Never mind that. Does Gerrards Cross welcome the wayfarer? Dear member of the jury, consider the evidence.
Exhibit A. A pump at the village’s main crossroad. Inscription thereon:
THIS PUMP WAS ERECTED BY
JOHN BRAMLEY-MOORE ESQ., M.P.
IN THE YEAR 1864 FOR THE USE OF
THE WAYFARER IN GERRARDS CROSS
-----
Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.
The quotation is from Revelation 22:17. Who was John Bramley-Moore*, and why was he so thoughtful of the wayfarer’s need? Does the pump still work? No.
There are further observations I could make on Gerrards Cross (or rather my very personal response to yesterday's visit), but they will have to wait in note form till a certain mountain of words has been organised into smaller mountains.
I refer to the ‘writing’. I’ve started on some editing but mostly I’m assembling the material. It’s reached 864 pages, 264000 words—the length of 3 full-size novels. So where I’ve been a foot-soldier I now have to be a general, marshalling an army. Or a commander-in-chief, a Churchill or an Eisenhower. Or even something beyond that, to define what war is about, a Clausewitz pondering his Art of War.
But I won’t stop being a foot-slogging wayfarer here.
* Postscript
I looked up John Bramley-Moore. The Gerrards Cross pump wasn't his only philanthropic gesture. He made donations for the general maritime welfare of Liverpool, for the "BRAMLEY-MOORE MEDAL FOR SAVING LIFE AT SEA, 1872" and in 1849 to a Fancy Fair for the benefit of the Infirmary Northern & Southern Hospitals. He opened a dock and had it named after him, being Chairman of the Liverpool dock committee. Consequently a pub near the dock gates was named the Bramley Moore, and still exists today. I'm grateful for further information from a review of this pub (follow this link), excerpts from which I republish below:
Ah yes, the name.
Both pub, dock and, for good measure, a tug are memorials to John Bramley-Moore, Lord Mayor of Liverpool from 1848 to 49.
. . .
A former chairman of the Docks Committee, he was ostensibly a merchant who made his money trading in Brazil. A typically no-nonsense Conservative when it came to looking after his money, when there was a strike he once brought in outside labour, declaring with menaces: "I'll break the legs of any man who stops me getting through this gate."
. . .
Ahem. I really ought to get on with my ‘writing’.
6 comments:
264000 words is the work of a prolific writer indeed. Is the writing accompanied by pictures as in the blog posts ? Publishers like to keep that to a minimum to keep costs under control.
Wishing you a lot of luck in assembling it.
864 pages? Nay, not 3 novels, but 5 or 6! How many pages is War and Peace? Surely that isn't your standard for length?
;-)
No, Ashok, I have taken out all the pictures. but I would hope to negotiate a few important ones back in. Thanks for the wishes. the luck will be in the Muse's help.
Well Hayden, I'm taking 60,000 words to be a short novel, 80,000 to be average. The omnibus edition has turned out at 275,000 words but it will be pruned down at least 20% and probably more. But who knows what will happen in next few months? I may rewrite half of what isn't cut.
How are you getting on with yours? I regret the harshness of my comments to date, after having a go myself at drafting. You know what you are doing. Your process must play itself out. You are a long way from having something to show around but I've seen enough to have enormous confidence in your ability.
Vincent, The Odeon has really changed. It's too bad they couldn't restore the original brick.
If you looked back, would you ever have imagined that you would one day write so many words and then ready them for publication on a grander scale? It must be a wonderful feeling to now oversee. All the best in seeing your fruits come to bear.
Thanks Rebb, I've commented on this in response to you in the later post. Least said the better!
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