Footprints and Umbrellas: Brolly Blog Goes Wandering

This is probably much more appropriate for my Internet Wandering/Wondering habits, but it is about umbrellas and comforms to my random unearthing of umbrellas in our lives. Today's link comes from India's Express News Service which tells the story of the patients of the Institute of Palliative Medicine (IPM), Kozhikode, who are eagerly looking forward to the monsoon season:

The reason, the 14,000 umbrellas made by them, some lying on the beds and some confined to wheel chairs, will be unfolded to drench the monsoon rains.

The umbrellas were made as part of "Footprints", the rehabilitation programme launched three years ago for the bed-ridden patients by the Institute of Palliative Medicine (IPM). The initiative is meant for terminally ill patients, suffering spinal disabilities owing to major accidents or diseases and often languishing in hospitals with excruciating pain and depression. Last year, more than 10,000 umbrellas manufactured by them as part of the training were sold like hot cakes.

An order for 14,000 umbrellas branded as "Footprints" has been received two months ago and the demand will soar up with the coming of the monsoon season, said IPM authorities.

While search for more information about these "umbrellas of hope" and for a visual to add to this story, I found the Institute's website, but not much else. However, what I did find, to my surprise, were several pairings for "footprints" and "umbrellas."

The first google hit (and several subsequent ones) was this children's book by Janet Dixon Clough and illustrated by Jennifer Savage Britton. A very recent volume, it is described as "From Ricky Raccoon to Tilley, My Dog and Spider to Raindrops, this collection of imaginative and readable poems brings a fresh and fun look to everyday experiences for parents and children to share. The illustrations will light up your child's imagination and kids will want to share these poems with all their friends. This is sure to be a favorite book in every child's library." Unfortunately, this description gives rise to neither footprints nor umbrellas, so I guess raindrops will have to do for our connection to the umbrellas of hope.

Lyrics | Squeeze lyrics - Footprints lyrics

Second, and something as far as way from a children's book as possible were the lyrics to the song Footprints by Squeeze which end:

The summer is over I can count the cost
Footprints on the beaches are now footprints in the frost
People with umbrellas disappear in the fog
Footprints on the beaches are now footprints in the frost

Both of which are a propos of nothing and are certainly a distraction from the real story--the role of umbrellas and umbrella making in doing good in this world.

The Queen's Brollies: Transparent Fashion Trending

When we last wrote about Queen Elizabeth II and the royally endoresed Fulton Umbrellas, we did not know all there was to know about the Queen and her umbrellas. Thus, a hearty thank you to the Daily Mail for catching us up:

When the Queen was caught in the rain outside St Paul’s Cathedral this week, she flourished a transparent umbrella with a deep red trim which matched her outfit. Coincidence? Hardly. She has a delightful and little-known indulgence: she commissions see-through umbrellas - so the public can see her - that are colour-matched with her clothes.

While the article is full of pictures showing these transparent umbrellas, with trims that match her clothing, let us just link you to the image most royal:

To quote again the Daily Mail: "They are made by Fulton in London’s East End. ‘We get the colours pretty spot on,’ says Nigel Fulton." The Daily Mail is quite the place for catching up with the Queen and umbrellas. For a wonderful display from 2011, check out Louise Boyle's article on "One's getting a soaking! The Queen carries a brolly as Buckingham Palace garden party is hit by downpour." But royals and umbrellas are nothing new it seems:

Travel Destinations: Umbrella Shops: London

After your visit to Paris,, it is short channel hop to London, where you will want to go to Oxford Street to see James Smith and Sons. As touted in the the Daily Telegraph: the umbrella shop "has remained largely unchanged since it moved to the location in 1857 (the shop was originally located in Foubert Place, off Regent Street, where it opened in 1830)." They sell "every conceivable type of men's and women’s umbrellas and parasols, as well as made-to-measure walking sticks (fitted while you wait)."

The Guardian has also listed Smith's as one of the 10 best shops in West London.

For the umbrella tourist, one blogger has chosen an umbrella theme London Walk that takes one to Smith's (or as the blogger would have it: the Umbrella Shop in Hazelwood House, before heading off to the "balcony of THE NATIONAL GALLERY on TRAFALGAR SQUARE when it starts to drizzle" to see thousands of umbrellas open up.

In addition, our London traveler can also visit "Brigg" (properly Swaine Adeney Brigg on St. James Street, but it doesn't focus exclusively on umbrellas. And at least one blogger, after going by Smith's to go to Brigg, then ended  dashing back to Smith's before closing to get what he really wanted!

Taking James Smith and Sons beyond their mark as a tourist destination, the publishers of Cane News [aside: does the Brolly Blog really cover canes? I think not!] have written about the craftsmanship evident at Smith's, but also about the "beauty inside"--particularly pointing to the "the corkscrew cane, the cane containing four dice, a pipe, two silver plated cups and a glass flask with Maplewood stick--or, the special Toulouse-Lautrec version with two glasses, glass flask and a stick made from laminated tropical hardwoods."

However, if you are an Avengers fan, then the most important thing to know about Smith's is that John Steed's "swordstick featured in the title sequence was made by venerable English umbrella maker James Smith & Sons."

Book Cover: Spring (by David Szalay) [US Divergence]

A new book cover today prompts suggestion that Americans like umbrellas more than the British, at least in the minds of publishers. The book in question is Spring: A Novel   by David Szalay. This book was first published in (no accident) Spring 2011 in the United Kingdom to fairly good reviews--"95 per cent excellence" according  The Independent. Exploring discussion of the book, it is clear that it does, indeed, take place in Spring and the Spring in England is rainy, clearly justifying tying the red umbrella to the cover. However, the original British hardcover had no image on it all, but was full of print, clearly appealing to a different sensibility:  

                                     

The British paperback edition goes away from this enticing text to a vague image, but no umbrella.

What can we make of this? Umbrella lovers appreciate the recognition of the power of the brolly, but does it really sell better in the United States? And how do we figure this out?

Before we leave the topic for today, I also report that Szalay does refer to umbrellas in his text--on at least four different pages if you accept the Amazon search tool. For the romantic entanglements involved in this novel, it is nice that the first reference (on page 66) appears to capture some of his themes:

Outside he puts up the umbrella. They have to squeeze together to get under it. They have not been in such proximity all evening and he smells the faded sense of her perfume - so familiar a smell, lingering in woollens - that she put on in the morning when she went to work. It is only a short walk to her flat. They have made this ingress together many times. They know what to do. He shakes off the umbrella and takes off his shoes.

The rest, I leave to your imagination!

Umbrella Crime Wave Continues: Washington Post Knows Nothing!

The Washington Post reports on a new instance of umbrella-carrying malefactors: This time in Potomac, Maryland, outside of Washington, DC, according to this poetic news account:

The rain falls, according to the Bible, “on the just and on the unjust, ” and a man who robbed a bank in Montgomery County on Friday may have taken that idea into account. 

The M&T Bank in Potomac was held up about 9:40 a.m. by a robber who seemed specially prepared for the wet weather conditions prevailing in the Washington area at that time. 

He had a handgun, Montgomery County police said. But he also carried, according to the description released by the police, an item not normally included in descriptions of robbers. During the robbery, police said in a statement, he “carried an umbrella.”

Unfortunately, the Washington Post is not familiar with the Brolly Blog and its crime reports involving umbrellas, not to speak of the use of umbrellas as weapons. For, as faithful readers would know, this is far from the first, and we do not purport to be complete in our recording. Nevertheless, the Post tells ITS readers that "But over the weeks and months, few descriptions of robbers have included umbrellas."

More important to our readership, the Post does note that "The account did not say whether anyone saw the umbrella unfurled." Thus, we can be assured that this criminal, at any rate, did not use the umbrella itself for nefarious purposes, but was preserving it for its primary purpose--protection from the rain!

[Aside: In another report on the same crime, the headline writer says that the robber "wielded" the umbrella, but the text gives no support, merely stating that he had a black umbrella with him.]