Saturday 31 December 2016
Friday 30 December 2016
Closed for Christmas
Partner-who-loves-tea and I were in Hoylake on The Wirral on Tuesday. Because Christmas Day was a Sunday the day after Boxing Day was a Bank Holiday. There is no collection from post boxes on a Bank Holiday. Nevertheless, we did not expect to find that the post box had been gift-wrapped for the holidays! Very amusing!
Colleen on her blog brought to my attention a brilliant tweet from this week -
“Betwixtmas: the days in between Christmas and New Year when you’re not sure if you should be drunk or at work.”
Colleen on her blog brought to my attention a brilliant tweet from this week -
“Betwixtmas: the days in between Christmas and New Year when you’re not sure if you should be drunk or at work.”
Thursday 29 December 2016
Scouse, lobscouse and Scousescrapers
Over the last few decades the number of tall buildings in the centre if Liverpool has grow'd like Topsy. With the usual local humour they are not referred to as skyscrapers but Scousescrapers.
When I was young the waterfront skyline had just three main buildings . Then during the 1960s other tall buildings began to be constructed.
Now it looks like this:-
Here are some of Liverpool's more recent Scousescrapers.
Scouse is a type of lamb or beef stew. The word comes from lobscouse, a stew commonly eaten by sailors throughout Northern Europe, which became popular in seaports such as Liverpool. In addition to the dish it is now used as a term for people originating in Liverpool or their accent/dialect.
Having been born in Liverpool, I am a Scouser though Dad and Mum ensured I never adopted a Scouse accent.
The first known use of the term "lobscouse" is dated 1706, according to Webster's dictionary. Smollet refers to "lob's course" in 1750.
The roots of the word are unknown, but there are at least three competing theories. It has been suggested that the dish is "almost certainly" of Baltic origin, and labs kauss in Latvian and labas kaušas in Lithuanian both mean "good ladleful". Similar dishes are traditional in countries around the North Sea, such as Norway (lapskaus), Sweden (lapskojs) and Denmark (skibberlabskovs, meaning "skipper's lobscouse"). Another theory posits a Low German origin from lappen (dewlap) and kaus (bowl). An English origin has also been proposed: through "lout’s course", via "lob’s course" to "lobscouse".
Some of Liverpool's tall buildings date back to the turn of the 20th century or earlier like the Liver Buildings (below after having been cleaned in the early 1960s).
The dock buildings may not be skyscrapers but they are still pretty tall (the dock warehouses on the right have been converted into a hotel).
There are also a lot of new medium-rise buildings which although not noticeably tall make brilliant use of glass and other material.
And even where that isn't the case the buildings have often been enhanced one way or another.
Wednesday 28 December 2016
Inn Signs - The Salutation Inn
In Topsham in Devon is an inn called The Salutation Inn.
Most inns of that name date back centuries and the name refers to the Annunciation - the greeting of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary. In the seventeenth century the Puritans strongly objected to such signs and they were changed in various ways, some to be changed back after the Restoration.
An old print of the Inn in an art shop showed it once had an ordinary inn sign though the content couldn't be distinguished. But the inn sign for this Salutation Inn is now a broomstick and, being unable to work out why that should be I enquired within.
I obviously wasn't the first person to have enquired and I was told that the broom was a popular sign for an inn, signifying that it was well-kept and clean. A most plausible answer. But I haven't found any evidence to that effect on-line or in any of my half dozen or so books on inn signs. Nor have I ever seen another inn sign of a broom without it relating in some way to witches. Strange.
(For the answer please see Librarian's comment below.)
Most inns of that name date back centuries and the name refers to the Annunciation - the greeting of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary. In the seventeenth century the Puritans strongly objected to such signs and they were changed in various ways, some to be changed back after the Restoration.
An old print of the Inn in an art shop showed it once had an ordinary inn sign though the content couldn't be distinguished. But the inn sign for this Salutation Inn is now a broomstick and, being unable to work out why that should be I enquired within.
I obviously wasn't the first person to have enquired and I was told that the broom was a popular sign for an inn, signifying that it was well-kept and clean. A most plausible answer. But I haven't found any evidence to that effect on-line or in any of my half dozen or so books on inn signs. Nor have I ever seen another inn sign of a broom without it relating in some way to witches. Strange.
(For the answer please see Librarian's comment below.)
Tuesday 27 December 2016
Budleigh Salterton, Devon, November 2016
Partner-who-loves-tea and I had a trip to Budleigh Salterton in early November.
The weather was sunny and, surprisingly, warm enough for her to sit on the beach and relax for a while.
The pebbles on the shore are a source of endless fascination.
The weather was sunny and, surprisingly, warm enough for her to sit on the beach and relax for a while.
The pebbles on the shore are a source of endless fascination.
Monday 26 December 2016
Christmas Dinner
The gales from Conor quietened overnight on Christmas Day on The Wirral only to resume in earnest in the evening but otherwise all was Peaceful at the Willows.
We had a lie in - a real treat for Partner-who-loves-tea - and then she and I played a word game before Son-who-cooks joined us for the present opening ceremony. The cats were quite delighted though Annabelle disappeared after jumping into the bag of discarded wrapping paper and frightening herself.... Mac took a far more dignified approach to the process, wondering all the time which parcel was going to contain food.
My presents included a lot of books (surprise, surprise), a beautiful calendar, a jigsaw puzzle, sweets, mugs, a laptop case, a mouse, a Paperblank notebook and diary, sketching charcoals, a lovely wooden dove ornament (now on the window but next year it will go on the tree), and a super Rosina Wachtmeister cat called the Devourer of Books.
The Queen's speech about inspiration was well worth listening to (not something I always feel though Partner-who-loves-tea watches it avidly every year). And then it was time for Christmas Dinner which as usual was made by Son-who-cooks and was delicious.
For those who want to know what was on that plate there was -
chicken, pigs in blankets, roast potatoes, broccoli, sprouts (hiding), carrots, carrot and swede, roast garlic, sage and onion stuffing, gravy and a speciality of our chef - a mix of sprouts, pancetta, garlic and some secret ingredients.
Thank you Chef.
The drink is blackcurrant prosecco with which we toasted both Christmas and the arrival of Toby and Katie in October.
Then p-w-l-t and I watched 'Strictly Len Goodman' which we recorded a few days ago, and it was off to bed. The Christmas 'Strictly Come Dancing' show was recorded for Boxing Day.
We had a lie in - a real treat for Partner-who-loves-tea - and then she and I played a word game before Son-who-cooks joined us for the present opening ceremony. The cats were quite delighted though Annabelle disappeared after jumping into the bag of discarded wrapping paper and frightening herself.... Mac took a far more dignified approach to the process, wondering all the time which parcel was going to contain food.
My presents included a lot of books (surprise, surprise), a beautiful calendar, a jigsaw puzzle, sweets, mugs, a laptop case, a mouse, a Paperblank notebook and diary, sketching charcoals, a lovely wooden dove ornament (now on the window but next year it will go on the tree), and a super Rosina Wachtmeister cat called the Devourer of Books.
The Queen's speech about inspiration was well worth listening to (not something I always feel though Partner-who-loves-tea watches it avidly every year). And then it was time for Christmas Dinner which as usual was made by Son-who-cooks and was delicious.
For those who want to know what was on that plate there was -
chicken, pigs in blankets, roast potatoes, broccoli, sprouts (hiding), carrots, carrot and swede, roast garlic, sage and onion stuffing, gravy and a speciality of our chef - a mix of sprouts, pancetta, garlic and some secret ingredients.
Thank you Chef.
The drink is blackcurrant prosecco with which we toasted both Christmas and the arrival of Toby and Katie in October.
Then p-w-l-t and I watched 'Strictly Len Goodman' which we recorded a few days ago, and it was off to bed. The Christmas 'Strictly Come Dancing' show was recorded for Boxing Day.
Saturday 24 December 2016
Friday 23 December 2016
Thursday 22 December 2016
Jenny Greenteeth
Earlier this
year GB and I went in search of the Pump that gave Pump Lane, Greasby (on The
Wirral) its name. After an adventure or
two we found it.
Next to the
pump is a pond which was covered in duckweed.
It reminded me of Jenny Greenteeth….
Jenny
Greenteeth was a water fairy associated with the Lancashire, Liverpool and
Wirral areas. She and her sisters ‘lurked at the bottom of pits, and with their
long sinewy arms dragged in and drowned children venturing too near’. There has
been, since the nineteenth century, an attempt to rationalize Jenny. She was a
form of social control: parents evoked her to keep their children away from
dangerous ponds, streams, rivers and later canals (Jenny moved with the times).
And certainly we have accounts that tend in this direction: ‘Jenny’ll get you!’
One little boy was brought into the garden and told that the moaning of the
wind in the trees was Jenny’s voice: another was shown some enamelled teeth
that had been stained green! But Jenny was also a proud boggart with her own
agenda and there are parts of the legend that do not serve to save lives. For
example, the idea that duck weed was particularly associated with her or even
that it was her hair. It should also be noted that even if there was only one
Jenny Greenteeth she apparently dwelt in tens of different bodies of water
simultaneously.
Home region:
Jenny was overwhelmingly a Lancashire bogie, but there are some references from
further afield that might suggest she once had a wider kingdom. In 1870 weed in
Birmingham was sometimes called ‘Jenny’ or ‘Jenny Greenteeth’, the wording is
ambiguous. There is also an East Riding legend about a drowned girl called Jenny that sounds as if
it may be Jenny Greenteeth or a close cousin.
Physical
Description: Duckweed, Pondweed, slime
and algae are all associated with Jenny and her teeth were clearly forty shades
of green. There is the reference above to long sinewy arms and you did not want
to see her teeth. Brian Froud has a particularly effective image of Jenny in Froud,
Brian and Lee, Alan ‘Faeries’ (New York, Abrams 2009). See the head of the post.
Earliest
Attestation and Etymology: Nineteenth century? Jenny is a common fairy name
Jenny
Greenteeth Locations: Coming to a pool or water pit near you!
Duckweed, Lemna minor, is one of the world’s
smallest flowering plants, but it can form dense mats on still water, and less
frequently on permanently damp mud and rock faces. It is common throughout the
British Isles, apart from northern Scotland.
In northwest England the presence of duckweed indicated that the bogey
Jenny, or Jinny, Greenteeth lurked below the water’s surface. Duckweed is a small floating annual with no stems or apparent leaves but
a rounded thallus, 1.5 to 4mm across, floating on the surface of still fresh
water in large quantities.
It mainly appears from May to September though this photo was taken in October.
RoyVickery's website on Plant Lore tells us the following -
"As a
child about 50 years ago in the Liverpool area, I was frightened by Jenny
Greenteeth, a sort of fairy, who would drag people down into deep pools. Jenny
was particularly associated with pools covered with duckweed. Although Jenny
Greenteeth was usually unseen, in about 1920 the bogey which inhabited two
pools beside Moss Pitts Lane in Fazakerley, ‘had pale green skin, green teeth,
very long green locks of hair, long green fingers with long nails, and she was
very thin with pointed chin and very big eyes’.”
Katharine
Briggs, in her Dictionary of Fairies, classified Jenny as a Nursery Bogey, one
of ‘a group of spirits that seem as if they had never been feared by grown-up
people but had been invented expressly to warn children off dangerous ground or
from undesirable activities’.
In Jean-Paul
Ronecker's ‘Encyclopédie Illustrée des Esprits de la Nature’ we learn
"Jenny Les
Dents Vertes is a female Spirit from the race of Noyeurs (Drowners), lurking in
the waters of the rivers of Yorkshire.
She manifests herself as a most disgusting. skeletal creature with very
long arms, bony hands, crooked fingers, pale skin, bulging eyes, long greenish
teeth, and a long green vase full of hair.
She attracts children into the water to drown them. " Duckweed is not found in rivers so perhaps
the Yorkshire Jenny was algae-based.
And the
moral of all these stories is ‘Don’t try walking on duckweed!’
Wednesday 21 December 2016
1966 - a Year of Hits
Position | Artist | Title |
---|---|---|
01 | Jim Reeves | Distant Drums |
02 | Frank Sinatra | Strangers In The Night |
03 | The Beatles | Yellow Submarine / Eleanor Rigby |
04 | The Four Tops | Reach Out I'll Be There |
05 | Nancy Sinatra | These Boots Are Made For Walkin' |
06 | The Walker Brothers | The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore |
07 | Tom Jones | Green Green Grass Of Home |
08 | The Kinks | Sunny Afternoon |
09 | Troggs | With A Girl Like You |
10 | Manfred Mann | Pretty Flamingo |
11 | Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass | Spanish Flea |
12 | The Beach Boys | Good Vibrations |
13 | The Beatles | Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out |
14 | The Beach Boys | God Only Knows |
15 | The Spencer Davis Group | Keep On Running |
16 | The Beatles | Paperback Writer |
17 | The Mindbenders | Groovy Kind Of Love |
18 | Chris Farlowe | Out Of Time |
19 | The Small Faces | All Or Nothing |
20 | The Beach Boys | Sloop John B |
21 | The Spencer Davis Group | Somebody Help Me |
22 | Dusty Springfield | You Don't Have To Say You Love Me |
23 | The Overlanders | Michelle |
24 | The New Vaudeville Band | Winchester Cathedral |
25 | Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich | Hold Tight |
26 | Roy Orbison | Too Soon To Know |
27 | Los Bravos | Black Is Black |
28 | The Who | I'm A Boy |
29 | Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich | Bend It! |
30 | The Rolling Stones | Paint It, Black |
31 | Dave Berry | Mama |
32 | Crispian St Peters | You Were On My Mind |
33 | The Lovin' Spoonful | Daydream |
34 | Troggs | I Can't Control Myself |
35 | The Mamas & The Papas | Monday Monday |
36 | Ike & Tina Turner | River Deep, Mountain High |
37 | The Hollies | I Can't Let Go |
38 | The Hollies | Stop Stop Stop |
39 | Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames | Get Away |
40 | Percy Sledge | When A Man Loves A Woman |
41 | Troggs | Wild Thing |
42 | Gene Pitney | Nobody Needs Your Love |
43 | The Merseys | Sorrow |
44 | Manfred Mann | Semi-Detached Suburban Mr James |
45 | The Bachelors | Sound Of Silence |
46 | Chris Montez | The More I See You |
47 | Val Doonican | What Would I Be |
48 | The Spencer Davis Group | Gimme Some Loving |
49 | The Small Faces | Sha La La La Lee |
50 | Eddy Arnold | Make The World Go Away |
51 | The Sandpipers | Guantanamera |
52 | The Rolling Stones | Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown |
53 | Cher | Bang Bang |
54 | Paul Jones | High Time |
55 | The Supremes | You Can't Hurry Love |
56 | Cliff Richard | Wind Me Up (Let Me Go) |
57 | The Beach Boys | Barbara Ann |
58 | David & Jonathan | Lovers Of The World Unite |
59 | Crispian St Peters | Pied Piper |
60 | Ken Dodd | Promises |
61 | The Kinks | Dedicated Follower Of Fashion |
62 | The Walker Brothers | My Ship Is Coming In |
63 | The Four Seasons | Let's Hang On |
64 | The Who | Substitute |
65 | Val Doonican | Elusive Butterfly |
66 | Napoleon XIV | They're Coming To Take Me Away Ha-Haa |
67 | The Yardbirds | Shapes Of Things |
68 | Cliff Richard | Visions |
69 | Sonny & Cher | Little Man |
70 | Petula Clark | I Couldn't Live Without Your Love |
71 | The Seekers | The Carnival Is Over |
72 | Herman's Hermits | A Must To Avoid |
73 | Ken Dodd | The River |
74 | Lee Dorsey | Holy Cow |
75 | Cilla Black | Love's Just A Broken Heart |
76 | The Seekers | Morningtown Ride |
77 | Dusty Springfield | All I See Is You |
78 | Elvis Presley | Love Letters |
79 | Cilla Black | Don't Answer Me |
80 | Gene Pitney | Backstage |
81 | The Easybeats | Friday On My Mind |
82 | Roy C | Shotgun Wedding |
83 | The Hollies | Bus Stop |
84 | Bob Lind | Elusive Butterfly |
85 | The Lovin' Spoonful | Summer In The City |
86 | Simon & Garfunkel | Homeward Bound |
87 | Bobby Darin | If I Were A Carpenter |
88 | Petula Clark | My Love |
89 | Herman's Hermits | No Milk Today |
90 | The Seekers | Walk With Me |
91 | Cilla Black | Alfie |
92 | Alan Price Set | Hi-Lili Hi-Lo |
93 | The Small Faces | My Mind's Eye |
94 | Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich | Hideaway |
95 | Mike Sammes Singers | Somewhere My Love |
96 | Otis Redding | My Girl |
97 | The Animals | Don't Bring Me Down |
98 | Lee Dorsey | Working In The Coalmine |
99 | The Kinks | Till The End Of The Day |
100 | The Rolling Stones | Have You Seen Your Mother Baby Standing In The Shadow |
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2016
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December
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- Happy New Year
- Closed for Christmas
- Scouse, lobscouse and Scousescrapers
- Inn Signs - The Salutation Inn
- Budleigh Salterton, Devon, November 2016
- Christmas Dinner
- 'Tis the Night before Christmas...
- Getting stressed yet?
- Dear Santa
- Jenny Greenteeth
- 1966 - a Year of Hits
- The Tree 2016
- Season's Greetings
- A Christmas Useless Fact
- Topsham birds
- A Christmas Incredibly Useless (and probably debat...
- A Christmas Useless Fact
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