Apologies and reparations. Another word of the year! Canal history.

 Apologies and reparations seem to be the thing at the moment. The King and the Prime Minister are both in the Bahamas and there’s a lot of talk about slavery. We should apologise and pay large amounts of money in reparation.

So here’s a Ben Jennings cartoon on slavery reparations.

I read that the Prime Minister plans to ask countries affected by the Uk’s role in slavery to help form our country’s apology.  And he has approved £40m in aid funding for the Caribbean

The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, says that making slavery reparations would be ‘a vast unjust fine on the British people”. 

“You may be able to fine individual people for their conduct, but not everyone for their nationality,” states Mr Welby. And as he points out, most of us did not get rich on the proceeds of slavery. Indeed some of the people whose taxes and so on would help pay the reparations are in fact descended from slaves. We need to hold up our hands and accept responsibility for stuff that went on in the past but the whole issue is very complicated. 

The King, by the way, found time to dance and play bells in a parade and the Prime Minister managed to play cricket. Serious stuff!

I’ve found another “word of the year”, this time selected by Collins English Dictionary. The word is “mogging” which apparently means outperforming or outshining someone or something. It is said to originate from “Amog” - alpha male in the group - a word that first appeared in bodybuilding culture around 2016. It’s now gone into everyday slang: “Teenagers mog elite athletes, a new video game mogs an old favourite, and your friend’s sourdough mogs the loaf you spent all weekend proving, Basically, if someone or something has made you look a bit rubbish by comparison, you’ve been mogged.”

Who knew? I am completely out of touch with the world of slang. I must consult the grandchildren.

Michael Rosen posted something from Rural Historia:

“Imagine having to move a canal boat through a dark tunnel using nothing but your legs.

This was known as “legging” — a method used to propel boats through canal tunnels and water-filled adits before motorised boats became common.

Many early canal tunnels were built without towpaths because adding one would have required a much wider tunnel, making construction considerably more expensive.

That created a problem: once the tow horse was detached, how did you get the boat through?

The answer was legging.

Crewmen would lie on their backs or sides on planks fitted to the boat and literally “walk” along the tunnel wall or roof with their feet, pushing the boat slowly forward through the darkness.

It was hard, awkward and exhausting work, but for many years it was one of the few practical ways of getting an unpowered boat through a long tunnel.

A wonderfully simple solution to a very expensive engineering problem.”

I’ve heard of this before as Standedge Tunnel is not far from here in Marsden. I think it’s even possible to take boatbtrips along the canal and through the the rather impressive tunnel.

Thw first comment on Michael Rosen’s post was this’

“If I remember correctly, the canal owners did not wish their tunnel walls and roofs to be damaged by the clogs of the boatmen, so often insisted that their clogs were wrapped in bits of cloth to give some protection to the brickwork/stonework.

Hence the origin of the term “toe-rag”..”

Interesting stuff.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone.

Confused flowers. Words and neologisms. Hackers in supermarkets. Astrology. And exercise.

 Sometime in the summer, towards the end of August, I realised that a stray plant growing in an abandoned plant pot on the garden wall was in fact a sunflower. Goodness knows where the seed came from but I watched it develop from this

to this. A bit of an unexpected bonus beauty!

Over the last week or so I have observed another plant growing in another abandoned plant pot in a different part of the garden. Surely not another sunflower! But it looks for all the world as though that is what it is!

It’s November. What is a stray sunflower doing in my garden at this time of year? What chance does the poor thing have of actually coming into full bloom?  This is not an isolated incident. On Saturday I stopped and chatted to a lady whose well-kept garden I always admire as I run past. She pointed out a large white poppy flowering out of season, a clematis which was throwing new buds, and various other odd floral developments. So my sunflower is not the only plant totally confused by climate change!

I’ve been reading odds and ends about words. It’s just one of those odd things I do. Apparently Dictionary.com always chooses a ‘word of the year’ and this year’s is the suffix “maxxing”.

They say that “maxxing” is not a new concept. Dungeons and Dragons players have been “min-mixing’ character stats for years (whatever that means!). And as far back as the 40s the term was used in game theory (another area of mystery for me). I notice that in these explanations the word is spelt with 9nly one x. But in recent years it seems we use the new spelling to “optimise” all facets of our lives. Influencers of both genders go in for “looksmaxxing”. We indulge in “personalitymaxxing”to charm people, and in “sleepmaxxing” to get the best possible rest. People are proteinmaxxing their breakfast, tokenmaxxing their use of AI … cozymaxxing on a Friday night  Even the pentagon is reported to brag about “lethalitymaxxing”! 

It’s a whole new way of describing things.

Here are some neologisms of a different kind:

Fauxstalgia:- The ache for a memory that was AI-generated and never actually lived through.

Algonesia: - The inability to remember whether you discovered something yourself or were served it by an algorithm.

Hoverwhelmed:- caught between tracking your child responsibly and becoming obsessed with the flood of real-time parenting data.

Flawnting;- influencers publicly performing imperfections in order to signal their aithenticity.

Puregatory:- the plight of trying to live ethically, where even responsible choices feel compromised.

I think it was some time early last month that I heard about freezers in some large French supermarkets being hacked. Temperatures set at -25° were raised to 40° of 50°. The contents of the freezer compartments had to be thrown away - such food waste! - such a loss of income for the supermarkets! Today I read that stores in Sweden, Belgium and Luxembourg have also been hacked in a similar fashion. Goodness! There’s a bit of me that wonders, however, why supermarket freezers are computer controlled at a national level so that such hacking is possible - hack into the system and mess up the settings for just about all the stores of a particular brand! And do the hackers do it for the fun of the challenge? Or is it a not so subtle protest at AI taking over?

Another way of organising the world exists! Or so it seems! According to this article, astrology is enjoying renewed popularity among Gen Z. They are finding the world too complicated and looking to the stars is a way of understanding what is going on. What a surprise! I’ve never really been into astrology but it’s always amusing to read last month’s horoscope at the hairdresser’s and decide how good it was at predicting what happened in your life! 

And finally, here’s a cartoon about exercise in the age of zoom-classes!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone! 

Hallowe’en. Jack-o’-Lanterns. Mischief and trick or treats. Demonstrations.

 Well, that’s Hallowe’en out of the way. 

Now the shops and supermarkets, and pubs and restaurants for that matter, can concentrate fully on Christmas. After all, there’s less than two months to go!

When I was visiting my son recently, I watched my daughter, my son and my daughter in law help their children carve scary faces onto the pumpkins we had collected the previous day. My offspring and I reflected on the fact that I had never done this with them. They’re both in their mid- to late-forties and back when they were small nobody carved pumpkins. And nobody festooned gheir gardens with Hallowe’en decorations.

And yet I can remember going to “hotpot suppers” in our church hall as a child at this time of year. The church hall was decorated with Jack-o’-lanterns and we had fun watching brave or foolish people “bobbing for apples”, trying to catch an apple just with their teeth from a selection apples floating in a barrel of water. 

Jack-o’-lanterns were made from turnips, hollowed out and carved and lit from inside with a candle. That sounds like pumpkin carving, does it not? Apparently these lanterns were part of Samhain, the ancient Celtic pagan festival that marked the end of summer and the beginning of the Celtic new year and long winter ahead. (Samhain translates to “summer’s end” in Gaelic.) From sunset on October 31st and continuing through into November 1, Samhain ushered in the transition from the autumn equinox to the winter solstice. During those two days, ancient Celts believed that the veil between life and death was at its narrowest, allowing spirits to roam freely between both realms.

I find it rather odd now that my childhood Church of England community did not flinch at the idea of having pagan symbols at our hotpot suppers. The Church of England school our smallest grandchildren attend recently vetoed any mention or suggestion of the pagan Hallowe’en when the Parents Association organised a “Choose your Pumpkin” event. Everything and everyone is a lot more sensitive and aware of political correctness nowadays.

Here’s something else about Jack-o’-lantern:

“The term jack-o'-lantern has a history connected to mysterious lights seen at night. The name was used for flickering lights that appeared over marshes and other dark landscapes, sometimes known in English folklore as will-o'-the-wisps.

These unexplained lights were associated with supernatural beliefs and stories about wandering spirits. Over time, the term became linked to the carved lanterns made from vegetables.

One popular Irish folktale tells of a man called Stingy Jack, who was said to have tricked the Devil and was ultimately condemned to wander with only a glowing ember to light his way. In the story, Jack places the ember inside a carved turnip, creating a lantern.

Versions of the tale vary, and its precise relationship to the development of the carving tradition is uncertain. Nevertheless, it remains one of the best-known explanations for the name and has helped reinforce the jack-o'-lantern's association with Halloween folklore.”

Anyway, Irish and possibly also Scottish immigrants to the USA took the (Samhain) turnip lantern tradition with them. Pumpkins were found to be larger and easier to carve and so a new tradition evolved. So, what about trick or treat? 

Well, it seems that long ago people were afraid of the spirits that could roam the earth at Samhain and wore masks, old clothes or disguises in order to blend in with their supernatural visitors -“guising”. As with so many religious festivals, All Saints’ Day was moved in the 8th century to November Ist, in an attempt to replace Samhain with a Christian festival. And so the eve of All Saints’  (All Hallows) became holy, or hallowed: hence Hallowe’en. By the end of the Middle Ages guising evolved into “souling”. Poor people, especially children, would go door-to-door on the night of October 31 and offer to pray for the souls of people’s loved ones in exchange for money or food. Within a few hundred years costumed visitors started offering to perform a little trick—perhaps a song or dance—in exchange for money or food. 

There you go! And we largely forgot about it. Maybe it got mixed in with “mischief night”, November 4th, the eve of Guy Fawkes night, when naughty boys posted “bangers” and “ripraps” through people letter boxes or tied them to the tails of dogs. 

But trick or treat became a thing in the USA:

“The rise of Halloween in the U.S.

The phrase trick or treat was first recorded in 1927, and during that decade the pastime caught on in the United States. Early Halloween celebrations leaned heavily toward tricks. During the Great Depression these pranks sometimes turned dangerous—cars were overturned and telephone poles were cut down. Hoping to discourage vandalism, various groups began promoting trick-or-treating.”

And sometime in the late 1980s - 1990s the tradition was re-imported from the USA to the UK. And to most of Europe as well. We’ve seen it in Spain and Portugal. Although in places like Spain, today, All Saints’ Day, remains a day to visit and tidy up family graves.

However, that’s Hallowe’en over with for another year.

In France in all got mixed up with anti-government protestors, some of them in Hallowe’en costumes. French interior minister Laurent Nuñez told demonstrators that Halloween would not be accepted as an excuse to wear masks or trigger street violence. 

More than 300,000 people across the country took to the streets to march in what authorities said were largely peaceful demonstrations on Saturday. 

But there were violent incidents with molotov cocktails thrown at police and tear gas fired at protestors. This was the third consecutive weekend of nationwide demonstrations. Demonstrations also took place in parts of Germany. 

We are living in troubled times.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Sunshine and frost and the frustrations of life.

 It was a fine, bright morning when I went out for today’s run.

It didn’t feel all that cold but in shady places not yet reached by the sun there was evidence of frost. The first I’ve seen since last winter.

So the day began well but it went on to be rather frustrating.

In the late morning I went shopping. Now, the other day I commented on how complicated it had been to activate my replacement credit card. In fact, the most frustrating bit of it was waiting to speak to an actual person and not a bot.  But then it was fairly painless and I was assured that all would be well. Yesterday morning I tried to use it in our local co-op store. The card was not accepted. Okay! This could be just one of the vagaries of our local co-op. So today I tried again in Tesco - “card unsupported”, the machine said. How very embarrassing! i had to find another way to pay.

Now, I am not the main cardholder. Long ago we decided there was little point in having separate credit cards and Phil became the main card holder with me as an additional cardholder. So on my return from frustrating shopping we went online to see what needed to be done. Yes! The main cardholder had to activate things online, something that was not clear when my replacement card arrived. This new procedure was equally as frustrating as the first attempt, with a zillion details to be filled on and secret passcodes being sent across the ether! Hopefully it has all been successful. And later this afternoon we’ll go for a wander and try it out … again!

Modern life is full of frustrating complications. 

I watched an example on the bus as I made my way home from the supermarket. A man got on with a baby buggy, an empty one as the infant was perfectly able to walk with his sibling. The bus driver instructed the man to fold the buggy as two others were about to get on. Okay, said the man. He checked out the available space and simply parked his buggy. Buggy number two (occupied this time) got on and found a space. Buggy number three (also occupied) followed suit. The bus driver then  had a bit of a hissy fit and told the man with buggy number one once again, but rather more forcefully, that he had to fold up his buggy. He duly did so. The folded buggy took up marginally less space than when it was opened up! The driver is only allowed to accept two unfolded buggies at a time. Rules are rules! And must be obeyed! At all times!

It’s a good job nobody got on with a wheelchair!

I read this article earlier today about an longstanding cafe in Athens which is having to close because it’s lease is not being renewed. It is a victim of gentrification. The whole district of the city is changing. Old greek places are being made international to boost tourism.

Here’s something I found about cafes in Greece:

“Cafes in Greece and the Greek Islands is not only just an entertainment place, but it is also a way of living and a big part of daily culture. You will see cafeterias in every corner of Greece, from the busiest spot of the town till the most secluded village in the mountains. People in Greece have their favorite cafeteria where they enjoy long hours with their friends. An average coffee meeting in a cafeteria for a Greek is about 1 and a half hours. The most favorite coffee for the Greeks is the famous frappe. But now many kinds of freddos are the trend (fredo espresso and fredo capuccino).

In summer, cafeterias in Greece are the best places to enjoy a morning coffee or a cold afternoon refreshment. In small towns and villages, in the central square, you will find the Greek traditional cafe that is called kafenion. These kafenions in Greece are mostly frequented by old pensioners or middle-aged men who drink Greek coffee, chat and play cards or backgammon (tavli). Unofficially women are not banned from sitting in the Greek kafenions but they are mostly frequented by men.”

I wonder how they feel about caramel latte, Granddaughter Number Two’s favourite. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Patrick Stewart. Hour-glass figures. Sales of books. Elections. And contrasting brothers.

When I commented last night about the actor Patrick Stewart on our family group chat I think I rather shocked Granddaughter Number One. Patrick Stewart, Captain Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek among other more classical roles, has just died at the age of 86. I said, in Star Trek fashion, that he had ‘boldly gone’ where others had gins before him. Granddaughter Number One seemed to think this was in bad taste or disrespectful. Then this morning I spotted this headline, “To baldly go: Patrick Stewart was an icon for bald men everywhere”, to an article by Stuart Heritage in the Guardian, praising the actor for embracing his baldness and becoming a role model to bald men everywhere. 

There you go. It”s not just your acting that counts, but the image you project to your fans.

As regards images, I hear that the latest thing in plastic surgery is to have a couple of lower ribs broken, or sort of bent, like a green stick fracture, and then to wear a corset so that they reset themselves in a narrower fashion, giving you a wasp waist. I am reminded of the scene in Gone with the Wind where Scarlett O’Hara is being laced into a corset to emphasise her already fashionably slender waist. It’s amazing what some women will put themselves through for the sake of ‘beauty’. This latest plastic surgery craze is for an hourglass figure apparently. Some women had it naturally, such as Marilyn Monroe, so I am told. Others are seemingly prepared to undergo torture to achieve the same shape. And the history of fashion can provide numerous examples of other strange practices. And it’s not just women who give in to that pressure! 

I have read that sales of Sally Rooney’s books have increased dramatically since her publisher decided not to publish any more in the UK. The mean brigade are saying that this was a clever sales ploy on the part of Ms Rooney! Presumably increased sales means further financial support for Palestine Action. 

The results of the elections in Israel remain somewhat up in the air. At least one report tells us this’

“Netanyahu’s political future uncertain as Israel election results deny him majority

Israel Election Results 2026 Live Updates: Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud-led alliance has won 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, falling short of the 61 needed for a majority. Gadi Eisenkot's opposition bloc secured 48 seats, while two Arab parties won a record 19 seats, setting the stage for difficult coalition talks.”

We shall see.

Meanwhile, in the UK Andrew Mountbatten Windsor remains a thorn in the side of his family, with police investigating his having invited Epstein and others to stay in Balmoral. All in the past but still embarrassing for his big brother, no doubt.

King Charles himself is in the Bahamas, on the one hand facing demands for reparation for slavery which helped make his forbears rich and on the other dancing in he streets in parades. Maybe he has always wanted to do something like that. 

And here’s a cartoon about stockpiling :

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!