Discussion Forum

Mainly for the benefit of Morse (following his IoW story today) and ALL our American chums .....

How can we best describe the Isle of Wight?

For a start, I've never been there. But I have stayed in Aldeburgh and a few other dated, smart, out-of-fashion English seaside resorts. Lyme Regis. Bognor Regis. Hove.

But these aren't the IoW. Because obviously, they're not islands. Cut-off from the mainland. One step removed from civilisation. So I can only offer a glimmer of a clue.

It'll take a good few of our team of Isle of Wight Essayists to paint a full picture.

Here's my short contribution.

The Island is a once-upon-a-time place. Queen Victoria had a mansion there which she loved and visited as often as she could. There was also an important Naval College at Osborne (see Rattigan's play & film The Winslow Boy). So it was fashionably smart right through Victorian and Edwardian England.

Now it's faded. Quiet. Not faded like Tombstone or Dodge. Nature hasn't reclaimed it. No deserted saloon bar. No cactus growing in the middle of the street. People live on the Isle of Wight. Quietly.

The traffic lights stay red for longer. Allowing the elderly to cross the streets. The shops open early because old people wake early. They also close early because the elderly are mainly done their business and gone home by late afternoon.

Unlike the city, people tend to know one another. Many chat on benches and street corners. Whilst others remain comfortably reclusive. Oh look, there goes Mr Figgis out for his paper.

Things that are small, petty and insignificant in mainland cities, often enjoy enhanced levels of importance on the Island. Sometimes even notoriety. Tea parties. Gardening clubs. Flower shows. A host of life's little extras that keep the inmates amused. Or in touch with their own realities of the 21st century.

They don't do celebrity. Particularly our Spoof celebrity. I tried to capture this in a Spoof about the creation of a Cheryl Cole Rose. Somehow, when typical Islanders try to climb aboard the mainstream bus, they get tangled up in far more complex and important trivia of their own.

Discreet. Reserved. Fading paint. Echoes of laughter. Of buckets and spades. Retirement. Children long gone. Yes. That must be true. Any Island kid with a whiff of a brain would go to a mainland university and never come back.

Hopefully Victor, Quentin, Skoobie, Lynton and others will help fill in the huge gaps I've left.

Particularly in answer to the deeper question..

What the fuck are we all writing about?

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Quote: Colonel Juan
The Island is a once-upon-a-time place. Queen Victoria had a mansion there which she loved and visited as often as she could. There was also an important Naval College at Osborne (see Rattigan's play & film The Winslow Boy). So it was fashionably smart right through Victorian and Edwardian England.

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Albert and Victoria built their Summer Palace on the island, known as Osborne House.

After her death it became a junior officer training college for the Royal Navy known as the Royal Naval College, Osborne.

The gardens and grounds are stunning.

The interior ditto, it's an Albert & Victoria museum of personal history.

Definitely worth a visit.

Pic

Juan

I agree with all of that but it's more than a place.

It is a loving look at everything that was lost to get where we are now.

What we still may have but not value while caught up in the barrage of mad sensationalism.

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Quote: Colonel Juan

Mainly for the benefit of Morse (following his IoW story today) and ALL our American chums .....

How can we best describe the Isle of Wight?

For a start, I've never been there. But I have stayed in Aldeburgh and a few other dated, smart, out-of-fashion English seaside resorts. Lyme Regis. Bognor Regis. Hove.

But these aren't the IoW. Because obviously, they're not islands. Cut-off from the mainland. One step removed from civilisation. So I can only offer a glimmer of a clue.

It'll take a good few of our team of Isle of Wight Essayists to paint a full picture.

Here's my short contribution.

The Island is a once-upon-a-time place. Queen Victoria had a mansion there which she loved and visited as often as she could. There was also an important Naval College at Osborne (see Rattigan's play & film The Winslow Boy). So it was fashionably smart right through Victorian and Edwardian England.

Now it's faded. Quiet. Not faded like Tombstone or Dodge. Nature hasn't reclaimed it. No deserted saloon bar. No cactus growing in the middle of the street. People live on the Isle of Wight. Quietly.

The traffic lights stay red for longer. Allowing the elderly to cross the streets. The shops open early because old people wake early. They also close early because the elderly are mainly done their business and gone home by late afternoon.

Unlike the city, people tend to know one another. Many chat on benches and street corners. Whilst others remain comfortably reclusive. Oh look, there goes Mr Figgis out for his paper.

Things that are small, petty and insignificant in mainland cities, often enjoy enhanced levels of importance on the Island. Sometimes even notoriety. Tea parties. Gardening clubs. Flower shows. A host of life's little extras that keep the inmates amused. Or in touch with their own realities of the 21st century.

They don't do celebrity. Particularly our Spoof celebrity. I tried to capture this in a Spoof about the creation of a Cheryl Cole Rose. Somehow, when typical Islanders try to climb aboard the mainstream bus, they get tangled up in far more complex and important trivia of their own.

Discreet. Reserved. Fading paint. Echoes of laughter. Of buckets and spades. Retirement. Children long gone. Yes. That must be true. Any Island kid with a whiff of a brain would go to a mainland university and never come back.

Hopefully Victor, Quentin, Skoobie, Lynton and others will help fill in the huge gaps I've left.

Particularly in answer to the deeper question..

What the fuck are we all writing about?

---

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Quote: victor nicholas
What we still may have but not value while caught up in the barrage of mad sensationalism.

---

Speak for yourself!

It boasts Parkhurst maximum security prison.

It has a big cat zoo.

My mate Rod from work goes there a lot on holiday - even though it's only about ten miles from his home. (He likes the adults only Warner Holiday experience, and the food, which is plentiful.)

It's served by Wightlink ferries from Portsmouth and Red Funnel ferries from Southampton.

There was a chap charged with murder there this week after a body was found in a pub freezer.

Witches and such mumbo-jumbo types regard it as a sacred place because of its geographical diamond shape - they think it's a major confluence of ley lines.

It's the home of the IOW Festival, which has been headlined over the years by:

Jimi Hendrix

The Who

Paul McCartney

Procul Harem

The Sex Pistols

REM

Among a host of others.

It has high unemployment rates.

It's quite friendly, relaxed, and like stepping back in time.

Famous for major archeological fossil finds - T Rex among them.

It has lots of caravan and holiday parks.

It sometimes rains.

Oh, and I've been there. But only to Ryde. The train service rolling stock on the island consists of old London Underground trains.

It has the Needles Lighthouse.

Very interesting place really.

Regards

Skoob.

Thanks CJ et al!

Sounds like an enjoyable place...but now that it's REALLY on the map, how long will it be before the condos start building, there's a private jet port,
and swanky yachts!

Hope not!

3 cheers for the Isle of Wight!

Morse