Friday activities and thoughts.

In contrast to yesterday, which was bright and crisp and frosty, today has been damp and foggy, less cold but less pleasant to be out and about in.

I was invited to join my daughter and Granddaughter Number Two for brunch at a cafe not far from here. Granddaughter Number Two returns to university tomorrow. She’s a great sentimentalist and so, despite having spent most of yesterday at our house, she wanted to make a ceremony out of seeing us before she heads cor the wilds of York!

In the café an electrician doing some work for them and a disgruntled customer trying help someone manoeuvre their way out of the rather restricted carpark almost came to blows! Drama on a Friday morning. Surely a simple apology and the offer to move the electrician’s van would have sufficed.

We scuttled upstairs to get away from a possible fracas. The venue used to be what they called a Visitors’ Centre before it became a cafe. The upper floor used to be full of stuffed animals (fox, squirrel, badger, owls other such animals and birds that you might see around here. I’d not been upstairs sin e it became a café. The upper floor is now a large echoey area with tables and comfortable chairs but no interesting exhibits. A group of people had a couple of dogs with them. I’m not a big fan of dogs in places when people eat but these were generally quiet and well behaved … until other dog-lovers arrived with s adog, whereupon mayhem broke out. He new arrivals retreated back downstairs with their dog! 

And that was pretty much Friday morning dealt with! 

 

We made good use of some of the time by checking diary dates, making notes in various diaries and notebooks.,we have not lost the skill,of writing, despite the dire prognostications of some experts. Here is a link to series of letters in repose to a recent article about ha dwriting disappearing. I particularly like his one: 

 “If children generally are not learning cursive handwriting, the question arises: how will the scholars of the future be able to read and interpret the handwritten documents of the past?

That this is already a problem was demonstrated recently when my husband received a plea from an American scholar specialising in the works and life of George Eliot. She wanted retired teachers to transcribe some of the author’s letters, as her students were unable to read cursive writing.
Marie Paterson”

They’ve recovered 67 bodies from the plane and helicopter crosh in Washington. The crash is still being investigated by experts but Mr Trump has already decided what caused it:

“The Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot. It was far above the 200 foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???

It must be good to be so knowledgeable!

Finally, here’s a link to pictures of Marianne Faithfull who has just died. Another icon of our youth gone.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Still cold. Plane crash. Some thoughts about coffee. And a rather weak joke.

Winter’s back again. Well, it never really went away; it just got a bit less severe. A friend of mine is trying hard not to leave her house at the moment as she really suffers from arthritis and the cold just makes it worse. This makes it hard to arrange to meet her for lunch. 

Anyway, this morning we woke to a heavy frost. There’s blue sky and sunshine though. It’s one of those odd days when you stand in the sunshine and feel the real warmth of that sun and then move into a shaded place and the temperature drops by a good 5 degrees. Somit goes. 

The cold weather over in Washington hampered rescue work in last night’s plane and helicopter crash. So far hey have recovered some 30 bodies. Nobody seems to know yet how it happened.

Since we have cold weather, here is a possible explanation of the expression ‘brass monkey weather’

:

Some people believe that the phrase comes from nautical slang and refers to a brass plate or tray that was used to hold cannonballs on a ship’s deck. When temperatures dropped below freezing, the metal would contract and cause the balls to fall off – hence the expression “cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.”

 

That sounds plausible to me.

I read that the UK is apparently the instant coffee capital,of the world with a whopping 54% of us choosing to drink it over traditional coffee, compared with a measly 39% in the rest of the world. It’s a long time since I had instant coffee in my kitchen cupboard. As a student long ago in France I discovered that the French had superior Instant coffee and over the years I have become something of a coffee snob. There was a time when I used to grind my own coffee beans but nowadays, with a range of different ground coffees available, it seems a rather pretentious waste of time. It was rather fun though to see the friends who liked to turn the handle of the manual coffee grinder. Like my Italian friend I find myself deploring the difficulty of finding good coffee amid the range of oddly flavoured coffees available. 

Here’s a photo Kyle McLachlan as Agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks enjoying a “damn fine cup of coffee”.

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And here’s joke to finish off with:

 

Most people have heard of Karl Marx but few know of his sister Onya, an Olympic runner. Her name is mentioned at the start of every race.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Happy Lunar New Year. Some zodiac animals. An iconic building from my childhood.

Welcome to the Year of the Snake, which begins today according to the Chinese zodiac, known as Sheng Xiao or Shu Xiang.

Facebook reminded me recently that 5 years ago I crocheted these little creatures for the Year of the Rat, at the request, I seem to remember, of my daughter who thought it would be a good present for her half-Chinese offspring.

And so a tradition began, with oxen the following year

then tigers,

rabbits 

and dragons. 

This year we have snakes.

Manchester city centre is already decorated with masses of red paper lanterns and there will be events over the weekend, including a procession with the traditional dragon. 

Let’s hope the sun shines for them

When I was a child, one of the familiar landmarks as we walked to school or went on family walks was the Round House at Hillside, Southport, not far from the Royal Birkdale Golf Club. I was always intrigued by the design and would have loved to get a look inside it, to see how they organised the walls of rooms in a circular building like that. The occasion never arose. 

Someone sent me a pair of photos of the Round House, one during construction back in 1926

and one as it is nowadays.

There is a story, almost a legend, that one year when an important (to the golfing world anyway) event was taking place at the Royal Birkdale, the CocaCola company had the idea of painting the building to look like a can of Coke. They are said to have offered the owners a large sum money, which was turned down. Quite right too! That part of town was far too select for such things!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Climate change problems for Galician shellfish. Is Oviedo in Catalonia. Chimney sweep boys. A song.

When I retired from teaching (one of lucky women old enough to be able to retire at 60 rather than having to continue rather longer) we went to live in Galicia, Northwest Spain, for a couple of years. And after that we divided our time between Galicia and the Northwest of England, more or less equally, until the pandemic came along. 

In the early years of our Galicia time we were impressed by the mildness of the climate, not too hot in the summer time (but quite hot enough for us northerners) and not too cold in the winter. In recent years I am told it has become rainier again, afflicted with the same storms and general climate change stuff that is affecting all of us. 

I was intrigued by the platforms we could see out in Vigo bay, platforms that I learnt were “bateas” from which hung strings to collect mussels. Today I read that climate change is playing havoc with the livelihood of the Galician “marisqueros”, the folk who make their living “farming” and collecting shellfish. Slightly warmer sea water and the dilution of the salty waters of the rías because of heavy rain pouring in off the land reduce the harvest quite considerably. Such a shame! We have fond memories of Galician sea food meals! Here’s a link to an article about it. Climate change is affecting us all. 

On the subject of things Spanish, we have just re-watched Woody Allen’s film “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” - not a Spanish film but set in Spain and starring Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, along with Scarlett Johansson. Ms Johansson’s character is supposed to be researching the “Catalan personality” or some such idea but turns out to be another Woody Allen character obsessed with analysing her feelings. Not as funny as some of his other films, in my opinion. Anyway, as part of her research (which disappears by the way when she becomes obsessed with photography) she looks at the work of the supposed Catalan artist played by Javier Bardem. Except that he turns out to be from Oviedo in Asturias, rather a long way from Catalonia … is he really representative of the Catalan personality! 

Maybe it’s another case of Americans not understanding European geography.

Now, here’s a link to an article about George Brewster, the youngest person to have a Blue Plaque put up in his honour. Eleven year old George Brewster was a chimney sweep boy, one of those children sent up the chimney’s grand Victorian houses to seep out the collected soot. Some of them got lost, some of them, like George Brewster got stuck and died. 

He was the last climbing boy to die in that way and his death contributed to a change in the law regarding child labour. 

I’ve spent some time trying to recall the name of the children’s story some aunt or uncle gave me - hard-backed children’s classics were popular presents for children in the 1950s: The Water Babies by Charles Kingsely. I can’t say it was the best book I ever read as a child but I was struck by the horror of sending children up chimneys.  

“A very popular stable in the Victorian schoolroom, The Water-Babies (1863) is a fairy tale with a purpose now little read today. The protagonist named Tom, a chimney sweep with no morals or education, falls into a river and transforms into a "water baby." In his underwater world filled with fairies, water nymphs, and other water babies, Tom has a series of adventures and essentially undergoes a pilgrimage. He proves his worth and ultimately returns to the human world. Author Charles Kingsley, who was also a reverend, wrote the tale both to delight and instruct young readers about Christian morality, the wrongs of child labor, redemption, and openmindedness. Kingsley was a strong supporter of Charles Darwin, and evolutionary theory underpins this fairy tale.”

“Most memorable are two fairies he meets--Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby, who imparts the Golden Rule, and Mrs. Bedonnebyasyoudid, who teaches that if one transgresses, one's  punishment  fits the crime.”

All this rambling is the result of Phil sending me this:

Dancing Bear I wouldn't want to be a chimney sweep All black from head to foot From climbing in them chimneys And cleaning out that soot. With a broom and ladder and pail, The darkened walls I scale--- And far.. And high... I see a patch of sky. I'd rather be the gypsy Who's camped at the edge of town, The one who has the dancing bear That follows him around. And he lifts his big foot up; He puts his big foot down, And bows... And twirls... And dances 'round and 'round. I found I was a cabin boy last night as I did dream, Bound upon a magic ship for a land I'd never seen. And the moon she filled our sails, And the stars they steered our course; And on our bow there was a golden horse. The queen eats fruit and candy; the bishop nuts and cheese And when I am a grown man, I'll taste just what I please--- The honey from the bee, the shellfish from the sea, The earth, the wind - a girl, someone to share these things with me.

Written by John Phillips and featured on  the album: The Mamas & The Papas (1966).

There you go.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Sadly it’s all about the children - lost, misplaced, left behind.,

Here is a poem by Michael Rosen in response to Trump’s proposal to “clean out” the Gaza Strip.

Trump talked of 

a million and a half people.

and he wondered aloud

what if

‘we just clean out that whole thing?’

He wondered aloud

what if we say

‘you know, it’s over.’?

What do you say

you people we vote for,

you who shroud your soft bodies in suits

and sit

enclosed in the safety of offices

in the towers of glass and steel

you who sit on TV panels

shaking your cheeks with horror

at outrages round the globe

what do you say

to the man who talks of 

cleaning out people

like the people are unclean

what do you say to the man

who  talks of people as

‘that whole thing’

like the people are a thing.

What do you say

to the President

who talks of  the people of Gaza

as if they are an unclean thing?

What do you say to us?

And here’s a photo of displaced Palestinians trying to return to Gaza. 

I read that some of them came under fire from Israeli forces who were angry because there was one person who was not included in the released hostages. One Palestinian was killed. That missing Israeli will be included in the hostages released on Friday..

Many of the Palestinians returning to Gaza don’t have a home as such to return to but have memories to return to and may be able to locate the bodies of family members lost under the rubble that remains.

Here is a link to a piece written by Nesrine Malik, with the headline “Goodbye to the children of Gaza. You were loved, you are remembered, you did not deserve it.”

 And here are a couple of extracts: 

“UN analysis of verified deaths during a five-month period confirmed that of those who died, 44% were children. Most often, those children were five- to nine-year-olds; 80% of them killed in their own homes.”

“Even if the ceasefire does herald the end of the war, there is no doubt Gaza’s youngest generation will limp forward into a dark future if the world cannot locate its empathy and an epic marshalling of crucial aid and support is not extended. 

In a plea to the security council last week, the United Nations undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs made that case for the maimed, orphaned, displaced and traumatised. 

“The children of Gaza are not collateral damage,” Tom Fletcher said. “They are as deserving as children everywhere of security, education and hope. They tell us that the world was not there for them throughout this war. We must be there for them now.” “

“Goodbye to the children of Gaza. You were loved, you are remembered, you did not deserve it.”

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!