Must go and pack a suitcase

Caught in the act

Thanks for all the advice about what to do with the meeces that are invading our cereal cupboard but I’m afraid it’s not in my nature to kill them.  We have some small mammal traps (i.e traps for small mammals – though they are also small traps!) which don’t kill.  They are primarily for examining little creatures outdoors but they come in useful for capturing the villains indoors as well.  

After being photographed the culprits were deposited in the Nursing Home next door.  They’ll probably be back but by then the holes may be filled in and with luck the experience of being trapped may deter them from coming back for more.  (Cynics are welcome to comment but please don’t be surprised if I continue to trap them alive!)  Partner-who-loves-tea-and-who-dislikes-Tesco wanted me to take them to the cereal isle in Tesco but I refused...

I'd walk a million miles for one of your smiles

In Postcrossing my ‘Postcards sent distance’ has just passed the one million miles.  That means it’s actually a lot more because only about a third of my postcards go through the Postcrossing process nowadays.  The majority are to and from friends.  

But whoever they come from they always bring a smile to my lips.  And lately I have had a lot of Inge Löök cards. They don’t just bring a smile – they make me laugh.   Inge Löök (real name Ingeborg Lievonen) is a Finnish artist born in Helsinki in 1951. She was once a professional gardener, but today she is most famous for her ‘Granny’ or ‘Aunties’ postcards which so many postcrossers love and collect. When she was a child, Inge lived with her family in a 7-storey building in Helsinki. In the same building lived two older women, Alli and Fifi, who later became the inspiration for the characters in her postcards. She says the women look nearly the same as their real-life models... but they have a lot more fun!  So far I have 14 of the Alli and Fifi cards and a signed Lupin one.  I think that if you click on this link you should be able to see all the ones I’ve got (I’m playing with Google picture albums. I'd be interested to know if the link works.)

The mother of all Swiss Army knives

A device described as the ‘mother of all Swiss Army knives' has gone on display at the Buffalo Bill Centre of the West in Wyoming, USA. Belonging to the Smithsonian, it features more than 100 tools - everything from a piano tuner to a .22-caliber revolver.

 It also includes two saws, a lancet, button hook, cigar cutter, pens, a mechanical pencil, mirror, straight razor, a cheese fork and a butter knife.  Made in Germany in 1880 for JS Holler & Co’s cutlery store in New York City, the beautifully crafted knife predates the Swiss Army knife by 11 years. 

According the Smithsonian website the knife - which is 3.5ins wide and 9ins long - wasn’t really meant to be carried.  It reads: ‘Knives like this were made exclusively for exhibition to highlight the cutlers’ art.  They were so difficult to make they were only attempted by the most notable firms with the most talented artisans.  They could be seen at various fairs and industrial expositions during the 19th century.'

The term ‘Swiss Army Knife’ came into being after US soldiers based in Germany during the Second World War had difficulty pronouncing the German name, Schweizer Offiziersmesser (Swiss Officer’s Knife).

We’re off…

Not in the sense of rancid butter or putrescent cheese but off on holiday.  Just twenty four hours or so and we will be driving down through Bridgnorth, Worcester, Malvern and Tewkesbury to Cheltenham.  Some of those places I haven’t been to for years.  In fact I don’t think I’ve been to Tewkesbury since we were married, twenty six years ago.  No doubt Partner-who-loves-tea and I will be checking out some of the cafes and charity shops en route. 

And Malvern has three of the four Victorian fluted pillar boxes with horizontal apertures, which date from about 1857.  To quote from Civic Voice - “Many famous Victorians and Edwardians lived in Malvern or came here to take the cure. It is fascinating to speculate how many letters from Darwin, Elgar, Bernard Shaw, Florence Nightingale and many others started their journey in a Malvern post box.”

This is the other surviving one, in Solihull (compared with a vertical apertured one in Birkenhead).  I took the photos quite a few years ago so I’m not sure if they still survive.

Bye for now...

I'm archaic...

Tuppence

I went in the Post Office this week for a few stamps.  I wanted twenty 1p stamps and twenty 2p stamps. 

 

Unfortunately the young lady behind the counter and I came across a communication gap when I asked for “Twenty one p stamps and twenty tuppenny ones, please”.

“Sorry?  Tuppeny?  What’s that?  You’ll have to translate!” she said.

“Tuppence.  Two pence.  Two p.”

“Ah!”

So when did ‘tuppence’ and ‘tuppenny’ disappear from the English language? And I conclude they have because my Spillchucker doesn’t recognise them as English.  It’s sad when you find you are old enough to be using archaic English…

Who remembers Pink Pills?

I remember Mum talking about “Pink Pills for Pale People”.   Englishman Dr Williams’ (1850-1920)  ‘Pink Pills’ were advertised as an iron rich tonic for the blood and nerves to treat anaemia, clinical depression, poor appetite and lack of energy.  I’m not sure about some of the symptoms but lack of energy is something for which I need the odd pink pill.

Alternatively I could use Davis & Kidder’s Patent Magneto Electric Machine For Nervous Diseases.  A great piece of 19th-century medical quackery that consisted of a brass mechanism that is cranked so that a static charge is built up and delivered through the two handles that the afflicted person is supposed to hold or apply to themselves.  Ouch.

Giant Squid

A 30 foot long Giant Squid in good condition was found by beachgoers in Spain last week.  Read more about it here. The deep-sea denizen—the fabled and mysterious Architeuthis dux - weighed nearly 400 pounds.  

It was delivered to the Maritime Museum of Cantabria, where it was cleaned and frozen, while a decision is awaited between museum scientists and the government as to what will be done with the colossal cephalopod.  They must have a fairly big freezer.  I bet they could get a lot of fish fingers in it.

Political hot wind…

Here is the actual quote:- "Wind is God’s way of balancing heat. Wind is the way you shift heat from areas where it’s hotter to areas where it’s cooler. That’s what wind is. Wouldn’t it be ironic if in the interest of global warming we mandated massive switches to energy, which is a finite resource, which slows the winds down, which causes the temperature to go up? Now, I’m not saying that’s going to happen, Mr. Chairman, but that is definitely something on the massive scale. I mean, it does make some sense. You stop something, you can’t transfer that heat, and the heat goes up. It’s just something to think about."

Packing my suitcase

Partner-who-loves-tea and I are off down South on Tuesday.  We are going down by a route we haven’t used before and taking a couple of days en route to Daughter-who-takes-photos and then another couple of days coming back.   It will be a well-earned break for PWLT after her moving offices and also holding a Residential for one of her student courses this weekend.  Although she will be doing all the driving I hope the gentle trip down and back will allow her to relax a bit.  So you may see us walking hand-in-hand through Tewkesbury and Glastonbury this week.

Getting her own back... 

Maria de Villota (1980-2013)

Sadly, racing driver Maria de Villota died today at the age of 33.

 

She was the daughter of former F1 driver Emilio de Villota and she competed in numerous racing series, including the World Touring Car Championship and ADAC Procar Series. In August 2009, she signed with Atlético Madrid to race in the Superleague Formula open wheel racing series. She remained with the Atlético Madrid team until the series folded in 2011. She also competed in the 2005 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race.

In 2012 she was involved in a testing accident whilst carrying out testing for the Marussia F1 team. Her car collided with a stationary truck at the end of a test run. It took an hour for her to be removed from the car and she was taken to hospital with life-threatening head and facial injuries. 

She took months to recover and at the time of her death was still requiring further surgery.  She had lost her right eye and suffered massive skull damage. Nevertheless she threw herself back into the sport and worked for improved safety and to introduce young girls to the thrill of racing. She said she was determined to stay involved with Formula One in some form and being a role model for aspiring young female drivers was extremely important to her.  In July she married her personal trainer.

 

On the morning of 11 October 2013, exactly one year from her first public appearance after her testing accident, she was found dead in her Seville hotel room. An autopsy confirmed she died of natural causes after suffering a cardiac arrest, with all indications that the underlying cause may have been due to a 'detachment of brain mass' as a result of her 2012 accident.

Monisha Kaltenborn, the team principal of the Sauber Formula One team, summed up her personality as someone who was always smiling and happy and who even used her face patch as a fashion accessory. She was due to launch her autobiography ‘Life Is a Gift’ on 14 October.  So ironic.

It can't be October already!!!!

De-mousing the Kitchen

We have a problem with mice in the Wendy house (my silly name for the garden shed!).   I’ve tried one of those electronic signal devices that is supposed to deter them but it doesn’t.  They haven’t actually chewed it yet but the droppings surrounding it suggest that they are treating it with a certain amount of derision.  Anything chewable in the Wendy House they chew.  They are a blooming nuisance, cute though they are when they’re climbing up to the bird table and parachuting off into the foliage like jumpers from the Golden Gate Bridge.

 And now we have a mouse nest in a porridge oat carton.  Not nice to wake up to!   I have cleaned out the food cupboard and whilst there are plenty of signs of mousy activity there is no mouse.  The problem is the cupboard is on an outside wall where all the pipes come and go and it’s possible it’s wandering in and out at will.  I’ve disinfected everything and, in the process, thrown out a few out-of-date products.  (White wine vinegar with 24.11.2008 on it is out of date isn’t it?)  The mouse deterring electronic beepy thingy is now in the kitchen and we shall see how things go. 

What exactly is a Doctorate? 

Matt Might, professor of Computer Science at the University of Utah, explains it in this graphic presentation that starts with a simple circle. 

(Though it might be safer to say ‘what exactly is a research doctorate?’).

A present from Canada / the Outer Hebrides

One of my blog readers from Canada recently visited the Outer Hebrides – a place she loves.  She was kind enough to send me a gift to help compensate for my not going to Lewis this year.  The contents were collected on Lewis and the marbled paper was made by her – one of her many skills!

Thank you Person-of-many-names

Orchid

Partner-who-loves-tea bought an orchid last week.  I'm never sure how I feel about Orchids.  In one way they are beautiful but in another they always seem a bit false to me. 

The Bridewell

Partner-who-loves-tea moved her training rooms this week – a major, major, like MAJOR job.  Her new rooms are near one of the old Liverpool bridewells which is now a restaurant.

(Bridewell - noun  archaic - a prison for petty offenders and a temporary prison for prisoners awaiting trial.)   In Liverpool all Police stations with cells were called “Bridewells” and the Main Bridewell in Cheapside was the central lock up and was classified as a prison with its own Governor who was a Police Chief Inspector.  This prison was completely secure - once you were in that was it.  A plaque on the wall said:

"Please do not ask for bail because a refusal often offends"

This bridewell in Argyll Street opened in 1861 and was built in the Victorian tradition of striking fear into anyone who had the misfortune to have to spend some time there under lock and key. 

The warehouse behind, now flats (apartments), dates probably from the early C19th. The old hoist canopy survives at the top.

The term Bridewell has its origins in the 16th century. Cardinal Wolsey had built a Bishops Palace at St Brides Well in London. Near to the banks of the River Fleet which is near to the modern day Fleet Street. Henry VIII at the time was using the Palace of Westminster when it was destroyed by fire. Wolsey offered the King the use of St Brides Well Palace; which the king accepted.

Not long after Henry VIII broke away from the Roman Catholic Church the word Saint was dropped from the name and the words bride's and well had been corrupted into Bridewell. The premises themselves became a house of correction or prison. Within a matter of years the term Bridewell had become common place throughout Great Britain.  Merseyside Police no longer use the term Bridewell, the word Bridewell Sgt. has been replaced by custody officer and the old term Bridewell surgeon has been replaced by FME (force/forensic medical examiner).

 Some more about the garden

 I love Poppies, both in flower and in bud.

We bought a couple of cheap boxes of mixed bulbs and seeds from Aldi earlier in the year.  They have proved marvellous value.  There were quite a few Gladioli among them.

Our James Grieve apple tree always provides plenty of fruit. 

There is enough for us to share with the blackbirds.

Take no notice!