Page 3 of 3 FirstFirst 1 2 3
Results 21 to 25 of 25

Article: Berengaria

  1. Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Location
    Whitby, UK
    Posts
    264
    Thanks (Given)
    410
    Thanks (Received)
    395
    Likes (Given)
    674
    Likes (Received)
    1215

    Jump to Comments

    Berengaria

    24 Comments by Harry Nicholson Published on 3rd October 2018 02:55 PM
    I've just written a piece as homework for Egton Bridge Writers' Group. Theme: a visit to the hairdresser's. It is nautical, and mostly true.

    Berengaria.

    I peer through the window. The barber’s shop in York Road looks not too busy this Friday morning.
    ‘Excuse please’ -- that’s a voice at my elbow. ‘Which is best way back to dock?’ He’s Danish – I recognise the accent – probably a seaman. Platinum blond hair and thin beard.
    Directions are easy from here. ‘Turn right and straight down Church Street. All the way to the bottom, then turn left at The Shades pub. It’s a great spot for a beer.’
    ‘Thank you. I was there last night. Have headache today. Now I get lost doing shopping. You are seafarer, like me?’ says the Dane. He’s probably noticed my bridge coat; I should really have it cleaned since I spilled Guinness down the front. The Dane seems a decent sort.
    ‘Yes. Just enjoying a spot of leave after a long sweat in Calcutta.’
    He nods. ‘I like town. This West Hartlepool. I understand people. They speak like Dansk. In London, I can never tell what they say.’ He wanders off, and I think, ‘A pity – he’d be a good shipmate.’
    There are just two customers in the barber's. Heads are deep in papers, picking out horses. Acrid Woodbine smoke drifts around. From my rickety chair I admire the three barber thrones. They are stainless steel and white porcelain. Massive and imperious things with hydraulic mechanism; a bit out of place in this gritty town. On the porcelain base is the word, ‘Berengaria’, in ornate script. I’ve seen that name somewhere.
    The barber runs a lighted taper around the back of a chap’s scrawny neck. He's ordered a short-back-and-sides with a singe. I wrinkle my nose at the odour. The barber then rubs pomade into the fellow’s scalp; it’s fruity and ripe. Yuk!
    Soon, I settle into the capacious black leather embrace of a gorgeous chair. It feels like I'm in the arms of an Antwerp madame.
    ‘You’ve got a healthy tan, sir. Been to foreign parts?’
    ‘Yes, Liverpool to Calcutta and back, and sundry cess-pits in between.’
    The barber prattles on -- as they do. I get bored hearing about his week in Scarborough. ‘Tell me about Berengaria and how you came by this handsome chair.
    ‘Glad you like it, sir. You’ll have noticed we have three in a row. All from Cunard’s RMS Berengaria. The old boss bid for them when she was scrapped at Jarrow, back in 1939.'
    I enjoy the sensation of the warm electric clippers on the back of my neck. Just a gentle purr. So different to the blunt, hair-ripping-out, hand-operated clippers Dad used to torture me with. 'She was a three funnel liner, wasn’t she?'
    'That’s right, and about fifty-thousand tons. German. Began life in 1913 as the Imperator for Hamburg-Amerika Line. Four-thousand passengers and a thousand crew. Never ventured out of Hamburg 1914-1918. The Allies gave her to Cunard when the bloody affair was done. Renamed Berengaria.’
    'And who, or where, is Berengaria?’
    'Ah, well now. My mate has a full set of Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopaedia. So, I looked it up.' He stops snipping, to hold forth. ‘Berengaria, princess of Navarre, daughter of Sancho the Sixth, wed our King Richard the First, known as Lion-heart, whenever it was. Well before my time . . . fourteen hundred and summat.’
    Arthur Mee's! I smile to myself. That's where I’ve read of Berengaria, Princess of Navarre. I wonder what she looked like. I muse on a dark-eyed maid possessed of long, gracefully curved neck, who moves like a swan.
    As I pay the barber, he asks conspiratorially, ‘Anything for the weekend, sir?’
    Harry Nicholson

  2. Total Comments 24

    Comments

  3. #21
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Sunbury Victoria Australia
    Posts
    24,991
    Thanks (Given)
    8300
    Thanks (Received)
    10126
    Likes (Given)
    106523
    Likes (Received)
    45653

    Default Re: Berengaria

    Yes Vernon, now every Saturday morning needed or not Terri runs the clippers over my head.
    The amount of hair she finds is quite amazing, have more on my chest than my head.
    Happy daze John in Oz.

    Life is too short to blend in.

    John Strange R737787
    World Traveller

  4. #22
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    isle of wight
    Posts
    6,701
    Thanks (Given)
    2291
    Thanks (Received)
    5237
    Likes (Given)
    15143
    Likes (Received)
    24215

    Default Re: Berengaria

    Reading the articles on haircuts reminds me of my time in the village of Bramley, Surrey, where i grew up, and departed aged 16 to Gravesend sea school. From the time of about 8 yrs old the barber was George, and he was the local signal man on the railway at Bramley, steam of course. Dad used to give us the 1/6p to go to the signal box and George would cut your hair, would maybe have to stop, pass the baton on to the driver, and operate the signals , so the time for a haircut varied. With the demise of the line via Mr Beeching, George took retirement from the railway, and opened a small shop in the village. England as it used to be, would bring a tear to a glass eye.
    R689823

  5. #23
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    W.A.
    Posts
    23,641
    Thanks (Given)
    12850
    Thanks (Received)
    13719
    Likes (Given)
    19100
    Likes (Received)
    76764

    Default Re: Berengaria

    The term short back and sides was well remembered after years as a youth of saying short backsides . Think the nearest thing to it today is a number 3. ? Number 1 and number 2 where referring to a different human occupation . But also managed I believe to get into the barbershop later . JS
    R575129

  6. #24
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Posts
    103
    Thanks (Given)
    25
    Thanks (Received)
    25
    Likes (Given)
    468
    Likes (Received)
    223

    Default Re: Berengaria

    Would that be the Egton Bridge in the Esk Valley?.

  7. #25
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Location
    Whitby, UK
    Posts
    264
    Thanks (Given)
    410
    Thanks (Received)
    395
    Likes (Given)
    674
    Likes (Received)
    1215

    Default Re: Berengaria

    Quote Originally Posted by Alan Briggs View Post
    Would that be the Egton Bridge in the Esk Valley?.
    Yes, Alan - so it is, but we now meet only at Lealholm village hall, which is further up Esk Dale. We meet on 2nd Wednesday each month. You will be most welcome to join us.
    Harry
    Harry Nicholson

Page 3 of 3 FirstFirst 1 2 3

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •