Exotica

That is to say two interesting advertisements brought to my email box by Google this morning. 

First, one from Taschen, an art book outfit, the publisher of a useful art book I bought secondhand some years ago in Topsham and mentioned twice in 2019, most recently at reference 1. Will I now go on to buy the picture book at reference 4 - for a modest £120 or so? Do I know anyone who would get that sort of value out of it? I don't think I would.

Second, one from the Irish Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, a cover from which is snapped above. An outfit with whom I have had no previous contact. Part of the open science stable, a stable which reference 3 tells me holds 25,000 horses - so this one is going to have to hustle a bit if it wants to get out ahead of the pack. I am connected to the stable, so perhaps the additional clue for Google was what I imagine to be my above average interest in Irish affairs, deducible from materials available to them.

Intrigued by the selection of fruit and vegetables offered middle right, suggesting that the mild and wet land of Éire is good for more than one might have expected. Cows yes, pineapples no. Maybe I will take a look after all.

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

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/05/settling-in.html.

Reference 3: https://www.scienceopen.com/.

Reference 4: J. C. Volkamer. The Book of Citrus Fruits - 1708 and 2020.

Boiled beef

Getting on for ten days ago now, it was the turn of boiled beef. Some confusion about whether it was roast beef or boiled beef, it saying roast beef on the label and looking like a cut, albeit rather lean, of roasting beef. BH, however, knew her Sainsbury's better than I did, carefully removing the label to reveal instructions about boiling - or at least pot-roasting - underneath. After some palaver we settled on the latter.

On the same expedition, Sainsbury's had discounted jars of Robertson's mince meat - according to BH far more palatable than own brand - from £1.80 or so to 9p a jar. So two jars sold and one jar combined with apple and made up into the tart snapped above, to be taken after the beef.

For me, the day had started with a Ewell Village clockwise, that is to say Horton Lane, Ewell Village, East Street and home via Hook Road, thus avoiding Epsom town centre, apt to be busy on a Sunday. And also not long into lockdown. This was the first spin for a few days and involved three modest hills. Up the short, steep hillock to the church. Up the short, steep hillock to the top of the railway bridge. Climb out of the village to the top end of East Street. All of which made me puff more than they should have, with short, steep in particular not usually being a problem. It is the long and not so steep which I find challenging. Maybe out of trim after the festivities.

With insult to injury being added by there being quite a lot of other cyclists about, quite a lot of whom sailed past me. Some of them were ladies.

Home to a little something before lunch, while I turned the pages of the Mishnah (references 3 and 4), last looked at in October. Most of the time was spent reminding myself of the gross organisation so that I could follow at least some of the many cross references about. That apart I was rather impressed by a dispute about when a certain rite - I think the Shema - could be performed. A said before dawn, while B said before midnight. Both A and B being respected authorities. Ah well, says C, another such, B was concerned for those who are a bit sloppy about these things. He gave a time which gave a reasonable margin for error. A was talking to more serious people. Less success so far in finding out exactly what the Shema is, although I will probably get there if I persist with reference 5.

The translator was described as a - or the - residentiary canon at St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem. I wondered how many Church of England clerics would be qualified to make such a translation now. A dozen? All male? All fellows of Oxford or Cambridge colleges?

While all this was going on, BH was attending to lunch, with the beef being accompanied by our usual boiled vegetables, plus the vegetables from the pot-roast, served in the gravy they had been cooked in. A thin gravy but one which did very well to moisten the otherwise rather dry boiled beef. Pleased to say that there was no soapy flavour about this beef, a soapy flavour which sometimes comes with boiling.

The wine was one of those we had learned about at our pre-Christmas tasting, noticed at reference 1. A 1040 Ribeiro from Sameirás? In any event the people at reference 2. As far as I can make out O Ribeiro is a wine growing area - like the French Appellation d'Origine Controlée - in the north west of Spain, and just to the north of the substantial Minho River. And while gmaps knows about the place, I can't actually find it on the map which it takes me to. That apart, we really liked the wine and may well get some more.

Furthermore, BH felt sure - after a couple of glasses that is - that 1040 was something to do with the Reconquista, a factlet neither confirmed nor denied by a quick look at the relevant article in Wikipedia. Spanish history at the time being sufficiently complicated to make it difficult to find out what was was going on a little to the south east of Santiago de Compostela - although I did learn that the Moors got close enough to sack this last place at some point towards the end of the 10th century. So a fit of sorts.

Next up, a rather inconclusive discussion of the possible merits of rare boiled beef. Which this particular boiled beef was not. But we did think that rarity was more of a runner with roast than boiled.

Next up, brick walk stood down in favour of Scrabble. The tiles were not falling well and we only just scraped through the 500 point barrier. I did win on this occasion though.

Wound up the proceedings with 6 lengths of our road in the dark, which took about half an hour. Christmas lights down to just one or two houses, this by a fortnight after the great event. Two cars. One fox. One cycle with an unnecessarily bright front light. No moon or stars, but cold. White line nearly the whole way. Gmaps says 320m a length, so a bit more than a mile. And I now have some idea about getting gmaps to tell me about distances.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/11/wine-buffs.html.

Reference 2: http://www.adegasameiras.com/en/home/. The victim of unusually poor translation.

Reference 3: The Mishnah - Herbert Danby - 1933.

Reference 4: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/10/swine.html.

Reference 5: http://cojs.org/.

Frustration

Back on Jublilee Way this morning, where I made sure that I did notice the Tesco Express first noticed yesterday, subsequently at reference 1.

On the other hand, I did not mention the serious looking Thames Water activity outside the strip club at the eastern exit to Epsom town centre, first noticed about a year ago at reference 3. Didn't think to look to see what was going on this morning and certainly didn't notice anything, although I did notice hole in the road activity (with traffic lights) a bit further along, just before the Kiln Lane junction. Must do better tomorrow.

But the main news from the trip is frustration. I clocked a No.21, a couple of No.22's, a No.23, a No.24 (I think), and a No.25. A lot of No.20's. Several No.62's. A No.29. But no No.26. All very tiresome.

And things went from bad to worse.

A few days ago I bought a secondhand bulkhead light on ebay to replace the one we had, now rather the worse for weather. I suspect that the sealing ring for the glass cover has perished. It arrived in good order, but with two fixing bolts stuck in their unthreaded holes, one of which holes is very top left in the snap above, a light very like the one in question, from Coughtrie of Glasgow. Cut off the stumps with a hacksaw. Drill out the first bolt, using an ascending sequence by size of drill. So far so good. But go to do the second hole, to find that the drills have been blunted by the first bolt and are not good for the second. So stuck for the moment. More frustration.

And just to wrap things up, I lost the daily game of Scrabble for the second day running. Yesterday by a short head, but today by a couple of lengths. I blame the Q and the handful of vowels blocking my hand for the last quarter of the game. Didn't think to dump the Q, thinking rather of the coup to come which didn't.

There was also the matter of my 'quiff', rejected by the complete Oxford of around 1890 (lots of big volumes), this being the dictionary we play to. A word which is in the concise Oxford of around 1960 (one small volume) and in the shorter Oxford of around 1950 (one big volume). The former saying not in the US, using the double vertical bar which is used to mark not naturalised in the complete. Very untidy. The latter informing us that the word came into use around 1900. So if the teddy boys of the 1950's had quiffs, they had not invented the word. While BH had 'biro' rejected as foreign without my troubling to get up at the time - a word which turned out to be in neither concise nor shorter. Never mind the complete.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/ 01/inattentional-blindness.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/01/elusivity-continues.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/01/waterworks.html.

Inattentional blindness

Since the start of the current lockdown, I have thought it best not to cycle through Epsom town centre, if only for the sake of example. It has also been rather wet. But today I was tempted out, initially to Ruxley Lane, but then pushing onto Jubilee Way.

Where, on Cox lane heading west, just past the railway bridge, I found a Tesco Express on my right. A shop I must have cycled past dozens of times in the course of last year - and never noticed. Or had it opened up during the Christmas holiday? Inspection of gmaps tells me not, with the image above dating from 2019. Just one more example of how a road looks very different when going one way along it than when going the other. Perhaps not quite the inattentional blindness of reference 1; more a case of it being a good idea to keep eyes front when on a cycle. Head doesn't swivel on the neck as fast as it used to.

It being dry with sunny intervals, after what seems like days of rain, plenty of people about. Cars, cycles, joggers and regulars. With the occasional lapse of social distancing. But when on a dual use path - of which there are several on this circuit - I found the regulars responding well to the tinkle of my old-speak bicycle bell. Much better, to my mind, than the squawks and honks favoured by some cyclists.

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

Another graphic

Another good graphic from the FT stable, this one from an article about the difficulty we have, here in the UK, in adjusting to our reduced standing in the world, a reduced standing which has been apparent to pretty much everyone else since the end of the second world war. A war which, we are told, made the UK poor and the US rich.

Perhaps we should do more to promote the study of the history of other formerly great powers in our schools, powers like Athens, Rome, Portugal, Spain, Austria, Turkey and France. To promote a better understanding of how they managed, or mismanaged, the same adjustment. Listed here roughly in date order. Maybe reference 2 should be one of the set books, a long book, described as an INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER, but one which I don't think I ever got around to reading. Perhaps now is the time? However, both Amazon and Abebooks wanted at least £15, with some copies on sale for a lot more, which was too much - while ebay did the job for £3.29 including postage - so maybe I will get around to turning the pages.

A good graphic, but as ever, one worries about its accuracy. It is very hard to put together graphs covering such a long period of time - and two big wars - as these do. A century is a long time in statistics, never mind more than a century and a half.

PS: puzzled by the good price offered by ebay, I checked both Amazon and Abebooks again. To find that I had missed the secondhand department at Amazon, although they still couldn't match the ebay price. While the Abebooks prices held, in part because of hefty charges for posting from foreign parts. Perhaps my ebay version will turn out to be some bargain basement reprint or an abridgement.

Reference 1: From Suez to Brexit and back again: Britain’s long search for a role: Britain’s departure from the EU reopens a difficult debate over its place in the world - Philip Stephens/FT - 2021. January 15 2021.

Reference 2: The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers - Paul Kennedy - 1987.

Wellingtonia 23

Another roundabout Wellingtonia, the pair of the one at the other end of Horton Lane, scored at reference 2. Another Wellingtonia hiding in plain sight.

Reference 1: http://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/01/wellingtonia-22.html.

Reference 2: http://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/01/wellingtonia-20.html.

Group search key: wgc.

Wellingtonia 22

No.22 is the first sick Wellingtonia, captured in the drive leading to the big house of No.21. Zoom reveals the distinctive scaled leaves and I am reasonably sure that it is one. Perhaps its roots got damaged during the redevelopment of the site. Or perhaps its water supply got diverted.

Of course, the rules committee may rule that sick trees will not be allowed in the future. Another matter I need to trouble the committee with is that of the car number plates and Wellingtonia that I may spot on television. I have been keeping a lookout for car No.26, with no luck so far. But this evening, I thought I glimpsed a Wellingtonia in the grounds of the big house of the the preparatory school of Episode 5 of the 1979 BBC adaptation of the cold war yarn 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy'. A series which has worn well in the forty years since it was made, during which time we have probably watched it getting on for half a dozen times. It didn't feel the same need to be as noisy, action packed and violent as a modern adaptation. Not to say all the social worker stuff thrown in for the ladies. Simenon and Christie managed without. 

That apart, no question of scoring this Wellingtonia, as it was too brief a glimpse to be sure and we don't know our way around the remote well enough for getting back to it not to be too much bother. But I will continue to ponder about a submission to the rules committee.

PS: I was reminded that being a spy in the field was a dirty and dangerous business. Maybe there still are such people. Maybe sometimes necessary, but not work for decent folk. It also struck us that this forty year old series did not seem to include any people of colour. So some things have changed for the better.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/01/wellingtonia-21.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/11/no25.html. Car No.25 - more than two months ago now.

Group search key: wgc.