An in-depth and historical study of solastalgia in North London . PART 1
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From – The Brickfields Gunners Blog
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Before you of the other lot start to comment or click the dislike buttons, hear me out . While admitting to a somewhat perverse pleasure in baiting Spuds fans , I do truly believe that this article will help you lot in understanding better that vague and disconcerting but pent up feelings of inadequacy and despondency you have whenever the topic of Arsenal is brought up .
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Your problem now has a name and that is – solastalgia . The philosopher Glenn Albrecht coined this word which is a portmanteau of the words ‘solace’ and ‘nostalgia’ , and it is widely used in clinical psychology and it is said to describe the feeling of distress associated with environmental change close to your home .
You can read the article here for further understanding of your ailment –
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151030-have-you-ever-felt-solastalgia . And quoting again from said article .
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‘ These changes to the landscape can come from natural processes (such as drought and bushfires) or human-induced processes such as climate change and urbanisation. ‘
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For many of you the idea that North London football means, and belongs exclusively only to Spurs has been ingrained into your minds by your predecessors – probably parents , relatives , fellow older fans and all those that hate what Arsenal stands for. That Arsenal have encroached into your God given domain has ever been drummed into your heads since infancy by those members of your community .
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These feelings of solastalgia does have interestingly an atavistic background . If you know the early history of The Isles or The Albion as it was then often called, you would know that ‘your’ so called lands had change hands many times in the course of time .
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The first time in recorded history was of course when the rampaging ‘Red’ hordes from across the Thames , The ‘ave Goths drove your ancestors , The ‘avenots Goths away with their cannons without much fight . But it is recorded that your ancestors did get to take their chickens with them . This incident gave rise to the later day flags and standards – the victors , their Red colour and the Cannon ; and your lot by Lily white and the chicken!
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What is not well known is that the English national dish also had its origins during this period . The ‘ave Goths were the tribal king’s Royal specialist armaments makers and produced the state of the art weapons of mass destruction in Woolwhich . For this campaign , they produced a cannon ball with a time release mechanism which did not explode on contact, but would only go off when some weight was applied in it. In many ways it was the precursor to the later day land mines and time bombs. It was equipped with a ticking sand clock timer. It is from this that the term ‘The ticking sands of time’ was coined.
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Attracted by the ticking noises , the chickens would alight upon it and were duly blown up, thus saving their masters from sure death . Again, the term ‘Cooking one’s goose’ also had their origins from this. When blown up, the heat emitted would cook the chicken its own fat and the resulting product became a favourite dish of the natives. Waste not, want not. And that is how the ‘ticker chicken ‘ was born . Many years later, when the Indians came to England, they added spices and sauces to this and hey presto , the ‘Chicken Tikka ‘ was re invented.
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When Tottenham Hotspurs came to being in 1882, the nostalgic locals used as their insignia the chicken on a cannonball to commemorate how the humble chicken came to save their gooses! But with the formation of Dial Square in 1886, the predecessors of the present day Arsenal , it was quickly changed from cannonball to football . From then on the feelings of hatred and enmity towards the Arsenal were fanned .
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In Part 2 – I will attempt to recreate the historical back ground of the region through the Roman conquests and domination, King Arthur – knight or knave and generally rewrite English history as I see fit . And what really went on in the Tottenham marshes?
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In Part 3, I will attempt to clarify and give my own insights to other incidents that have been the sore points of the Spuds – Arsenal divide, especially the periods in 1919. (The hotly debated ‘promotion’);
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- 1927 FA Cup ( Were Cardiff ‘given incentives ‘ to win ?)
- the 2nd WW ( Stadia destruction and sharing )
- 1961 – 1963 ( The last glory years ? )
- 1971 , 1998 , 2002 ( Arsenal double years )
- 1996 – The Wenger years begins – ( and goes on 20 years later , while they have had 20 managers! Boost or bane ? )
- 2005 (Jens Lehman & the Invincibles saga at WHL )
- 2006 – Arsenal changes the North London tableau forever with a spanking brand new stadium
Also coming soon…
- Across the divide they went – Willie Young , Pat Jennings , Sol Campbell, Terry Neil & David Bentely , Emmanuel Adebayor , William Gallas and George Graham among others .
- ‘arry Redknapp and Rosie tale – the truth finally revealed.
- The burning questions on building a new stadium with the Bale sale .
- European Sprusday games .
- Daniel Levy – The answer to all their prayers ?
- and much , much more ,
( NB – As most of these fact as presented here are fallacious , false and are figments of the author’s fertile and warped imagination , use them as you may to your own detriment ! )
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Meanwhile in the non-made up department, you might enjoy
10 March 1919, Arsenal elected. Find the bribery and get the reward
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910.
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal
“little” old spurs on track to taking another 4 pts off the deluded ones this season.
Another season where you failed to beat us in your own back yard.
All I’ve heard from you lot is excuses, injuries, fatigue, cazorla being poorly…boo boo
You got battered and you know it, hence this article
I’ve never met a Tottenham fan who feels ‘inadequacy and despondency’ about Arsenal. You can’t choose who your support so you never feel that about another club in the way that you never feel that about someone else’s children. I have always felt the opposite though as I trawl through the hundreds of articles that Arsenal ‘fans’ forever write about Tottenham and when I go to the away game and see the JLCs masquerading as Arsenal ‘fans’ sitting quietly in their seats, waving their brand new scarves and leaving 10 minutes before the end of the game.
Levy is a genius… I see your telepathic powers haven’t really improved much. Have you tried end of Southend pier as a source of income.
As a Spurs baiting article this is quite good, but do we really need to go there again.
It’s just an invitation to Spuds for come here and be unpleasant when I can do that with no encouragement at all.
Bang on Serge, bang on.
I suppose we should let them off smashing the nice clean toilets at The Emirates.
Their place is such a shit hole they probably don’t have them (or know what they are for) 😉
Just cannot come to terms with the words Levy and genius in one sentence, unless you are an agent profiting from the Bale squanderlings.
battered…..fair enough if that’s what the media tell you, the fact is, Giroud really should have had two or three. One win and one draw so far this season, advantage Arsenal, which remains the natural order of things under Mr Wenger..
The toilets have been mentioned , as a commenter on Positively Arsenal noticed, wherever Spurs make their temporary home, the rent just went up,
OT:
How to go Cazorla! Nobody in England has seen you play before. Not.
as a surs fan i regularly check on all the articles,on spurs and arsenal,and to me its back in forth between the two which is to be frank “a borefeest”both teams take “solace” in bleating on about each other,and whenever they can both teams get”nostalgic” on their past winnings over each other.i say forget about the verbal bullshit and be the awesome supporters of the clubs we can be,how,s that for a idea
Yes, impressive from Caz…hope they rest him next game though
Nice one Brickfields!!!
Oh dear did Caz score? I thought the mighty Spud was the Great Hope but I suppose Citizen Kane was more Citizen Khan!
Think Giroud scored as well, though events in Paris and around the stadium are overshadowing anything that happened in the game sadly
Yes, Giroud scored.
Too bad about the various violent incidents in France.
Russia has been punted from IAAF for a year.
Maybe corruption is on the way out? Mike Riley 😈 your time is done.
@glen….:)
How healthy a rivalry we seem to enjoy at the Emirates and WHL! Its such fun to watch the tennis match between us Gooners and them spuddies, even if we have dominated proceedings since Wenger’s arrival.
At least the totts play nice Football and usually don’t resort to rugby, like a few other Good old English throwback teams do. Long may it continue………….
Gord – we wait with bated breaths for Riley & PGMO to get some fraud squad attention. It will be the greatest moment in English Football history.
Hmmm not totally sure I agree OMG. Playing rugby, not sure if you mean Pochs team or recent teams. I remember Sagna getting his leg broken in a horrendous foul by one of their players …..unpunished, my guess Dean was ref. I also remember some choice diving, and some kicking , Mason recently…..unpunished.
as for last weekend, did see quite a lot of low level cynical fouling, including going through the back of Ozil when he has the ball , most of which went unpunished. Not especially leg breakers last weekend,but some cynical stuff……but with Atkinson as ref, why wouldn’t they?
But only my opinion, will defer to the refs on here
Menace, if they have engaged in corrupt activity, they should be very afraid, the dominoes are falling, and the more that fall, the more will come out as insiders squeal to save their skins
From the number of dislikes , I gather that this article has hit the raw nerve as intended ! It was also intended to hit the lighter vein and be harmless, but then again some are born without humour ! Or a funny bone . Unlike those who were born without a Humerus – now , that’s just armless !
And since there are also so many likes too, I will endeavor to work hard on Part 2 and the weird going-ons on and around the round table . Was ‘arfur really a king ? The origins of the legend of the Seven sisters Road will be re-examined , and shocking new details revealed .
Also explained the Black Death and where those rats really came from as well as other misconceptions of English history to be cleared by one who has never set foot on those shores.
You know , very much like how ‘them’ deluded fools come on here to presume to teach the AKBs and AW , how to support and manage the Arsenal !
If it all pans out , there will also be a part 4 – all on the legend that is Daniel Levy titled – Man or God ?
That ought to garner a few thousand ‘dislikes ‘ !
Mandy Dodd. Arsenal have had more sending offs than any other team since Wenger took charge. Arsenal are an extremely cynical team, masters of the dark arts and first to bleat when they get a bit back. Developed by Bergkamp it’s now in the DNA. They may play beautiful football, but to criticise others for being cynical suggests you haven’t seen Arsenal play
Ticker chicken!!! More articles please Dr.Brickfields!
levy is a genius – so, you battered us by drawing 1:1 at our soil despite playing against a team who had played with ten men for 45 minutes and a seventh-choice right winger (Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott, Wilshere, Rosicky and Welbeck would have all been ahead of Campbell) but yet managed to create more clear-cut chances than you?
What a battering!
That sort of reasoning is a direct consequence of believing Gary Neville’s judgement when he gave Tom-Delle Cleverley-Alli MoTM-award even if Mesut Özil created seven (7) chances for Arsenal.
@ levy is a genius – November 13, 2015 at 5:35 pm – This article was written before the derby game , but was sent to nowhere land by some hacker or another ! And by the way , A Happy St. Totteringham ‘s Day to all !
Hahahahahahaha
Nice one…
Challenge for bricksfield: how many delusional soul that call us delusional can you get with all the series??
Good one Brickfields!!
I do have several buddies who are tot supporters; in actual fact, they are a decent bunch (my buddies that is).
Their only downfall is their over-expectation of the team they support – but hey thats not our problem 🙂
Two women were playing golf. One teed off and watched with horror as her ball headed directly towards a foursome of men playing the next hole. The ball hit one of them and he immediately fell to the ground clutching his hands together in his groin, rolling around in obvious agony.
The woman rushed over and immediately began to apologize “Please allow me to help, I’m a physiotherapist and I know I could relieve your pain if you’ll allow me” she told him.
“Oh no I’ll be all right, I’ll be fine in a few minutes” the man grunted, still lying in a fetal position, still clasping his hands at his groin.
“Don’t be silly, Let me help!” she told him and, following her persistence, he finally allowed her to help. She gently took his hands away and laid them at his sides, she loosened his trousers and put her hand inside. She administered tender and skillful massage for several long moments and then asked “How does that feel?”
He replied, “It feels terrific, but my thumb still hurts like hell.”
I’m not really sure how to feel about this article. As an arsenal fan I’m interested in the arsenal spurs rivalry and and the historical events that inform it but this seems like it’s going to be just a series of digs at spurs fans which is fine if that’s your thing but is it really necessary. Even the headline is designed to annoy a section of fans and get them to click on the link in anger. Then I guess they will leave angry comments which we all can laugh at.
Isn’t the headline exactly the sort of anger inducing clickbait the site usually condemns?
This site was one of the first sites I followed precisely because it was one of the only blogs that approached the football with a rational and sane head. It was the blog that stood against the type of fans that called our own players joke insulting names and piled abuse on our manager instead calling for rational debate and politeness.
That’s why it always saddens me whenever a post here resorts to calling other teams joke names like tiny tots or posts articles winding up rival fans. I feel the site is better than that and the condecending tone at times detracts from the overall point or message.
I do appreciate the post and look forward to the follow ups. Hopefully they will highlight exciting and controversial moments from the past and not just be a thinly veiled excuse to laugh at and antagonize a fellow group of football fans.
Love the blog.
In having written this article , I have found myself to feel very liberated , free and without much phobias . The list is long , so for now , I’ll just name 12 of the best phobias ( that I don’t have .) that begin with the letter ‘ A ‘ –
Acerophobia- Fear of sourness.
Agateophobia- Fear of insanity.
Alektorophobia- Fear of chickens.
Allodoxaphobia- Fear of opinions.
Amathophobia- Fear of dust.
Anglophobia- Fear of England or English culture, etc.
Angrophobia – Fear of anger or of becoming angry.
Arsonphobia- Fear of fire.
Athazagoraphobia- Fear of being forgotton or ignored or forgetting.
Atychiphobia- Fear of failure.
Autodysomophobia- Fear of one that has a vile odor.
Automatonophobia- Fear of ventriloquist’s dummies, animatronic creatures, wax statues – anything that falsly represents a sentient being.