quotes

Monthly Quotes

My monthly round-up of quotes various I’ve recently encountered.

I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.
[Marcel Duchamp, artist (1887-1968)]

I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life. I’ve learned that making a “living” is not the same thing as making a “life”. I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one. I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
[Maya Angelou]

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
[Douglas Adams]

Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself; I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.
[Groucho Marx]

Your mind will serve you better than any trinket under the suns … It is a weapon … and like any weapon, you need practice to be any good at wielding it.
[Jay Kristoff, Nevernight]

Pick a leader who will keep jobs in your country by offering companies incentives to hire only within their borders, not one who allows corporations to outsource jobs for cheaper labour when there is a national employment crisis. Choose a leader who will invest in building bridges, not walls. Books, not weapons. Morality, not corruption. Intellectualism and wisdom, not ignorance. Stability, not fear and terror. Peace, not chaos. Love, not hate. Convergence, not segregation. Tolerance, not discrimination. Fairness, not hypocrisy. Substance, not superficiality. Character, not immaturity. Transparency, not secrecy. Justice, not lawlessness. Environmental improvement and preservation, not destruction. Truth, not lies.
[Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem]

The martin cat long shagged of courage good
Of weazle shape a dweller in the wood
With badger hair long shagged & darting eyes
And lower then the common cat in size
Small head & running on the stoop
Snuffing the ground & hind parts shouldered up
[John Clare ]

natural history

Buzzy Things

This afternoon I spotted a huge Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) queen on the Buddleia. Well that’s not so unusual. However this one seemed very lethargic, but she was crawling around sucking up nectar. And she was absolutely smothered in pollen as you can see in my photo. I watched her, on and off, on the same Buddleia flower spike for maybe 10 minutes, although the last time I looked she had gone. I suspect she was probably at the end of her life; or was maybe a new queen that’s been parasitised.

Bombus terrestris queen

Also around on the Buddleia at the same time, there was a magnificent Hornet-mimic Hoverfly (Volucella zonaria) almost the size of the top joint of my little finger. But it was much too skittish to have any chance of a photograph.

Volucella September 2007-2
Image: Wikipedia
medical, personal, thoughts

On Depression – VIII

1 Comment

It’s three years since I last wrote about depression.

That’s not only because my depression has gone away; there just doesn’t seem to have been anything much worth saying about depression.

The depression hasn’t gone away. If anything it’s got worse. I seem to have descended from “I just don’t want to do anything” … through “I just can’t make myself do anything” … to “why am I even bothering to do anything”.

The rationale (such as it is) for not bothering isn’t just a lack of visible results for my efforts – although that doesn’t help – but has been significantly impacted by the plague of the last 18 months and the ongoing need to stay isolated.

No, it goes deeper. I’ve reached my “three score years and ten” and I’m not going to be around here for very much longer – especially given my medical history etc. Obviously I want to make it to at least 80 in a reasonable state; if I do I shall consider it a result. However I’m not optimistic that I will make 80. Which seems to make anything I do even more pointless.

But then, as Noreen pointed out to me last night, I have loads of longevity genes on both sides of my family. If I look at my parents and their siblings (8 of them) their ages at death were:

Men: 86, 3 (severely handicapped), 93 (and still going)
Women: 90, 99, 99, 78, 89
[I’ve ignored my father’s three half-sisters as they’re only half related to me.]

And if I go back to my grandparents and their siblings (23 of them) their ages were:

Men: 54, 1, 61, 3, 80, <1, 84, 9, 82, 80, 62, 24 (WWI), 78, 73, <1
Women: 26, 84, <1, 72, 83, 40, 88, <1

Stretching a point and going back to my great-grandparents generation (another 60 people) of the 29 I know about we find ages of:

Men: 57, 96, 71, 57, 40, 54, 43, <1, <1, 91, 87, 37, 46, 6, 67, 3
Women: 57, 73, 71, 57, <1, 66, 79, <1, 81, 76, 46, 88, 75

This last isn’t so brilliant, but remember with my great-grandparents we are talking about people born in roughly the middle third of the 19th century.

In all this we also need to remember:

  • We are not talking about wealthy people – even if my parents generation eventually became comfortable with advancing years.
  • Until post-WWII medical care was fairly basic, and had to be paid for (no money; no doctor); and it was more basic the further back you go.
  • Also pre-WWII child mortality was significant, and perinatal death not uncommon; again worse the further back you go.
  • There was relatively little regard to health & safety in the workplace, so industrial accidents were more common.

There are a number of interesting things which pop out at me in this data (though I admit it is incomplete).

  • Almost a quarter (14/60) don’t make their 10th birthday.
  • If you make 10 then you have an evens chance (23/45) of making at least 75; a 40% chance of making 80; and a 1 in 8 chance of making 90.
  • While I don’t know he cause of death for many of these people, only 3 of the 22 adult women could even plausibly have been perinatal deaths. That seems surprisingly few.
  • Only one of the cohort was lost in WWI.

So all other things being equal – which of course they’re not; if it weren’t for modern medicine I’d likely not be here now – I must have a decent chance of having another 10 years.

What would be interesting is to know how much of my depression has a genetic basis, and how much is environmental (in the widest sense). My father had depression (largely unrecognised, except by him, and latterly me) and his father was also depressive (although that was ascribed to trench fever from WWI). How many others of my (recent) forebears suffered from depression we shall never know.

Does that make me feel any better? Well sadly, as a fully paid-up pessimist, it doesn’t. Most people would doubtless say it should; but depression doesn’t work that way. And despite all my efforts I’ve yet to find anything which will kick this “black dog” hard enough in the nuts; although the antidepressants do keep me mostly functioning.

To cap it all, I just can’t get my head round the thought of not being here, doing what I do. How can I not be here, leaving everything in limbo?! It just feels so wrong; so unlikely; so frustrating; and yes, even depressing. Which luckily means I’ve never had any serious thoughts of self-harm or suicide.

Wish me luck!

food+drink

The Taming of the Tarts

As regular readers will know, from time to time I make rustic tarts, or galette – see for example here and here. Hitherto I’ve used commercial puff pastry because (a) I’m lazy and (b) I’ve never considered myself a good pastry cook. My typical pastry method has been my mother’s wartime approach of throwing flour, butter and water (or milk) together and rolling it out. While this is not good, I’ve always felt using commercial pastry is a bit of a cheat, and I should be better at making my own (although I draw the line at the faff of puff pastry).

So a few weeks ago I came upon a Nigel Slater recipe for a rustic tomato & shallot tart, and discovered he has been experimenting with pastry. It’s worth reading his recipe before we proceed. I’ll wait …

This is Nigel Slater’s version

So now you know what we’re trying to do. I had never considered polenta in a pastry recipe before, let alone baking powder! So of course I had to try it. I had no polenta, so tried without. It was OK, but a bit bland; the pastry needed a flavour lift, like more salt. Polenta isn’t going to do that, but I needed to get some anyway. So I had a think. Ah-ha! That old stand-by Parmesan will give a flavour lift as well as some additional saltiness. So in true fashion I set out to “augment” the recipe.

And at the same time I thought there must be a way to do a sweet version for a fruit tart. And there is, as you will see. But first this is how I did a Tomato & Onion Tart.

Rustic Tomato & Onion Tart

For the pastry
250g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
65g fine polenta
50g finely grated parmesan
90-100ml good olive oil
6-7 tbsp iced water

For the filling
700g large shallots or red onions
3 tbsp good olive oil
250g tomatoes, preferably small-medium and varied colours
good bunch of fresh herbs (your choice but thyme is good) torn not chopped
parmesan flakes (optional)
3 cloves garlic, finely sliced (optional)

What you do

  1. Make the pastry: sieve together the flour and baking powder into a bowl to make sure they are evenly mixed.
  2. Stir in the polenta, parmesan and a generous pinch of salt, then the olive oil.
  3. Mix to a firm and rollable dough with the iced water. You may find you need a little more water or oil, but go carefully; you don’t want it too wet.
  4. Wrap the dough in kitchen parchment and leave to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
  5. Peel the onions, and cut lengthways into 5-10mm segments.
  6. Heat the olive oil in a wide, shallow-sided pan and sweat the onions over a low to moderate heat, for a good 25 minutes, until soft and pale gold. As they soften add a good grind of black pepper. Remove from the heat.
  7. Set the oven at 180°C fan.
  8. Give the pastry a good kneading for a minute or so to soften it.
  9. Roll the pastry (dust with a little polenta) to a rough 30cm circle (or larger if you can roll pastry that thin) and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment.
  10. Leaving a 3-5cm rim of pastry around the edge, spread the softened onions loosely over the pastry.
  11. Scatter over the garlic, torn herbs and enough parmesan flakes for a light scattering.
  12. Cut the tomatoes into thick slices and put top; add sprigs of herbs if you wish.
  13. Trickle a little olive oil over, season with salt and ground black pepper.
  14. Fold over the pastry edges to make a rustic galette.
  15. Brush the pastry edges with milk or beaten egg (and use a brush of glaze to help stick the pastry folds together if needed).
  16. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes.
  17. Allow the tart to settle and cool for a few minutes; serve warm or cold.

That was good; it worked well and the parmesan provide the necessary lift. I’m not sure the parmesan flakes are quite right; something like cheddar might work better; or possibly even better dot the top with bite-size pieces of brie. Of course you can easily make this vegan by leaving out the cheese.

So now, here is how I did the fruit version. It’s essentially the same, just fruity.

Rustic Fruit Tart

For the pastry
250g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
65g fine polenta
50g caster or icing sugar
65g ground almonds
90-100g butter
6-7 tbsp iced water

For the filling
a selection of fruit of your choice, for instance a couple of punnets of raspberries maybe with a handful of blackberries; or peaches; nectarines; apricots; plums; strawberries; blackcurrants; gooseberries; rhubarb; apples – enough to make a layer about 2cm thick

What you do

  1. Make the pastry: sieve together the flour, icing sugar (if using) and baking powder into a bowl to make sure they are evenly mixed and any lumps broken down.
  2. Stir in the polenta, caster sugar (if using), ground almonds, and a good pinch of salt.
  3. Add the butter and rub together to a breadcrumb texture. Don’t stint on the butter; you want a good buttery breadcrumb result, but not a claggy greasy one.
  4. Mix to a firm and rollable dough with the iced water. Go carefully with the water, add a little at a time.
  5. Wrap the dough in kitchen parchment and leave to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
  6. Set the oven at 180°C fan.
  7. Prepare the fruit; larger (stone) fruit should be sliced or halved; berries just need checking over, rinsing and stalks removed.
  8. Give the pastry a good kneading for a minute or so to soften it.
  9. Roll the pastry (dust with a little polenta) to a rough 30cm circle (or larger if you can roll it that fine) and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment.
  10. Leaving a 3-5cm rim of pastry around the edge, dust the pastry with a small amount of sugar.
  11. Pile the fruit on the dusted pastry, arranging it prettily if you wish.
  12. Fold over the pastry edges to make a galette.
  13. Brush the pastry edge with milk or beaten egg (and use a brush of glaze to help stick the pastry folds together if needed).
  14. Dust with a little further sugar if wished.
  15. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes.
  16. Allow the tart to settle and cool for a few minutes before serving it warm with cream or ice-cream.

I actually used some raspberries and a few home-grown blackberries. And I used icing sugar (‘cos I happened to have some open). It worked well, although it was quite juicy when just out of the oven, but firmed up in an hour or so.

I also found this sweet pastry was much easier to roll. I guess that’s the difference between olive oil and butter; so I think I might try the savoury version with butter next time. But both pastries were much nicer to work with than what I’d done in the past.

So yes, I will be doing this again.

(Sorry no pictures as they got eaten too eagerly!)

amusements, memes

Ten Things: August

This year our Ten Things series – which surprisingly appears on the tenth of each month – continues concentrating on the amusing, both real and fictional. So this month we have …

Ten Curiously Named Diseases
(with what they afflict)

  1. Astrakhan Spotted Fever (humans)
  2. Corridor Disease (bovines)
  3. Flaccid Trunk Disease (elephants)
  4. Hamberger Gill Disease (fish)
  5. Huanglongbing (citrus trees)
  6. Motley Dwarf Disease (carrots)
  7. O’nyong-nyong fever (humans)
  8. Tulip Fingers (humans)
  9. Witches’ Broom (cacao trees)
  10. Wobbly Possum Disease (possums)
food+drink, personal

Eating 30-a-Week

A couple of years ago I wrote about how we should be eating at least 30 different plant foods a week. Research into this is continuing, especially by Prof. Tim Spector of King’s College, London. I’ll link to just two relevant items: Spector’s recent Top 5 Tips for a Healthier Gut Microbiome and this Mail+ article.

This prompted me to log how well I did against the 30-a-week target over four weeks starting on 5 July. Herere’s what I achieved.

W/C 5 July

  1. Strawberry
  2. Oats
  3. Avocado
  4. Tomato
  5. Cherries
  6. Wheat (bread)
  7. Apricots
  8. Onion
  9. Runner Beans
  10. Carrots
  11. Apple
  12. Potato
  13. Grape (wine)
  14. Gooseberry
  15. Horseradish
  16. Raspberry
  17. Almonds
  18. Chocolate
  19. Garlic
  20. Cannellini Beans
  21. Rice
  22. Spinach
  23. Butter Beans
  24. Banana
  25. Cashew Nuts
  26. Pecan Nuts
  27. Hazel Nuts
  28. Nectarine
  29. Kidney Beans
  30. Chicory
  31. Mint
  32. Mushroom
  33. Cabbage
  34. Coriander
  35. Tarragon
  36. Olives
  37. Yellow Pepper
  38. Chilli
 W/C 12 July

  1. Apricot
  2. Loganberry
  3. Avocado
  4. Wheat (bread)
  5. Nectarine
  6. Oats
  7. Gooseberry
  8. Chicory
  9. Tomato
  10. Garlic
  11. Onion
  12. Olives
  13. Coriander
  14. Lemon
  15. Walnuts
  16. Raspberry
  17. Grape (wine)
  18. Rapeseed (oil)
  19. Horseradish
  20. Cashew Nuts
  21. Chard (leaves)
  22. Radish (leaves)
  23. Lime
  24. Cucumber
  25. Potato
  26. Macadamia Nuts
  27. Butter Beans
  28. Cannellini Beans
  29. Mushroom
  30. Rice
  31. Parsley
  32. Strawberries
  33. Cherry
  34. Chocolate
 W/C 19 July

  1. Wheat (bread)
  2. Olives
  3. Tomato
  4. Avocado
  5. Nectarine
  6. Cucumber
  7. Barley (beer)
  8. Hops (beer)
  9. Lemon
  10. Cashew Nut
  11. Pistachio
  12. Potato
  13. Haricot Beans
  14. Cherry
  15. Apricot
  16. Chocolate
  17. Onion
  18. Mint
  19. Rice
  20. Aubergine
  21. Mushroom
  22. Spinach
  23. Peanuts
  24. Rapeseed (oil)
  25. Strawberry
  26. Pumpkin Seeds
  27. Pine Nuts
  28. Almonds
  29. Pecans
  30. Brazil Nuts
  31. Parsley
  32. Lime
  33. Raspberries
  34. Hazelnuts
  35. Black Currant
  36. Chilli
  37. Grape (wine)
 W/C 26 July

  1. Wheat (bread)
  2. Raspberry
  3. Cherry
  4. Avocado
  5. Tomato
  6. Rapeseed (oil)
  7. Lime
  8. Onion
  9. Garlic
  10. Lettuce
  11. Red Pepper
  12. Mint
  13. Olives
  14. Brazil Nuts
  15. Pecan Nuts
  16. Almonds
  17. Gooseberry
  18. Oats
  19. Nectarine
  20. Horseradish
  21. Lemon
  22. Chicory
  23. Fennel
  24. Potato
  25. Cucumber
  26. Walnuts
  27. Apricots
  28. Spinach
  29. Butter Beans
  30. Rice
  31. Peanuts
  32. Mushroom
  33. Strawberry
  34. Parsley
  35. Grape (wine)
  36. Barley (beer)
  37. Hops (beer)
  38. Chocolate
  39. Pineapple
  40. Mango

[This excludes most condiments & pickles; tea; squash etc.]

That’s over 30 every week for four weeks, and is fairly typical of my normal diet – perhaps slightly better than average because of the availability of summer fruit. I really didn’t try especially to pick foods which would add to my total!

What’s more I make it 64 different foods over a four week period. Which is just plain crazy!

Could I do even better? Yes, probably; but apart from adding in winter vegetables I’d have to try fairly hard.

personal, ramblings

Unblogged July

Taking a leaf out of Diamond Geezer‘s book, I’ve decided to write a post each month of strange, interesting, unusual, or just tedious things that happened each day, but which I didn’t write about at the time.

So here are 31 things I didn’t blog about in July.

Thu 1 I bid for 2 paintings live, online at our local auction house. Didn’t get them; wasn’t prepared to pay more than £50 and they sold for £75.
Fri 2 Waitrose new Fulfilment Centre near home made rather a mess of this week’s grocery order. Lots of items unavailable and an unusual number of errors. Unavailability of items possibly down to the shortfall of lorry drivers?
Sat 3 Picked a good handful of chard & radish leaves for salad. Having removed everything slug eaten, I was left with enough for half a sandwich. But supplemented with some coriander, and a big bunch of mint and basil, it made a nice quantity of baby leaves.
Sun 4 Having lost the last of our koi a couple of years ago, we still have at least 4 goldfish in the pond: one large pale one, and at least 3 orange/red ones of various sizes (one of which must be home grown).
Mon 5 We’ve a couple of bags of date expired cashew nuts and have been feeding them to the birds in a wire peanut feeder. And are they appreciated! This evening for an hour, while eating dinner, there was a procession of great tits and blue tits (at least 5 birds altogether) feasting on the nuts; one, often two, on the feeder at all times in a perpetual relay.
Tue 6 Trip to the optician to collect new glasses; will have to finish adjusting them myself. Then I filled in & filed both our tax returns. And all before lunch.
Wed 7 Why is it that without an alarm set I seem unable to surface before 10am?
Thu 8 Glad to be side-tracked this afternoon into doing maintenence on N’s PC, thus avoiding tedious work for the PPG.
Fri 9 Had to do the work I avoided yesterday. One piece I can’t complete yet as I need input from others. The second, some data analysis, proved too much for today’s addled brain.
Sat 10 Awoke to find a wondrously clean white plate in the garden. N had put out some lamb chop bones, fat topping from some paté, and a cracked egg. Mr Reynard clearly had a tasty buffet. Must see if they like banana.
Sun 11 40 years ago today we moved into this house. Saturday 11 July 1981 was hot & sunny. With the help of a colleague and a van we moved from our dingy rented flat into this house. I lost half a stone in the process. This latter needs to be repeated, many times over.
Mon 12 Today’s thunderstorm was the nearest we’ve had to a decent one for some years. We used to have lots, but they seem to have dwindled in the last 10 years or so.
Tue 13 Selection workshop for a local council community review panel. Don’t expect to get through as they’ve probably got too many white middle-class men of a certain age.
Wed 14 One of those tedious days where nothing much happens and you don’t have much to show for it either. Although I did finish a couple of short articles for AP Soc Newsletter.
Thu 15 Had to email friends and decline a dinner date. After much discussion we both still feel much too vulnerable in current Covid situation – much though we want to go back to socialising and these friends are the very top of the list. Hope they’re not too pissed off with us.
Fri 16 Up early (for me) to a lovely sunny morning, and the squawks of next door’s African Grey parrot out on their veranda.
Sat 17 Hottest day of the year so far. And far too hot and uncomfortable to do anything; so I didn’t.
Sun 18 Waitrose new Fulfilment Centre near us is still not at the top of its game, and I’m fed up with talking to Customer Services about it; now in conversation with the John Lewis’s executive office.
Mon 19 Freedom Day for some. But not for us. We’re still feeling just as vulnerable as ever thanks to our short-sighted government.
Tue 20 I’m retired. So why did I spend almost the whole day working?
Wed 21 Chaired the early morning meeting of GP’s patient group on Zoom. Poorly attended. At times you wonder why you bother!
Thu 22 Contrary to expectations the local council have appointed me to their community review panel. They’ve clearly not twigged that I belong to The Awkward Squad.
Fri 23 Extra meat rations today! As we were about to receive the supermarket delivery, Tilly the Cat presented us with a small freshly dead rat.
Sat 24 Thunderstorms? What thunderstorms? It was touted to be heavy thundery rain all day today, but not a rumble of thunder, nor a single drop of rain – although it was dark like November.
Sun 25 Well, after complaining yesterday, the fairies were moving the furniture around upstairs this afternoon, and finally after days of waiting, at teatime we got some good thundery rain.
Mon 26 Mid-afternoon there’s a sudden, hard smack on the study window. Obviously a bird strike. Very dead wood pigeon later found on the patio below the window.
Tue 27 N had moved yesterday’s dead pigeon onto the lawn. This morning it had disappeared, one suspects with an assist from Mr Reynard – later confirmed by the trail camera.
Wed 28 Awake just before 0500hrs, I was alerted by a nearby security light. After a minute or so, a fox trotting briskly and purposefully up the road carrying something which in the half-light looked like it could be dead rat.
Thu 29 I’m taking part in the Big Wasp Survey again this year (the 5th year), and today I set the first two wasp traps. BWS are doing two survey sessions this year, now and in late August. I’m not hopeful of this session as the weather looks rather iffy for flying.
Fri 30 Not having got everything we wanted on today’s supermarket order, we tried a small delivery from Amazon Fresh.
Although maybe not up to Waitrose quality, and one doesn’t like giving Amazon even more money, it certainly worked well as a stop-gap.
Sat 31 It’s one thing being depressed, but it’s a bit much when you spend the night dreaming about being depressed.
Especially as it leaves you even less inclined to do anything than before.

So what will next month bring, I wonder?

arts, environment, history, links, medical, science, sexuality

Monthly Links

Once more unto the monthly links round up, and we’ve got a goodly collection this month.

Science, Technology, Natural World

Breaking my rule not to blog about Covid-19, but it seems it is all too easy to fake lateral flow tests.

Let’s go into the weird world of the workings of smell receptors. [LONG READ]

While on smell, here’s an item which looks at normal personal body odour and it’s effects on relationships.

Cats are inscrutable and mysterious creatures, but what do they really get up to when we’re not looking.

Health, Medicine

Oh dear, here’s another item on Covid-19 that’s crept in under the radar: how were the Covid-19 vaccines made so quickly without cutting corners?

Scientists are now beginning to unlock the effects of our “gut microbiome” on our health. [LONG READ]

Also on a food theme, it seems that eating milk chocolate in the morning has a beneficial effect on fat metabolism, although it is no better for the waistline.

Medics are suggesting that much common treatment for endometriosis is actually making things worse.

And still on women’s health, here’s a look at the problems many women have with perimenopause and periods. [LONG READ]

Environment

Our predecessors got it right: trees among crops can help both farmers (with improved yields and diverse crops), the environment and thus the climate. [LONG READ]

Meanwhile we can all help the environment by turning those nice areas of mown grass into meadows, as quite a few councils are doing. [LONG READ]

There’s a new arrival on Exmoor: the first baby beaver born there in 400 years!

Art, Literature, Language

This piece contains a video of the amazing and skilled process of making a violin. [30 minute video]

At long last an academic has created an annotated version of Robert Burton’s 400 year old The Anatomy of Melancholy and seemingly unlocked many of its secrets. (Be warned before you buy this: it is a tome bigger than a house brick and totally impossible to read in bed.)

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Palaeontologists have uncovered a site containing thousands of fossilised marine organisms; it’s been likened to a “Jurassic Pompeii”!

Archaeologists are also gradually piecing together something of the lives of Neanderthal children, often from footprints which gives clues about their activity. [LONG READ]

Staying with the Neanderthals, one of them had the creativity and imagination to carve a geometric design in a piece bone.

Coming slightly closer to home, there is the suggestion that Stone Age Europeans may have worn make-up. [£££]

Scientists are also now making progress on understanding what ancient people ate by analysing clues embedded in, rather than on, their pottery. [LONG READ]

About the only good thig to come out of the HS2 project is the archaeology it has spawned. One of the latest finds is a hoard of 2200-year-old coins in Hillingdon.

Researchers have been able to extract and analyse DNA from a mummified 1600-year-old Iranian sheep and shown that it was genetically very similar to the breeds currently kept in that area.

There’s a cave in Derbyshire which is thought to be the early ninth-century home of the deposed and exiled Eardwulf, King of Northumbria.

A new analysis is confirming a previous suggestion that some of the stained glass in Canterbury Cathedral is amongst the world’s oldest, and predates the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170.

And talking of Thomas Becket, why were his bones moved only 50 years after his death?

The travel guide is far from being a modern invention, for instance we have the medieval travel guide of Cristoforo Buondelmonti.

What did it mean to be a “damsel” in medieval times? [LONG READ]

One of the mysteries of medieval buildings is why so many have obvious burn marks on the wood. It seems it isn’t quite what we thought! [LONG READ]

London

There’s a hidden tram station in central London, and it is going to be opened to the public for the first time in 70 years.

If you see a grille, vent or unlikely structure in London street, there’s a good chance it is a portal to the capital’s hidden underworld.

Over 100 years ago, London Underground’s Piccadilly Line had a revolutionary spiral escalator.

Food, Drink

What should we be eating in order to do our bit for climate change? Here are some of the most sustainable foods, from seaweed to venison.

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

If you want to be a better gardener, James Wong says you should be breaking all those quirky Victorian rules about how to do it.

The art of really listening: “Be interested, be curious, hear what’s not said”.

Here’s a look at some of the taboos around body hair (mostly female). Basically it what you feel comfortable with.

Contrary to popular belief researchers have discovered that two-thirds of couples start out just as friends.

But on the other side of the coin, many friendships fade out, and that’s OK.

Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!

And finally, we have a major problem with our serfs.