the officers we were glad to see them. In the short time it had taken me to help Ramirez to the door, the singers had converged on the officers.
All in black, looking like overcompensating funeral attendees, they stood silently before the officers who now looked less wary and more puzzled by their appearance. One of the troopers looked toward the house, to where I stood, supporting Ramirez, my mouth opening to shout a warning
I have no idea what sort of expression I wore, but I could see the trooper's, and I saw that he knew I was trying to warn him about some incredible danger even before I uttered a sound. I saw his understanding of that -- and also his understanding that it was too late.
The black clad mass swept over the startled troopers even as they drew their weapons -- too late.
I didn't see any weapons in the singers' hands, but gouts of blood, arterial spray, still misted the air as the officers went down under the black tide.
Instinct seized me and I'd taken a step toward the undulating mass, intent on helping the troopers, when Ramirez' arm tightened on me and his voice came out sounding as if he was being strangled, "God, no!" It wasn't just the horror and fear in his voice that stopped me; his horror over what we were witnessing, and his fear for me, if I'd taken another step. It was the way half of the black mass turned toward us, having heard Ramirez' warning to me.
Their pale, distorted faces, blood spilling from snarling mouths, crimson staining hands curled into claws -- that is what stopped me.
"Back. Back inside, slowly," Ramirez whispered to me, drawing me backward. I didn't resist, moving slowly as more and more of the singers turned their attention toward us.
I don't know what instinct told me to accelerate my pace, but I shoved Ramirez back, into the foyer, leaping after him and slamming the door shut in the snarling face of one of the singers who hadn't been with the other, but had been circling around and creeping up on us, from one end of the porch.
I managed to get the door closed and locked just as the first singer slammed into it. Ramirez hurled himself against the door, beside me, as more of the hellish singers thudded heavily against the opposite side, jarring my teeth with the kinetic force.
Ramirez told me that, if they started to break through, I was to run for the basement and escape through the tunnels. I told him to shove his chivalry up his ass. We didn't have to argue the situation any further, though, because the pounding on the door suddenly stopped.
We looked toward the windows on either side, thinking they intended to crash through, but there was no further sound from the porch. I left Ramirez at the door, creeping quietly to the window on the left side, venturing a peek outside.
The porch was empty.
I couldn't see the ground where the troopers were recently dragged down, so I didn't know if their bodies still lay out there, or if they'd been taken away, but their cruiser still sat behind the ambulance, lights flashing, engine idling. I wanted to make a try for the car, but Ramirez refused to let me out the door. He was positive that it was a trap, that the singers were baiting us, hoping we were desperate enough to make a reckless run for the car. I tried to argue with him, that even if it was a trap, I could probably outrun anyone chasing me, but Ramirez wouldn't let me try. We even had a tussle over it.
After I got over being pissed off, I realized that Ramirez couldn't make the run to the car, and I couldn't drive back for him. So, I agreed not to try, but not for the reason Ramirez argued (that it was a trap and I had no chance in hell of making it).
I stayed because there was no way in hell I was leaving him there, alone.
(This story originally appeared on my main page. Archived here. The rest of the original story, with new images, will follow.
Original comments are below.)
Azazel Azalee, delisha A and 34 more people faved this
cold pail (deleted)
9y
Okay....if a walker comes out of those woods, this will totally turn my theory upside down!
Teddi Beres
9y
(giggles) A walker. I can promise you there are no zombies.
belladonna quixote
9y
You're so fluffy, I'm always taken off guard when you get SO creepy! lol
Teddi Beres
9y
belladonna quixote I'm thrilled to terrorize you. (giggles an evil giggle)
Erebus Darkfold
9y
I swear I was not trying to cop a feel. That was just a happy coincidence. *laughs*
Teddi Beres
9y
Erebus Darkfold Eek! Naughty, naughty you! (giggles)
Azazel Azalee, delisha A and 51 more people faved this
cold pail (deleted)
9y
That is just too creepy! I don't like where this is heading....... i can't wait for the next chapter!
Lyrical Appliance (deleted)
9y
Great story!! Cell phone must have been on auto correct! Laughs..........stay safe!!
Teddi Beres
9y
Thank you! (And now that I fixed the typos, it makes more sense. giggles) Scare you later!
Teddi Beres
9y
Lyrical Appliance Cops, not choir! I need...darn it! (giggles) Thank you, we'll keep our heads down!
Marcela Andel
9y
Beautiful dear Teddi <3
Teddi Beres
9y
Marcela Andel That's so sweet of you, thank you! (I'm pretty blah compared to your pics; they're fanTASTIC!) huggles
Azazel Azalee, delisha A and 58 more people faved this
Chatwick Harpax
9y
I like the effects in this pict, chillingly sinister. Bravo ;)
Michael Patnode
9y
I do like this. Very cool. Don't know whos looking in at you.
Teddi Beres
9y
Chatwick Harpax Thank you bunches! (huggles)
Teddi Beres
9y
Michael Patnode Creepy neighbors. (giggles) Thank you lots! (hugs)
cold pail (deleted)
9y
A scene from the movie "The Others" Eeeeekkkk
Marcela Andel
9y
Ohh wow !!! Excellent composition <3
Teddi Beres
9y
Cue the creepy music. (giggles)
Teddi Beres
9y
Marcela Andel Aww, thank you! I wish I could take super cool pics like you, but that's what makes you special. (blows kisses)
Azazel Azalee, delisha A and 61 more people faved this
cold pail (deleted)
9y
Hmm...Devon said he would call the state police....it is past 11 PM and still no police.
Teddi Beres
9y
(giggles) They're using the 24:00 clock. It's 11:13 AM
Thierry Musette
9y
joliment bien pris
Teddi Beres
9y
Thierry Musette Merci beaucoup!
Chatwick Harpax
9y
I readily agree, there's nothing like a bit of old music sung in Latin to deaden a mood . Careful you two this could get nasty
Teddi Beres
9y
Mandy Kharis Thank you bunches!
Teddi Beres
9y
Chatwick Harpax NOW you tell me! (hides behind the couch)
Brysen Miller, Ｐｅｄｒｏ and 82 more people faved this
Emma Deelight
9y
Great shot!
Teddi Beres
9y
Emma Deelight Thank you bunches!
Chatwick Harpax
9y
Wow, exceptionally excellent photo, Teddi, and the story is coming along rather sinisterly I might add.
Congrats on the whole series so far ;)
Teddi Beres
9y
Chatwick Harpax Thank you lotses for the comment and the invitation! I hope to keep you chilled! (hugs)
Pomme Pancake / KUROMORI, Azazel Azalee and 49 more people faved this
Luca Arturoferrarin
9y
Oh wow amazing! Nice work! love it(◡‿◡*)red heart
Teddi Beres
9y
Luca Arturoferrarin I'm so glad you like it! Thank you! (hugs)
Chatwick Harpax
9y
Ouch in the chivalry dept there! It's gonna hurt when he tries to use it again Lol. Very well done, as usual
Teddi Beres
9y
Chatwick Harpax (giggles) I'm sure he'll be able to extract it when he needs it. (Thank you, and thank you for the invitation.)
South Beach Orlando Luxury Suites was a small hotel complex located along Kissimmee's US HWY 192 several miles east of Disney World, a heavy tourist corridor. It featured a picturesque Florida lakefront, a colorful palette, and incredibly poor and scandalous business practices. The hotel closed down several years ago and the site has sat in various states of disarray ever since. Shown here several years after its closure, the buildings have are devoid of internal components but their colorful exteriors still shine through years of overgrowth.
quotidie
003 : 1.03
i got up at almost 11am today, slid down from the top bunk and stood in front of my desk. i examined the state of it.
little paint splatters on the lamp, on the glass surface of the table, on the metal thing at the edge that i don't quite know the purpose of (the desk is a computer table). there's dirty water in a shallow, square plastic container, little tubes of acryllic paint in mad disarray within their tray (they're four years old already and my carelessness has made paint at its mouth dry up, causing the paint to burst from their metal casings). newspaper is spread down the left side, with the face of robert pattinson covered in light shades of yellow, red, green and blue. stray pieces of tissue paper, eraser dust, two A3 sketchbooks. i fix up the space a little, deciding which sketchbook to work on. then i go downstairs to make a cup of chocolate milk.
i thought this was funny, all this mess. i thought it was funny when i found a clean (meaning dry) spot on the newspapers, and set my cup of chocolate milk there. i thought it was funny when i just put the laptop on top of the sketchbook because there was nowhere else to put it.
yes, i dream of a room with a lot of wooden shelving and a sink and space to lay out all that needs to be done. a room where i can leave a mess to be able to go back to it the next day and dive into the process of art with the same intensity. a room where music can play and i can have brunch and dinner and chocolate milk and coffee, and go to bed when i need to.
Calke Abbey at Ticknall owned by the same family for 360 years little had been known about the lifestyle of the Harpur Crewes especially during the 20th century, but once the National Trust moved in they discovered a time capsule. The eccentric owners had kept everything, a lot of it being in disarray, and had many collections of stuffed animals and birds, shells, butterflies and minerals, Chinese silks etc... Little had changed since the mid 1800s.
In 1989 the house was opened to the public in the state in which it was found, with very few changes.
The statue of Benjamin Disraeli is an outdoor bronze sculpture by Mario Raggi, located at the west side of Parliament Square in London. It was unveiled in 1883 and became a Grade II listed building in 1970.
Description and history
The memorial features a bronze statue of the former prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, dressed in his robes as 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, standing on a red granite pedestal. At the front, immediately below the statue, the pedestal bears the inscription "BEACONSFIELD", and the rear face has the inscription "BENJAMIN DISRAELI / EARL OF BEACONSFIELD / K.G. / 1804 – 1881".
The statue was made by Mario Raggi (sometimes known as Mario Razzi or Rossi) and cast by H. Young & Co, art founders of Pimlico. It was recognised as a good likeness, based on a bust that Raggi had made before Disraeli's death. The monument was unveiled by Sir Stafford Northcote, Disraeli's successor as leader of the Conservative Party, on the second anniversary of Disraeli's death, 19 April 1883, a date which became known as Primrose Day. For many years, into the 1920s, arrangements of primroses, reputedly Disraeli's favourite flower, were left at the memorial to commemorate the anniversary of his death.
Originally sited on the south side of the square facing south towards St Margaret's, Westminster, it was moved when the square was reconfigured in the 1950s, and resited in its present location, on the west side of the square facing east towards the Houses of Parliament. The statue became a Grade II listed building in 1970.
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, KG, PC, DL, JP, FRS (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone, and his one-nation conservatism or "Tory democracy". He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the British Empire and military action to expand it, both of which were popular among British voters. He is the only British Prime Minister to have been born Jewish.
Disraeli was born in Bloomsbury, then a part of Middlesex. His father left Judaism after a dispute at his synagogue; Benjamin became an Anglican at the age of 12. After several unsuccessful attempts, Disraeli entered the House of Commons in 1837. In 1846, Prime Minister Robert Peel split the party over his proposal to repeal the Corn Laws, which involved ending the tariff on imported grain. Disraeli clashed with Peel in the House of Commons, becoming a major figure in the party. When Lord Derby, the party leader, thrice formed governments in the 1850s and 1860s, Disraeli served as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons.
Upon Derby's retirement in 1868, Disraeli became prime minister briefly before losing that year's general election. He returned to the Opposition before leading the party to a majority in the 1874 general election. He maintained a close friendship with Queen Victoria who, in 1876, elevated him to the peerage, as Earl of Beaconsfield. Disraeli's second term was dominated by the Eastern Question—the slow decay of the Ottoman Empire and the desire of other European powers, such as Russia, to gain at its expense. Disraeli arranged for the British to purchase a major interest in the Suez Canal Company in Egypt. In 1878, faced with Russian victories against the Ottomans, he worked at the Congress of Berlin to obtain peace in the Balkans at terms favourable to Britain and unfavourable to Russia, its longstanding enemy. This diplomatic victory established Disraeli as one of Europe's leading statesmen.
World events thereafter moved against the Conservatives. Controversial wars in Afghanistan and South Africa undermined his public support. He angered farmers by refusing to reinstitute the Corn Laws in response to poor harvests and cheap imported grain. With Gladstone conducting a massive speaking campaign, the Liberals defeated Disraeli's Conservatives at the 1880 general election. In his final months, Disraeli led the Conservatives in Opposition. Disraeli wrote novels throughout his career, beginning in 1826, and published his last completed novel, Endymion, shortly before he died at the age of 76.
Early life
Disraeli was born on 21 December 1804 at 6 King's Road, Bedford Row, Bloomsbury, London, the second child and eldest son of Isaac D'Israeli, a literary critic and historian, and Maria (Miriam), née Basevi. The family was mostly from Italy, of Sephardic Jewish mercantile background. He also had some Ashkenazi Jewish ancestors. He later romanticised his origins, claiming his father's family was of grand Iberian and Venetian descent; in fact, Isaac's family was of no great distinction, but on Disraeli's mother's side, in which he took no interest, there were some distinguished forebears, including Isaac Cardoso, as well as members of the Goldsmids, the Mocattas and the Montefiores. Historians differ on Disraeli's motives for rewriting his family history: Bernard Glassman argues that it was intended to give him status comparable to that of England's ruling elite; Sarah Bradford believes "his dislike of the commonplace would not allow him to accept the facts of his birth as being as middle-class and undramatic as they really were".
Three portraits; a man and two women
Disraeli's father, mother and sister—Isaac, Maria and Sarah
Disraeli's siblings were Sarah, Naphtali (born and died 1807), Ralph and James ("Jem"). He was close to his sister and on affectionate but more distant terms with his surviving brothers. Details of his schooling are sketchy. From the age of about six he was a day boy at a dame school in Islington, which one of his biographers described as "for those days a very high-class establishment". Two years later or so—the exact date has not been ascertained—he was sent as a boarder to Rev John Potticary's school at Blackheath.
Following a quarrel in 1813 with the Bevis Marks Synagogue, his father renounced Judaism and had the four children baptised into the Church of England in July and August 1817. Isaac D'Israeli had never taken religion very seriously but had remained a conforming member of the synagogue. His father Benjamin was a prominent and devout member; it was probably out of respect for him that Isaac did not leave when he fell out with the synagogue authorities in 1813. After Benjamin senior died in 1816, Isaac felt free to leave the congregation following a second dispute. Isaac's friend Sharon Turner, a solicitor, convinced him that although he could comfortably remain unattached to any formal religion it would be disadvantageous to the children if they did so. Turner stood as godfather when Benjamin was baptised, aged twelve, on 31 July 1817. Conversion enabled Disraeli to contemplate a career in politics. There had been Members of Parliament (MPs) from Jewish families since Sampson Gideon in 1770. However, until the Jews Relief Act 1858, MPs were required to take the oath of allegiance "on the true faith of a Christian", necessitating at least nominal conversion. It is not known whether Disraeli formed any ambition for a parliamentary career at the time of his baptism, but there is no doubt that he bitterly regretted his parents' decision not to send him to Winchester College, one of the great public schools which consistently provided recruits to the political elite. His two younger brothers were sent there, and it is not clear why Isaac chose to send his eldest son to a much less prestigious school. The boy evidently held his mother responsible for the decision; Bradford speculates that "Benjamin's delicate health and his obviously Jewish appearance may have had something to do with it." The school chosen for him was run by Eliezer Cogan at Higham Hill in Walthamstow. He began there in the autumn term of 1817; he later recalled his education:
I was at school for two or three years under the Revd. Dr Cogan, a Greek scholar of eminence, who had contributed notes to the A[e]schylus of Bishop Blomfield, & was himself the Editor of the Greek Gnostic poets. After this I was with a private tutor for two years in my own County, & my education was severely classical. Too much so; in the pride of boyish erudition, I edited the Idonisian Eclogue of Theocritus, wh. was privately printed. This was my first production: puerile pedantry.
1820s
In November 1821, shortly before his seventeenth birthday, Disraeli was articled as a clerk to a firm of solicitors—Swain, Stevens, Maples, Pearse and Hunt—in the City of London. T F Maples was not only the young Disraeli's employer and a friend of his father's, but also his prospective father-in-law: Isaac and Maples considered that the latter's only daughter might be a suitable match for Benjamin. A friendship developed, but there was no romance. The firm had a large and profitable business, and as the biographer R W Davis observes, the clerkship was "the kind of secure, respectable position that many fathers dream of for their children". Although biographers including Robert Blake and Bradford comment that such a post was incompatible with Disraeli's romantic and ambitious nature, he reportedly gave his employers satisfactory service, and later professed to have learnt a good deal there. He recalled:
I had some scruples, for even then I dreamed of Parliament. My father's refrain always was 'Philip Carteret Webb', who was the most eminent solicitor of his boyhood and who was an MP. It would be a mistake to suppose that the two years and more that I was in the office of our friend were wasted. I have often thought, though I have often regretted the University, that it was much the reverse.
The year after joining Maples' firm, Benjamin changed his surname from D'Israeli to Disraeli. His reasons are unknown, but the biographer Bernard Glassman surmises that it was to avoid being confused with his father. Disraeli's sister and brothers adopted the new version of the name; Isaac and his wife retained the older form.
Disraeli toured Belgium and the Rhine Valley with his father in the summer of 1824. He later wrote that while travelling on the Rhine he decided to abandon his position: "I determined when descending those magical waters that I would not be a lawyer." On their return to England he left the solicitors, at the suggestion of Maples, with the aim of qualifying as a barrister. He enrolled as a student at Lincoln's Inn and joined the chambers of his uncle, Nathaniel Basevy, and then those of Benjamin Austen, who persuaded Isaac that Disraeli would never make a barrister and should be allowed to pursue a literary career. He had made a tentative start: in May 1824 he submitted a manuscript to his father's friend, the publisher John Murray, but withdrew it before Murray could decide whether to publish it.
Released from the law, Disraeli did some work for Murray, but turned most of his attention to speculative dealing on the stock exchange. There was at the time a boom in shares in South American mining companies. Spain was losing its South American colonies in the face of rebellions. At the urging of George Canning the British government recognised the new independent governments of Argentina (1824), Colombia and Mexico (both 1825). With no money of his own, Disraeli borrowed money to invest. He became involved with the financier J. D. Powles, who was prominent among those encouraging the mining boom. In 1825, Disraeli wrote three anonymous pamphlets for Powles, promoting the companies. The pamphlets were published by John Murray, who invested heavily in the boom.
Murray had ambitions to establish a new morning paper to compete with The Times. In 1825 Disraeli convinced him that he should proceed. The new paper, The Representative, promoted the mines and those politicians who supported them, particularly Canning. Disraeli impressed Murray with his energy and commitment to the project, but he failed in his key task of persuading the eminent writer John Gibson Lockhart to edit the paper. After that, Disraeli's influence on Murray waned, and to his resentment he was sidelined in the affairs of The Representative. The paper survived only six months, partly because the mining bubble burst in late 1825, and partly because, according to Blake, the paper was "atrociously edited".
The bursting of the mining bubble was ruinous for Disraeli. By June 1825 he and his business partners had lost £7,000. Disraeli could not pay off the last of his debts from this debacle until 1849. He turned to writing, motivated partly by his desperate need for money, and partly by a wish for revenge on Murray and others by whom he felt slighted. There was a vogue for what was called "silver-fork fiction"—novels depicting aristocratic life, usually by anonymous authors, read by the aspirational middle classes. Disraeli's first novel, Vivian Grey, published anonymously in four volumes in 1826–27, was a thinly veiled re-telling of the affair of The Representative. It sold well, but caused much offence in influential circles when the authorship was discovered. Disraeli, then just 23, did not move in high society, as the numerous solecisms in his book made obvious. Reviewers were sharply critical on these grounds of both the author and the book. Murray and Lockhart, men of great influence in literary circles, believed that Disraeli had caricatured them and abused their confidence—an accusation denied by the author but repeated by many of his biographers.[50] In later editions Disraeli made many changes, softening his satire, but the damage to his reputation proved long-lasting.
Disraeli's biographer Jonathan Parry writes that the financial failure and personal criticism that Disraeli suffered in 1825 and 1826 were probably the trigger for a serious nervous crisis affecting him over the next four years: "He had always been moody, sensitive, and solitary by nature, but now became seriously depressed and lethargic." He was still living with his parents in London, but in search of the "change of air" recommended by the family's doctors, Isaac took a succession of houses in the country and on the coast, before Disraeli sought wider horizons.
1830–1837
Together with his sister's fiancé, William Meredith, Disraeli travelled widely in southern Europe and beyond in 1830–31. The trip was financed partly by another high society novel, The Young Duke, written in 1829–30. The tour was cut short suddenly by Meredith's death from smallpox in Cairo in July 1831. Despite this tragedy, and the need for treatment for a sexually transmitted disease on his return, Disraeli felt enriched by his experiences. He became, in Parry's words, "aware of values that seemed denied to his insular countrymen. The journey encouraged his self-consciousness, his moral relativism, and his interest in Eastern racial and religious attitudes." Blake regards the tour as one of the formative experiences of Disraeli's career: "The impressions that it made on him were life-lasting. They conditioned his attitude toward some of the most important political problems which faced him in his later years—especially the Eastern Question; they also coloured many of his novels."
Disraeli wrote two novels in the aftermath of the tour. Contarini Fleming (1832) was avowedly a self-portrait. It is subtitled "a psychological autobiography" and depicts the conflicting elements of its hero's character: the duality of northern and Mediterranean ancestry, the dreaming artist and the bold man of action. As Parry observes, the book ends on a political note, setting out Europe's progress "from feudal to federal principles". The Wondrous Tale of Alroy the following year portrayed the problems of a medieval Jew in deciding between a small, exclusively Jewish state and a large empire embracing all.
Two men and two women
After these novels were published, Disraeli declared that he would "write no more about myself". He had already turned his attention to politics in 1832, during the great crisis over the Reform Bill. He contributed to an anti-Whig pamphlet edited by John Wilson Croker and published by Murray entitled England and France: or a cure for Ministerial Gallomania. The choice of a Tory publication was regarded as strange by Disraeli's friends and relatives, who thought him more of a Radical. Indeed, he had objected to Murray about Croker's inserting "high Tory" sentiment: Disraeli remarked, "it is quite impossible that anything adverse to the general measure of Reform can issue from my pen." Moreover, at the time Gallomania was published, Disraeli was electioneering in High Wycombe in the Radical interest.
Disraeli's politics at the time were influenced both by his rebellious streak and his desire to make his mark. At that time, British politics were dominated by the aristocracy, with a few powerful commoners. The Whigs derived from the coalition of Lords who had forced through the Bill of Rights 1689 and in some cases were their descendants. The Tories tended to support King and Church and sought to thwart political change. A small number of Radicals, generally from northern constituencies, were the strongest advocates of continuing reform. In the early 1830s the Tories and the interests they represented appeared to be a lost cause. The other great party, the Whigs, were anathema to Disraeli: "Toryism is worn out & I cannot condescend to be a Whig." There was a by-election and a general election in 1832; Disraeli unsuccessfully stood as a Radical at High Wycombe in each.
Disraeli's political views embraced certain Radical policies, particularly electoral reform, and also some Tory ones, including protectionism. He began to move in Tory circles. In 1834 he was introduced to the former Lord Chancellor, Lord Lyndhurst, by Henrietta Sykes, wife of Sir Francis Sykes. She was having an affair with Lyndhurst and began another with Disraeli. Disraeli and Lyndhurst took an immediate liking to each other. Lyndhurst was an indiscreet gossip with a fondness for intrigue; this appealed greatly to Disraeli, who became his secretary and go-between. In 1835 Disraeli stood for the last time as a Radical, again unsuccessfully contesting High Wycombe.
Two men of Victorian appearance
Opponents of Disraeli: O'Connell and Labouchere
In April 1835, Disraeli fought a by-election at Taunton as a Tory candidate. The Irish MP Daniel O'Connell, misled by inaccurate press reports, thought Disraeli had slandered him while electioneering at Taunton; he launched an outspoken attack, referring to Disraeli as:
a reptile ... just fit now, after being twice discarded by the people, to become a Conservative. He possesses all the necessary requisites of perfidy, selfishness, depravity, want of principle, etc., which would qualify him for the change. His name shows that he is of Jewish origin. I do not use it as a term of reproach; there are many most respectable Jews. But there are, as in every other people, some of the lowest and most disgusting grade of moral turpitude; and of those I look upon Mr. Disraeli as the worst.
Disraeli's public exchanges with O'Connell, extensively reproduced in The Times,[66] included a demand for a duel with the 60-year-old O'Connell's son (which resulted in Disraeli's temporary detention by the authorities), a reference to "the inextinguishable hatred with which [he] shall pursue [O'Connell's] existence", and the accusation that O'Connell's supporters had a "princely revenue wrung from a starving race of fanatical slaves". Disraeli was highly gratified by the dispute, which propelled him to general public notice for the first time. He did not defeat the incumbent Whig member, Henry Labouchere, but the Taunton constituency was regarded as unwinnable by the Tories. Disraeli kept Labouchere's majority down to 170, a good showing that put him in line for a winnable seat in the near future.
With Lyndhurst's encouragement Disraeli turned to writing propaganda for his newly adopted party. His Vindication of the English Constitution, was published in December 1835. It was couched in the form of an open letter to Lyndhurst, and in Bradford's view encapsulates a political philosophy that Disraeli adhered to for the rest of his life: the value of benevolent aristocratic government, a loathing of political dogma, and the modernisation of Tory policies. The following year he wrote a series of satires on politicians of the day, which he published in The Times under the pen-name "Runnymede". His targets included the Whigs, collectively and individually, Irish nationalists, and political corruption. One essay ended:
The English nation, therefore, rallies for rescue from the degrading plots of a profligate oligarchy, a barbarizing sectarianism, and a boroughmongering Papacy, round their hereditary leaders—the Peers. The House of Lords, therefore, at this moment represents everything in the realm except the Whig oligarchs, their tools the Dissenters, and their masters the Irish priests. In the mean time, the Whigs bawl that there is a "collision!" It is true there is a collision, but it is not a collision between the Lords and the People, but between the Ministers and the Constitution.
Disraeli was elected to the exclusively Tory Carlton Club in 1836, and was also taken up by the party's leading hostess, Lady Londonderry. In June 1837 William IV died, the young Queen Victoria succeeded him, and parliament was dissolved. On the recommendation of the Carlton Club, Disraeli was adopted as a Tory parliamentary candidate at the ensuing general election.
Parliament
Back-bencher
In the election in July 1837, Disraeli won a seat in the House of Commons as one of two members, both Tory, for the constituency of Maidstone. The other was Wyndham Lewis, who helped finance Disraeli's election campaign, and who died the following year. In the same year Disraeli published a novel, Henrietta Temple, which was a love story and social comedy, drawing on his affair with Henrietta Sykes. He had broken off the relationship in late 1836, distraught that she had taken yet another lover. His other novel of this period is Venetia, a romance based on the characters of Shelley and Byron, written quickly to raise much-needed money.
Disraeli made his maiden speech in Parliament on 7 December 1837. He followed O'Connell, whom he sharply criticised for the latter's "long, rambling, jumbling, speech". He was shouted down by O'Connell's supporters. After this unpromising start Disraeli kept a low profile for the rest of the parliamentary session. He was a loyal supporter of the party leader Sir Robert Peel and his policies, with the exception of a personal sympathy for the Chartist movement that most Tories did not share.
Mary Anne Lewis c. 1820–30
In 1839 Disraeli married Mary Anne Lewis, the widow of Wyndham Lewis. Twelve years Disraeli's senior, Mary Lewis had a substantial income of £5,000 a year. His motives were generally assumed to be mercenary, but the couple came to cherish one another, remaining close until she died more than three decades later. "Dizzy married me for my money", his wife said later, "But, if he had the chance again, he would marry me for love."
Finding the financial demands of his Maidstone seat too much, Disraeli secured a Tory nomination for Shrewsbury, winning one of the constituency's two seats at the 1841 general election, despite serious opposition, and heavy debts which opponents seized on. The election was a massive defeat for the Whigs across the country, and Peel became prime minister. Disraeli hoped, unrealistically, for ministerial office. Though disappointed at being left on the back benches, he continued his support for Peel in 1842 and 1843, seeking to establish himself as an expert on foreign affairs and international trade.
Although a Tory (or Conservative, as some in the party now called themselves) Disraeli was sympathetic to some of the aims of Chartism, and argued for an alliance between the landed aristocracy and the working class against the increasing power of the merchants and new industrialists in the middle class. After Disraeli won widespread acclaim in March 1842 for worsting Lord Palmerston in debate, he was taken up by a small group of idealistic new Tory MPs, with whom he formed the Young England group. They held that the landed interests should use their power to protect the poor from exploitation by middle-class businessmen.
Disraeli hoped to forge a paternalistic Tory-Radical alliance, but he was unsuccessful. Before the Reform Act 1867, the working class did not possess the vote and therefore had little political power. Although Disraeli forged a personal friendship with John Bright, a leading Radical, Disraeli was unable to persuade Bright to sacrifice his distinct position for parliamentary advancement. When Disraeli attempted to secure a Tory-Radical cabinet in 1852, Bright refused.
Four men
Clockwise from top left: Bright, Peel, Bentinck and Stanley
Disraeli gradually became a sharp critic of Peel's government, often deliberately taking contrary positions. The young MP attacked his leader as early as 1843. However, the best known of these stances were over the Maynooth Grant in 1845 and the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. The President of the Board of Trade, William Gladstone, resigned from the cabinet over the Maynooth Grant. The Corn Laws imposed a tariff on imported wheat, protecting British farmers from foreign competition, but making the cost of bread artificially high. Peel hoped that the repeal of the Corn Laws and the resultant influx of cheaper wheat into Britain would relieve the condition of the poor, and in particular the Great Famine caused by successive failure of potato crops in Ireland.
The first months of 1846 were dominated by a battle in Parliament between the free traders and the protectionists over the repeal of the Corn Laws, with the latter rallying around Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck. An alliance of free-trade Conservatives (the "Peelites"), Radicals, and Whigs carried repeal, and the Conservative Party split: the Peelites moved towards the Whigs, while a "new" Conservative Party formed around the protectionists, led by Disraeli, Bentinck, and Lord Stanley (later Lord Derby).
The split in the Tory party over the repeal of the Corn Laws had profound implications for Disraeli's political career: almost every Tory politician with experience of office followed Peel, leaving the rump bereft of leadership. In Blake's words, "[Disraeli] found himself almost the only figure on his side capable of putting up the oratorical display essential for a parliamentary leader." The Duke of Argyll wrote that Disraeli "was like a subaltern in a great battle where every superior officer was killed or wounded". If the Tory Party could muster the electoral support necessary to form a government, then Disraeli now seemed to be guaranteed high office, but with a group of men who possessed little or no official experience and who, as a group, remained personally hostile to Disraeli. In the event the Tory split soon had the party out of office, not regaining power until 1852. The Conservatives would not again have a majority in the House of Commons until 1874.
Bentinck and the leadership
Peel successfully steered the repeal of the Corn Laws through Parliament and was then defeated by an alliance of his enemies on the issue of Irish law and order; he resigned in June 1846. The Tories remained split, and the Queen sent for Lord John Russell, the Whig leader. In the 1847 general election, Disraeli stood, successfully, for the Buckinghamshire constituency. The new House of Commons had more Conservative than Whig members, but the depth of the Tory schism enabled Russell to continue to govern. The Conservatives were led by Bentinck in the Commons and Stanley in the Lords.
Four men
In 1847 a small political crisis removed Bentinck from the leadership and highlighted Disraeli's differences with his own party. In that year's general election, Lionel de Rothschild had been returned for the City of London. As a practising Jew he could not take the oath of allegiance in the prescribed Christian form, and therefore could not take his seat. Lord John Russell, the Whig leader who had succeeded Peel as prime minister, proposed in the Commons that the oath should be amended to permit Jews to enter Parliament.
Disraeli spoke in favour of the measure, arguing that Christianity was "completed Judaism", and asking the House of Commons "Where is your Christianity if you do not believe in their Judaism?" Russell and Disraeli's future rival Gladstone thought this brave; the speech was badly received by his own party. The Tories and the Anglican establishment were hostile to the bill. With the exception of Disraeli, every member of the future protectionist cabinet then in Parliament voted against the measure. The measure was voted down. In the aftermath of the debate Bentinck resigned the leadership and was succeeded by Lord Granby; Disraeli's speech, thought by many of his own party to be blasphemous, ruled him out for the time being.
While these intrigues played out, Disraeli was working with the Bentinck family to secure the necessary financing to purchase Hughenden Manor, in Buckinghamshire. The possession of a country house and incumbency of a county constituency were regarded as essential for a Tory with leadership ambitions. Disraeli and his wife alternated between Hughenden and several homes in London for the rest of their marriage. The negotiations were complicated by Bentinck's sudden death on 21 September 1848, but Disraeli obtained a loan of £25,000 from Bentinck's brothers Lord Henry Bentinck and Lord Titchfield. Within a month of his appointment Granby resigned the leadership in the Commons and the party functioned without a leader in the Commons for the rest of the session. At the start of the next session, affairs were handled by a triumvirate of Granby, Disraeli, and John Charles Herries—indicative of the tension between Disraeli and the rest of the party, who needed his talents but mistrusted him. This confused arrangement ended with Granby's resignation in 1851; Disraeli effectively ignored the two men regardless.
Chancellor of the Exchequer
A stately-looking gentleman in a dark suit, sitting with a book
The Earl of Derby, Prime Minister 1852, 1858–59, 1866–68
In March 1851, Lord John Russell's government was defeated over a bill to equalise the county and borough franchises, mostly because of divisions among his supporters. He resigned, and the Queen sent for Stanley, who felt that a minority government could do little and would not last long, so Russell remained in office. Disraeli regretted this, hoping for an opportunity, however brief, to show himself capable in office. Stanley, in contrast, deprecated his inexperienced followers as a reason for not assuming office: "These are not names I can put before the Queen."
At the end of June 1851, Stanley succeeded to the title of Earl of Derby. The Whigs were wracked by internal dissensions during the second half of 1851, much of which Parliament spent in recess. Russell dismissed Lord Palmerston from the cabinet, leaving the latter determined to deprive the Prime Minister of office. Palmerston did so within weeks of Parliament's reassembly on 4 February 1852, his followers combining with Disraeli's Tories to defeat the government on a Militia Bill, and Russell resigned. Derby had either to take office or risk damage to his reputation, and he accepted the Queen's commission as prime minister. Palmerston declined any office; Derby had hoped to have him as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Disraeli, his closest ally, was his second choice and accepted, though disclaiming any great knowledge in the financial field. Gladstone refused to join the government. Disraeli may have been attracted to the office by the £5,000 annual salary, which would help pay his debts. Few of the new cabinet had held office before; when Derby tried to inform the Duke of Wellington of the names of the ministers, the old Duke, who was somewhat deaf, inadvertently branded the new government by incredulously repeating "Who? Who?"
In the following weeks, Disraeli served as Leader of the House (with Derby as prime minister in the Lords) and as Chancellor. He wrote regular reports on proceedings in the Commons to Victoria, who described them as "very curious" and "much in the style of his books". Parliament was prorogued on 1 July 1852 as the Tories could not govern for long as a minority; Disraeli hoped that they would gain a majority of about 40. Instead, the election later that month had no clear winner, and the Derby government held to power pending the meeting of Parliament.
Budget
Disraeli's task as Chancellor was to devise a budget which would satisfy the protectionist elements who supported the Tories, without uniting the free-traders against it. His proposed budget, which he presented to the Commons on 3 December, lowered the taxes on malt and tea, provisions designed to appeal to the working class. To make his budget revenue-neutral, as funds were needed to provide defences against the French, he doubled the house tax and continued the income tax. Disraeli's overall purpose was to enact policies which would benefit the working classes, making his party more attractive to them. Although the budget did not contain protectionist features, the Opposition was prepared to destroy it—and Disraeli's career as Chancellor—in part out of revenge for his actions against Peel in 1846. MP Sidney Herbert predicted that the budget would fail because "Jews make no converts".
delivered the budget on 3 December 1852, and prepared to wind up the debate for the government on 16 December—it was customary for the Chancellor to have the last word. A massive defeat for the government was predicted. Disraeli attacked his opponents individually, and then as a force: "I face a Coalition ... This, too, I know, that England does not love coalitions." His speech of three hours was quickly seen as a parliamentary masterpiece. As MPs prepared to divide, Gladstone rose to his feet and began an angry speech, despite the efforts of Tory MPs to shout him down. The interruptions were fewer, as Gladstone gained control of the House, and in the next two hours painted a picture of Disraeli as frivolous and his budget as subversive. The government was defeated by 19 votes, and Derby resigned four days later. He was replaced by the Peelite Earl of Aberdeen, with Gladstone as his Chancellor. Because of Disraeli's unpopularity among the Peelites, no party reconciliation was possible while he remained Tory leader in the Commons.
Opposition
With the fall of the government, Disraeli and the Conservatives returned to the Opposition benches. Disraeli would spend three-quarters of his 44-year parliamentary career in Opposition. Derby was reluctant to seek to unseat the government, fearing a repetition of the Who? Who? Ministry and knowing that shared dislike of Disraeli was part of what had formed the governing coalition. Disraeli, on the other hand, was anxious to return to office. In the interim, Disraeli, as Conservative leader in the Commons, opposed the government on all major measures.
In June 1853 Disraeli was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Oxford. He had been recommended for it by Lord Derby, the university's Chancellor. The start of the Crimean War in 1854 caused a lull in party politics; Disraeli spoke patriotically in support. The British military efforts were marked by bungling, and in 1855 a restive Parliament considered a resolution to establish a committee on the conduct of the war. The Aberdeen government made this a motion of confidence; Disraeli led the Opposition to defeat the government, 305 to 148. Aberdeen resigned, and the Queen sent for Derby, who to Disraeli's frustration refused to take office. Palmerston was deemed essential to any Whig ministry, and he would not join any he did not head. The Queen reluctantly asked Palmerston to form a government. Under Palmerston, the war went better, and was ended by the Treaty of Paris in early 1856. Disraeli was early to call for peace but had little influence on events.
When a rebellion broke out in India in 1857, Disraeli took a keen interest, having been a member of a select committee in 1852 which considered how best to rule the subcontinent, and had proposed eliminating the governing role of the British East India Company. After peace was restored, and Palmerston in early 1858 brought in legislation for direct rule of India by the Crown, Disraeli opposed it. Many Conservative MPs refused to follow him, and the bill passed the Commons easily.
Palmerston's grip on the premiership was weakened by his response to the Orsini affair, in which an attempt was made to assassinate the French Emperor Napoleon III by an Italian revolutionary with a bomb made in Birmingham. At the request of the French ambassador, Palmerston proposed amending the conspiracy to murder statute to make creating an infernal device a felony. He was defeated by 19 votes on the second reading, with many Liberals crossing the aisle against him. He immediately resigned, and Lord Derby returned to office.
Second Derby government
Derby took office at the head of a purely "Conservative" administration, not in coalition. He again offered a place to Gladstone, who declined. Disraeli was once more leader of the House of Commons and returned to the Exchequer. As in 1852, Derby led a minority government, dependent on the division of its opponents for survival. As Leader of the House, Disraeli resumed his regular reports to Queen Victoria, who had requested that he include what she "could not meet in newspapers".
During its brief life of just over a year, the Derby government proved moderately progressive. The Government of India Act 1858 ended the role of the East India Company in governing the subcontinent. The Thames Purification Bill funded the construction of much larger sewers for London. Disraeli had supported efforts to allow Jews to sit in Parliament with a bill passed through the Commons allowing each house of Parliament to determine what oaths its members should take. This was grudgingly agreed to by the House of Lords, with a minority of Conservatives joining with the Opposition to pass it. In 1858, Baron Lionel de Rothschild became the first MP to profess the Jewish faith.
Faced with a vacancy, Disraeli and Derby tried yet again to bring Gladstone, still nominally a Conservative MP, into the government, hoping to strengthen it. Disraeli wrote a personal letter to Gladstone, asking him to place the good of the party above personal animosity: "Every man performs his office, and there is a Power, greater than ourselves, that disposes of all this." In response, Gladstone denied that personal feelings played any role in his decisions then and previously whether to accept office, while acknowledging that there were differences between him and Derby "broader than you may have supposed".
The Tories pursued a Reform Bill in 1859, which would have resulted in a modest increase to the franchise. The Liberals were healing the breaches between those who favoured Russell and the Palmerston loyalists, and in late March 1859, the government was defeated on a Russell-sponsored amendment. Derby dissolved Parliament, and the ensuing general election resulted in modest Tory gains, but not enough to control the Commons. When Parliament assembled, Derby's government was defeated by 13 votes on an amendment to the Address from the Throne. He resigned, and the Queen reluctantly sent for Palmerston again.
Opposition and third term as Chancellor
After Derby's second ejection from office, Disraeli faced dissension within Conservative ranks from those who blamed him for the defeat, or who felt he was disloyal to Derby—the former prime minister warned Disraeli of some MPs seeking his removal from the front bench. Among the conspirators were Lord Robert Cecil, a Conservative MP who would a quarter century later become prime minister as Lord Salisbury; he wrote that having Disraeli as leader in the Commons decreased the Conservatives' chance of holding office. When Cecil's father objected, Lord Robert stated, "I have merely put into print what all the country gentlemen were saying in private."
Disraeli led a toothless Opposition in the Commons—seeing no way of unseating Palmerston, Derby privately agreed not to seek the government's defeat. Disraeli kept himself informed on foreign affairs, and on what was going on in cabinet, thanks to a source within it. When the American Civil War began in 1861, Disraeli said little publicly, but like most Englishmen expected the South to win. Less reticent were Palmerston, Gladstone, and Russell, whose statements in support of the South contributed to years of hard feelings in the United States. In 1862, Disraeli met Prussian Count Otto von Bismarck and said of him, "be careful about that man, he means what he says".
The party truce ended in 1864, with Tories outraged over Palmerston's handling of the territorial dispute between the German Confederation and Denmark known as the Schleswig-Holstein Question. Disraeli had little help from Derby, who was ill, but he united the party enough on a no-confidence vote to limit the government to a majority of 18—Tory defections and absentees kept Palmerston in office. Despite rumours about Palmerston's health as he turned 80, he remained personally popular, and the Liberals increased their margin in the July 1865 general election. In the wake of the poor election results, Derby predicted to Disraeli that neither of them would ever hold office again.
Political plans were thrown into disarray by Palmerston's death on 18 October 1865. Russell became prime minister again, with Gladstone clearly the Liberal Party's leader-in-waiting, and as Leader of the House Disraeli's direct opponent. One of Russell's early priorities was a Reform Bill, but the proposed legislation that Gladstone announced on 12 March 1866 divided his party. The Conservatives and the dissident Liberals repeatedly attacked Gladstone's bill, and in June finally defeated the government; Russell resigned on 26 June. The dissidents were unwilling to serve under Disraeli in the House of Commons, and Derby formed a third Conservative minority government, with Disraeli again as Chancellor.
Tory Democrat: the 1867 Reform Act
It was Disraeli's belief that if given the vote British people would use it instinctively to put their natural and traditional rulers, the gentlemen of the Conservative Party, into power. Responding to renewed agitation for popular suffrage, Disraeli persuaded a majority of the cabinet to agree to a Reform bill. With what Derby cautioned was "a leap in the dark", Disraeli had outflanked the Liberals who, as the supposed champions of Reform, dared not oppose him. In the absence of a credible party rival and for fear of having an election called on the issue, Conservatives felt obliged to support Disraeli despite their misgivings.
There were Tory dissenters, most notably Lord Cranborne (as Robert Cecil was by then known) who resigned from the government and spoke against the bill, accusing Disraeli of "a political betrayal which has no parallel in our Parliamentary annals". Even as Disraeli accepted Liberal amendments (although pointedly refusing those moved by Gladstone) that further lowered the property qualification, Cranborne was unable to lead an effective rebellion. Disraeli gained wide acclaim and became a hero to his party for the "marvellous parliamentary skill" with which he secured the passage of Reform in the Commons.
From the Liberal benches too there was admiration. MP for Nottingham Bernal Ostborne declared:
I have always thought the Chancellor of Exchequer was the greatest Radical in the House. He has achieved what no other man in the country could have done. He has lugged up that great omnibus full of stupid, heavy, country gentlemen--I only say 'stupid' in the parliamentary sense--and has converted these Conservative into Radical Reformers.
The Reform Act 1867 passed that August.[158] It extended the franchise by 938,427 men—an increase of 88%—by giving the vote to male householders and male lodgers paying at least £10 for rooms. It eliminated rotten boroughs with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, and granted constituencies to 15 unrepresented towns, with extra representation to large municipalities such as Liverpool and Manchester.
Prime Minister (1868)
Disraeli ministry
Derby had long had attacks of gout which left him bedbound, unable to deal with politics. As the new session of Parliament approached in February 1868, he was unable to leave his home but was reluctant to resign, as at 68 he was much younger than either Palmerston or Russell at the end of their premierships. Derby knew that his "attacks of illness would, at no distant period, incapacitate me from the discharge of my public duties"; doctors had warned him that his health required his resignation. In late February, with Parliament in session and Derby absent, he wrote to Disraeli asking for confirmation that "you will not shrink from the additional heavy responsibility". Reassured, he wrote to the Queen, resigning and recommending Disraeli as "only he could command the cordial support, en masse, of his present colleagues". Disraeli went to Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, where the Queen asked him to form a government. The monarch wrote to her daughter, Prussian Crown Princess Victoria, "Mr. Disraeli is Prime Minister! A proud thing for a man 'risen from the people' to have obtained!" The new prime minister told those who came to congratulate him, "I have climbed to the top of the greasy pole."
First government, February–December 1868
Manning
The Conservatives remained a minority in the House of Commons and the passage of the Reform Bill required the calling of a new election once the new voting register had been compiled. Disraeli's term as prime minister, which began in February 1868, would therefore be short unless the Conservatives won the general election. He made only two major changes in the cabinet: he replaced Lord Chelmsford as Lord Chancellor with Lord Cairns and brought in George Ward Hunt as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Derby had intended to replace Chelmsford once a vacancy in a suitable sinecure developed. Disraeli was unwilling to wait, and Cairns, in his view, was a far stronger minister.
Disraeli's first premiership was dominated by the heated debate over the Church of Ireland. Although Ireland was largely Roman Catholic, the Church of England represented most landowners. It remained the established church and was funded by direct taxation, which was greatly resented by the Catholics and Presbyterians. An initial attempt by Disraeli to negotiate with Archbishop Manning the establishment of a Catholic university in Dublin foundered in March when Gladstone moved resolutions to disestablish the Irish Church altogether. The proposal united the Liberals under Gladstone's leadership, while causing divisions among the Conservatives.
The Conservatives remained in office because the new electoral register was not yet ready; neither party wished a poll under the old roll. Gladstone began using the Liberal majority in the Commons to push through resolutions and legislation. Disraeli's government survived until the December general election, at which the Liberals were returned to power with a majority.
In its short life, the first Disraeli government passed noncontroversial laws. It ended public executions, and the Corrupt Practices Act did much to end electoral bribery. It authorised an early version of nationalisation, having the Post Office buy up the telegraph companies. Amendments to the school law, the Scottish legal system, and the railway laws were passed. In addition, the Public Health (Scotland) Act instituted sanitary inspectors and medical officers. According to one study, "better sanitation was enforced throughout Scotland." Disraeli sent the successful expedition against Tewodros II of Ethiopia under Sir Robert Napier.
Opposition leader; 1874 election
Given Gladstone's majority in the Commons, Disraeli could do little but protest as the government advanced legislation; he chose to await Liberal mistakes. He used this leisure time to write a new novel, Lothair (1870). A work of fiction by a former prime minister was a novelty for Britain, and the book became a bestseller.
By 1872 there was dissent in the Conservative ranks over the failure to challenge Gladstone. This was quieted as Disraeli took steps to assert his leadership, and as divisions among the Liberals became clear. Public support for Disraeli was shown by cheering at a thanksgiving service in 1872 on the recovery of the Prince of Wales from illness, while Gladstone was met with silence. Disraeli had supported the efforts of party manager John Eldon Gorst to put the administration of the Conservative Party on a modern basis. On Gorst's advice, Disraeli gave a speech to a mass meeting in Manchester that year. To roaring approval, he compared the Liberal front bench to "a range of exhausted volcanoes... But the situation is still dangerous. There are occasional earthquakes and ever and again the dark rumbling of the sea." Gladstone, Disraeli stated, dominated the scene and "alternated between a menace and a sigh".
At his first departure from 10 Downing Street in 1868, Disraeli had had Victoria create Mary Anne Viscountess of Beaconsfield in her own right in lieu of a peerage for himself. Through 1872 the eighty-year-old peeress had stomach cancer. She died on 15 December. Urged by a clergyman to turn her thoughts to Jesus Christ in her final days, she said she could not: "You know Dizzy is my J.C."
In 1873, Gladstone brought forward legislation to establish a Catholic university in Dublin. This divided the Liberals, and on 12 March an alliance of Conservatives and Irish Catholics defeated the government by three votes. Gladstone resigned, and the Queen sent for Disraeli, who refused to take office. Without a general election, a Conservative government would be another minority; Disraeli wanted the power a majority would bring and felt he could gain it later by leaving the Liberals in office now. Gladstone's government struggled on, beset by scandal and unimproved by a reshuffle. As part of that change, Gladstone took on the office of Chancellor, leading to questions as to whether he had to stand for re-election on taking on a second ministry—until the 1920s, MPs becoming ministers had to seek re-election.
In January 1874, Gladstone called a general election, convinced that if he waited longer, he would do worse at the polls. Balloting was spread over two weeks, beginning on 1 February. As the constituencies voted, it became clear that the result would be a Conservative majority, the first since 1841. In Scotland, where the Conservatives were perennially weak, they increased from seven seats to nineteen. Overall, they won 350 seats to 245 for the Liberals and 57 for the Irish Home Rule League. Disraeli became prime minister for the second time.
Prime Minister (1874–1880)
Second term
Disraeli's cabinet of twelve, with six peers and six commoners, was the smallest since Reform. Of the peers, five of them had been in Disraeli's 1868 cabinet; the sixth, Lord Salisbury, was reconciled to Disraeli after negotiation and became Secretary of State for India. Lord Stanley (who had succeeded his father, the former prime minister, as Earl of Derby) became Foreign Secretary and Sir Stafford Northcote the Chancellor.
In August 1876, Disraeli was elevated to the House of Lords as Earl of Beaconsfield and Viscount Hughenden. The Queen had offered to ennoble him as early as 1868; he had then declined. She did so again in 1874, when he fell ill at Balmoral, but he was reluctant to leave the Commons for a house in which he had no experience. Continued ill health during his second premiership caused him to contemplate resignation, but his lieutenant, Derby, was unwilling, feeling that he could not manage the Queen. For Disraeli, the Lords, where the debate was less intense, was the alternative to resignation. Five days before the end of the 1876 session of Parliament, on 11 August, Disraeli was seen to linger and look around the chamber before departing. Newspapers reported his ennoblement the following morning.
In addition to the viscounty bestowed on Mary Anne Disraeli, the earldom of Beaconsfield was to have been bestowed on Edmund Burke in 1797, but he had died before receiving it. The name Beaconsfield, a town near Hughenden, was given to a minor character in Vivian Grey. Disraeli made various statements about his elevation, writing to Selina, Lady Bradford on 8 August 1876, "I am quite tired of that place [the Commons]" but when asked by a friend how he liked the Lords, replied, "I am dead; dead but in the Elysian fields."
Domestic policy
Legislation
Under the stewardship of Richard Assheton Cross, the Home Secretary, Disraeli's new government enacted many reforms, including the Artisans' and Labourers' Dwellings Improvement Act 1875, which made inexpensive loans available to towns and cities to construct working-class housing. Also enacted were the Public Health Act 1875, modernising sanitary codes, the Sale of Food and Drugs Act 1875, and the Elementary Education Act 1876. Disraeli's government introduced a new Factory Act meant to protect workers, the Conspiracy, and Protection of Property Act 1875, which allowed peaceful picketing, and the Employers and Workmen Act 1875 to enable workers to sue employers in the civil courts if they broke legal contracts.
The Sale of Food and Drugs Act 1875 prohibited the mixing of injurious ingredients with articles of food or with drugs, and provision was made for the appointment of analysts; all tea "had to be examined by a customs official on importation, and when in the opinion of the analyst it was unfit for food, the tea had to be destroyed". The Employers and Workmen Act 1875, according to one study, "finally placed employers and employed on an equal footing before the law". The Conspiracy, and Protection of Property Act 1875 established the right to strike by providing that "an agreement or combination by one or more persons to do, or procure to be done, any act in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute between employers and workmen, shall not be indictable as a conspiracy if such act committed by one person would not be punishable as a crime".
As a result of these social reforms the Liberal-Labour MP Alexander Macdonald told his constituents in 1879, "The Conservative party have done more for the working classes in five years than the Liberals have in fifty."
Civil Service
London may have cost him votes in the 1868 election.
Gladstone in 1870 had sponsored an Order in Council, introducing competitive examination into the Civil Service, diminishing the political aspects of government hiring. Disraeli did not agree, and while he did not seek to reverse the order, his actions often frustrated its intent. For example, Disraeli made political appointments to positions previously given to career civil servants. He was backed by his party, hungry for office and its emoluments after almost thirty years with only brief spells in government. Disraeli gave positions to hard-up Conservative leaders, even—to Gladstone's outrage—creating one office at £2,000 per year. Nevertheless, Disraeli made fewer peers (only 22, including one of Victoria's sons) than had Gladstone (37 during his just over five years in office).
As he had in government posts, Disraeli rewarded old friends with clerical positions, making Sydney Turner, son of a good friend of Isaac D'Israeli, Dean of Ripon. He favoured Low church clergymen in promotion, disliking other movements in Anglicanism for political reasons. In this, he came into disagreement with the Queen, who out of loyalty to her late husband Albert preferred Broad church teachings. One controversial appointment had occurred shortly before the 1868 election. When the position of Archbishop of Canterbury fell vacant, Disraeli reluctantly agreed to the Queen's preferred candidate, Archibald Tait, the Bishop of London. To fill Tait's vacant see, Disraeli was urged by many people to appoint Samuel Wilberforce, the former Bishop of Winchester. Disraeli disliked Wilberforce and instead appointed John Jackson, the Bishop of Lincoln. Blake suggested that, on balance, these appointments cost Disraeli more votes than they gained him.
Final months, death, and memorials
Disraeli refused to cast blame for the defeat, which he understood was likely to be final for him. He wrote to Lady Bradford that it was just as much work to end a government as to form one, without any of the fun. Queen Victoria was bitter at his departure. Among the honours he arranged before resigning as Prime Minister on 21 April 1880 was one for his private secretary, Montagu Corry, who became Baron Rowton.
Disraeli's tomb at Hughenden
Returning to Hughenden, Disraeli brooded over his electoral dismissal, but also resumed work on Endymion, which he had begun in 1872 and laid aside before the 1874 election. The work was rapidly completed and published by November 1880.[251] He carried on a correspondence with Victoria, with letters passed through intermediaries. When Parliament met in January 1881, he served as Conservative leader in the Lords, attempting to serve as a moderating influence on Gladstone's legislation.
Because of his asthma and gout, Disraeli went out as little as possible, fearing more serious episodes of illness. In March, he fell ill with bronchitis, and emerged from bed only for a meeting with Salisbury and other Conservative leaders on the 26th. As it became clear that this might be his final sickness, friends and opponents alike came to call. Disraeli declined a visit from the Queen, saying, "She would only ask me to take a message to Albert." Almost blind, when he received the last letter from Victoria of which he was aware on 5 April, he held it momentarily, then had it read to him by Lord Barrington, a Privy Councillor. One card, signed "A Workman", delighted its recipient: "Don't die yet, we can't do without you."
Despite the gravity of Disraeli's condition, the doctors concocted optimistic bulletins for public consumption. Prime Minister Gladstone called several times to enquire about his rival's condition, and wrote in his diary, "May the Almighty be near his pillow." There was intense public interest in Disraeli's struggles for life. Disraeli had customarily taken the sacrament at Easter; when this day was observed on 17 April, there was discussion among his friends and family if he should be given the opportunity, but those against, fearing that he would lose hope, prevailed. On the morning of the following day, Easter Monday, he became incoherent, then comatose. Disraeli's last confirmed words before dying at his home at 19 Curzon Street in the early morning of 19 April were "I had rather live but I am not afraid to die". The anniversary of Disraeli's death was for some years commemorated in the United Kingdom as Primrose Day.
Despite having been offered a state funeral by Queen Victoria, Disraeli's executors decided against a public procession and funeral, fearing that too large crowds would gather to do him honour. The chief mourners at the service at Hughenden on 26 April were his brother Ralph and nephew Coningsby, to whom Hughenden would eventually pass; Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, Viscount Cranbrook, despite most of Disraeli's former cabinet being present, was notably absent in Italy. Queen Victoria was prostrated with grief, and considered ennobling Ralph or Coningsby as a memorial to Disraeli (without children, his titles became extinct with his death), but decided against it on the ground that their means were too small for a peerage. Protocol forbade her attending Disraeli's funeral (this would not be changed until 1965, when Elizabeth II attended the rites for the former prime minister Sir Winston Churchill) but she sent primroses ("his favourite flowers") to the funeral and visited the burial vault to place a wreath four days later.
A statue on a podium
Statue of Disraeli in Parliament Square, London
Disraeli is buried with his wife in a vault beneath the Church of St Michael and All Angels which stands in the grounds of his home, Hughenden Manor. There is also a memorial to him in the chancel in the church, erected in his honour by Queen Victoria. His literary executor was his private secretary, Lord Rowton. The Disraeli vault also contains the body of Sarah Brydges Willyams, the wife of James Brydges Willyams of St Mawgan. Disraeli carried on a long correspondence with Mrs. Willyams, writing frankly about political affairs. At her death in 1865, she left him a large legacy, which helped clear his debts. His will was proved in April 1882 at £84,019 18 s. 7 d. (roughly equivalent to £9,016,938 in 2021).
Disraeli has a memorial in Westminster Abbey, erected by the nation on the motion of Gladstone in his memorial speech on Disraeli in the House of Commons. Gladstone had absented himself from the funeral, with his plea of the press of public business met with public mockery. His speech was widely anticipated, if only because his dislike for Disraeli was well known. In the event, the speech was a model of its kind, in which he avoided comment on Disraeli's politics while praising his personal qualities.
I hate some things from a practical standpoint but love them for their photographic and visual qualities. For instance, my workbench in its usual state of disarray. Entering the shop on a morning when the sun is shining brightly and filtering in from the upper window, the result is like bright spotlights picking out a few random objects, while the rest of the scene is barely discernible in the semi-dark.
Maybe I'll have a cleanup session again one of these days. On the other hand, a potentially beautiful photo might be lost in the process.
This past Friday wasn't my regular Friday off, but I took a day off b/c we were having hardwood floors installed. So my house was in complete disarray for two days, but it was so well worth it! And it was nice to have such a short commute for work - from the bedroom to the b'fast room!
They broke my trim while installing the window. Given that I had waited an additional month past the original install date due to their mess-ups ... I was pretty insistent that they go down to Home Depot, buy replacement trim, and install it at no cost to me right that second. They sent a higher-level guy over -- he actually arrived within 2 minutes of me calling (!). I ultimately got my way. Even if, in theory, they weren't the ones to break it....The least they can do for keeping our living room in disarray for a whole month is to actually make the final product look right. After all the trouble we've had with contractors during EVERY possible home renovation, it's increasingly hard to get me to take no for an answer, and I've increasingly come to understand why "bitchy customers" are the way they are. Asking nice doesn't work.
The replacement trim wasn't an exact match, but nobody's checking that. I'm quite happy with the results, especially after Carolyn painted it.
house maintenance, living room window, replacement trim.
side yard, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
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BACKSTORY: So our homeowners insurance (Farmers) got dropped due to having peeling paint on our window sills (among other things). Weak. It was a LOT of work AND money for us to repaint all our sills. Wood windows SUCK!! Modern vinyl windows are MAINTANENCE-FREE!! Wood windows... You gotta re-glaze the panes when they fall out, and then the wood itself is always going to slowly rot away. We already had our cats knock a pane out, so we already had glazing compound for pane repairs. This came in handywhen we painted our various window sills, as some also needed glazing compound.
So the largest window in our house -- actually 3 windows -- was a major pain, and one of the few single-pane windows in the house. It would leak heat/cold in the summer/winter, and looked really bad compared to the new siding we had installed 6 or so years ago. So we decided to go ahead and replace just this window (actually 3 separate windows). Man was it expensive! $2,350! Thompson Creek had the best pitch and data, whereas Home Depot required $30 up front for an appointment they never showed up for and a list of 4 phone numbers to escalate (all 4 failed). So we had Thompson Creek do it of course! They did it, said they did it wrong, made us wait a month while making a new window (pro: they are all custom-made just for you; con: they are all custom-made, so a screw-up requires waiting for a new one to be made), then installed the new window, and finally everything was good and we were satisfied.
It was just kind of a pain because it cost so much money and had our living room in disarray for so many months, and the whole insurance basis for the situation was pretty bullshitty in the first place. We're not going to make a property damage claim due to moisture that occurs because our paint was peeling! Ridiculous...
What is interesting about this abandoned building is the inside is still in great condition. In fact, I could see through the top windows and it looked like it was a nice apartment once--possibly as recently as the 80s. I wonder what business this building used to house?
Here is some very interesting history courtesy of wikipediea about Hingham, MT:
"Hingham is a small agricultural community on the Hi-line of northern Montana. The town was founded on February 11, 1910 and developed as a grain storage and shipping center along the Great Northern Railway. In 1909 M.A. Johnson and P.A. Peterson came to the area to homestead, they purchased a relinquishment for the townsite. A year later they had the 22-block town platted with a central square as its dominant feature, hence the nickname "The Town on the Square". Hingham was incorporated in 1917 and has since been governed by a mayor and town council. Through local efforts Hingham has developed the square into one of the best parks on the Hi-line with lush grass, mature trees and a picnic shelter. A landmark of the town is the water tower built in 1958 it towers 100 feet tall and can be seen for miles. In its early years Hingham had several hotels, saloons, restaurants, two banks, lumber yards, butcher shop, blacksmith shop, barber shop, trading company, grocery store, opera house, three churches and more. Most of which surrounded the square. Hingham had a state of the art hospital in its early years know as the Hingham Sanitarium. Built in 1913 by Dr. A.A. Husser it later burned down in 1919 dealing a severe blow to the community. Plans were made to replace the hospital with a more substantial structure but never materialized. Hingham Union Cemetery is the second largest cemetery in Hill County with over 355 graves. During the flu epidemic, the local undertaker left town in the middle of the night taking the cemetery records with him and leaving the cemetery in disarray. Citizens later remember digging graves and hitting the wood of coffins buried in supposedly vacant plots. There are a number of graves that are unknown and unmarked. Hingham cemetery is unique in that it once had an area known as potters field where people that commited suicide or couldn't afford to buy a plot were placed. Hingham's cemetery was the unofficial catholic cemetery of the hi-line in its early years. Students in Hingham met in several buildings around town until a school was built in 1914. The building was known to sway in the bad wind storms. In 1930 a new school building was constructed with a gymnasium added in 1936 several additions were made in later years including a indoor swimming pool. The school mascot was the Hingham Rangers with red, black and white as their colors. Due to shrinking enrollment the schools have consolidated to maintain a school in the area. Hingham and Rudyard consolidated schools in 1981 creating Blue Sky schools with Eagles as their mascot and blue and white as their colors. Another consolidation occurred in 2005 creating North Star Schools which is a merger of Rudyard and Hingham(Blue Sky), Gildford and Kremlin(KG)schools. Their mascot is the Knights with blue and black as their colors. Hingham hosted an school reunion on July 9th, 2010. On July 10th, 2010 Hingham celebrated its Centennial with a fun run/walk, food and craft vendors, military displays, local history displays, live entertainment, kids and adult games, barbecue, dance and fireworks."
Here is a video of my husband and I driving through Hingham, it gives you a little perspective of this little hi-line town:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiB3eFcHwbo
For more information go to this link: