Victorian Swans and the great divide.

 

" Say what you like about 'The Victorians' but they certainly knew how to stuff Cygnus olor!

 This family group were happily surveying the tranquil lake scene before them, when they were rudely introduced to the pseudo art and science of 'taxidermy'. They clearly don't like it 'up-'em' Mr Mantell!

"There is considerable current academic debate as to whether the Victorian Era and the coincident development of 'Taxidermy' marks the paleozoological divide between swans being one hundred percent 'Nice birds' and being at least 50 percent 'Dangerous'". - Discuss!

"Is 'evolution' a gradual or a 'cataclysmic process'"? - Discuss!

"Did God make those little green apples" ? - Discuss!

Hard to say, but from the limited perspective of these swans - "Two pounds of kapok rammed up the 'cloaca' certainly created a tsunami of ripples on their shared and previously benign swan lake" - Richard Owen 1804-1892

The Year of the Swan - East of Bromley

 

"In Chinese culture, swans are considered to be a symbol of grace, purity, enlightenment, and blessing. They are also associated with the goddess Guanyin. The Chinese Zodiac has twelve animals, that are associated with years in the calendar, none of them being a swan. 2025 is 'The Year of the Snake' -  worldwide quite appropriate as it turns out! 

In Joe Roberts' home town Maidstone, 2025 is being arbitrarily celebrated by both 'Men of Kent' and 'Kentish Men' as 'The Year of the Swan'. Consequently, big parties are anticipated for this spring's 'International Swan Day', which is held every year on the 3rd of March. In 2025, the streets of Maidstone may indeed run with 'Light Ale'!

The  above image is a reproduction of a traditional local pictorial rendition in watercolour on a discarded Joe Coral betting slip of 'The River Medway in flood', which at one time hung in a Chinese Takeaway in Week Street. The building shown on the island, is a 'stylistic and graphical' representation of the Maidstone Branch of Wickes about which Joe was often heard to say "You can get anything from Wixies"! - Editor

Editorial note: None of the editorial team knows why Joe insisted upon pronouncing 'Wickes' as 'Wixies'. The man was and is, both an enigma and Kentish legend!