Series 1, Episode XI

Pedro was feeling very grown up today, so he wanted to play social distancing - and he managed to persuade the rest of the gang to join in.

Baby Bear drew the short straw and he had to pretend to cough while shut up in the isolation ward - where he can be glimpsed trying to join in - not really allowed - through the window.

While Yuri, who was not too keen, was bribed by being allocated the tallest distancing tower to stand on. Third from the right. No-one knew at that point that Polly would be a lot nearer the camera and so appears both to be on the tallest tower and much bigger than either of the other two. If a touch out of focus.

Red OED, probably bound for the library at the Royal Grammar School at Guildford, once King Edward VI's Grammar School at Guildford. A school which, despite the 'grammar' in its name, had deemed the OED surplus to requirements more than twenty years ago. Maybe they sold most of their library off a decade before the once proud libraries of government departments got around to it. In any event, there was not much left of the Home Office library by the time I was able to use it, early in the new millennium - a library which had probably been a very good one in its day, given the range of Home Office interests.

Later in the afternoon it was raining and Grandpa had to abandon bricks in favour of blocks, for which raincoat and umbrella were practical. So three blocks at around 1km each.

Rewarded by tweeting a Baufritz van, in English livery but with German plates, which seemed a little odd. But no visible action at the pre-fab. The hole noticed at reference 2 was now a virtual hole, virtual in the sense that the hole had been made good, but the fencing around it, blocking half the road, was still in place. I also noticed that a small section of the roof was a slightly different colour from the rest of it: German efficiency had not run to getting all the rather large and brightly coloured roof tiles from the same batch.

The other item of note was passing a white van man about five times in the course of the three circuits. Clearly only recently hired by Amazon, and not yet got the hang of packing his van in walk order, in the way of the normal postman - or, indeed, in the way of the supply ship of reference 1. But he was wearing a bulky face mask, more like a military gas mask than the flimsy things that health workers seem to wear.

PS: on a different topic, Grandma is able to report that Peppa Pig is very on-message as regards compost heaps, with today's episode having a lot of tips and info. about same. As is proper, very much Grandpa Pig's part of the garden.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/nautical-affairs.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/series-1-episode-x.html.

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Commemorative Cathedral

I read that the Russians have nearly finished building a no expense spared cathedral in a Russian revival style outside Moscow, that is to say the Resurrection of Christ Cathedral in Patriot Park. I think the idea is that it should be finished in time for the 75th anniversary of the end of the Great Patriotic War, although this snap turned up by Google suggests that there is a bit to do yet.

I remember once reading that Soviet shock troops used to advance across the welter and waste screaming something like: "For the Motherland! For the Party! For Stalin!". A litany which, sadly, was apt to be cut short before reaching the German lines. Perhaps with something by Shostakovich blasting out in the background. Perhaps in this new cathedral there will be another litany: "For God! For Holy Mother Russia! For Stalin! For Putin!" - this despite the fact that plenty of Russians alive now grew up at a time when there was no God. And when Stalin was known by many to have been a truly terrible man, even if he did win the terrible war for them - and for us.

We should be thankful that we got off lightly with Blair's big tent.

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Cathedral_of_the_Russian_Armed_Forces.

Reference 2: https://hram.mil.ru/. The official website - including some impressive pictures. Including a lot of a war memorial variety - some of which bring to mind the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Wall) in Washington D.C.

Reference 3: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/08/angel-of-north.html. A more modest act of (Roman) piety from the Poles next door.

Reference 4: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-great-patriotic-war.html. For a rather different sort of memorial from the Great Patriotic War.

Reference 5: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/03/cups-and-crosses.html. Concerning the immunity of holy acts and holy articles.

Axe Valley

A part of the Axe Valley which I do not recognise. Otherwise, a watercolour by Richard Pikesley RWS, entitled "Sheep in the stream, Axe Valley". Which can be obtained from the nicely presented virtual show at the Bankside Gallery of reference 1. The home gallery of what used to be called the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, of which I believe my artistic uncle (by marriage) was once an eminent member. See reference 2.

A valley which we have visited many times over the last fifty years or so, most recently as noticed at reference 3. And the lower reaches of which were once, and probably still are, prone to flooding. Say around Colyford.

A gallery which we have visited several times over recent years, handy to Tate Modern, the Globe and the Founder's Arms.

PS: I have assumed that we are talking about the Axe which flows south into Lyme Bay. Not the Axe which flows north into the Bristol Channel. Would the gallery know the difference?

Reference 1: https://www.banksidegallery.com/.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society_of_Painter-Printmakers.

Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/02/honiton.html.

Reference 4: http://www.artnet.com/artists/richard-pikesley/. Clearly a chap of rather old-fashioned tastes & habits, certainly when compared with some of the other offerings at Bankside. Just a year or so younger than myself.

Beef soup

For some reason, perhaps because of a lingering perception that it does not work very well, perhaps because we do not eat a lot of beef in large chunks these days, we do not make beef soup very often, preferring pork or chicken as a base. Lamb being out of it altogether.

However, Sunday past we had brisket hot. Monday and Tuesday, brisket cold - and yesterday we were moved to make the stump - maybe four or five cubic inches of it - into beef soup.

Take what it left of the beef stock and skim the fat off it. Make it up to around three pints and add a beef stock cube, from Knorr as it happens. Add three ounces of pearl barley and simmer for half an hour. Put aside.

Prepare three sticks of celery and a dozen small potatoes. About 45 minutes before the off, add them to the stock and barley and bring back to the boil. Simmer.

Mash up a cup of left-over boiled potato with a dash of boiled carrot. These give the liquor a bit of body. Finely chop the left-over beef, into about 2mm cubes.

Prepare four large mushrooms. That is to say, chop the stalks and divide the cap into six or eight parts.

About 30 before the off, start to gently fry some onions, in segments like oranges, in a little butter.

About 20 minutes before the off, add the mash and beef to the soup. Continue to simmer.

About 10 minutes before the off, add the onions to the soup. Continue to simmer.

About 5 minutes before the off, add the mushrooms to the soup. Finish simmering and serve with a little brown bread.

Mostly done half an hour later, with the remnant done later in the afternoon, for the meal which we call tea, but which we do not take with tea. Preferring cold water at this time of day.

Carr's water biscuits, Lincolnshire Poacher and sweet red grapes for dessert.

All very satisfactory. Perhaps to be done again in the not too distant future.

PS: note the absence of red lentils on this occasion, from Ontario or otherwise, deemed to be of an inappropriate colour.

Batch 559

Polly and her friends thought it best to hide under the car and watch the world go by while Grandpa was marching up and down with his bricks, waiting for the first rise of batch 559.

Yuri wanted to stand in the middle so that he could pester both Pedro and Polly, one after the other, but Polly thought it would be much better if she was in charge and stood in the middle. They counted the important BT Openreach van going past two times, but it did not stop at the important sign on the pavement on either occasion. See reference 1.

Joey the cat from next door was not best pleased as they had taken his spot - and he sloped off looking rather disgusted.

PS: a little while earlier, Grandma had gone on an expedition to Sainsbury's to do the weekly older persons' shop and to have a bit of a natter in the queue. For the second or third visit running, no wholemeal bread flour, although white bread flour was back on the shelves, albeit in diminished quantities. Where is all this wholemeal flour going? My understanding is that if you have more than about one part wholemeal to three parts white, you get a very heavy loaf. Not the sort of thing that I want at all. But the sort of thing that older readers might remember from Crank's, the famous, but late lamented veggie restaurant of London. See references 2 and 3.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/economic-activity.html. They need to get on as the important sign is slowly but surely fading away.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranks_%28restaurant%29.

Reference 3: https://cranks.co.uk/. These people might have bought the name, but the offering looks a long way from the hazelnut and lentil pies that I associate with it. Furthermore, I was surprised to read that it opened in Carnaby Street (then about to be uber-trendy) in 1961. I had thought, quite wrongly as it turns out, that it was a bunch of whole-food-good-life-arts-and-crafts-long-hairs from the Fitzrovia of between the two world wars. Probably went to school at Harrow or Eton, then dropped out to spend the family money, much easier on the brain than making some more.

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Nautical affairs

The post following arising from checking the word 'hauban' from reference 1 in reference 2. With the 'Polarlys' being a steamer on a regular round trip from Hamburg to Kirkenes, the supply ship for the northern littoral of Norway. With passengers as well as cargo. In February, so the weather is not too clever. With the steamer supplying the place of a country house in an Agatha Christie story; an enclosed space where the number of suspects is small. Also supplying an excuse for various maritime digressions.

I learn that hauban is an originally Flemish word for what we call a shroud, the shroud of a mast, more often used in the plural. Where shroud is an originally Scandinavian word with a cluster of meanings around clothing. In particular, clothing the dead (with a cloth) and clothing the mast of a boat or ship (with shrouds). By extension, things like radio masts.

The haubans are part of the 'manœuvre', in particular the 'manœuvre dormant', what we call the rigging and the standing rigging (as opposed to the running rigging) respectively. With some of the uses of manœuvre in French corresponding to manœuvre in English. Literally hand work. And, according to Littré, the collection of ropes used to work the sails of a sailing vessel. That which you use to manœuvre.

The word 'œuvre', by itself and in compounds, has lots of meanings and uses. Including 'œuvres mortes' for those parts of a ship which are out of the water. As opposed to the 'œuvres vives'. And in construction, 'gros œuvre' is a bit more than our first fixing and 'second œuvre' is a bit more than our second fixing, both fixings being names for carpentry specialities.

While our word 'rigging' comes from rig, another Scandinavian word, like shroud, with a rather miscellaneous collection of meanings, with one cluster around ridge or back and another around clothing someone or something. Also taking in a wanton girl or woman and a storm or tempest. With rigging a ship out including rather more than the ropes, more like the fixtures and fittings of a house.

Which is perhaps a place to stop.

PS: I now correct an important omission. 'Polarlys' is foreign for polar light, northern lights or aurora - while I had been wondering what sort of a flower a polar lily might be. It is also the name of a cruise ship and ferry of today, plying the same waters. Snapped above - and not the sort of thing Simenon had in mind at all. For a start, his Polarlys had a couple of stokers shovelling coal down in the coal hole.

Reference 1: Le Passager de <Polarlys> - Simenon - 1932. Volume 1 of the collected works.

Reference 2: Le Petit Larousse Illustré - Larousse - 2007.

Reference 3: Le Petit Littré - Littré and Beaujean - 1990. Also consulted.

Reference 4: A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles - Sir James Murray and others - various dates around 1900. Otherwise OED. Also consulted.

Series 1, Episode X

Polly and her friends spent the wet morning in a makeshift bivouac on the edge of the lily pond, hoping that the rain would bring the newts up and that they would get a first sighting.

Sadly this was not to be, but at least Yuri managed not to fall in. Nor even to jump in, which was possible given that he was wearing his spacesuit, almost certainly waterproof.

While this was going on, or rather not going on, Grandpa had his first excursion for over a month, thinking that the rain would keep people in and he could walk the roads without risk to himself or others. And so it turned out to be, as in the course of five circuits of the block, he only had to leave the road for the sidewalk once. Estimated from gmaps to be just about 5km. It was also wet enough for it to be an outing for the fine rain coat first noticed at reference 2, the first time it had been out for a while too.

Maybe three dog walkers. Three delivery vans. One mail van, which they are still allowed to call the Royal Mail, selling off notwithstanding.

Grandpa decided that the Toller hawthorn tree, now in full flood, was the best looking tree on the circuit. Grandma was not so sure.

A small pile of rubble and bricks at the end of one drive. Perhaps something to be visited again when the rain stops.

There was also a handsome low hedge of a deep pink azalea at the north eastern end of Anderson Close. And just past that, on the other side of the road, a healthy looking box hedge, perhaps two or three years old, with lots of new growth and no sign of caterpillar damage.

While the gas people were busy digging another hole in the road outside the express pre-fab being erected by Baufritz, last noticed at reference 1. The was a van parked inside the Baufritz compound instead of the small crane, but things did not seem to have moved on much otherwise since the end of March. And to be fair to the gas people, it was only a small hole, apparently something to do with mending the last one.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/03/express-prefab.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/10/a-coup.html.

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Tuesday's puzzle

This being a clock from Sweden, one of two which we own, bought from a now defunct kitchen and homeware store in Upper High Street, here in Epsom, some years ago now. A store which was possibly the hobby of a lady with a high-earning husband.

On the dining table in the aftermath of Sunday lunch to change the battery and reset the time, a slightly fiddly operation, fortunately at what seems like intervals measured in years rather than months.

Noticed today, because fuelled by a few bevy's from the wine operation in Marlborough, NZ, I became very interested in the question of how the numerals got onto the clock face, it seeming to me that they were not all the same, that there was a whiff of hand crafting about the thing.

I assume that at some point there has to be a master copy. Either on paper for conversion by camera to digital or digital in the first place. And in the first case, the paper version might have been produced several times larger than needed, so that the reduced digital image was nice and sharp. The digital master then goes to the printer which prints the clock face.

Option 1, we have a paper master, produced more or less by hand, by an old style commercial or graphic artist. The sort of chap who works with pens and pencils at a large drawing board, helped along by various mechanical contrivances like T-squares, set squares, protractors, dividers and compasses. Numbers either drawn by hand or with the aid of a stencil.

Option 2, we have a digital master, still produced more or less by hand, but using a specialised workstation with a specialised drawing tablet. Perhaps with the capability of drawing lines and circles to provide the framework for the master. Then how do we do the numerals and the ticks around the perimeter?

The placement of the pairs of red numerals is a little uneven, suggesting that even if the numerals were produced by the computer, their placement has been done by hand, perhaps by drag and drop with a mouse, after the fashion of an object in Microsoft's Powerpoint.

And then, the five black '1's at the top of the face, even this morning, do not seem identical to me, particularly as regards the hook at the top. Is this the result of the numerals having been produced by hand, with a pen, or can the artist tell the computer to introduce a little random variation to give the thing a hand crafted look?

I recall reading once that the machines which once mass produced steel cutlery in Sheffield did something of the sort, so that the resultant cutlery could be passed off as hand made, or at least hand finished. With the average consumer having a curious regard for hand - even when one might have thought that machine would do a better job.

All in all, a fruitful topic of conversation next time I come across an artist in a public house.

PS: a little later: I am impressed by Bing, who turned up reference 1 as the first hit, on presentation of the number '1107011846', included at the bottom of the clock face, visible if you click to enlarge. Clearly the right people, even if our particular clocks are no longer in production.

Reference 1: http://www.bengtekdesign.com/.

Holly

Some of the holly at the bottom of the garden has come into flower and is looking well.

I take the opportunity to report on progress with dancing water, at which I had two goes yesterday. During which I got around to noticing that the bowl was not level, presumably because the back patio drains downhill toward the house, but that I could make it level by adjusting the position of the platform in the (woodwork) vice below. See reference 1.

Once level, it was quite easy to get action in three of the four chevrons or corners - that is to say southwest, northwest, northeast and southeast - one of which is visible at reference 1, if you click to enlarge - and I got some action at the fourth, usually northwest. Some of the dancing droplets were quite big, more than a millimetre in diameter, and quite a lot of them were jumping right out of the bowl.

All seemingly helped along by the water being warm rather than tepid.

Rewarded later, at around 2130, by a fine sighting of the new moon in the western sky. Dark side of the moon and all.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/dancing-water-or-fluid-dynamics.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/series-1-episode-vi.html. More dancing water action.

Two new places

I read in today's FT of two new-to-me places. The first, is a brand new mega city called Neom, a $500bn project from the Saudi royal family on the northwestern extremity of their kingdom. It will be interesting to see what can be done in the 21st century when money is no object.

Some commentators have been amused that some of the pictures used to advertise the project were actually of the second place, something called the Cloud Forest, a large green house on the shores of Marina Bay, in the south of Singapore island. With the snap left looking west, with the busy looking Singapore Strait in the background. With the large Indonesian island of Sumatra off-snap, a little to the right, that is to say west also. Smaller Indonesian islands visible on the horizon, used, inter alia, for R&R by the wealthy of Singapore. See reference 3.

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neom.

Reference 2: https://www.neom.com/en-us/. Quite a flashy website, so perhaps no money spare here either.

Reference 3: https://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/attractions/cloud-forest/visitor-information.html. Presently closed, should you be thinking of visiting. Even gmaps knows that.

A kind of digging

A few days ago, BH suggested that the southern sector of the bed beyond the small ponds, the one containing the oak tree and nut tree No.2, needed digging over. The weeds had got beyond what was reasonable hand weeding.

Suspecting that the ground, which had not been dug for many years, was very hard, I thought the right approach was to use a small hoe to slice through the weeds about a centimetre below the surface - after having softened things up the evening before with a few gallons of water.

Rub together the resultant stuff to separate the weeds from the earth, the quick from the dead, as it were. Weeds to lightly compost the ground by the fence, to the east of the new location of the bug box (see reference 1). No bugs to be seen in the earth.

The underlying ground was indeed very hard and neither garden spade nor garden fork made any impression. Out with the mattock (the sort of thing once used in the demolition of brick buildings), which did make an impression, taking out lumps of around 10 cubic inches a time. Oddly, although considerable force was needed to take these lumps out, once they were out, they disintegrated on being lightly tapped. At the end of which, this southern sector was dug to a depth of around two inches. Not exactly what would be thought proper for cabbages, down on the allotment gardens, but good enough here given the resident trees.

Add a bag and a half of potting compost, all we had to hand, stir up and then level with the rake.

The plan being to install some kind of (low maintenance) ground cover in a week or so's time, with a choice of several being available from elsewhere in the garden. Which will hopefully thrive in this dry but fairly sunny spot.

PS: regarding the considerable force, there was a similar oddity a few days previous. I was trying to cut a bit of dead wood lodged in the top of one of small beech trees, using the long pole pruner from Wolf, noticed at reference 2, at full extent. I failed to cut, despite applying considerable force, but succeeding in dislodging. And the bit of branch just crumbled when one stood on it, this despite not caring to be cut.

Reference 1: http://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/bug-box.html. East from the bug box means back down the garden, towards the house, towards the road. Note the confusion caused by the common phrases like 'I'm just going down the garden' in a back garden like ours which runs uphill not downhill. The phrase, I think from North America, 'I'm just going downtown' confuses in the same way. Perhaps from the days when town centres were down by the river and lots of people lived in the surrounding hills.

Reference 2: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2015/10/autumn-cutlery-1.html.

Series 1, Episode IX

Grandpa and Grandma should have been going into London this morning to hear Schubert's D.803 Octet from the Elias Quartet and others - a work and a team which usually work for us. Plus a visit to All-Bar-One for tea and somewhere else, possibly 2 Veneti next door to the concert hall, an establishment last visited shortly before the lockdown started.

While they were nattering about what they might have been doing had there not been any lockdown, Polly and her friends thought they would do a spot of troll standing, a new game they had read about the evening before. The idea is that in the woods, in the spring, when the trolls are just hatching out from their winter hibernation underground, you go and stand on their heads. You have to stand there for at least five minutes for it to count, and you have to be careful not to sneeze yourself or to tickle their noses, either of which might have unpleasant results. Including troll sneezes which can be very unpleasant indeed, being the first of their year after a winter underground.

And at the bottom of our garden there are a pair of trolls, important and powerful trolls from Nigeria, which came to us via Bridport market. Rather late up this year, perhaps put off by the pleasant, warm weather - trolls tend to be miserable and like miserable weather - having been much earlier last year, as can be seen from reference 3. Nevertheless, just right for troll standing.

Except that Polly and Yuri grabbed the two best places and Pedro could only manage at all by lying down. Making his score for troll standing, so far this year, zero.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/series-1-episode-viii.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/03/penultimate-outing.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/03/easter-island.html.

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Poster

Lots of quality pictures illustrating an article in the FT about Wuhan: 'Inside Wuhan: China’s struggle to control the virus - and the narrative: Beijing is keen to portray a city returning to normal, but many still question what really happened - Don Weinland in Wuhan - April 23'.

This one carrying the caption: 'A poster marking the fight against coronavirus at Keting Field Hospital. The hospital says no patient died there from the disease (the most serious cases were moved to a hospital next door) © Don Weinland'.

I was reminded both of the comics one gets from Japan and of the posters that the Soviets used to put out before and during what they (quite reasonably) call the Great Patriotic War.

Pivoting bricks

After the morning shift this morning, we have totals of 70 shifts, 1208 bricks, 160,664 vertical yards and 3,624 vertical yards. With vertical yards having been added to the record quite recently, estimated at 3 yards to the brick. Estimated by getting the eye lined up with the flat roof of the extension while standing by the brick compost heap. The equivalent of getting on for the Middle Teton in Wyoming, from sea level. See reference 1.

It takes a spot of trial and error to be reminded that there is little point in plotting two series, one of which is a multiple of the other, on the same graph but with both left hand and right hand scales, as the two plots coincide.

On the other hand, I am starting to warm a little to Microsoft's pivot tables. They do have a pretty fair stab at guessing what it is one wants to do, or perhaps what it thinks one should be doing.

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mountains_by_elevation.

Lily of the valley

Some years ago, BH gave me some lily of the valley plants which I planted beyond the beech screen at the bottom of the garden. They did not thrive there and have now vanished from view.

While rather nearer the ponds, between the oak tree and the nut tree, quite a colony of them seems to have been established, with at least one coming into flower, left in the snap. BH thinks that these one came from FIL, possibly with FIL, from Devon. Also that they do not often flower here. Perhaps the wet winter helped on this occasion, for which see, for example, reference 2.

According to Wikipedia: '... convallaria majalis is widely grown in gardens for its scented flowers and ground-covering abilities in shady locations. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit ... In favourable conditions it can form large colonies...'. We can do the shade bit, but I am not sure that our dry, hard, brown clay counts as favourable conditions, as I associate the lily with boggy woods in valley bottoms. Like those at Newbridge, a little to the northwest of Ashburton. See which reference 1, from which, as it happens, the lily is absent.

Not sure either what business the RHS has giving awards to wild flowers. By what right does it give the work of the Lord marks out of ten?

Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.com/2015/04/botanical-walk.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/12/second-report.html.

Bug box

Our bug box had been attached to a post near the garden bench near the three ponds for some years, not attracting that many bugs. Perhaps because there was too much human activity in the vicinity, perhaps because there was too much sun.

So a couple of days ago, I thought to move it further down the garden to a quieter, shadier spot, where, perhaps, it will attract a bit more bug action. Maybe we will learn what sort of bugs are attracted to nesting boxes of this sort.

Now fixed up with a new brass screw, which slots into the back of the box, and I thought it best to take the old steel screw out of the post near the bench. It being possible if not that likely that one could catch something on it. Screwdriver failed to move it, but I then remembered about using Stillsons and Footprints for moving dead screws. I settled for my medium sized Footprint, nearer to hand than the Stillsons, and it did the business, albeit fatally for the head of the screw.

Note remnants of box bush, bottom left, cut down in the wake of last year's plague of box tree caterpillars, also from the far east, where I believe it is a major pest in South Korea, where they are as fond of box bushes as we are. See, for example, references 1 and 2.

Note also remnants of the chicken wire attached to the top of my split chestnut fencing, intended by a former neighbour to keep his wife's dog out of our garden. With split chestnut fencing, which I am otherwise rather keen on in the wilder setting, not serving the purpose. Doesn't stop the movement of foxes either, who if they can't get through, can certainly get over.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/08/caterpillar-control-episode-1.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/08/caterpillar-control-episode-2.html.

Series 1, Episode VIII

When they heard about the newt noticed at reference 1, Polly and her friends thought that they would like to visit the lily pond. To which end they persuaded Grandma to lend them one of her freezer boxes to use as a boat - light enough that Pedro and Yuri were able to carry it down the garden to the pond. Pedro was to be captain, Polly was to be cook and Yuri, the youngest, was to be the cabin boy.

They launched their boat on the pond and had a good time paddling it about with their hands. Polly was excused as she was busy cooking. A good time which included a second sighting of a large newt, swimming about a few inches below the surface.

Then Yuri, perhaps mindful of Grandpa's stories about people having snoozes in the giant lily pads sometimes to be found in Ventnor Botanic Gardens (of reference 3), thought that he would try standing on a lily leaf. Sadly, however carefully he climbed onto them, they seemed to sink and he got very wet. And standing on the turtle was no better. Which didn't matter very much because it was a very warm afternoon.

Just in case, Grandma and Baby Bear organised some hot drinks.

PS: Yuri might get on better later in the year when the lily leaves, the lily pads, will be a lot bigger. But there might then be a problem launching their boat.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/batch-558.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/series-1-episode-vii.html.

Reference 3: https://www.botanic.co.uk/.

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Fake news?

This prompted by a report in the FT that the Chinese are getting cross about allegations of misbehaviour of various sorts with regard to the coronavirus pandemic. Inter alia, the report pointed to reference 1, a website that smells a bit rabid to me, and tells me little (that I could find anyway) about who exactly they are or who pays their bills.

Evidence of fake news in circulation included the snippet that 'one third of UK citizens believe that vodka can be used as hand sanitiser'. Well, I was one of them.

I go to Wikipedia at reference 2, from which I deduce that the sort of alcohol you put in vodka is indeed the major ingredient of a lot of hand sanitizers. This was confirmed by the respectable looking reference 3.

The only catch might be that the sort of vodka we drink here in the UK was not be strong enough. Maybe we need to go to Poland or Scandinavia to get the real thing.

Which leaves me thinking that reference 1 is not reliable, at the very least sloppily written. The sort of vodka sold in Wetherspoon's may not be great as a disinfectant, but I would be surprised if it was completely ineffective.

Confused of Epsom.

Reference 1: https://euvsdisinfo.eu/eeas-special-report-update-2-22-april/.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_sanitizer.

Reference 3: https://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/Guide_to_Local_Production.pdf.

Chambers's rules!

I refer to Chambers's Encyclopædia from time to time, for example at reference 1, and I was reminded today that despite its being at least sixty years old, it still comes in handy from time to time.

Reminded, because we wanted to know the time of year that the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919 peaked, and we thought to take a look at Chambers's under 'I'. We don't have the answer to the question, but we do have a nearly three column article summarising the state of knowledge about influenza in the middle of the last century. A summary which we thought still serves well, certainly for lay purposes.

We learn, for example, that at that time, ferrets were widely used as experiment animals, being helpfully liable to catch flu. There is also talk of pigs.

All decently hidden under the initials 'W.S.', having been written when most egos were still of modest proportions, but if one bothers to turn back to the beginning of the volume (7, HEI-IZV), one learns that W.S. was one Wilson Smith, M.D., Dipl.Bact., F.R.S., Professor of Bacteriology at the University of London. So a reputable source. I wonder if he got any kind of a honorarium or fee, or whether he regarded writing pieces of this sort as something to be knocked off on the side, for free? As a public servant doing a public service.

Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.com/2015/08/corby-crimmy.html.

Reference 2: Chambers's Encyclopædia - George Newnes Ltd - 1959.

Reference 3: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014067360081750X. Wilson Smith does not make it to Wikipedia, but ScienceDirect clearly know all about him, with this reference being just one of a number.

Birdman

A few days ago we got around to watching a film called 'Birdman', which must have been somewhere near the bottom of our pile of DVD's for some time, as I have no recollection of either buying or watching it. As it turned out, a touch high brow for the sort of charity shops that I usually patronise, so probably a chance pick-me-up from Computer Exchange, a place where I have picked up many DVD treasures at fire-sale prices. See reference 1.

The blog archive has no recollection either, with the only birdman it knows about being the one at reference 3. Quite different.

Not only a touch high brow but also a luvvies film, in the sense that it is about a chap who found fame and fortune in California by playing an avian version of Batman but now wanted more, in the form of the esteem of high brow New York. Esteem which he hoped to buy - he was sinking what was left of his Californian fortune into the venture - by putting on a high brow adaptation of a short story by Raymond Carver. As it turns out, a real famous writer of short stories, one who had bought into the once fashionable theory that all real artists were into booze, fags and all the rest of it. He died of lung cancer at the age of 50, lucky that the booze had not killed him years before that.

A neat twist in that the lead, Michael Keaton, really did do a stint as Batman. He did well and was ably supported by Edward Norton, with the two on them being snapped above.

The theatre in which the play was being put on seemed very large backstage, with a regular labyrinth of shabby rooms connected by shabby corridors. Very big for what one might have thought was supposed to be a budget operation.

A touch of magic realism in that the lead indulged in a spot of flying above the streets of New York, in a Batman like pose but without the costume.

Some humour and a great deal of loud and coarse language. I have found in the past that professional males in the US can be surprisingly (and rather childishly) coarse when they have taken a few drinks - while here, I dare say they needed a bit of it for effect, for realism - but I could have done with a good deal less.

We got through it in two shifts, with a day off in between. Language apart, an effective film and I dare say we will watch it again after a suitable interval. Perhaps a few months.

PS 1: I dare say there is a lot more to playing Batman than might at first appear. Looking good in a Batman suit is probably not as easy. One needs to be able to move well and to have a good voice.

PS 2: I associate to Sean Connery who did well dressed up as James Bond, but who never, to my mind recovered from it. I found him rather irritating in films in which I saw him subsequently. And I dare say he once aspired to the esteem of high brow New York.

Reference 1: https://uk.webuy.com/. I had a quick peek at their online selection called 'World Films', where there was a lot of martial arts but little that attracted. I dare say we can wait until their shop in Epsom opens again.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdman_(film).

Reference 3: http://psmv3.blogspot.com/2016/09/birdman.html.

Batch 558

Batch 558 was made with Waitrose wholemeal, the tail end of the Carr's strong white and the start of Calbourne's strong white, that is to say the flour from the Isle of Wight, probably made from wheat grown there and the arrival of which was noticed at reference 1.

This was a quick batch, with the bread done by shortly after 1430, with 1630 or even later being more usual - from a 0730 start. No idea whether the speed was due to warm airing cupboard, warm weather or the new flour.

But by 1800 it was quite cool and tasted very well indeed - with still warm bread having its points, but generally being a bit light on flavour.

Snapped here in the proving bin at the end of the second rise, just before it went into the oven. High-end baking tins from Tavistock - which also do very well.

Just a walk-on, decorative role for Polly and her friends on this occasion. The virtual cat flap they use can be seen at the bottom of the door left.

PS: in the course of the post-bread brick shift, I tweeted the first newt of the season in the small lily pond - it being warm enough to bring it out but early enough in the season for the pond not to be covered by lily leaves. Joey (the Siamese cat from next door) appeared to be taking a close interest from about six feet away, but sloped off when I arrived.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/stocking-up.html.

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A footnote on spraying

A couple of days ago, after finishing with the dancing water noticed at reference 1, I chucked the water out of the bowl, uphill onto the start of the back lawn. As one would expect, most of the water stayed together, taking a fairly flat trajectory to the ground. But what I did not expect was that a trick of the bright midday light meant that I saw a large cloud of very small water droplets above that trajectory, maybe up two or three feet above. And this was without any coughing or sneezing.

That said, the only droplets I can remember coming out of mouths is when we had sat too near the front at the theatre. Theatrical voice projection seems to produce a lot of them, rather big ones at that.

Reference 1: http://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/series-1-episode-vi.html.

Hole in the memory

At luncheon today, I wondered out loud when Epsom Library moved into the Ebbisham Centre, thinking that it was back in the mists of time, maybe not long after we moved to Epsom thirty years ago.

No, no, no says BH. Epsom Library used to be in an old detached building in Waterloo Road, until some time around 2000 when they moved into the Ebbisham Centre and the old building was demolished.

I found this hard to believe, so thought I would check, which proved difficult with the library itself presently shut. Neither Bing nor Google could offer much at all. And it took me a few seconds to realise that the helpful bit of history they did turn up came from Epsom, New Hampshire. And I had not even known there was such a place. See reference 1.

Eventually, Google turned up reference 2, which I don't remember visiting before and which told me that: '... The late 1990s saw the development of the Ebbisham Centre, a community service based development, including a doctors' surgery, Epsom Library, a cafe and a health and fitness centre. The Derby Square expanded and includes a number of franchise chain pubs/bars...'. So it looks as if BH was spot on, despite my having no memory at all of the old building. Perhaps I have only been using the library since I retired.

But oddly, I do remember the library we used to use when we lived at Stapleton Hall Road, near Harrigay West railway station. A time when we were newly married and lived in a bedsit without a television, which would make reading more likely. A lot of Trollope as I recall. We also had one or two heaters like the one at reference 3 to supplement the heating provided. Condensation from which did bad things to the wallpaper behind the wardrobe. Heaters which made it to the roof here at Epsom, but which we let go some years ago now - which seems a pity, but they are quite bulky and I dare say one would have trouble getting both paraffin and wicks these days.

Still oddly, according to gmaps, the library is still there and still functioning - but I do not remember the outside at all. Maybe memory has got the inside right.

PS: a little later. Some memory of the outside of the library in Harringay is now starting to be recovered.

Reference 1: http://www.epsomlibrary.com/site/.

Reference 2: https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/Epsom.

Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/06/derby-action.html.

Series 1, Episode VII

Having been reminded about thumb drums in the margins of Episode VI, Pedro and Yuri wanted to have a go with Grandpa's thumb drum which lived upstairs, hanging off the ceiling of his study. Polly was allowed to come too, even though she was a girl, when she promised not to chatter.

Front view

So off they went up the stairs, Yuri, then Pedro, then Polly with Baby Bear bringing up the rear. When they got to the study they realised that getting at the thumb drum, never mind playing it, was going to be more difficult than they had realised.

Back view

But then Baby Bear piped up. He explained that while he was very frightened of heights outside, say in the garden, he was  much better inside. Indeed, he was quite an accomplished indoor climber. I will get you there he said.

And he was as good as his word. He got into Grandpa's special copper lined ammunition box (ex navy) and appropriated a second hand envelope. On his second attempt he succeeded in stapling the bottom up. Then punched a couple of holes in the corners. Then appropriated a nearly new shoe lace from FIL's special bag of same, and made a strap for the haversack. Popped Pedro, Polly and Yuri into it (from left to right in the snap above) and slung it (and them) over his back.

He then clambered up the braces suspended in the corner of the study, traversed across to the point of suspension for the thumb drum and shimmied down. As snapped above.

Having arrived at the thumb drum, the next problem was how to play it. Would it be best to get it down somehow? We shall no doubt find out in due course.

PS 1: many years ago, Grandpa saw the original of the famous painting by Manet which can be seen right in reproduction. A very large painting, roughly one metre by two, at that time hung in the Jeu de Paume in the Jardins des Tuileries, just by the Place de la Concorde. Now exiled to a disused railway station to make way for more modern art, addressing the issues of today, rather than those of yesterday. See references 2 and 3.

PS 2: Tuileries might be the name of a famous palace and of some famous gardens, but the word actually means tile factory. Rather in the way that the fanciest art gallery in Florence is called the offices. Or that we have the Government Offices, Great George Street, aka GOGGS. Which used be complete with large standby generators in the basement, protected by a concrete raft above, but they may have vanished in the course of the major refurbishment which took place early in the new millennium.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/series-1-episode-vi.html.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympia_(Manet).

Reference 3: http://www.jeudepaume.org/.

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Good year

It is starting to look as if our hawthorn out front is going to do well this year.

But the rules committee is still sitting on a request to go for a walk down Horton Lane and take a look at the hawthorn there, which has been pretty spectacular in past years. Will I ever get to know how it is doing this year?

The wonders of ebay

As reported at reference 1, ordered from ebay shortly before 1100 this morning, in the front door before 1500 this afternoon. The flour panic is over!

On the other hand, there is a puzzle. Nanna's teapot has left the stage, and in its place we have a Tesco Inspirational Mum of the Year and the foundation at reference 2. I am making inquiries about the foundation, but it looks to be trying to do something about knife and gun crime in north London, possibly more particularly Edmonton, not far from the Wright's mill at Ponders End. I wish them well.

It is still a mystery how the flour got to Epsom so quickly - but a mystery for which I am very grateful. Flour supplies now secure for some months, as are the yeast supplies, noticed at reference 3. So provided the big electricity sub-station at Malden Rushett does not go down, all will be well...

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/essential-supplies.html.

Reference 2: https://www.nelsonwilliamsfoundation.com/.

Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/batch-556.html.

Essential supplies

My third delivery of cheese from Neal's Yard Dairy turned up this morning. Heralded by an email yesterday and a text this morning. With the cheese itself turning up more or less in the middle of the advertised slot. Complete, on this occasion, with natty looking freezer bags to keep the soft cheese cool. While, on a morning brick shift, I had gone to the length of putting the new, portable front door bell from Robert Dyas in my pocket to make sure that I heard it arrive. Which failed, as I just happened to be out front when it arrived.

While BH got back from her weekly older person's shop at the Kiln Lane Sainsbury's to tell me that strong white flour had not yet reappeared on their shelves. The best they could do was flour to make pasta with, which we thought was not what we wanted at all. Maybe the flour millers are just not able to transfer their flour from their unsold 25kg bags usually used by bakers to the 1.5kg bags used by all these born-again home bakers fast enough. Maybe they do not have the necessary machines.

So off to Calbourne Water Mill (of reference 2), sold out. Amazon, sold out. Waitrose said they had the flour, but they had sold out of both delivery and collection. But ebay had plenty of the stuff - a lot of which looked to have been unearthed from people's cupboards, with the people concerned thinking to make a little extra. Water and wind mills I had never heard of. Catering suppliers. And last but not least, Wright's of Ponders End (of reference 3), whom I settled for. Furthermore, I vaguely remember now having once visited a public house on or near the River Lee at Ponders End, with some people who lived not that far away. Probably from our days in Palmers Green.

In the course of all of which I was once again reminded how bizarre seller names are apt to pop up in the course of ebay and PayPal transactions. In this case, for example, we had 'Nannas teapot'.

PS 1: it occurred to me this morning that the concept of 'essential supplies', certainly in so far as food is concerned, is as tricky a concept as cause of death. A problem that the benefits people at the DHSS (or whatever they are called today) have been grappling with for a long time - in the sense of what does a household really need in order to keep going? A refrigerator? A television? A games console? Or in the case of food, fifty seven varieties of tinned sauce to go with my pasta?

PS 2: I also remember once being told by an acquaintance whose parents had been Parisian bakers, that they just kept their flour loose, for easy access, in the flour room. No bags, 25kg or otherwise for them. Seems a bit improbable, but that is how I remember it.

PS 3: later: next thought was that Nanna's Teapot was a teashop which is presently shut and is sitting on more flour (for making currant buns and suchlike) than they are likely to need for a while. So shifting some of the stuff on ebay. But Bing says no, they are actually, mainly, a supplier of speciality teas. See reference 4.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/03/diy.html. Still not completed the touching up of paint work, over a month later, despite being more or less confined to house and garden.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/stocking-up.html.

Reference 3: https://www.wrightsflour.co.uk/.

Reference 4: https://www.nannasteapot.com/.

Growing In Your Faith During The Uncertainity Of Coronavirus

Some years ago, probably when buying the book about Saint Perpetua, a notable Carthaginian martyr noticed at reference 1, some people called Eden Ecommerce Ltd (GB) got hold of my email address and they have been sending me what seems like daily emails ever since. Presumably an offshoot of the Eden Ecommerce Corporation (US), in any event people who have a very up-to-date and aggressive marketing style.

Today's offering is included for the edification of readers. One can only suppose that the Eden people have lots of charismatic preachers with worldly tastes who need to be kept in the manner to which they have become accustomed.

From where I associate to the occasional scandals which get into the papers - not the FT or Guardian that is, which make a virtue of not doing God, royals or the extra-marital affairs of footballers - involving middle aged preachers in very large churches in the Bible Belt getting caught with their hands in the till, or perhaps up the skirts of a lady parishioner.

Also to the Reformation, at which time the zealous reformers got stuck into the Holy Mother Church for more or less commercial activities not so very different from these present.

Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.com/2014/01/perpetually-perpetua.html.

Reference 2: https://www.eden.co.uk/.

Venus

Tonight, as for the past few nights, there has been a planet, thought to be Venus, quite high in the western sky. More precisely, about 30° above the horizon at 2100, Epsom local time.

On one night, there was also a large red object not far away, possibly another planet, but nowhere near as bright as Venus, if that is what it was.

Reference 1 no doubt does the business, except that, sadly, I have no idea about declinations and right ascensions. Reference 2 is rather better, and appears to confirm the Venus theory. But no other planets in sight.

PS: later: hopefully, sometime soon, I will get around to studying the equatorial coordinate system at reference 3. So far, the story seems to be that declination is altitude relative to the celestial equator and right ascension is longitude relative to some (fairly) fixed point on that equator. We shall see.

Reference 1: https://theskylive.com/venus-tracker.

Reference 2: https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/night/uk/london.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equatorial_coordinate_system.

Series 1, Episode VI

Granduncle Hkio was paying a visit to Epsom and he thought he would have a spot of relaxation before lunch by making the waters dance, observing that some people believed that the good spirits were with you when you did well. But he made the mistake of leaving the bowl out when he went into lunch.

Because Polly and her friends, who had been watching what was going on, thought that the bowl would make a very good swimming pool and nipped out through the cat flap while the big people were busy with lunch. And here they are, ready to dive in.

After splashing around for a while, they heard the back door and knew that they had better get out. Unfortunately, Pedro did not quite make it out in time, and he was caught in the act by Granduncle Hkio. Right young man, he said, I shall make the water dance with you in it. And rather to everyone's surprise, that is exactly what he did, Grandpa's rather stuffy remarks about fluid dynamics notwithstanding.

Pedro said it felt ever so funny, with all the water bubbling and dancing around him. Just like being in one of the spa baths, perhaps at the Blunsdon House on the outskirts of Swindon. Even funnier when you did it face down.

PS: the Blunsdon House is a rather grand hotel on the north western outskirts of Swindon. When I knew it, more than a decade ago now, complete with elaborate spa facilities for the ladies and a wood panelled smoking room for the gentlemen. Complete with fancy cigars and a fancy selection of whisky. They might even have sold rum, gin and stuff like that for the nouveau riche who liked to use the place. And when you got fed up with that, there was a very decent public house, the Heart in Hand, just up the road.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/series-1-episode-v.html.

Reference 2: http://www.blunsdonhouse.co.uk/.

Reference 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH4xAI5AHuM. A small bowl.

Reference 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9HYUOZuRfY. A big bowl.

Reference 5: http://www.danmoi.com. No dancing water that I can see, but he does do what I call thumb drums and he calls kalimbas. Rather fancier than mine, I might say.

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Pivot update

At reference 1, I reported difficulties with including rows for which there was no data in a (Microsoft Excel) pivot table, the rows in questions being days or dates.

Today, I had another go. First, I included an additional row for the date in question, March 30th, with shift scored as minus 1. This resulted in a zero row for that day in the pivot table. But a little clumsy, using two rows in place of none. Second, I included an extra column called 'records', which always took the value 1. Then for March 30th all the data columns were set to zero. Again, this resulted in a zero row for that day in the pivot table, as shown in the snap top left. And using two rows in place of none seems better than using two.

All this arises because of Microsoft's concern to make the production of tables as easy as possible. The user has to do little more than nominate the rows and columns. Specialist tabulators, in which I once took a professional interest, put rather more work on their users, requiring them to specify the various dimensions of a cross tabulation as entities in their own right, rather than their being by-products of analysing the data. An approach which, as well as side-stepping the zero row problem, allows the inclusion of a profusion of sub-totals, should that be desired, as it often is when, for example, the dimension corresponds to a data item which can take many values, such as area or cause of death. And some of the better tabulators can even have a stab at data items which can make several values for just one record - which would enable, in our present difficulties, useful work to be done with multiple causes of death.

To be fair to Microsoft, they do have a stab at sub-totals. They know that date is a date field, from which month can be extracted, so they offer monthly sub-total, which one gets by ticking the months box in the large panel, top right in the snap above.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/pivoting-bricks.html.

Tweet

What must be our local kite flew across our garden, from left to right, heading north, not much higher than chimney height, at 0637 local time this (Tuesday) morning. Close enough to reveal a pale but mottled underside (ventral).

Last noticed, getting on for a couple of weeks ago, at reference 1. On the other side of the road.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/tweet.html.

Series 1, Episode V

Today Grandma warmed up the left over cheese sauce, mentioned yesterday, to go with the left over boiled bacon and a further round of boiled vegetables. Nearly all of it went for lunch and without thinking she left what there was left next to the toaster in the kitchen and went back to her dessert next door. A dessert involving orange jelly and white yoghurt.

Then while Grandma was next door, Poly, Pedro and Yuri thought it would be good fun to climb into the bowl and have a warm sauce fight.

Sadly, all good things come to an end and when Grandma came back into the kitchen and caught them at it, they were all sent outside to have a cold bath in the water butt, filled by yesterday's rain.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/series-i-episode-iv.html.

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Fraxinus

About five years ago a chap from the RHS identified a seedling on the edge of our back hedge as a fraxinus excelsior f. diversifolia. This was noticed at reference 1. Later that year, I cut it down by accident, but was pleased to be able to report the following year at reference 2 that it had sprouted from the stump.

However, while it is still there, and now carefully protected, it has never really recovered, and has yet to make the size it had back in 2015. As can be seen in the snap left, with the lead bud not long burst. There are some more buds further down.

Maybe, by the end of this year, it will have attained its former size.

Meanwhile, some confusion on the taxonomy front. What does the 'f.' bit in the name do? Why are the leaves at reference 3 pointed, rather than the round of my seedling? Is it one of those trees on which the shape of the leaves depends on circumstances; the amount of light, the age of the tree and so on. It is certainly the case that ivy leaves vary considerably in size and shape from place to place, from plant to plant.

Reference 1: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2016/06/fraxinus-excelsior.html.

Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.com/2015/07/not-exotic.html.

Reference 3: https://www.vdberk.co.uk/trees/fraxinus-excelsior-diversifolia/.

Philosophy

My understanding is that philosophers have spent a lot of time over the centuries - not to say the millennia - worrying about whether things would really exist if we were not around to look at them. With my understanding quite possibly being very wide of the mark, as I find the whole subject rather difficult and so never give it much time.

Not even convinced that there is much point given the present state of knowledge about the world. Although I grant that it might have been different for Plato, who had a big brain - but not a lot of data to connect it to.

Notwithstanding, for some reason, it sprang into my mind yesterday that in so far as colour was concerned the answer to the question was a clear 'no'.

The way we perceive colour clearly depends our having complicated eyes wired into complicated brains. The colour 'red' has no existence outside of human brains, excepting possible those lower animals which still have decent eyes and brains of a sort.

It may well be that objects which we see as red reflect or absorb the light hitting them in different way to object that, for example, we see as blue, but that is not the same thing at all.

Properties like size or temperature are a bit different, as while the senses help, we can't sense either size or temperature in the fine grained way that we sense colour - and for that we need instruments.

While a property like surface texture is different again, with different surfaces feeling very different to the fingers, but with instruments capable of doing the same job having only recently become available.

So roughly speaking, the objects might exist whether we are there or not - but the properties, the subjective experiences, through which we know of them, know about them do not. We know about how the objects interact with us, not about what they are. And as anthropologists (and probably psychiatrists) know all too well, you change what you interact with.

Clearly a topic to mull over during the morning's brick shift to come. In the intervals of thinking about whether it should be rows, stacks or what.

Fights back

We had been wondering about how Terroirs of references 1 and 2 had been faring in lockdown world.

With our last visit (reference 1) having been, inter alia, the occasion of the drunken whale which got misplaced, a misunderstanding which we did not get around to resolving in time, and which is now likely to have to sit in the pending tray for quite some weeks yet.

Nostalgia for their long lunches, enlivened by the odd drop of this or that, will grow. How long will it take to put things back together again when life is allowed to return to normal? Will we take to taking our lunches outside, where the air is fresher and we can keep and eye on the comings and goings of the police, rather than on the comings and goings of the young staff and the generally older customers? Not altogether clear that what one sees from Terroirs is the (Charing Cross) police station, as the entrance is actually around the corner in Agar Street - but they clearly find it convenient to park their big white vans in William IV Street.

Meanwhile, Terroirs appears to be fighting back and is offering a home delivery service, yet to be investigated, as per the snap above.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/02/courtauld-first-campaign.html.

Reference 2: https://www.terroirswinebar.com/home.

Series I, Episode IV

Polly was a getting to be a bit put out that she was not getting into Grandpa's brick scene. So this morning, she persuaded Yuri and Pedro to join her in an assault on the noon-tide brick heap.

So, while Grandpa was messing about in the kitchen with his cordon rouge cheese sauce, involving both onion and celery, fried in a little butter, to go with Grandma's special boiled bacon and boiled vegetables, they would sneak out of the front door while Grandma was peeping down the side passage to see if any packages had been left there overnight.

Nip round the back, collect digging sticks from the tub where they live - and off up the brick heap. It was quite scary as the bricks, being both old and varied, were quite wobbly. There might even be an avalanche. On the other hand, there were plenty of cracks into which they could push their digging sticks to make footholds, as can be seen in the close-up above.

As was only fair, Polly was at point and summited first. To be followed by Pedro and then Yuri, backstop on this occasion.

The only bad thing was they had forgotten to bring the rope, so instead of abseiling down, which would have been fun, they had to climb down. Which was, rather to their surprise, quite a lot harder than climbing up. Which all goes to explain why cats (and toys) get stuck up trees so often.

Baby Bear was the lookout and he had been told to screech if he saw or heard any sign of Grandpa. And to screech especially loudly if Grandpa had a red face or was breathing heavily as these were bad signs, often of bad temper. He might even do a number and have a melt down.

Reference 1: http://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/series-1-episode-iii.html.

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