Carol

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Carol has posted seven annotations/comments since 25 October 2013.

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Second Reading

About Tuesday 10 March 1662/63

Carol  •  Link

I live in a house on the outskirts of south west London. It was built in 1827 and we have found three wells - two in the cellar and one just outside. At our allotments across the road there is no mains water - we have a number of hand pumps dotted about the site and pump our water directly from the ground (we're very close to the river Thames). In a dry summer that's a lot of pumping and carrying! It certainly makes us appreciate the amazing luxury of a clean, piped water supply when we get home.

About Friday 20 February 1662/63

Carol  •  Link

Not quite a royal yacht, but we do have Gloriana, the royal row-barge commissioned for Queen Elizabeth II's diamond jubilee.
http://www.glorianaqrb.org.uk/glo…

Early on the first morning of the London Olympics 2012 I watched Gloriana emerge through the mist on the Thames as it was rowed from Hampton Court to the Olympic stadium in east London. A truly memorable sight, the latest in the great tradition of river pageants on the Thames.

About Tuesday 25 November 1662

Carol  •  Link

a venison pasty, very good, and rare at this time of the year

At Bushy Park in south west London the wild deer herds are culled every September and November. These deer have no natural predators in the royal parks, nor are they hunted, so their numbers would become unsustainable without management through the culls.

Assuming that the parks managers know what they're doing, we can perhaps assume that this is a good time to either hunt or cull deer herds. Therefore at this time of year venison would be both plentiful and fresh.

Furthermore, the BBC 'Food in Season' section confirms that venison is in season in November.

Could Sam have meant 'rare' in the sense of 'unusually good'? Or, perhaps more of a stretch, given that the meat would be fresh perhaps it would be cooked 'rare' rather than 'well done'?

About Friday 13 September 1661

Carol  •  Link

"unless of course the daily bread and potatoes are not worth mentioning."
It's very unlikely that Sam would have eaten potatoes, and if he had done it would definitely have merited a mention in his diary. Although potatoes had been brought to England about 80 years earlier (reputedly, and probably, by Francis Drake) it wasn't until the industrial revolution of the 19th century that they were widely eaten.

About Sunday Lunch with Mr and Mrs Pepys

Carol  •  Link

Thank you so much for this Sue. I now have a clear picture in my head of how the complex (office, church, houses) must have been. I love the formal garden. Let's hope the neighbours don't have another plumbing malfunction now that the cheese is being stored in the cellar!