Royal Leamington Spa

Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. A person reaps what they sow…

Galatians 6:7 (the rest of the quote goes into detail..)

There stands a tree bare with outstretched branches, and slightly to the right is the Queen who gave the Royal to Leamington Spa.

Some facts about Queen Victoria’s statue:

Cost £1,500 to build in 1902 well over 122 years ago.

A plaque on the side of the pedestal says : ” A German bomb moved this statue one inch on its plinth on the 14th November 1940.”

Soon after Queen Victoria allowed the town to use the word Royal in 1838, there was a decline in popularity during the 1840s, with baths slowly closing over the next 20 years.

The water has been known since the Middle Ages for its mineral content. It was believed that;

it helped bread rise

preserved meat

cured rabies

There is a path where circus people used to lead their animals, including elephants, to wash in the Leam River.

Let us look at this river as I saw it today.

The Leam has flooded its banks, and this is how it looks in relation to the library with a notice on the door. Peering through the glass doors, the first titled exhibit was amusingly called:

“Water,water everywhere.”

Opposite the library is Jephson’s Gardens .

The importance of Jephson is in what he did for people. He was a surgeon and apothecarry making a lot of money some say he was a millionaire. His financial success enabled him to become a philanthropist. He built homes for those who needed them and gave two hours a day consultation time to those who couldn’t afford the fee. He retired in 1848 because of blindness.

The park honours his work in the town. It is full of promise with beds of bulbs in green. There are children feeding the geese and pigeons and a man tempting squirrels down from the trees for nuts. Notice the grand essence of the trees.

It is said that there are 140 species of trees in the park, and in Jephson’s Glasshouse, I found a humorous one. A conversation between two plants from different worlds.

Strelitzia: You’re not trying to walk out the glasshouse, are you. If so, take me too.

Walking tree: I just might! Give me time, another 100 years, perhaps.

Shades of green and shapes made by plants are a pleasure to see here are a few:

Those who read my memories know that I notice wrought iron work because that was Uncle John’s forte. Here is some wrought iron work on Victorian buildings giving some idea of how carefully it is designed.

Travelling back by train, it was astonishing to see flooded fields. The consequence of all this rain. This post has travelled and lead me to think of other consequences, too.

Here are some quotes with the word consequence.

Nothing happens in a vacuum in life: every action has a series of consequences, and sometimes, it takes a long time to fully understand the consequences of our actions.

Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.

Khalad Hosseini (1965 Afghan- American novelist, UNHCR goodwill ambassador and Physician.) Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 – 1894 Scottish novelist and essayist.)

Take care.

Sandy🙂