"Graeme Wall" wrote in message
news

On 20/10/2018 10:23, Offramp wrote:
I suppose some of us know that here is an inlaid swastika in the floor of
Upminster Bridge Station. I didn't until about a week ago.
The only other permanent swastika I could think of is on the side of the
Indian High Commission at Aldwych, right at the end of Kingsway.
I remember a small Indian shop near me had a hand-written NO SMOKING sign
that was covered in hand-drawn swastikas, not meaning "this rule will be
rigorously enforced" but simply, "for health".
The original "swastika" is a very old Indian symbol for good luck, IIRC
the Nazi version is actually drawn backwards.
A distant relative had them in the ceiling of her council house in
Birkenhead, as a feature surrounding the lighting rose.
Given she was extremely elderly when I was a child, I would imagine they
were original to the house and had probably been there since late 20s/early
30s.
Having been a midwife in Birkenhead and Liverpool in the interwar years, she
certainly wasn't right-leaning, and had she been that way minded could
probably have knocked out a couple of books to rival the 'call the midwife'
series!
James