Sunday 17 May 2009

Rambling to the shops



The other day the sundial in Exeter's Cathedral Close didn't allow for British Summer Time but otherwise was spot on. But what do you do on a day like today when it's dull and raining?

I really dislike AAA batteries. Almost everything I own uses AA batteries. Even on holiday I have enough spare and rechargeable AAs to fill a suitcase. But I don't carry spare AAAs. And that, I have just discovered, is what the mouse for my laptop uses. And it's raining. What is the relevance of that last comment? It means I'm going to get wet taking a trip to the shops. Ah well. I needed a lettuce any way!


It's funny the things that pop into your mind at odd moments. I was talking to myself as I flicked through making notes from a book. (What do you mean you don't talk to yourself - how weird is that?) One of the notes was on page 123 and into my mind jumped:-

One, two three mother caught a flea;
Put it in the tea-pot, made a cup of tea.
The flea jumped out; Mother did shout;
And in came Dad with his shirt hanging out.


To my surprise Daughter-who-takes-photos had never heard this nursery rhyme. I wonder if a number of the old nursery rhymes are gradually dying out as we fail to pass them on.

I don't know how I got there but I ended up on a myspace page for Solveig's music yesterday. I'm impressed. I thoroughly enjoyed 'Draumur n 2' - the first piece of music that came on - and was then led on to other music sites like Eponym's 'Sans Fin Vers La Lumiere'. I hadn't realised there was so much wonderful free music on the internet. Yes, I know, I'm a bit slow to catch on.


Friend-who-loves-Otters has gone off to Washington and the Bahamas to give talks on the environment. How else do you start such a journey than in an eco-friendly taxi? Unfortunately, while the taxi was on time the plane wasn't and he was still stuck in Bristol airport five and a half hours after the proposed take-off time with no chance of catching his onward flight from New York to Washington. Fortunately he had allowed himself time for such an eventuality but a night in New York had not been on his agenda!

Meanwhile, aliens have landed in Macclesfield, Cheshire. They are brown skinned with beautiful green markings, have long tails and lizard-like faces. (Actually they haven't just landed - they have been there for six years living in a garden. ) Scientists have given them the name Triturus marmoratus and if you want to see what they look like you can visit Andy Harmer's page.

Alternatively, below, there is a sneak preview courtesy of Clara Cartier (2006) whose image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License. (In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one. Official license.)


Marbled Newt (Triturus marmoratus)

P.S. For the first few hours of this posting Ian was described as Fiend-who-loves-Otters - Nothing personal, honest!

3 comments:

  1. Fun and varied post. :^)
    I have never heard that particular nursery rhyme.
    I taught many of them to my daughters and now the oldest is teaching them to hers...so we're doing our part in the proliferation....
    :^)
    C

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  2. Wow! What a beautiful alien!!! And who knows which of the "aliens" it will be to take over the earth???
    Batteries, a pain in the tush for sure!!! Dry off, and cozy up to the fireplace friend with a cup tea!

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  3. I like this sort of a hodge-podge post....little bits of life and news. I'm nosey enough to be fascinated by the minutia of life in other places.
    I fear that nursery rhymes may be out of fashion, as little ones get more TV time and less book time or mum-and-dad time.

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