When is a shop not a shop? Answer, when it's a cabinet of curiosities. This weird and wonderful collection of ephemera is subtly altered around (balloons are deflated sometimes) and objects changed/substituted on a random basis. You can't see the tinplate flying boat unfortunately but the sheet music to 'The Teddy Bears Picnic ' is clearly visible. Behind this old shop window lays a dwelling and a recording studio. It's owned by Patrick Berge(i)n the actor famous for playing Robin Hood and Julia Roberts' husband in 'Sleeping with the Enemy' amongst others. I rather like the surreal nature of a shop that sells nothing and displays all the goods it doesn't have for sale in the window which isn't a shop window anyway...if you see what I mean. Anyway it's in the village of Rottingdean, East Sussex and lies to the South of the Coast Road next door to possibly the finest Thai restaurant in the greater Brighton area, the 'Ros Thai' run by the unlikely sounding Gus himself a son of Siam. Not far away used to be the landing stage of the wonderful but ill-fated 'Daddy Longlegs' electric railway which once ran all the way to Black Rock, Brighton. Designed by Magnus Volk it was a crazy Victorian contrivance that actually worked but not well enough against prevailing South Westerly winds and died the night the old Chain Pier (see painting by JMWTurner et al) was destroyed. More of that another time when I can get a shot of the giant concrete sleepers which are still evident at low tide.
5 comments:
Just wonderful Jon, thankyou. But I must say I thought that the Volk railway was still running. Or had I had a few more Harvey's than I'd supposed was the case?
Thanks Mr.A. You're right inasmuch as the land-based Volks Electric Railway still runs between the Aquarium and Black Rock. Certainly it's the first electric railway in Britain( and some say the world). The Daddy Longlegs ran in the sea, on stilts leading down to wheels which ran on a railway track. Above, from tall poles concreted into the seabed the electricity supply was delivered as for a tram. Twenty or so feet above the briny ocean, passengers sat in comfort in the nautical equivalent of a first class railway carriage (except it was square) suffering none of the usual discomforts of a sea trip. Ingenious and a failure, sadly.
Dissociative Identity Disorder? Camilla-Scradcza Syndrome?
Never mind....fascinating blog!
It is all the more intriguing since you cannot actually buy anything and things move.
There is a similar place in Lewes called The Treasury up near the Bottleneck. I know that it has been closed for the last 5 years at least as I have had my eye on a couple of things in the window. These things, however are not posessed by a poltergeist. They never move... but... neither do they gather dust. Why?
I know the place of which you speak. Maybe it's in league with the Rottingdean premises and they are part of a chain?
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