Click a picture to enlarge
Spring is here, the crocuses bloom (or is that croci) and Wendy and I took a spin through Springbank Park. We stopped by the old waterworks pumping station on the banks of the Thames River. The pumphouse building was constructed in 1878 There was a dam there which I suppose could have been used to provide hydraulic power to run the pumps. The park’s name, Springbank, reflects the natural sulfur springs that flow from the riverbanks and nearby hills.
It was easy for ‘vandals’ to carve their names into the soft yellow bricks of the pumphouse. Over the decades thousands of names of visitors and their sweethearts are recorded here. Many of the names are obliterated by newer names scratched over top as the process continues. We discovered many names from the early to middle 1900’s and even one or two from the 1800’s. We located our names. Wendy’s seemed to be amazingly preserved in the center of more recent entries all around it. The name is clearly legible ‘Wendy Taleski 1959’. She thinks she remembers that it was carved there by her Uncle Ray as Wendy wouldn’t likely perform such a malicious act of vandalism; besides it was up too high for such a young girl to reach. Beside that, you can see her initials 'WGT 71'. My inscription was also there as ‘Tim Carroll 1971’. I was 22 at the time and hadn’t yet married Wendy. I wonder what we talked about that day? We married July 1972.
Click on any picture. They are amazing up close.
Here's where Wendy's name from 1959 survives the decades. THAT'S FIFTY YEARS AGO!
It was easy for ‘vandals’ to carve their names into the soft yellow bricks of the pumphouse. Over the decades thousands of names of visitors and their sweethearts are recorded here. Many of the names are obliterated by newer names scratched over top as the process continues. We discovered many names from the early to middle 1900’s and even one or two from the 1800’s. We located our names. Wendy’s seemed to be amazingly preserved in the center of more recent entries all around it. The name is clearly legible ‘Wendy Taleski 1959’. She thinks she remembers that it was carved there by her Uncle Ray as Wendy wouldn’t likely perform such a malicious act of vandalism; besides it was up too high for such a young girl to reach. Beside that, you can see her initials 'WGT 71'. My inscription was also there as ‘Tim Carroll 1971’. I was 22 at the time and hadn’t yet married Wendy. I wonder what we talked about that day? We married July 1972.
Click on any picture. They are amazing up close.
Here's where Wendy's name from 1959 survives the decades. THAT'S FIFTY YEARS AGO!
Over the years, some have disappeared, just as quite a few of the people named here have passed on, but it’s always fun to search for familiar names. I mentioned to Wendy that in these times of paint graffiti, the new wave of vandals have not yet discovered this historic treasure. Maybe the authorities of the past were just as disgusted with our form of ‘wall art’ as we are with the paint vandals. Our inscriptions were even more indelible than paint.
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somebody's a brick hog! 2 bricks!? ;)
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