Red-Polled Cattle at Honingham Hall, Norfolk, detail, Country Life, Nov. 26th, 1904

Changes in the David Bowie sense this morning, if you know what I mean.  Here's a glimpse of Honingham Hall, famous in its day for the herd of pedigree red-poll belonging to the Hon. A.E. Fellowes, (1855-1924, created Baron Ailwyn in 1921), who'd succeeded to the Honingham estate on the death of his aunt, Lady Bayning, in 1887.

The Hall was used as an evacuation center for boys during the War; in 1944 retired diplomat and adviser to the British embassy in Chungking Sir Eric Teichman and his wife, Lady Ellen were living here when Sir Eric heard gunshots and went out into the grounds of the 3000 acre estate to investigate.  He was later found shot dead and two American soldiers stationed at the nearby USAAF airfield, Private George Smith of Pittsburgh and Private Leonard Wijpacha of Detroit were arrested and charged with the ancient English crime of murder by poacher.  [Source]  Private Smith was subsequently court-martialled, found guilty of murder and hanged, despite a plea of clemency from Lady Ellen.  Wijpacha was charged with accessory to murder but not sentenced to death.

As far as I can determine, the Hall was destroyed in the late 60s.  What happened to the cattle is unknown; however I think we can all agree that the lesson to be drawn is that the future is never certain, everything can change on the spur of the moment, and what was once a peaceful field of grazing cows can always turn into a crime scene.  Not exactly over night, of course, but still.  Nothing lasts forever.  

I was thinking something in a similar vein as I walked with a friend of mine last night on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, making our way through the happy contented crowds milling and spilling out of the many sidewalk cafes and popular watering holes along this busy stretch of thoroughfare.  "Remember when we were having so much fun," I asked my companion, "and then we woke up one morning and discovered we were thirty?"

"My doctor says Fifty is the new Thirty,"  my friend replied confidently.

"Oh I do hope he wasn't just being kind," I replied, not daring to ask what sort of medical coverage my friend had, or whether he'd ever been denied coverage for a pre-existing condition, or if he believed in Death Panels and mandatory sex changes, my reasoning being that it might make a difference if this was the view of a PPO doctor, some exhausted and overwhelmed MD doing time in the ER, or a young and optimistic Beverly Hills specialist in Botox or human growth hormone therapy.   "In any case," I said aloud, trying to sound positive and looking on the bright side, "I do hope he's right."