Jeremiah Watt

The amazing roof in Canterbury

Morning Folks, I am running just a tad tired today I just got back from a ZZ Top concert, as you must know by now I am home in California and finishing up the final days of the trip by referencing my wife’s diary.

This was just a must, all that LAvender and a paint horse on the hillside..........

Believe it or not ( Do I sound like a Ripley’s commercial) I will tie this days trip into a little unknown history about my own little Company we call JWP, you will notice that I pay tribute to the “Knackerman”, which is an English term for a man who slaughters horses by profession……………..now, now. Before you throw your hands up in disgust let me say this, that some of the best tasting horse I ever had were the ones I could’nt ride. Regardless, if it hadn’t been for this certain fella, JW may have never had the chance to get his start making bits and spurs. Fuggedaboutitfernowwwwwwwww…..

Walmer Castle dry moat

Deal Castle wall

The day started with a walk about at the Castle Walmer, which had a huge moat of the dry type which is also quite common to Castles meant to be more of a show piece than a defence. Such is the case of Walmer, but it was a good walk for us all, except for Nevada who was sound asleep in the car………….too much poker and whuskee the night before?? We had a small cannon problem at Walmer, seems that someone left a cannon ball in one cannon and not the others.

Hey Dad, take a look at this..........somebody left a Cannon Ball in this thing..........

Whaaaaaat................lem'me see that...................sure enough as luck would have it I had a camera and managed to catch the whole crew with thier heads stuck deep in a Cannon

Onto Deal Castle, this was a huge fortification at one time, one of the 5 main port/harbour combinations meant to protect the southern English coastline. Some of the Castle was closed for renovation so the tour was a short one. The sky was actually looking like it would break and allow the sun thru. The small amounts of sun would shine on the sail cloth of small boats down along the shore and I would keep trying to get a good shot. Sadly, the sun moved in and out so quickly that it proved very tough to do.

Bridge over the dry moat at Walmer

What a teenager does best................contemplating the merits of getting a job........seconf thought, maybe not.

There was a bit of a street fair going on in the small town where Deal is located. It looked inviting to us, so we walked and shopped , we strolled past many Bakeries and did not fail to walk into each that we walked past…………….does that sound like a 10 pound sentence? Just gotta try a few Sultana Pies, and some Blimpie’s, a Welsh Cream Cake………and hey look at this Pine here’s that drink Company we like so much. These folks are the ones who make the Curious Cola, and Dandelion & Burdock Cordial. This time around we tried a Shandy, and a Ginger Jump-Up, now Pine and I liked both, Darren looked like he had just swallowed an earth worm…………and Nevada looked as if she agreed to taste the worm right after Darren spit it out. Noting their disgust we purchased something very generic and safe for the lesser beings amongst us whom lack taste buds, and we enjoyed a new buzz in life with our pastries.

Just some very cool building walking thru town.

A very classy delivery truck, it would look good at any car show

Our days drive would take us out east of London and around to the north side of the sprawling city. So we beat the streets for Canterbury Cathedral, this is one of the primary stops for our young friend Darren. It’s a Cathedral with an intriguing history, a story that could be a movie., and has been a play, as well as one of the best known works of Chaucer who wrote Cantebury Tales.

We are in an area of England in which you will still see quite a few "Thatchy's", houses with thatched rooves, very neat and very thick. I would guess that the thickness is 18-24 inches.

Another cool Thatchy

Canterbury at the front entry

Lets begin with the cast of characters here and we can watch it play out before our eyes in textual form. We begin with a small Abbey/Monastery in the English countryside, with not much going on except for the work of the Lord. The teachings and spiritual leadership at the time was under the guidance of a fellow named Thomas Beckett, who it proves was a man who was steadfast in the WORD of the Lord and not simply the actions of a religion. Then we have the character with the title of the King Henry II, who desired a divorce from then wife. It seems that this granting of a divorce fell on the improper side for our man Beckett, and in doing so he quickly found himself looking at a very serious adversary when LONGEVITY is given consideration.

One wing of St.Albans Cathedral

St.Albans

St.Albans

It was an utterance made by the King that spawned the series of incidents that follow. His murmured wish became the voice of action for four of his most Loyal Knights who upon hearing the King ask of no one imparticular………”Who is it that will rid me of this petulant Priest who would dare stand before my authority as King, Who I ask?”. Those quietly spoken words caused four men to mount their steeds and embark upon a stealth reprisal undertaken upon the Kings words as if it were an order. The riders black Capes had taken wing in the chill night air, pounding hooves met damp cobbles the resultant sparks falling short of life, whinnies, neighs and dashing horsemen caused a riotous commotion in the torch lit court yards of Canterbury Cathedral on that ominous night so long ago. As four loyal henchmen approach the solid Oaken Doors and demand entrance to speak…………..but their destiny was not caught in speech but rather it lay upon the sharpened edge of swords. Thomas Beckett was murdered, as he sat quietly Praying within the Monastery walls at the very altar over which supplication passes even to this day. When the footsteps of the murderers finally recede into the darkness of that moonless night, Thomas Beckett not only lay brutally slain amidst the Monks that he lead, but he lay headless by way of a single clean murderous swipe of razor steel.

Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury

The ribbing of the vaulted cieling at Canterbury

Wall plaques denote the graves of those buried under the floor of Canterbury

The attending Monks hurriedly bound up the body and the head of Thomas Beckett and stowed his corpse away in the secret catacombs under the Abbey. He would be lain to rest, and made immortal by way of attaining Saint Hood. Not only did Thomas Beckett become a Saint over this entire affair, but he was immortalized by his followers Monks and parishioners alike. The Cathedral was then built to become one of the Grandest in all of England, as a testimony to the acts of God committed while Thomas Beckett was alive, the Cathedrals Stained Glass windows vividly portray to this day the mercy befell those under his Godly care. The largest footpath in all of England, led followers of Thomas Beckett as if by a magnet right to those cobbled courtyards which had seen murder so many years ago. Over time, the spirit of Saint Thomas Beckett, would once again rise to challenge yet another King of England.

The courtyard in which the murderers would have parrallel parked thier horses before entering

Canterbury

Canterbury

Some 300 years later the popularity of the Saint Thomas character was indeed a real problem for then King Henry of England. So popular was this Saint Thomas, and the throng of parishioners who felt it nessassary to pay homage to this Saint who was slain. Such a stir, that the King decided it was time to actually break the Godly bonds that Thomas Beckett’s soul had upon the Canterbury Cathedral. The King, done the unthinkable, he ordered that the body of Thomas Beckett be dug up from its Holy resting place. And to further exact shame upon the Cathedral, the King then order the bones of Thomas Beckett be scattered across England as a testimony of the lack of validity which had been given Beckett by his Sainthood. The King was an avowed Protestant, and the Canterbury is Roman Catholic in its faith. Well enough of the history, lets get on with the tour. NO doubt about it this was a very cool Cathedral, very ornate but in my estimation not quite what the Bath Abbey was. Another very neat aspect of our stop was that during the day and various times, the Church Tours would come to a halt and you are invited to Pray with the Father………….or leave take your pick. The Prayer was for “World Piece” and that was followed by the Lords Prayer.

Looking out of the Cloisters at Canterbury

The Cloisters, Canterbury

The part that really amazes me, is that if anyone of the fellows that built these arches was at a street corner today, we would most likley drop a coin in his hat and wish him well in life. No formal education, no engineering manuals for stress and load etc.............and it all still stands. Its a good thing they didn't have to walk across the bridge in Minnesota each day to get to thier work

A very busy street out in front of St.Albans

Hate to say it but it is time, we have to hit the largest major highway so far, the ring road around London. It’s a 6 lane affair with cars out the Ying Yang, and a batch of multilane traffic circles just to make it all interesting. I have to say this, not sure I should, but you know me…………have lips why waste them, right! Tow things would seriously help with our traffic here in America. First and foremost, I believe that American drivers are spoilt rotten. Spolit by the fear of lawsuits, we can no longer have livestock along the road for fear some idiot runs into them and kills himself, we scatter signs and flagmen out forever across the roads of America for the same reason because some idiot NEEDS to be told that “the reason you are catching up to a BULLDOZER is because some one is working on the road……………DUH. I noticed that you seldom ever see a flag man, nor a warning sign along the roads of the UK, sure you will on the real major roads, but the little roads you are on your own. And then the traffic circles, once you learn how to navigate them they are so much faster than all those darn lights. You don’t have all the start and stop stuff. Hey just a thought, run it by ya and see how mad it makes you.
Boy Howdy, can you imagine how screwed up California would be if we got Traffic Circles and Jerry Brown for Governor……………Poochy Maggie I better shut-up before some black-op takes me out.

A street Gypsy, doing some ball juggling and spinning

JUst a quick snap of what the ring road around London looks

St.Albans

I did manage to navigate my way around the ring road of London and would never have made it without my little garmin next to me………..yes Colleen and the ever present map. Which by the way, is also on the front seat of every European vehicle. Its getting sort’a late and we still have the St.Albans Cathedral to go thru. We find the Cathedral, but sadly it was locked up and our tour was shortened to walking around it in the rain. We decided to head on down the road and came to Hemmel Hempstead, a town that I had only heard of and never knew much about……………….matter of fact I still don’t know much about it. So, why you are wondering, why am I even mentioning it. For two reasons, we had all wanted to see a game of Cricket, and just happens we came to a road block that was detouring traffic around a huge Cricket Field. Hey lets go watch, which is exactly what we done. Parked our road rocket, and headed to the cricket field……….but only to find that the game was just winding down and they had a couple more swings left and the game was done.

Some sort of serious discussion no doubt

On the streets of Oxford, we seen it, we recorded it..........and still wonder

Lucky for us, the Cricket match was held in conjunction with the largest Car Show in England……………hey, that’s how they advertised it. Well, I mean how would I know, yes you could be right……….they may have hired some guy from Texas to do the advertising……………….but then again maybe not, because I didn’t see any Bar B Que anyplace. So, NO, it must have just been the largest in the UK. Non the less, it was big, and had plenty of very nice cars in it. I am not really into cars, but these vintage Euro models are very cool. There were a few vintage pieces of Detroit Iron to go along with the little putters from Euro-Ville………..we had our Challengers, and Chargers, along with a few Vettes and a couple old Mustangs. We had a very typical car Show dinner that night, with Fish& Chips and Bangers with Brown Sauce and Chips. Was just fine, kids loved it.

Common Jeremiah, your killing me, what the heck is the deal with this Hemmel Hempstead place? Okay, it goes like this and has importance within the history of my little JWP bit & spur Company. When I first moved back to Canada, I worked for Chuck Stormes in the saddle shop. Now I could have afforded a small apartment etc, but really it would have been a waste of time because I spent all my time down at the shop. SO Chuck and I came up with an agreement, which was I could sleep in the Saddle Shop in exchange for doing the regular cleaning around the shop…………..yes, all of it. Wash the floors, wash the John etc. SO I slept on the floor for just over 4 years and thought it was great………….you know sometimes having a diminished mental capacity is a real Blessing!

Along about the 2 year of living in the saddle shop, I began to do some steel and silver work in the evenings just to keep me fired up on learning new things etc. This was all with Chucks consent and encouragement, for he feared that I may burn myself out on the saddles if I was not careful as well. As it happened in came a fellow from Hemmel Hempstead, a cherry Limey as I came to call him. He was one Ralph Lane, a former Knackerman, from England whom had just moved to a small acreage just south of Calgary. We became good friends, and it came to pass that Ralph wanted to learn how to make bits and spurs as well, and out of that conversation grew the idea of having a shop together. A place where we really could make some major pieces, maybe even build a few Trophy items for the numerous Rodeos around. Not very long after that, we built a small shop and opened as partners with the name of Kingfish as our brand name. Now as it all worked out, Ralph never built any bits nor spurs, he went on to do other things that made him more money and a living for his family. After about 3 years of having a shop out at Ralphs, I moved my portion of the Shop to Black Diamond, Alberta and began marking my product with my own name instead of the Kingfish name.

SO, there you have one little trivial detail about a happen meeting with a man from England, and out of that here I am some 30 years later doing the same thing. Not only that but Ralph and I are still friends and have a laugh about those days whenever we visit.

It is getting rather late so I better turn in. Right now the Snaffle Bit Futurity is going on, and I have another Bit & Spur Making friend holding down MY bedroll and my living room floor. That would be Delwyne Treftz, he is one of the most talented fellows that I know, and its an honor to have him stop by. We didn’t get a chance to visit for too long, he got here at about 9pm, we talked for a while in the saddle shop and then Mom fed us some supper and Delwyne headed for bed.

So I say Good Night and God Bless