It doesn’t happen often, so I’m taking advantage. Scotland has won all three matches on its Southern Hemisphere tour. I know we didn’t face South Africa or New Zealand, but I don’t suppose it was Scotland that drew up the schedule. Scotland did beat Australia.
Sorry Christina, but Wales lost all three of their matches, so I hope you’ll forgive the triumphalism.
We’ve just returned home from greeting the Queen as she arrived at Hitchin station for her Diamond Jubilee tour of North Hertfordshire. The royal Bentley was parked outside the station with the chauffeur giving a last-minute polish to the windscreen and there was a collection of ladies wearing hats, including the Mayor of Hitchin (dress a bit crumpled), someone else in a( badly hemmed) powder blue outfit whose hat was just the wrong shade of blue, and worst of all the Lord Lieutenant, the Countess of Verulam, in a coat dress that husband described as something out of a 1940s newsreel. Her hat was lilac and too large for a tall lady and did not match the dress at all. Unfortunately when HM arrived she was wearing a lilac coat and hat. (Off to the tower with the Countess!) The Queen’s lady-in-waiting, wearing a smart navy outfit and hat with red trim, reminded me of Christina Osborne, as in her avatar photo. We thought HM looked a little frail, but she smiled happily at the crowd. She is quite small, the same height as me I believe, and 5ft 3in is a very good height but easily hidden by inconsiderate taller people.
I was reminded of Christina’s comment about the punishing schedule the Queen has had recently and I really would not want to be in her shoes (or beautiful outfits). Anyway I was glad to have seen her – and I hope she felt the same. And, as husband said, I had fun criticising ladies’ outfits.
Le Puy is in the Auvergne, an area best known for its volcanic plugs often surmounted by a small chapel or religious statue. Unfortunately when we visited last week, the closest one was surrounded by scaffolding and not open to visitors. Le Puy is also renowned for its lentils – or lintels, according to Baedeker. There are certainly some very interesting buildings in the old town which is quite unspoiled.
We have been spending a few days in the Cevennes, but with only my little netbook, so no photographs yet.
One stop was in the little town of Florac where a gushing spring called the Source du Pecher throws itself into the Tarnon river which flows through Florac to join the Tarn just north of the town. This spring is one of those which has never run dry according to local history and has given rise to this legend. Please do not read any farther, OZ, as it could upset you. Continue reading “A fishy story (or two)”
First may I wish a happy St George’s Day to all English charioteers – may all your dragons turn tail and run.
Yesterday we paid our first visit to the London Marathon, having previously only watched it on TV. Younger son was running this year, his big brother having completed the Boston Marathon last week. The routine is to meet near the mile 11 post, close to Southwark park which has a playground for granddaughter.
It was absolutely amazing to see the runners, 37,500 of them, stream past. Spanish dancers, a mole who must have been cursing the sun, Smurfs, ghosts, fairies, serious club runners, those running for charities. I disregarded the élite runners, a small bunch of Kenyans with three pacemakers, since they get paid to be there. This marathon is now one of the biggest fund-raising events in the world and London is to be congratulated on organising it. The crowds were vociferous and good natured; icecream vans were doing a roaring trade, pubs had opened early; a local evangelical church had set up a coffee stall to boost its funds. A troop of jogging Morris Dancers arrived, to the great entertainment of our granddaughter.
Leaving aside the wisdom of running twenty-six miles, something the human body is not designed for, I was most impressed, particularly by the courage and determination of those runners who were just passing the 12 mile post when others were over 10 miles ahead of them and some had already finished.
It’s so reassuring to see that the EU is not letting itself be distracted from the really important things by all these moutain ranges of debt building up in the eurozone.
DT article – Austria-and-Slovenia-row-over-sausages
We frequently buy the sausages in question as part of a barbecue pack from Billa, the Austrian supermarket chain. I don’t remember them having a “proper” name – Wurst mit Käse, as I recall. So heavily indebted member states are paying vast sums to a bunch of eurocrats to sort out this sort of problem! To quote the German – ‘raus, ‘raus, ‘raus!
So the Hay-on-Wye Literary Festival is spreading its influence to Budapest next month.
Budapest-the-Hay-Festival-heads-east-to-Hungary (DT article)
I suspect it might get some of the pretentiousness knocked out of it when it encounters the writers from the former Communist bloc countries who know what lack of freedom really is. Anyone with time to spare can inspect the damage to the impressive parliament building caused by Russian tanks not that long ago.
On Monday night I watched a documentary on Channel 5 entitled “Inside Titanic”. It was horrifying to learn all the shortcomings of the vessel, where appearances had taken precedence over basic safety. To send the SOS signal the captain had to get an officer to run from the bridge to the Marconi room some distance away. There was no communication between the powerhouse of the ship, the boiler rooms, and the Chief Engineer in his engine room. So when water flooded in to the boiler rooms, the engineers were told to proceed at half speed, thus forcing even more of the Atlantic into the vessel. We all know about the bulkheads that did not run all the way up to the ceilings because that would have spoiled the layout of the corridors. Water pouring over the top of these bulkheads contributed to the even swifter demise of the ship, as did the long straight corridor that ran the entire length. The captain wanted to keep his ship on as even a keel as possible to enable the life boats to be lowered quickly and safely, but this was not feasible.
I remember that when we sailed on the France, it was at times necessary to go up or down from one deck to another to get from bow to stern. One lesson learned. One night the engines stopped and this woke us up. We learned next morning that the captain had had to change course because of iceberg warnings. It was a year when the bergs came farther south in the Atlantic than usual. According to reports, however, when the Titanic stopped its engines, passengers did not wake up and the crew had to wake as many as possible and get them on deck in their life-jackets.
In view of everything wrong about the Titanic, I cannot understand why Belfast is hosting an exhibition to demonstrate how wrong its shipbuilders got it, at the cost of hundreds of lives.
Sorry to use a DM link again – and thank you to whoever sorted the Linky thing last time. This depressing UN report, and for once I think a UN report is to be believed, demonstrates to me that drugs should be legalised asap. I realise this may result in deaths from overdoses, but it would improve the current situation.
Perhaps the Australian government could rescue this poor little Australian petunia who is so unhappy in the nasty British onion patch.
Boadicea's Chariot 
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