Perhaps I had ambitions to be an MP - or an undertaker!

Friday, August 31, 2012

No.213

Last week, this blog was posted on 24th August and, along with other old weather rhymes, I quoted this one -

If 24th August be fine and clear,
Then hope for a prosperous autumn that year.


Well, I’ve got to report that the weather that day was a mixture of sunshine and showers, so we're not expecting anything wonderful. Still, we can always hope.

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This is a photo of a tenement back court in Springburn, Glasgow taken some time in the 1950s and I thank Springburn Virtual Museum for making it available. The building in the foreground is the wash house.


The wash house was an important facility for tenement-dwellers. Inside, there was a boiler heated by a coal fire and either a sink or a washing tub in which the clothes could be scrubbed by hand. Having been washed, the clothes were squeezed through a wringer and then hung out to dry. Of course if the weather was bad, you might have to dry your washing indoors. In the kitchen/living room of each house there was a pulley (two or three wooden rails) suspended from the ceiling, which could be lowered by ropes and, after the clothes had been hung, raised again.

Each family had their own particular day for using the wash house, and there could be trouble if someone had claimed possession on the wrong day. Can you imagine two women battling it out in the back court, washing being flung everywhere, scrubbing brushes flying. And faces at every window, enjoying the show!!!

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This chap shows off his coat of many colours
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A few weeks ago this letter appeared in the Daily Telegraph.

“What playing rugby at school in the 1950s did do, was teach me how to stay far enough away from the ball to avoid getting hurt, while at the same time not making it too obvious that that was what I was doing. It was a lesson which has served me in good stead all my life.”

This reminded me of my first years at Primary School. The gym teacher didn’t take the beginner classes, and instead the janitor took the boys of the beginner classes (about 40 of us) for football in the playground. It was all very chaotic and I never knew which side I was on. My mother used to recall that one day I came home and proudly announced that at football I had got a kick of the ball.

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Lacquered boxes on display at a market-stall in Uzbekistan

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One penny piece

I threw a penny in the air,
It fell again I know not where,
But if it had been half a crown
I would have watched where it came down
(Anon)

Half crown piece

[in pre-decimal coinage there were 30 pennies in half a crown]

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This short clip “Dizzy Heights” was uploaded by BFI Films.
Michael Brooke has provided this information.
"Hundreds of feet above the streets of Paris, workmen make adjustments to the scaffolding surrounding huge new exhibition buildings - accompanied by a brave cameraman working for the Topical Film Company, who obtained some scarily vertiginous images of construction at a time long before modern health and safety regulations. The film was originally released on 16 March 1931."



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NEXT POST FRIDAY 7TH

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Friday, August 24, 2012

No.212

Last Friday I promised something for dog-lovers, so here it is!


Thanks to funnyjunkz.com

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Most schools in Scotland re-opened last week after the holidays - a sure sign that summer will soon be over. But what exactly happened to summer? Yet again, it seems to have passed us by.

In ancient times the Greek physician Aratus, an early weather forecaster, once wrote, “If croaking frogs drone in the swamps, drenching rain shall fall from the clouds.”

Well, there must have been a great deal of droning in the swamps this year!

It wasn’t till the 19th century that weather forecasts became a realistic possibility and in 1861 a Met Office forecast appeared in the Times newspaper. However, following an objection from the Royal Society, the venture was halted and no further forecasts in the press appeared for another 11 years.

There was a time of course when people relied on old weather rhymes. We all know “A red sky at night is the shepherds’ delight,” or a variation of it.

Here are a few others -

When black clouds cross your path,
Black clouds much moisture hath.

When clouds appear like rocks and towers,
The earth’s refreshed by frequent showers.

Mackerel sky, mackerel sky,
Not long wet and not long dry.

Realising that I would be posting this blog on 24th August, I was astonished to find this verse -

If 24th August be fine and clear,
Then hope for a prosperous autumn that year.

Next week I’ll let you know what the weather was like on the 24th.

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I don't have any information about this photo.


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The strange business about 24th August reminded me of another coincidence I experienced some years ago.

It happened one evening in October 2009. There was a completely cloudless sky here, and I was so impressed with the very bright full moon that I called on Jean to come and have a look.

I then went to get something to read, and I found a book I had bought many years ago, but hadn’t looked at for quite a while - “365 Tao” by Deng Ming-Dao, a collection of thoughts for every day of the year. As I picked it up, it fell open at 3rd October - what a coincidence! Yes, that very day was October 3rd.

But that wasn’t all.

You can imagine my astonishment when I read the words on that page. Here they are -

Silver disc: Let me call you goddess -
You, with your mirrored face,
Tonight, of all nights, your shape is perfect,
Your presence sublime.
You know it too. You appear before the sun has even set,
Glorious without your cloak of night,
Gazing down in supreme splendour,
To make this dusty world pastoral.

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This is a photograph of the “Husband and Wife Trees” at Lynncraigs Farm, Dalry, Scotland. They are blackthorns. The photo was taken by Roger Griffith and was made available by public-domain-images.blogspot.com. This is an example of inosculation, where trunks or branches of two trees grow together.

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Following my remarks last week about modern pop songs, I’m finishing today with what I consider a really first class song from the past. Published in 1939, “All the things you are” was written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. In this clip, uploaded by Adamfulgence, the singer is Carly Simon. The lyrics are shown below.



Time and again I've longed for adventure,
Something to make my heart beat the faster.
What did I long for? I never really knew.
Finding your love, I've found my adventure,
Touching your hand, my heart beats the faster,
All that I want in all of this world is you.

You are the promised kiss of springtime
That makes the lonely winter seem long.
You are the breathless hush of evening
That trembles on the brink of a lovely song.


You are the angel glow that lights a star,
The dearest things I know are what you are.
Some day my happy arms will hold you,
And some day I'll know that moment divine,
When all the things you are, are mine!

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NEXT POST 31ST AUGUST

Friday, August 17, 2012

No.211

WELCOME!

It’s now four months since my last post here and I’m looking forward to this new series.

My aim of course is to make it as interesting as possible, and I hope that my choice of material will have your approval.

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Are you a cat-person? If so, this picture is for you. (Dog-persons, your turn will come.)

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Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Ken.
Ken who?
Ken I come in, it’s cold out here.

When did you last hear one of those?

There was a time when “knock-knock” was all the rage and it seems to have been popular all over the world - Australia, Canada, America, South Africa, India. etc. In France they were known as “toc-toc,” in Holland it was “klop-klop” and in Japan “kon-kon.”

Here are a few that took my fancy -

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Luke.
Luke who?
Luke through the keyhole and you’ll see.

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Lionel.
Lionel who?
Lionel get you nowhere, better tell the truth.

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Ivor.
Ivor who?
Ivor good mind not to tell you.


Drawings of this little man peeping over a wall were to be found everywhere during World War II and, just like the “knock-knock” craze, its popularity spread all over the world.

It has been suggested that the idea came from the character called Chad, who had been created by a British cartoonist in 1938. However its popularity seemed to begin in America and, like so many other novelties, was exported to the UK and beyond.

The drawings in chalk, paint, ink - in fact anything that would make a mark on walls, lamp posts, street signs and posters, would turn up in the most unusual places and continued right into the 1950s.

There were other names by which he was known - Clem, Smoe, the Jeep, Private Snooks, and in Australia the caption was “Foo was here.”

I suppose part of the fun of “Kilroy was here” lay in the fact that it was so easy to draw - even a small child could make a good attempt at it. Why not have a go yourself? Perhaps you try it out on your neighbour’s filthy car using your finger. But make sure you’re not caught!

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This is a great view of Multnomah Falls in Oregon, showing the footbridge and the upper and lower falls.
Thanks to public-domain-images

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Bad Report - Good Manners
(Spike Milligan)


My daddy said, “My son, my son,
This school report is bad.”
I said, “I did my best I did,
My dad my dad my dad.”

“Explain, my son, my son,” he said,
“Why bottom of the class?
“I stood aside, my dad my dad,
To let the others pass.”


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Now, here’s something rather special. This painting “The Dutch Proverbs” by Pieter Brueghel the Elder is unusual; it’s said to contain illustrations of 16th century sayings and idioms, and the suggestion has been made that 100 examples are included. Obviously quite a bit of time would be necessary to see how many proverbs you recognise, but it might be fun.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

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Finally, a thought to leave with you.

Did you see the closing show of the Olympics? A brilliant spectacle of course, but the music - I thought it was awful. There was just one good song in the whole show and that was “Imagine.“ In my day pop songs had great melodies and well-written lyrics. (Yes, I know we had our rubbish songs, but they belonged to a small minority.) Do you agree with me?

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NEXT POST FRIDAY 24th

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