All posts by Keith
Coming up in June
Some interesting events an anniversaries in the month ahead.
1 to 30 June
National Microchip Month. Is your pet microchipped? By 2016 all dogs will be required by law to be microchipped. And it is well worth having any animal microchipped — we have found the owner of one cat, and had one of our cats found and been contacted purely because they were chipped. It is an easy, cheap process and doesn’t distress the animal. Any vet should be able to do it and your pet’s details are then on a national register. There’s a lot more information at www.petlog.org.uk/national-microchipping-month.
1 June
Asparafest 2014. Held at Ashdown Farm, Evesham this is Worcestershire’s asparagus themed music and food festival and all part of the British Asparagus Festival. Full details at www.asparafest.co.uk.
6 June
D Day Landings. The 70th anniversary of the 1944 D Day Landings which were the beginning of the end of WWII.
13 June
First V1 attack on England was on this day in 1944, just a week after D-Day.
14 & 15 June
Open Garden Squares Weekend. Around 200 gardens across London take part in Open Garden Squares Weekend each year. There is a real variety — from the traditional private squares to contemporary roof gardens, not to mention skips, prisons, museums, schools and allotments. Feed your curiosity in this magical two-day event. More information at www.opensquares.org.
14 June
Trooping the Colour. The annual parade on London’s Horseguards when the Queen inspects her troops. British military pageantry at it’s most splendid.
14 June
World Gin Day is a celebration of all things gin, giving us a legitimate excuse (not that we need one) to try all of the exceptional gins that are currently on the market.
20 to 22 June
Evesham National Morris Weekend. Morris sides from around the country come together in a national festival to dance the end of the asparagus season. Lots more information at www.nationalmorrisweekend.co.uk.
20 June
On this day in 1214 the University of Oxford received its charter.
21 June
Summer Solstice. The longest day in the northern hemisphere.
21 June
National Flash Fiction Day. Flash fiction is a really short story — basically, it contains everything you would write in an ordinary short story, but it’s much more condensed, often to just a handful of words. And Flash Fiction Day aims to celebrate all that’s good in this art form. There’s lots more information at https://nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/.
22 June
The first even cricket match was played at Lord’s Cricket Ground — the current one, that is, because Mr Lord had two previous nearby grounds both of which had to move because of property development. So it was third time lucky!
23 June
This day in 1314 witnessed the Battle of Bannockburn when the Scots decisively routed the English.
24 June
St John’s Day; Midsummers Day. This is the day on which many religions, from Christians to pagans, celebrate mid-summer.
28 June
Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo on this day in 1914, and act which precipitated World War I. The event is marked in the opening chapter of Anthony Powell’s novel The Kindly Ones.
Oddity of the Week: Celery
Celery [traditionally an aphrodisiac] sends mixed messages. The ancient Greeks associated it with death: tombs were trimmed with it, and the dismal classical catchphrase “He now has need of nothing but celery” meant that some unfortunate Greek was about to kick the bucket.
From “Sex and the Celery: Ancient Greeks Get Busy With Help From Veggies” at http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2014/05/20/sex-celery-ancient-greeks-get-busy-help-veggie/
Quotes
Another in our series of interesting, thought-provoking or humorous quotes recently encountered.
It’s unacceptable there’s a loophole allowing paedophile “training manuals”, that’s why I want to protect children by making them illegal.
[David Cameron]
Just think about the logic there for a minute.
In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety.
[Abraham Maslow]
There is a rumour going around that I have found God. I think this is unlikely because I have enough difficulty finding my keys, and there is empirical evidence that they exist.
[Terry Pratchett]
If you end up with a boring miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on television telling you how to do your shit, then you deserve it.
[Frank Zappa]
As Americans, we live in an insane world, where you can legally carry and conceal a gun, but risk imprisonment should anyone see your genitals.
[From http://writersdisease.blogspot.co.uk/p/naturism.html]
There is nothing inherently sexual about nudity, any more than there is anything inherently literary about a bowl of alphabet soup.
[@nudeisnotrude @ Twitter]
I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.
[Sir Winston Churchill]
Beware anybody selling you food that’s supposed to be healthy, because they don’t make money from your health. They make money by making the product attractive enough that you buy it.
[From https://blogs.plos.org/publichealth/]
This manuscript needs to be encased in concrete and placed in the sea. Above the Mariana Trench.
[Peter Kenney @ Twitter]
Being offended is a choice. A person consciously chooses between feeling outraged about something and simply ignoring it. It’s the difference between trying to force your values on someone else and simply acknowledging that they have different values than you do, even if those values are something you sincerely disagree with
[Larry Darter at http://www.examiner.com/article/no-offense-but]
In a democracy the majority rules and that can produce tyranny of the majority. Tyranny is tyranny whether dispensed by kings or mob rule.
[Larry Darter at http://www.examiner.com/article/no-offense-but]
Why spend time complaining about and being upset by other people who directly affect your life in absolutely no real way whatsoever? Why not accept that people are all different, have different interests and values and move on? If more people did that and spent less time choosing to be offended they would be happier and healthier.
[Larry Darter at http://www.examiner.com/article/no-offense-but]
It’s easy to take off your clothes and have sex. People do it all the time. But opening up your soul to someone, letting them into your spirit, thoughts, fears, future, hopes, dreams … that is being naked.
[Unknown]
Family isn’t always blood. It’s the people in your life who want you in theirs; the ones who accept you for who you are. The ones who would do anything to see you smile & who love you no matter what.
[Unknown]
Auction Delights
Yet another selection of the weird and wonderful from the catalogue of our local auction house. Nothing really outrageous this time; no mounted walrus heads; cranberry glass figurines of Hitler; stuffed guinea pigs. Just a collection of oddities put together and called a lot.
A still life of a loaf of brad (sic) with cheese and a bottle of beer, oil on canvas, gilt frame
A Dunhill cigar cutter, a Dunhill white metal lighter and a small erotic carving
3 miniature books, a small collection of miniature porcelain gnomes, and a silver-mounted perfume flask
A spring-loaded bone-handled corkscrew inscribed ‘BK&C’, a pair of old field glasses, a boxed pair of Nikon binoculars, a pair of opera glasses, magnifying glasses, and an unusual small candle holder, being held up by a frog on top of a tortoise
A late Victorian ornate silver bachelor milk jug and sugar basin, Birmingham 1896
How do you sex a milk jug, let alone determine its marital status?
A large quantity of miniature souvenir cheese dishes with covers including Margate, Ipswich, Alfriston, Bath, Lincoln, etc.
A White Star Line plate, a quantity of Wedgwood Bournvita cups, plates and coffee pot, a small quantity of commemorative ware including the coronation of 1937 George VI, a small quantity of souvenir ware including Walton-on-the-Naze and Northampton, a Victorian bisque nodding mandarin, a bisque figurine of a girl, etc.
Seven Wade Nat-West piggy banks including two Fathers, a Mother, Baby and three different children.
Clearly a very modern family indeed.
A good quantity of tribal art including masks, crocodile figurine, backbone necklace, carved hardwood bellows, pipes, African wall mask styled as an elephant and decorated with feathers, plus other interesting objects.
A boxed set of six Babycham glasses, a Wedgwood green jasperware box, a Wade dish entitled Wagon Train, a Belleek heart-shaped trinket box and cover, three boxed key rings, four Time-for-Tea boxed miniature collectable teapots, a horn, a figurine of an angel with Jesus, a figurine of a lady, a set of knife rests, three blackbird pie funnels, a quantity of small animal figurines including a Goebels rabbit, a Russian blue and white alligator, and other blue and white Russian figurines including two children on a wolf, a potter, eskimo, ladies, etc., a small quantity of thimbles, a quantity of souvenir ware including a clog advertising Guildford and a pig advertising Hove, a Coalport figurine of an owl and another of a snail, an Avon black cat perfume bottle, a Portmeirion white glazed jug, a Herend dish decorated with flowers, a Russian ceramic bear, a white glazed Naples figurine of a cherub playing a flute, three David Winter cottages, and other collectable items.
… interesting items including Victorian Frister & Rossman sewing machine, a leather briefcase, a Bush radio, Smiths mantel clock, three Oriental embroidered pictures of birds, Old Foley jar and cover, a large wash jug decorated with roses, copper jug and cover, three silver plated jugs, plus other interesting china items including wall plates, jugs, etc.
A quantity of fishing equipment incl. seat, nets, rucksack and fishing rods in a blue carry-all container and a pair of curtains
Two boxes of interesting artefacts incl. an old Oriental metal bell decorated with dragons and masks, a Dinky toy Ensign glass airliner model plane, old brass animal collar, a pair of heavy metal ankle bracelets, old metal pipe, replica pistol, snake candlestick, heavy Oriental brass vase, two heavy metal African figures, a pewter tankard, and a large metal tankard
Two Tanzanian Nyamwezi water divining wooden staffs of figural form, male and female
A huge collection of 75rpm (sic) and LP records
and again …
A collection of LPs, 45s and 75s, (sic) some of which date back to the 60s
A quantity of camping equipment incl. tents, stoves, kettles, plates, in a metal trunk C219CMC 1944, belt, pen, musical dog figure ‘The Last Shout’, a boxed brake lights, a military box, an old BBC Bakelite broadcasting item no. 2 model with adapters for aerial, earth and phone, an old leather suitcase and a trunk containing a leather case, torches, a quantity of Practical Engineering magazines, and various Machinery magazines, a pair of leather driving gloves, etc.
Three cartons of assorted National hats from around the world
and again …
A collection of national hats from around the world … including SE Asian straw hats and a Native American headdress
Weekly Photograph
This week a current photograph. One day last week we were in East London and driving back into the City along the Whitechapel Road I was slightly surprised to see both the Gherkin and the Cheesegrater tower blocks in front of us — an interesting juxtaposition with the trees and the Victorian buildings of Whitechapel. Not the best of shots as it was taken through the car windscreen (no I wasn’t driving) in slow-moving traffic.
Gherkin Ahoy!
Whitechapel; May 2014
Buggered Britain #21
Another in my occasional series documenting some of the underbelly of Britain. Britain which we wouldn’t like visitors to see and which we wish wasn’t there. The trash, abused, decaying, destitute and otherwise buggered parts of our environment. Those parts which symbolise the current economic malaise; parts which, were the country flourishing, wouldn’t be there, would be better cared for, or made less inconvenient.
This attractive emporium is in Commercial Street, in London’s East End. While the East End does contain some real gems it contains about a hundred times more absolutely decrepit squalor like this.
Click the image for larger views on Flickr
Something for the Weekend
Oddity of the Week: Legal Tender
Now here’s an oddity which I found out by chance the other day …
Bank of England sterling banknotes are the only paper money which is legal tender in England and Wales. No banknotes are legal tender in Scotland or Northern Ireland! (Bank of England coinage is legal tender throughout the UK.)
The following quotes come from the Wikipedia article on Banknotes of the Pound Sterling which, for those in doubt, is well referenced.
The Bank of England [acts] as a central bank in that it has a monopoly on issuing banknotes in England and Wales, and regulates the issues of banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland …
… some of the monopoly provisions of the Bank Charter Act [of 1844] only applied to England and Wales. The Bank Notes (Scotland) Act was passed [in 1845], and to this day, three retail banks retain the right to issue their own sterling banknotes in Scotland, and four in Northern Ireland …
English banknotes … The majority of sterling notes are printed by the Bank of England. These are legal tender in England and Wales, and are always accepted by traders throughout the UK …
Scottish banknotes … are the recognised currency in Scotland, but are not legal tender. They are always accepted by traders in Scotland, and are usually accepted in other parts of the United Kingdom. However, some outside Scotland are unfamiliar with the notes and they are sometimes refused. Institutions such as clearing banks, building societies and the Post Office will readily accept Scottish bank notes.
The situation in Northern Ireland is exactly as in Scotland except that Northern Ireland banknotes are seldom seen outside the province.
And here now is the interesting part …
The concept of “legal tender” is a narrow technical definition that refers to the settlement of debt, and it has little practical meaning in everyday transactions such as buying goods in shops (but does apply, for example, to the settling of a restaurant bill, where the food has been eaten prior to demand for payment and so a debt exists). Essentially, any two parties can agree to any item of value as a medium for exchange when making a purchase (in that sense, all money is ultimately an extended form of barter). If a debt exists that is legally enforceable and the debtor party offers to pay with some item that is not “legal tender,” the creditor may refuse such payment and declare that the debtor is in default of payment; if the debtor offers payment in legal tender, the creditor is required to accept it or else the creditor is in breach of contract. Thus, if in England party A owes party B 1,000 pounds sterling and offers to pay in Northern Ireland banknotes, party B may refuse and sue party A for non-payment; if party A provides Bank of England notes, party B must acknowledge the debt as legally paid even if party B would prefer some other form of payment.
Banknotes do not have to be classed as legal tender to be acceptable for trade; millions of retail transactions are carried out each day in the UK using cheques, bitcoin, or debit or credit cards, none of which is a payment using legal tender … Acceptability as a means of payment is essentially a matter for agreement between the parties involved.
Bank of England notes are the only banknotes that are legal tender in England and Wales. Scottish and Northern Ireland banknotes are not legal tender anywhere … The fact that these banknotes are not legal tender in the UK does not however mean that they are illegal under English law, and creditors and traders may accept them if they so choose …
In Scotland and Northern Ireland, no banknotes, not even ones issued in those countries, are legal tender. They have a similar legal standing to cheques or debit cards, in that their acceptability as a means of payment is essentially a matter for agreement between the parties involved, although Scots law requires any reasonable offer for settlement of a debt to be accepted.
Until 1988, the Bank of England issued one pound notes, and these notes did have legal tender status in Scotland and Northern Ireland while they existed. The Currency and Bank Notes Act 1954 defined Bank of England notes of less than £5 in value as legal tender in Scotland. Since the English £1 note was removed from circulation in 1988, this leaves a legal curiosity in Scots law whereby there is no paper legal tender in Scotland.
And here’s a further curiosity …
Bank notes are no longer redeemable in gold and the Bank of England will only redeem sterling banknotes for more sterling banknotes or coins. The contemporary sterling is a fiat currency which is backed only by securities; in essence IOUs from the Treasury … Some economists term this “currency by trust”, as sterling relies on the faith of the user rather than any physical specie.
In other words all money is worthless; it is all either physical tokens (banknotes, coins) or electronic bits in a computer system and it is all government IOUs. But it was the definition of “legal tender” and the lack of banknotes as legal tender in Scotland and Northern Ireland which piqued my interest.
Your Interesting Links
More interesting items you may have missed. Lots of science and medicine curiosities in this edition, but its should all be accessible to the non-scientist.
Who thinks mathematics is boring? You won’t when you see the beauty of mathematics in pictures! I’m definitely worried about image four.
Chemicals have a bad name. Wrongly! Manmade or natural, tasty or toxic, they’re all chemicals.
Shifting to the zoo-world, here’s a piece on the curious and improbable tale of flatfish evolution.
Beaver! No not that sort! Honestly your minds! I’m talking about the beavers that have been reintroduced to Scotland, and which are doing well.
Concrete jungle. Yes, it certainly is a jungle out there. Our cities, yes even the most urban and built-up parts of them, can be important wildlife habitat.
Bananas are in trouble and we don’t have a solution to save our favourite fruit. Oh and they’re quite an interesting plant too.
All our food is toxic, innit. Actually, no. But here’s why the fear, uncertainty and doubt are far too easy to believe, and how to counteract it.
On the continuing saga of why chocolate is good for us, but just not in the form you like it.
Five-a-day doesn’t add up. It’s not all marketing hype, except when the arithmetic is wrong.
Turnips. The humble vegetable that terrorised the Romans and helped industrialise Britain.
What do you mean you thought apples grew on trees? Well, OK, they do but originally not the trees you thought. An interesting piece on saving the wild ancestor of modern apples.
Farting well? It could mean you have a good healthy collection of gut microbes.
Just don’t read this next story over dinner. It seems we eat parasites more than we realise.
And another that’s definitely not safe for mealtime reading … A long read on some of the work going on behind faecal transplants, and how they’re being so successful in treating stubborn illnesses.
Lads, here are three cardinal rules from a urologist about care of your plumbing.
Phew! So now let’s leave the scientific and medical behind us and more on.
Naturism is the practice of going without clothes — and it’s not shameful, embarrassing or ridiculous.
Still on naturism, here’s one young lady’s experience of being clothes free at home.
And here are some more views on the way the new Nordic sex laws are making prostitutes feel less, not more, safe.
From
Vagina in the workplace — a story. The closing ideal has to be a good way forward, surely.
Changing tack (yes, OK, about time!) here’s part five of the ongoing series from a black cab driver about Waterloo Station. OK, hands up, how many of you knew it was a war memorial?
And finally, the BBC have unearthed a box of forgotten letters sent from occupied France during WWII. See you never know what’s in that dusty box in the attic!