Question: why not
linguistic or moral? What is it that makes the correctness ’political’? And doesn’t ‘correctness’ itself sound self-righteous,
rigid and proscriptive? Poor old Benedict
Cumberbatch – I prefer Cucumberpatch - fell out of favour when he,
supporting fellow-actors, complained that black actors did not get their fair
share of main roles. So far, so fair. But, lawd have mercy, he used the term
‘coloured’ which had the self-appointed language
police having hissy-fits – the ‘correct’ or ‘acceptable’ term would
apparently have been ‘persons of colour’. So we’re now reduced to splitting
hairs along with parts of speech, where the adjective is not acceptable but the
noun is. Really?
Last week, my materials-writing
partner, Angeliki, and I went off on a business trip to Sheffield – our first time there. One thing that struck me on
arrival was that magazines, newspapers, even city buses all bore the ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ legend, newsworthy
because of the recent premier of the ‘erotic romance’ film. Next day on a
morning news /discussion program the idea of appropriateness was raised once
more. An 11-year-old boy had turned up to his school’s World Book Day
celebration dressed as the Fifty Shades’ main character, Christian Grey. The
school had excluded him from class photographs until ‘his costume was
modified’.
Mum’s position: brought son on television, claiming other outfits
children wore were less appropriate.
Son’s position: all fellow-students
recognized his character so that was okay.
School’s position: children
were expected to select and talk about books appropriate to their age-group.
Press position: feeding frenzy.
Question: Had the focus
been on any other book would it have merited even a mention?
My expectations were of seeing a
depressed post-industrial city – from the 19th century Sheffield has
been associated with its famous steel
production – but it was a thriving place, with 61% of its area being green
space, and has seen steady growth and development in recent years. Housing two
universities, Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam, and attracting many students both
national and international, the city boasts the highest ratio of resident
graduates than any other British city.
Immediately we exited the railway
station, we saw before us a great space with water features: here is Angeliki,
in front of the amazing steel water-wall. In the second picture you can see the
station façade and beyond stand the famous Park
Hill Flats - a re-housing project begun in 1945 and inspired by the
pioneering urban-planner LeCorbusier, who believed people should live as
beautifully and peacefully as monks in sanctuaries. Design features include
broad walk-ways or decks on each floor- described as ‘streets in the sky’- with
views on to surrounding green areas.
Another place of interest is the
Winter Gardens in the city centre and there, too, is housed the Millennium Gallery. I loved this
‘dragon-flower’ piece, made of cutlery, echoing the traditional products of
Sheffield steel. Isn’t it great that these two little people simply could not
go past it without touching its ingredient knives, forks and spoons?
Next up: the art of the famous
street artist, Phlegm whose work is
in great evidence throughout the city. He likes to keep his identity a mystery
but his partially masked, hooded figures are easily recognizable as his.
A major attraction for me was
that niece, Jenny, lives in the city. Together we honour our Scottish roots by
posing with a piper, collecting for soldiers wounded in action – and there must
always be a selfie when we get together.
Jenny is currently doing a
post-graduate course in Public Health
at the University of Sheffield and here she is with two of her fellow
students: Andrea from Ecuador and Yuriko from Japan.
Meeting Andrea meant that
Angeliki could practise her Spanish, and we continued the theme by going to eat
at a Cuban tapas bar. With live music and enthusiastic staff, we enjoyed their
many tasty dishes and a glass or two in a very pleasant environment. Ready to
call it a day, we made our exit via the downstairs bar- only to hear Jenny’s
name being called out as we reached the door. There was a good friend of hers
at the mike singing for the customers. A past band-singer, Jenny accepted her
invitation to join her on the gig - what a wonderful surprise! Beauty, brains and
talent – wow!!
Although we had experienced the
local nithering or lazy wind – one that goes right through you - our last day was fine and sunny , so
Sheffield really did smile on us.
Our homeward flight, however, was
not without incident: our pilot, describing the weather at Thessaloniki as
horrendous, aborted his attempted landing due to wind gusts of 60
kilometers and hour. After quite a bit of turbulence, we landed instead in
Athens where we were accommodated in hotels and flown up the following day. All
good, but presenting complications for our fellow-passengers, Emma, Connor and
Jack, who were to be picked up at Thessaloniki and driven to Bansko, Bulgaria to attend the Horizon Festival 2015 of electronic dance music. Emma planned to
get some ski-ing in as well, while the lads, studying Events Management at
Leeds University, had the responsibility of ensuring all the acts got to the
right place at the right time. Our flight rerouting kind of spoiled their
organizational-skills credibility at the very outset! Here they are at Athens
airport, awaiting flight north.
Recent posts about the festival
indicate that the snow conditions were excellent and that the music was a
blast. I’m sure they enjoyed it and I wish them all ….......... a safe flight home!
All in all, our trip to Sheffield was a
splendid experience; we were blown away by how warm and friendly everyone was,
as well as how proud they were of their city. I was charmed when I was served a
decorated hot chocolate in our hotel there.
I think this picture symbolizes nicely the
impression that the city and its great folk left on us both.
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