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All the personal memories recorded in 80 plus have been gathered together and published in

BEFORE MY MEMORY FAILS

Additional material will be added to the new blog from time to time.

The address is 

http://beforemymemoryfails.blogspot.com

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No.218

 80 PLUS COMES TO AN END TODAY

The first post to this blog was made on 3rd July 2008 and the time has now come to conclude the series.

To bring 80 PLUS to an end, I've chosen an item from each of my current blogs, plus something that will be included in THE VICTORIAN BLOG next week.

From “taking the one less travelled by” blog

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From "Wise Men Say . . . And Wise Women Too"

The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache. (Marjorie Pay Hinckley)

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From "John's Gallery"

 "The Old Mill"

by Vasily Polenov 1844-1927

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From "The Haiku Habit"

how satisfying

the sound of crunching leaves

beneath my feet

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From "Music Has Charms"

Classic FM's 20th Birthday Flashmob

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And from the new site "The Victorian Scrapblog"

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THE VICTORIAN SCRAPBLOG
Friday 12th October
http://thevictorianscrapblog.blogspot.com

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No.217

I found this amusing piece on the internet some time ago and I decided to reproduce it here.

NOT TO WORRY

by 

"Worrywart"

Worrywart - n. One who worries excessively and needlessly - from www.freedictionary.com

The free encyclopedia wikipedia describes worry as “thoughts, images and emotions of a negative nature in which mental attempts are made to avoid anticipated potential threats. As an emotion it is experienced as anxiety or concern about a real or imagined issue.”

10 Questions to be answered

Do you worry that you’ll miss an important appointment by oversleeping?

Do you worry that your alarm clock will fail to ring?

Do you worry that you’ll miss your bus/train/plane?

Do you worry that the taxi won’t turn up and that you’ll miss your connection?

Do you worry that your luggage will somehow be lost on the journey?

Do you worry that you’ve forgotten to bring important documents/money/credit card/travel tickets/passport?

Do you worry that you may not have switched off the cooker/locked the back door/switched on the burglar alarm?

Do you worry that your taxi will break down/crash/be exterminated by daleks?

Do you worry that your bus will tumble over a precipice?

Do you worry that a crazed madman with a bomb will hijack your plane?

If your answer to all those questions has been “Yes” -
JOIN THE CLUB



However let’s not be too depressed. There are a number of things we can do.

1. In case your alarm clock fails to go off, set a second one to ring, and also a third one should the second one let you down.

2. To ensure you don’t miss your bus/train/plane, leave the house 2 hours earlier than you planned. Better still, set off the night before.

3. If you have doubts about your taxi appearing, order 2 or 3 taxis, each from different firms.

4. Keep your luggage secure by firmly binding your cases about your person with strong rope.

5. Before leaving home, check that you have your documents, money etc at least 4 times, and the same procedure for turning off gas etc.

6. Regarding all possible calamities and catastrophies, you can prepare by fortifying yourself with enough liquor to keep you legless.

HAVE A NICE DAY!  
                                                      
No, I haven’t forgotten about the madman with a bomb. If he turns up, your worries will be over!


Finally, a word of wisdom -

        Worry is like a rocking chair, it will give you something to do, but it won't get you anywhere.

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NEW - The Haiku Habit - NEW

beginning on Monday 1st October

http://thehaikuhabit.blogspot.com

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No.216

Do you know what this gadget is?

It’s a crystal wireless set with earphones - sometimes just known as a cat’s whisker set.

This was an early radio which needed no battery or power source. The cat’s whisker was a thin wire which was used to find the exact place on the crystal which would result in receiving the wireless signal. A great deal of patience was needed, for the crystal required just the right pressure by the wire. An aerial was required as well, and of course only one person, using earphones, could hear the broadcast.

These wireless sets were very popular around 1920 and many of them were homemade.

This photo, courtesy of Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia, was taken in a trench in France during the First World War and shows a soldier using a handmade crystal radio.

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The falling leaves drift by the window,
The autumn leaves of red and gold;
I see your lips, the summer kisses,
The sun-burned hands I used to hold.

Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song;
But I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall.
(Johnnie Mercer)

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I came across this unusual letter in a newspaper recently.

"I married a widow and she already had a grown-up daughter. Then my father, being a widower, married the daughter. So that made my father my son-in-law and made my step-daughter my step-mother.  And it follows that my step-mother's mother is my grandmother - and I'm married to her. So that then makes me my own grandfather."

To which the Editor added - "Don't be fooled, folks. This is a song from the 1940s."

I'm surprised that I've never heard of such a song.

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Finally here's a song which belongs to the days of the cat's whisker. One of the most popular singers then was the Irish tenor Count John McCormack. In this clip, uploaded by warholsoup100, the song is "The Sunshine of Your Smile" which he recorded in 1916. Try viewing it on full screen.

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NEXT POST FRIDAY 28TH

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No.215

This is something completely different.
Tennyson's poem about the mysterious Lady of Shalott has always fascinated me and below you will find the complete poem illustrated by three famous paintings.

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 THE LADY OF SHALOTT
by
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

with Paintings
by
John William Waterhouse (1849-1917)

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On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And thro' the field the road runs by
To many-towered Camelot;
And up and down the people go,
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an island there below,
The island of Shalott.

Willows whiten, aspens quiver,
Little breezes dusk and shiver
Through the wave that runs for ever
By the island in the river
Flowing down to Camelot.
Four gray walls, and four gray towers,
Overlook a space of flowers,
And the silent isle imbowers
The Lady of Shalott.

By the margin, willow-veiled
Slide the heavy barges trailed
By slow horses; and unhailed
The shallop flitteth silken-sailed
Skimming down to Camelot:
But who hath seen her wave her hand?
Or at the casement seen her stand?
Or is she known in all the land,
The Lady of Shalott?

Only reapers, reaping early
In among the bearded barley,
Hear a song that echoes cheerly
From the river winding clearly,
Down to towered Camelot:
And by the moon the reaper weary,
Piling sheaves in uplands airy,
Listening, whispers "'Tis the fairy
Lady of Shalott".



There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colours gay.
She has heard a whisper say,
A curse is on her if she stay
To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be,
And so she weaveth steadily,
And little other care hath she,
The Lady of Shalott.

And moving through a mirror clear
That hangs before her all the year,
Shadows of the world appear.
There she sees the highway near
Winding down to Camelot:
There the river eddy whirls,
And there the surly village churls,
And the red cloaks of market girls,
Pass onward from Shalott.

Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,
An abbot on an ambling pad,
Sometimes a curly shepherd-lad,
Or long-haired page in crimson clad,
Goes by to towered Camelot;
And sometimes through the mirror blue
The knights come riding two and two:
She hath no loyal knight and true,
The Lady of Shalott.

But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror's magic sights,
For often through the silent nights
A funeral, with plumes and lights,
And music, went to Camelot:
Or when the moon was overhead,
Came two young lovers lately wed;
"I am half-sick of shadows," said
The Lady of Shalott.



A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,
He rode between the barley sheaves,
The sun came dazzling through the leaves,
And flamed upon the brazen greaves
Of bold Sir Lancelot.
A redcross knight for ever kneeled
To a lady in his shield,
That sparkled on the yellow field,
Beside remote Shalott.

The gemmy bridle glittered free,
Like to some branch of stars we see
Hung in the golden Galaxy.
The bridle bells rang merrily
As he rode down to Camelot:
And from his blazoned baldric slung
A mighty silver bugle hung,
And as he rode his armour rung,
Beside remote Shalott.

All in the blue unclouded weather
Thick-jewelled shone the saddle-leather,
The helmet and the helmet-feather
Burned like one burning flame together,
As he rode down to Camelot.
As often through the purple night,
Below the starry clusters bright,
Some bearded meteor, trailing light,
Moves over still Shalott.

His broad clear brow in sunlight glowed;
On burnished hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flowed
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down to Camelot.
From the bank and from the river
He flashed into the crystal mirror,
"Tirra lirra," by the river
Sang Sir Lancelot.

She left the web, she left the loom;
She made three paces through the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She looked down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror cracked from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott.



In the stormy east-wind straining,
The pale yellow woods were waning,
The broad stream in his banks complaining,
Heavily the low sky raining
Over towered Camelot;
Down she came and found a boat
Beneath a willow left afloat,
And round about the prow she wrote
"The Lady of Shalott."

And down the river's dim expanse,
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Seeing all his own mischance,
With a glassy countenance
Did she look to Camelot.
And at the closing of the day
She loosed the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,
The Lady of Shalott.

Lying, robed in snowy white
That loosely flew to left and right,
The leaves upon her falling light,
Through the noises of the night
She floated down to Camelot;
And as the boat-head wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her singing her last song,
The Lady of Shalott.

Heard a carol, mournful, holy,
Chanted loudly, chanted lowly,
Till her blood was frozen slowly,
And her eyes were darkened wholly,
Turned to towered Camelot;
For ere she reached upon the tide
The first house by the water-side,
Singing in her song she died,
The Lady of Shalott.

Under tower and balcony,
By garden wall and gallery,
A gleaming shape she floated by,
Dead pale between the houses high,
Silent into Camelot.
Out upon the wharfs they came,
Knight and burgher, lord and dame,
And round the prow they read her name,
"The Lady of Shalott"

Who is this? and what is here?
And in the lighted palace near
Died the sound of royal cheer;
And they crossed themselves for fear,
All the knights at Camelot:
But Lancelot mused a little space;
He said, "She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott".

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A long poem, but I love it!!!

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taking the one less travelled by
a picture to admire, a poem to ponder, music to meditate by
and a saying by Lao-Tzu
http://takingtheonelesstravelledby.blogspot.com

No.214

Can you remember the last time a doctor looked down your throat and asked you to say Ah? Or held your wrist to feel your pulse? Or listened to your chest through his stethoscope?

When he had finished the examination, he would write out a prescription which you would present to the chemist. Invariably you would get a bottle of mixture with a horrible taste, specially concocted just for you!

In most homes there was a corner of a shelf in the kitchen where a selection of medicine bottles stood. Apart from those which had been prescribed in previous years, there would be essentials like Syrup of Figs, Emulsion, Malt and the dreaded Castor Oil!!!

For some children the cure for constipation was blackberries and for others raw or cooked onions.

It seems that a mixture of sulphur and treacle was given once a week to many children, and that’s something I hadn’t heard of.

Also new to me was brown paper sprinkled with vinegar and pepper applied to the cheek to combat the toothache. In our family the cure was the application of oil of cloves to the gum, but I don’t remember it being all that successful.

The advertisements for many foods claimed that their products had health benefits. This “Plateful of Health” is an example.

I don’t know if warts are still a problem for children. When I was young, quite a few boys in my class had warts, usually on their hands.

This week I was fascinated to find those old “cures” listed in my newspaper.

Take an eel, cut off its head, and rub the wart with the blood from the severed wound. Then bury the eel’s head in the ground. As the head rots away, the wart will gradually disappear.

Steal a very small piece of lean meat from the butcher’s, rub it on the wart three times from left to right. Bury the meat immediately and repeat: As you rot, so departs my wart.

Rub the wart with a blackberry, then throw it away. As soon as it is eaten by a bird or animal, the wart will disappear.

Prick the wart with a pin, then stick the pin into the trunk of an ash tree. Recite the following rhyme: Ashen tree, ashen tree, pray buy these warts from me. The warts will be transferred to the tree.

I‘m remembering that Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer knew how to get rid of warts, but their method was certainly not to be recommended.

They had to go to the cemetery at midnight and wait beside a grave in which a wicked man had just been buried. The devil would appear to take away the dead man and the boys had to recite, “Devil follow corpse, cat follow devil, warts follow cat, I’m done with ye!.”

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Breathless
by “MasterRevelation”

I'm not too fit, I'll have you know,
I'm overweight and rather slow,
But when I run, I manage; though
I'm breathless!

Though in the past it was not thus,
I am not one to swear and cuss,
Except that, trying to catch a bus,
I'm breathless!

When as a youth, I used to play
With sweet young ladies in the hay,
The girls would be the ones to say:
"I'm breathless"!

At sport I'd always stay the course,
I was as strong as any horse,
But now, with just a little force,
I'm breathless!

I guess my life has reached the stage
When these things happen at my age.
If all my passions I assuage,
I'm breathless!

No longer, now, do I aspire
To climb a mountain, walk on fire,
Instead I curb each wild desire:
I'm breathless!

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Good news for all who are 80 plus!

According to The Register, old people who use computers are less likely to get dementia. This is the finding of researchers at the University of Western Australia's Centre for Health and Ageing.

So the message is, for folks like me, - Keep on Blogging!!!

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Finally, this is a video from Switzerland. Uploaded by jumpin88, “Dancin’ the Boogie” composed by Silvan Zingg features world champion dancers William and Maéva. The pianist is Silvan Zingg.

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NEW - taking the one less travelled by - NEW
This blog began last weekend and will be updated today
http://takingtheonelesstravelledby.blogspot.com

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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.

-o0o-

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.

-o0o-


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]

-o0o-

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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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.

-o0o-

I don't have any information about this photo.

-o0o-

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.

-o0o-

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.

-o0o-

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!

-o0o-

NEXT POST 31ST AUGUST

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.

-o0o-

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

-o0o-

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!

-o0o-

This is a great view of Multnomah Falls in Oregon, showing the footbridge and the upper and lower falls.

Thanks to public-domain-images

-o0o-

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.”

-o0o-

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

-o0o-

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?

-o0o-

NEXT POST FRIDAY 24th

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No.210

80 PLUS COMES TO AN END TODAY

During the last few years I’ve often used the blog to record memories of my boyhood and I always marvel at how different the lives of today’s children are from what I experienced. I’m repeating a few examples.

I REMEMBER the lamplighter with his long pole. I thought he had a great job.

I REMEMBER that every so often buskers would appear in our back-court and sing one or two songs. Housewives would open their windows, throw down coppers and the singer would move on to the next tenement. Sometimes one of them would play a tin whistle or do a dance, and I’m told that before the First World War German bands toured the country entertaining in back-courts.

I REMEMBER the horse-driven vans which visited our street, and the occasion when the horse which pulled the baker’s van fell down. Someone sat on its head as it lay on the road, while the baker undid all the belts and straps. Only when that was done was the animal able to get up, unharmed.

I REMEMBER message boys on bicycles. They were usually employed by food shops, and they had the job of delivering what housewives had ordered.

I REMEMBER that in the wintertime we went to school wrapped up in layers of clothing. Boys always wore caps and short trousers; in those days we had to wait till we were 15 or 16 before we got long trousers.

Royal Terrace where we lived till 1936

I REMEMBER seeing American comics. They were the size of broadsheet newspapers and had lots of pages. And the content was so different from our “Tiger Tim” and “The Rainbow.”

I REMEMBER that cigarette packets each contained a picture card. Many subjects were covered including sports personalities, film stars, dance band leaders, comedians, cars, locomotives, birds, animals, fish and many more.

I REMEMBER that the best room or parlour was used only on special occasions. That’s where the piano would be and the instrument was generally kept locked. (Did they keep it locked to prevent a burglar stealing the keys?)

I REMEMBER that, when drivers parked their cars on a hill (even on a slight hill), they would place a brick or a large stone at a front wheel to prevent the vehicle moving off.

I REMEMBER that, at primary school, if there was torrential rain in the morning, the school would close at lunchtime and we got a half-holiday. In such weather the boys would cram into the playground shelter at the morning interval, stand up on the long wooden bench and stamp their feet in time to their repeated cry of “We want a hauf!” (a half-day)

Lairdsland School where I got my primary education

I REMEMBER that sometimes a pupil would have an epileptic fit in the classroom. The child was usually writhing on the floor, while the rest of us sat in awed silence. I don’t recall the teacher attending to the victim - the fit passed quite quickly and the lesson was resumed.

I REMEMBER that a good number of my class-mates came from much poorer homes than ours. The boys were all dressed alike, in trousers and jackets of a coarse brown material, these having been provided by the School Board.

I REMEMBER that “the basket class” met in the church hall across the road from the school. This was for children who were considered to be uneducable and included a whole range of cases from just a bit simple to mentally defective. They passed their time doing handwork and, although part of our school, there was no contact between them and us.

I REMEMBER that there were only two men on the staff, the Headmaster and Mr Maclennan who took the Qualifying Class (Primary 7). The latter had a soft Highland accent which I liked to hear when he read poetry to us. His strap, which he used frequently, was never out of his hands, and he would be continually playing with it, rolling and unrolling it.

I REMEMBER we learned the multiplication tables by repeating them endlessly until they became fixed in our minds. Spelling too was taught that way and the whole class in unison would chant “eye enn - in, eye enn - in, ay tee - at, ay tee - at,” and so on. There used to be a lot of suppressed giggles when we came to “up.”

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Finally, Ashoken Farewell composed by Jay Ungar. This piece was No.40 (out of 300) in Classic FM’s Hall of Fame chart announced last week-end.
It’s played on this clip by Mairead Nesbitt of Celtic Woman.
http://www.celticwoman.com/



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The new blog
TAKE FIVE WITH JOHN
begins tomorrow

http://takefivewithjohn.blogspot.com

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No.209

WISE MEN SAY

May I have the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
(Reinhold Niebuhr)

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THROUGH THE CAMERA LENS

This is an 1886 photograph of some of the inhabitants of St Kilda outside their cottages.

St Kilda lies 40 miles from the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. There had been a small population there for hundreds of years, but since the middle of the 19th century there were never more than 100 people living there. The story of the evacuation of the inhabitants in 1930 is well-known, but I was too young then to know anything about it.

Today St Kilda is owned by the National Trust and became a World Heritage Site in 1986. The island attracts a good number of bird-watchers for it has become famous as a breeding ground for seabirds. Other visitors to the island are volunteers who are helping to restore some of the ruined houses. There’s also a small military base.

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JOHN’S GALLERY

And when did you last see your father?
by William Frederick Yeames (1835-1918)

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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

Two Kinds of People by
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919)

There are two kinds of people on earth to-day;
Just two kinds of people, no more, I say.
Not the sinner and saint, for it's well understood,
The good are half bad, and the bad are half good.

Not the rich and the poor, for to rate a man's wealth,
You must first know the state of his conscience and health.
Not the humble and proud, for in life's little span,
Who puts on vain airs, is not counted a man.

Not the happy and sad, for the swift flying years
Bring each man his laughter and each man his tears.
No - the two kinds of people on earth I mean,
Are the people who lift, and the people who lean.

Wherever you go, you will find the earth's masses,
Are always divided in just these two classes.
And oddly enough, you will find too, I ween,
There's only one lifter to twenty who lean.

In which class are you? Are you easing the load,
Of overtaxed lifters, who toil down the road?
Or are you a leaner, who lets others share
Your portion of labour, and worry and care?

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Spring Song
by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
played by Ronan O'Hora
uploaded by Derwentcub



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A QUOTE FOR 80 PLUS

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.
(Mae West)

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80 PLUS COMES TO AN END ON FRIDAY

THE NEW BLOG BEGINS ON SATURDAY

http://takefivewithjohn.blogspot.com

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No.208

Thanks to http://www.webweaver.nu/clipart for the image

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I like a nice cup of tea in the morning
For to start the day you see,
And at half-past eleven, well, my idea of heaven
Is a nice cup of tea.

I like a nice cup of tea with my dinner
And a nice cup of tea with my tea,
And when it’s time for bed, there’s a lot to be said
For a nice cup of tea.
(popular song from the 1930s)

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“That tea-drinking has become a gigantic social evil no one will deny. In America alone one million pounds, and in England even more, are expended every year in the purchase of the drug; and the evil is growing at an alarming rate.”

That’s the opening paragraph in an article published early in the 1900s.

The writer links the horrible habit with coffee, smoking, cocaine and whisky, and goes at some length describing what happens in our bodies when we indulge in any of those. Having explained how leather is made, he (or she) continues “. . . when a man eats a piece of beefsteak and drinks a strong cup of tea, the tannic acid of the tea combines with the connective tissue of the steak, and the latter is converted into leather.”

Apparently tea contains a poisonous substance called thein, and we’re told that one eighth of a grain of thein will kill a frog, five grains will kill a rabbit, and seven and a half will kill a cat. “There is more than an ounce of poison in a pound of tea, enough to kill seventy rabbits or fifty cats.” Scary stuff!

“The cup that cheers but does not inebriate” is a well-known phrase from Thomas Cowper’s “The Task,” and of course refers to a cup of tea. So I was astonished to read the claim in the closing paragraphs of the article that tea can make you drunk!!!

It had been reported that some girls in a tea factory had been arrested for being drunk and disorderly, despite having taken no alcoholic liquor. Instead they had chewed tea leaves constantly as they carried out their work in the factory.

“In many an English cottage home you invariably find a pot of villainous tea brewing on the hob all day long . . . . the impaired digestions and decayed teeth which cause so many of our recruits to be rejected . . . . has become a question of national importance.”

Not to worry, however. I found the following in Wikipedia, and I think I’m quite safe enjoying my daily four cups.

“Tea leaves contain more than 700 chemicals, among which the compounds closely related to human health are flavanoides, amino acids, vitamins (C, E and K), caffeine and polysaccharides. Moreover, tea drinking has recently proven to be associated with cell-mediated immune function of the human body. Tea plays an important role in improving beneficial intestinal microflora, as well as providing immunity against intestinal disorders and in protecting cell membranes from oxidative damage. The role of tea is well established in normalizing blood pressure, lipid depressing activity, prevention of coronary heart diseases and diabetes by reducing the blood-glucose activity."

Finally, it was the writer Norwood Pratt who gave this advice :-

“If you are cold, tea will warm you; if you are heated, it will cool you; if you're depressed, it will cheer you; if you're excited, it will calm you.”

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Of course there's only one way to finish the blog. This is an excellent video by Softly Jazz (Conchita Castillo - vocals, Marina Fainytska - piano and Andrij Malyarenko - bass guitar) with a modern version of “Tea for Two.” The accompanying pictures are great.



Thanks to “Sweetvoiceforyou” for the video

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The next post here will be on Wednesday and then the final post on Friday.
The new blog TAKE FIVE WITH JOHN begins on Saturday.
http://takefivewithjohn.blogspot.com

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No.207

WISE MEN SAY

Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony
(Mahatma Gandhi)

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Thanks to http://hazelruthes.blogspot.co.uk for the image

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The Easter Bunny is a symbol that had its origin in the pagan festival of the goddess Eastre. The Anglo-Saxons worshipped her through her earthly symbol the hare or the rabbit.

The Easter bunny was introduced to America by German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 1700s. Children believed that if they were good the Oschter Haw (Easter bunny) would lay a nest of coloured eggs. Boys would use their caps and girls their bonnets to make nests for the eggs. The use of elaborate Easter baskets came later as the tradition of the Easter bunny spread through out the country.

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Still Life with Peaches
by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

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Here are two very short poems -
very appropriate after the awful weather we've had lately

Spring is not the best of seasons.
Cold and flu are two good reasons;
wind and rain and other sorrow,
warm today and cold tomorrow.
(Anon)

First a howling blizzard woke us,
Then the rain came down to soak us,
And now before the eye can focus -
Crocus.
(Lilja Rogers)

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I've never seen anything like this before.
It's the Haute Dog Easter Parade at Long Beach, California.
Thanks to justinrudd for uploading it.



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ONE MORE WEEK TO GO!
And then this series of 80 plus comes to an end, being replaced by a new blog
TAKE FIVE WITH JOHN

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Thanks to http://vintagescrapbooking.blogspot.co.uk for the image

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No.206

WISE MEN SAY

Some days you just have to create your own sunshine.
(Sam Sundquist)

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THROUGH THE CAMERA LENS

This photo probably dates from around 1900 - a time when a man with a camera always attracted a crowd



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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

Fairies’ Song
Leigh Hunt (1784-1859)

We the fairies blithe and antic,
Of dimensions not gigantic,
Though the moonshine mostly keep us,
Oft in orchards frisk and peep us.

Stolen sweets are always sweeter,
Stolen kisses much completer,
Stolen looks are nice in chapels,
Stolen, stolen, be your apples.

When to bed the world is bobbing,
Then’s the time for orchard robbing,
Yet the fruit were scarce worth peeling,
Were it not for stealing, stealing.

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JOHN’S GALLERY

Landers Peak
by Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902)

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DO YOU REMEMBER

Housewives’ Choice

This was a daily record request programme on the BBC Light Programme broadcast from 1946 to 1967. The signature tune was “in Party Mood” by Jack Strachey and it’s played here by the West End Celebrity Orchestra. Uploaded by markh5682



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A QUOTE FOR 80 PLUS

There is absolutely nothing to be said in favour of growing old. There ought to be legislation against it. (Patrick Moore)

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Tomorrow 80 plus Music Mix includes a clip from Showboat of Paul Robeson singing “Old Man River.”
http://80plusmusicmix.blogspot.com

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No.205

WISE MEN SAY

Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something,
and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent.
(The Dalai Lama)

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Last week this photo appeared in our local newspaper. Taken in the Council Room of Tom Johnston House, Kirkintilloch, it shows Provost Eric Gotts, with some councillors, and a group of people who had been nominated for the Freedom of Kirkintilloch award. You'll probably have difficulty recognising me in the line-up - I’m in the middle row, third from the right.

The successful nominee was Frank Dunn a retired Consultant Cardiologist at Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow. He is just the seventh person to be given this honour.

In 1931 the first person to be granted the Freedom of the town was Tom Johnston who later became Secretary of State for Scotland during the war in Churchill’s government.

This is the Certificate which was presented to me by the Provost.

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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

Annie Laurie

[It’s believed that the words of the well-known Scottish song were based on this poem which has been attributed to William Douglas (c.1672-1748)]

Maxwelton braes are bonnie, where early fa's the dew
Where me and Annie Laurie made up the promise true,
Made up the promise true, and ne'er forget will I,
And for bonnie Annie Laurie I'd lay doun my head and die.

She's backit like the peacock, she's breistit like the swan
She's jimp aboot the middle, her waist ye weel may span

Her waist ye weel may span, and she has a rolling eye
And for bonnie Annie Laurie I'd lay doun my head and die.

[She’s backit = she’s endowed with a backside:
She's breistit = she's endowed with breasts:
jimp = slender:
ye weel may span = you could encompass her waist with the span of two hands:
a rolling eye = a "come hither" look]

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JOHN’S GALLERY

The Young Shepherdess
by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905)

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Fred Astaire teamed up with Eleanor Powell in The Broadway Melody of 1940 and in this clip, uploaded by silverfastse5, they dance to Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine."

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A QUOTE FOR 80 PLUS

I'm very pleased with each advancing year. It stems back to when I was forty. I was a bit upset about reaching that milestone, but an older friend consoled me. "Don't complain about growing old - many people don’t have that privilege."
(Earl Warren)

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Today on Piano Playtime
Yuja Wang plays a Chopin Waltz
http://pianoplaytime.blogspot.com

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No.204

WISE MEN SAY

Perhaps the world's second worst crime is boredom. The first is being a bore.
(Cecil Beaton)

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THROUGH THE CAMERA LENS

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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

The Rose
by Amanda McBroom

Some say love, it is a river
That drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor
That leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love, it is a hunger,
An endless aching need.

I say love, it is a flower,
And you it's only seed.
It's the heart afraid of breaking
That never learns to dance.
It's the dream afraid of waking
That never takes the chance.
It's the one who won't be taken,
Who cannot seem to give,
And the soul afraid of dying
That never learns to live.

When the night has been too lonely
And the road has been to long,
And you think that love is only
For the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed that with the sun's love
In the spring becomes the rose.

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JOHN’S GALLERY

Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop’s Garden
by John Constable (1776-1837)

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This slide show "King of the Fairies"has been devised and uploaded by the Hungarian folk artist Arany Zoltan



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A QUOTE FOR 80 PLUS

The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom. (H.L.Mencken)

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No.203

WISE MEN SAY

I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. (Gilda Radner)

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This is typical view of what became known as “Miners’ Rows.”

One part of the village where I live consists of former miners’ houses. Nowadays they’re all privately-owned, and most have extensions, conservatories and additional rooms built in the attic space.

My great-grandfather George was a miner. He died long before I was born, but I remember the area in which he lived. The pit houses of his day are long gone of course; many would consist of just a room and a kitchen, and with big families common then would certainly be overcrowded.

Later my grandfather, who worked in the pit, first as a train driver and then as a power station attendant, lived in one of those houses.

People were lucky if they had an inside toilet. Often outside toilets had to be shared with other families, and sometimes they were situated at a distance from the house. Not good if a visit during the night was needed!!!

Electricity didn’t come to general housing till much later. It wasn’t till 1936, when my father bought his own house, that I lived in a place where the flick of a switch lit up a room.

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JOHN'S GALLERY

The String of Pearls
by William McGregor Paxton (1869-1941)

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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

Have you seen but a bright lily grow?
by Ben Jonson (1572-1637)

Have you seen but a bright lily grow
Before rude hands have touched it?
Have you marked but the fall of snow
Before the soil hath smutched it?
Have you felt the wool of beaver,
Or swan's down ever?
Or have smelt o' the bud o' the brier,
Or the nard in the fire?
Or have tasted the bag of the bee?
O so white, O so soft, O so sweet is she!

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This slide show - Glasgow, Scotland's Biggest City - was uploaded by glasgow1234



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A QUOTE FOR 80 PLUS

As we grow older, we must discipline ourselves to continue expanding, broadening, learning, keeping out minds active and open. (Clint Eastwood)

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Now online
PIANO PLAYTIME
http://pianoplaytime.blogspot.com

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No.202

WISE MEN SAY

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be.
(William Hazlitt)

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THROUGH THE CAMERA LENS

An Edwardian schoolroom.
It's difficult to count the pupils but I think there may be more than 50.

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By the beginning of the 20th century every child in Britain was entitled to a basic education. The accent of course was on the three Rs, but geography and history were important as well, and in some schools 12 year olds were beginning Latin.

Part-time schooling was common in certain areas. Where it was necessary for children to earn money for the family budget, those pupils attended school in the morning and went to work in the afternoon, or vice versa.

Many women in impoverished circumstances continued working after marriage. Some went out scrubbing and cleaning for wealthier folk, and others, staying at home, took in washing.

The people who could afford domestic help were those who had their own shop or business, doctors, teachers, lawyers and the clergy.

Some workers were fortunate in having very good employers. An example was the Cadbury factory in Birmingham, where the owners built houses, schools, libraries and churches for the workers and their families.

The “top” class of people were the aristocracy of course. Their way of life, which seemed to be a continual round of parties, balls, theatre outings, hunting, fishing and shooting, would experience a serious upset in 1914 - a setback from which it never fully recovered.

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JOHN'S GALLERY

Sleeping Girl with Cat
by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

Daffodils
by William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

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Thanks to DeereK13 for this slide show.
After watching it though, I played it again pausing on each picture.



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A QUOTE FOR 80 PLUS

The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly and lie about your age.
(Lucille Ball)

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Now online
PIANO PLAYTIME
http://pianoplaytime.blogspot.com

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No.201

WISE MEN SAY

We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do, and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery. (Samuel Smiles)

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JOHN’S GALLERY

The Highland Wedding
by David Allan (1744-1796)

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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

The 8.15 was almost due,
He had no time to spare,
He licked his face and cleaned his teeth
And combed and brushed his hair.

He gripped his collar savagely
And fumbled with his tie,
Then tried to do his shirt-front up,
No buttons could he spy.

He dashed down to the breakfast room
With curses that could hurt,
“How often have I asked you, girl,
‘Bout buttons on my shirt?”

His little wife said “Oh, but dear,”
“Don’t dear me!” he replied.
“There’s no time to be funny, girl!”
Belinda simply sighed.

“I’m sick to death of telling you
‘Bout buttons on my shirt,
It’s dastardly to treat me thus,
I’m not a lump of dirt!”

His little wife just looked at him,
Her lips began to pout.
“You see, my dear,” she sweetly said,
“Your shirt is inside out!” (Anon)

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VINTAGE CARDS AND POSTERS

Only a Halfpenny by Adelaide Burgess

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A Vintage Greetings card

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A Victorian Trade Card

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A 1900 poster by Albert Truchet

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A Victorian Trade Card

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The Gentleman

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Thanks to http://www.vintageimages.com for those cards

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This video, taken by a visitor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, shows how one patient tries to overcome her incapacity.



Uploaded by OneSnappy

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A QUOTE FOR 80 PLUS

As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two. (Norman Wisdom)

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Next post here Monday 26th March

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