THEBIGGERISSUE.ORG: Near Gate 7 at Mayflower Park. By Uncle Monty.

Near Gate 7 at Mayflower Park
Story and Photos By Uncle Monty
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For those catching the Red Funnel ferry boat from
Southampton to the Isle of Wight, they must invariably
pass near Gate 7 at Mayflower Park. The park itself
is located at Southampton’s West Quay at where I

happened upon a local goth in the ugly shape and

disgusting form of 25 year-old Alan Crow as shown

above by my caption picture of him in all
his gaudy taste and grand galumph.
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He said he’d served in Iraq with the British forces
at Basra and had returned home rejected by the
community and was now living on Disability Living
Allowance (DLA) and the occasional free handout.
He prefers to be simply called “Crow” from his
own legal surname. When five or six white ladz
whizzed by on their bmx bikes shouting at him, Crow

was none too pleased. He shouted back at them with

the loud gusto of an irate sargeant-major along with all
the obscenities he could throw at them. Whatever he

could muster against the young cocky ladz, they only

sniggered more at him as they came peddling back in

full force and at dizzy speed to taunt him even further.

Thus, my strange introduction to Southampton’s

Mayflower Park was quite something else. Next, I
almost expected to see the pilgrim ghosts gathering
for their intrepid voyage to Colonial America on The
Mayflower to Plymouth Rock. The park is dedicated,
of course, to those historic souls who sought religious

and social freedom from the then oppressive and

“straightjacketed” England by going to seek their

open liberty in New England.
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Southampton is England’s world maritime city. And,
the last time I had seen the place was when I came
back for a brief visit to my British homeland on The

Cunard's QEII in 1972. It then took 5 days to

cross the pond … How I so remember it well ...
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What surprised me the most about this maritime
city was how old it was. I never realised its age until
after seeing such 13th and 14th Century structures
still actively preserved and used like the 15th Century

Round Gateway (shown above) at the centre of town.
Plus, St. Julian’s or God’s House from the 13th Century

that is today still an active English Church and it was

once used also as a Goal House and Debters Prison.
.

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I was in Southampton for the May holiday weekend to stay

and visit with my close London friends The Stoddards at
their lovely 19th century summer home at nearby Shirley,
which is full of local charity shops including one for, of all

things, the Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocelphalus.

I’m sorry, but no charity shop should have such a 42-letter

name like that. I can manage ASBH alot better, thank you.

I struggled to find something to buy in the ASBH shop,

but it was in vain and in the end I couldn’t find anything

of use to buy. I’m sorry, again … While by chance at

Andrew Payne’s East Street SPM jewellery shop in
downtown Southampton, I found the best selection of
ancient and rare world coins in a very long time and at quite
reasonable prices, too. Although in some cases the prices were

much higher than current US coin prices. The quid price is

now almost twice the value of the American dollar, so that

doubles the purchase price for most collectiable coins when

buying them in England. Nevertheless I found some pretty

good coins like the Nurenberg hammered jeton dated 1572.

How the coin dealer got to sell it to me for just two and

half quid I don’t know. Yes, it’s in very poor grade but any

kind of coin or token at where the date can been seen and

read of the 16th century is obviously worth more than two

and half quid or at least to me. Other than that, I also got

from Andrew Payne a fine-grade George III (1760-1820)

fourth laureate head Gold Half-Guinea dated 1797 and shown

above that I photo-scanned for my personal records. I found

a number of old American coins, too, including the 1866 three

cent nickel and three or four excellent Canadian Provincial

coins from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland of the 1870's.
Better still, when I left Andrew’s shop, I’d only spent just
over 14 quid or $US25.00 for what I got. I can easily get all

my money back by selling just the half-guinea and make

some profit even more beyond that. Alan Payne is a stand-

ing member of the British Numismatic Trade Association

(BNTA) that is by far the best in the UK.

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Sunday Brunch with The Stoddards at the De Vere
Grand Harbour Hotel was a lovely treat for me from

them. The De Vere doorman Alan Hillman was there to

greet us and to park our car and to open the grand doors

for us. He was a gracious and humble fellow all by himself.

We chatted together and he told me he’d been a doorman
for 10 years and simply loves his work after he’d been a

lowly factory hand since he was then a 17 year old boy

and at now he’s aged to 54. “You can never be in a bad

mood in this job,” he told me with his perpetual smile on

his kind face. He loves wearing his doorman’s uniform, he

told me. "It gives me respect," noted Alan. When I asked

him if I could take a photo of him for my blog, he was more

than delighted to oblige. Alan is a native Southampton son

and so proud of it … Compared to the other Alan, the goth,

the Alan at De Vere’s was the human prize of the day.
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Being the international maritime city that it is, it

was Southampton’s fantastic replica of a 14th century

English cargo vessel (shown above) that confirmed for

me its just place in British maritime history. I just
happened upon the replica vessel at some side street
near the West Gate of the city. Earlier, I also seen the
permanently grounded trawler called Calshot Spit,
shown below. It was an ugly looking contraption …
.

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So as I left the goth called Crow at Mayflower
Park, I saw some other young people having a jolly
good time on the swing and being pushed from behind

by a friend so that they could swing even more freely

and much, much higher. They were enjoying the free-

dom of their May holiday weekend in simplicity
and earthliness. Good for them …
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