Saturday 30 July 2011

The Elephant Man


"If I could reach from pole to pole
or grasp the ocean with a span
I would be measured by the soul
the mind's the standard of the man"

Poetry quoted by Joseph Merrick


So I have been on a little break from work for 2 weeks...really just needed to get away from all my crazy ,demanding, lazy, rude colleagues.

Don't get me started on the patients!

On Thursday, my son aka The Monkey King,-who is working in the UK for a year-,(Yea!!)- and I went to London for the day...partly to do some sightseeing...partly to do some shopping...partly to go to a few museums...but mainly,to have dinner at the Spur steak house!

Anyway...we decided to visit the museum at the Royal London Hospital because it contained artifacts from both the Jack-the-Ripper murder hunt and the life and times of Joseph Merrick,the Elephant Man.
The hospital which is now a huge sprawling campus, is in Whitechapel,right in the heart of Jack the Ripper territory.
Its a small museum but is chock full of simply amazing objects including original crime scene maps and anatomical drawings from the killing of Mary Ann Nichols,the first victim,showing her stab wounds and the degree of evisceration.

On a lighter note...well...certainly on a more humane note,there is a hood that Joseph Merrick is alleged to have worn when he was out in public.

Merrick's hood

A letter written by Merrick to a benefactor...
...(please excuse the poor quality of the photo)...


And then ,just around the corner from the museum,and only 30 meters from the main Accident and Emergency entrance is a charming pub...staffed as usual by whiny New Zealanders and full of morose hospital staff.

The Good Samaritan pub,Whitechapel.


And then on the train back home I got to wondering about the possibility of a fashion tie-up with some of the online dating sites...so many of the people I meet are so ugly I could probably sell them an Elephant Man mask to wear on the first date.



2 comments:

  1. Please to see you blogging again (battle-axe betty)

    ReplyDelete
  2. The people you meet are ugly? Show us picture of you! Prove yourself, man.

    ReplyDelete