Thursday 3 September 2009

Hermes - Winged Messenger of the Gods



Poor old Hermes has stood here in Mellerstain for many decades, in all weathers, uncomplaining. Faithfully watching the southern aspect of the house, ready at a moment's notice to fly to Zeus with any important message. One day he may learn how to use one of these new-fangled mobile phones but for now he's content to stay with the old tried and trusted system.

14 comments:

scarlethue said...

I'm not in London anymore-- we lived there for about 14 months while I was getting my masters degree in art history, from August 2005-October 2006. I am not actually using that degree now... but it was fun to study over there!

PhilipH said...

Oh, right. Thanks for clarifying that for me. I thought the way you described your first few months there was great. Maybe you can dredge up some more memories of those days. I love such tales of trials, tribulation and eventually happy outcomes.

lovelyprism said...

Can you imagine what Hermes and Zeus would have thought of a cell phone? Surely they would have thought it was some sort of magic.

Monkey Man said...

What an amazingly photogenic estate you care for. I love these snippets and would love to march the grounds with you some day and partake of your knowledge.

Argent said...

Like Monkey Man said, the estate is definitely worth a visit, it looks lovely.

Lynn said...

I can't really feel sorry for poor old Hermes. He has an incredible view of a fabulous estate. Wish I could visit in person and see the grounds. Reminds me of our Biltmore Estate.

BTW, thanks for asking about the bee sting. It is fine. Just aggravates me that I lose a bee when I'm stung. Usually due to my mistake.

DUTA said...

In greek myhology Hermes was the messenger from Gods to humans, He wore shoes with wings and used them to fly freely from the immortal world to the mortal world.
In our world there's no need for messengers like him; we have mobile phones and e-mail.

the walking man said...

It looks like old Hermes may need a curatorial bath. Even the god's carrier pigeon needs be clean occasionally. Beyond that though Philip, do you know the provenance of the statue? The sculptor and age of the piece?

I wonder also now that you have shown some of the scale of the estate, did you feel it slightly imposing when you and the missus first arrived?

Jo said...

Say ...

There seem to be quite a few rooms there. Are you allowed to have guests?

Hey, everyone, I hear Philip is having a "Blogger buddies" reunion.

What an absolutely gorgeous, wonderful place!

Barry said...

Great idea Jo! Looks like the perfect place for a Blogger get-together.

Thanks for the video Philip. That was a real treat.

scarlethue said...

Haha, baseball is like your cricket, I guess, but not really. And we do play your version of football over here, only we call it soccer. My brothers both played it growing up and it's becoming more and more popular, but nothing compared to our American football. It's huge here, very similar to rugby.

PhilipH said...

Thank you all for visiting; it's nice to see you, one and all.

Mark, when we first came here it was somewhat awe-inspiring for a pair of aging ex-Londoners. We soon felt at home though.

I have no knowledge of Hermes' provenance or sculptor. I think he is looking a tad weather-worn but this actually enhances him, imo. Makes him look his real age!

A human kind of human said...

Hermes with a cellphone... now that paints a hilarious picture. What a lovely place to live. The gardens look simply beautiful, more like a park than a garden, or is that just my SA idea of the difference between a gardena and a park.

Land of shimp said...

Hermes knows better than to trust a cell/mobile. Think of the consequences of a dropped signal when dealing with the already prickly immortals!

Email? Heavens forefend! A hacker might have access to the privileged communications. No, it is best to count on the tried and true. Hermes would never let you down, after all, he's managing to withstand that wind in a state of undress. He has the ...um...fortitude to get the job done, shall we say?

Lovely video, Philip :-) Thank you for sharing it.