pleasures

Get Walking Week

Get Walking Week happens from 4 to 11 May. The purpose is to encourage people to get out and discover the pleasures, and health benefits, of walking.

It’s not about having a big strenuous work-out! Most of the planned walks are under 5 miles, and no-one says you can’t enjoy starting off with a short stroll. Even people like me with crocked knees can probably manage a stroll round the block! [So why don’t I do it? Maybe this is the incentive!]

Sometimes there is an assumption that walking is just boring — we walk all the time, so where’s the fun? But taking the time out to enjoy just walking in the outdoors has huge benefits, both physical and mental. You’ll see new things; begin to appreciate Nature more; meet new people; stop and chat to your neighbours or the local farmer.

There’s a lot more information, including walking routes and events, on the Get Walking website at www.getwalking.org.

beliefs, nudism

Nudity is Good for You!

I make no apology (when did I ever?) for returning to the subject of nudity.

In the last couple of days I have seen two rational, reasonable and apparently well researched articles supporting the contention that nudity is actually good for you, does no harm to children etc.

The first was written by Lee Jenkins on the Backbencher blog.** In it Jenkins very briefly summarises the arguments against the main objections to public nudity:
* It’s harmful to children
* It’s unsanitary
* It will encourage rape and sexual assault
* I shouldn’t have to see it
* It’s just wrong
All of which are just plain wrong. Here is just one snippet:

[A]n 18-year longitudinal study [by Dr Paul Okami] showed that, if anything, [childhood exposure to nudity] was associated with slight beneficial effects …
“Boys exposed to parental nudity were less likely to have engaged in theft in adolescence or to have used various psychedelic drugs and marijuana … Girls were also less likely to have used drugs such as PCP, inhalants, or various psychedelics in adolescence.”

Public attitudes to sex and nudity are far more relaxed in Europe … Much like alcohol, the difference is cultural. Indeed, it’s rather telling that British and American attitudes to nudity are fairly similar, and both the US and UK have a teen birth rate far in excess of their European counterparts.


The second report, by Hank Pellissier at Immortal Life,** is more concerned with promoting the benefits of nudism, rather than refuting the objections. Under headings like “Weakened Bodies”, “Barefoot Medicine”, “Superior Socialisation”, “Soothe Away Your Crazies” and “Soak Up the Rays” he provides links to research and articles suggesting that nudity would improve our lot. Especially there appears to be evidence that the young would develop better (mentally and physically) from nudity, we would be better adjusted mentally and we would all benefit from time soaking up sunshine to counteract what is an increasing deficiency in Vitamin D.

As Jenkins observes, if you are genuinely troubled by the site of human form, it’s probably worth asking yourself why, rather than insisting others cover up. According to Pellissier’s article twenty million Europeans already go to nude beaches and spas. What’s stopping the rest of us?

** As far as I can see both these blogs are independent and not associated with any nudist or naturist organisation nor has any overt commercial axe to grind.

medical

Listening to 'Flu

Back last September I wrote about a Scientific American article which proposed that to reduce the spread of ‘flu we should vaccinate children — because it is children, not the elderly, immuno-compromised etc., who are the super-spreaders.

Imagine my astonishment yesterday to see that the UK government is proposing to do just this! Yes that’s right, they’re going to give every child (aged from 2 to 17) an annual ‘flu inoculation. According to yesterday’s Independent report:

All children aged two will be offered a nasal flu vaccine from this September. The programme will be rolled out to all primary and pre-school children next year, with secondary school pupils starting to be vaccinated in 2015.

OK, it would be good if it could all be rolled out this year, but I guess it may in part depend on the vaccine producers’ ability to ramp up production as well as the ability to get suitably trained staff in place to do the work.

But I’m astonished that the politicians have actually listened. I’m even more astonished that they appear to be willing to find the money. Let’s hope dream turns into reality.

words

Word: Maculate

Maculate

Verb. To spot, stain or soil.
Adjective. Spotted or blotched; stained or impure.

Hence immaculate: unspotted, pure, undefiled.

According to the OED the first usage is in a legal roll from 1432-50, shortly followed by Caxton in 1481. Sadly maculate is now confined to medical and zoological usage.


The Panther (or Rusty-Spotted) Genet (Genetta maculata)

current affairs, freedom of speech

World Press Freedom Day

Friday 3 May is World Press Freedom Day, which celebrates the fundamental principles of press freedom; to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.

Originally proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993 it has been organised annually on 3 May by UNESCO.


World Press Freedom Day serves as an occasion to inform citizens of violations of press freedom: in dozens of countries around the world publications are censored, fined, suspended and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed, attacked, detained and even murdered. It is a date to encourage and develop initiatives in favour of press freedom and to assess the state of press freedom worldwide. It also serves as a reminder to governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom.

There’s more on the UNESCO website at www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/world-press-freedom-day/.

history

Local and Community History Month

May is also Local and Community History Month.

The aim of the month is to increase awareness of local history, promote history in general to the local community and encourage people to participate.

You probably think that your local area is dull and boring with no history, but this is unlikely to be true. Almost everywhere in Britain is at least close to an ancient village or town, and a surprising number of places had something interesting going on.

There may well have been a manor house. What is the history of your local church — although it may be less than 200 years old, is it on the site of an earlier church? Was there a lost monastery or a royal deer park?


Just as an example, I was brought up in what is now a fairly dull, northern suburb of London; but I lived very close to the site of the Elizabethan Theobalds Palace (of which fragments still remain, see above) and to Waltham Abbey. Where I live now once had a trotting track, which was one of the earliest speedway tracks in the country — but, despite the layout still being visible in the modern roads, no-one seems to know!

So who knows what you will find out about your local area? The fun is in not knowing, and of finding out. It is like a treasure map of local community secrets.

Activities happen across the UK and include trips, library exhibitions and local lectures.  It is a great way for groups to highlight local history and for local people to get involved. 

Local and Community History Month is organised by the Historical Association and there is a database of activities on their website at www.history.org.uk/resources/general_resource_1567_55.html.

photography

Weekly Photograph

This week’s photograph is another from our 2010 break in Rye. This is a clump of Sea Kale (Crambe maritima) which grows everywhere across the shingle at Rye Harbour and on Dungeness. It is native to Europe growing along the coasts from the Atlantic as far east as the Black Sea. As you’ll guess from the name it’s related to cabbage and sometimes grown as a vegetable as well as an ornamental plant.

Sea Kale
Sea Kale
Rye Harbour, August 2010

food+drink

National Asparagus Month

May is British National Asparagus Month, although to be honest it looks as if everything is 2-3 weeks late this year due to the awful weather over the preceding 12 months.

Asparagus is native to Europe, and while not everyone’s favourite vegetable, we’ll be eating it several times a week during the local season. But it does have lots of health benefits; it’s a great source of fibre and is rich in vitamins A, B and C as well as folic acid. And there are lots of exciting recipes to try.


When buying asparagus choose firm but tender stalks with good colour and closed tips. Asparagus soon looses its flavour and tenderness so it is best eaten as fresh as possible. Before cooking rinse it in cold water and remove the woody ends of the stalks. Boil, or preferably steam, it until just tender (about 5 minutes) and eat with a knob of butter, maybe some parmesan cheese, and crusty bread. Or try it in a stir-fry, cooked and cooled in salad, or quickly cooked and tossed with some olive oil and pasta.

Asparagus comes in different styles: green, purple or white; thicker or thinner. The thinner green stalks, called sprue, are our favourites for both flavour and tenderness, although this isn’t the received wisdom.

There’s more on British asparagus lots of recipe ideas at www.british-asparagus.co.uk.