Not far from Henley on Thames and not very grand, but extremely interesting! The house was donated to the National Trust by Sir Felix and Elizabeth, Lady Brunner who bought the house in 1937. Walled courtyards, pretty gardens and its history begins in 1346!
The house today is very much a family home and has been virtually rebuilt; changed hands many times but it’s a fascinating hotchpotch in beautiful countryside.
Last night Marion and I were invited out to dinner at Tapping House, the Norfolk Hospice, and were right-royally entertained for the evening. The staff, all voluntary, run it as Day Centre, and specialise in various forms of massage. There were about sixty guests, (thirty disabled, thirty carers), and the staff were in black tie and equivalent. I was struck by the number of ex-service people there; I suppose it reflects on the love of community life engendered in the armed forces. Looking round the faces after the meal, in every face I saw the determination not to be beaten by their disability, including a grand dame of 82, caring for her husband. She looked about 60, and was a dancer at the Windmill in her youth. After dinner, all five courses of it, a group of young country lads sang, rather like the Wurzels. The evening was most enjoyable, and very humbling in a way. To a large extent it restored my faith in human nature.
If interested, look them up on Google.
Well! We all had a laugh, but it seems that people are queuing up to buy Princess B’s titfer – even Wiggles an Australian children’s musical group!
I should really have made the title of this piece, ‘Proper,’ nouns as verbs because I don’t intend to discuss that awful American habit of randomly using a noun as a verb. A piece in the tech pages caught my eye the other day. It was discussing the measurement of commercial success of a brand by the use of the brand name as a verb. The obvious examples are ‘google,’ and ‘skype’ (Lower case initial letters when used as verbs.) What was interesting was an inference that this was a new thing. It seems that the writer had not made the connection between this idea and, for example, ‘hoovering,’ the carpet, ‘sellotaping’ something, or ‘(tele-) phoning someone. There is also the matter of brand names becoming generic terms – we use a biro to write something, for example. (In Serbian, a radio comms set is a ‘motorola,’ and in Romanian, a refrigerator is a ‘frigeder – say it with a Spanish pronounciation.)
I’m sure the charioteers can come up with other examples, but what interested me is the implied sense that nothing happened before 1970, or so. There seems to be a disconnection somewhere in which anything that happened before the cultural revolution is discounted – in the air-headed chatterati expression, is ‘not relevant,’ or is ‘out-moded.’
That might go some way to explain why the country is in the mess it is. (On the other hand, of course, it might not 🙂 )
It may be lush outside, but please could we have hush inside?
Exam season. Takes you back doesn’t it? Continue reading “Hush”
We’re voting today.
Unlike the previous 17 years where the ANC has received overwhelming majorities from the electorate it appears that opposition parties here are giving them a run for their money!
Dissatisfaction with service delivery, jobs for pals, corruption and one scandal after another, gross negligence by some has left the ruling clique more than a little nervous.
So much so that the local ANC officials have been reported as saying that they would be happy to form a coalition if results went against them.
The current state of our council is:-
As a firm believer in anything to do with the end of the world and a confirmed disciple of the great wisdom of ‘our Donald’, I was astonished to find someone else predicting the end of the world…again!
Apparently we have until 6pm on the 21st May to tell our loved ones all our inner most thoughts. Anyone know why the numbers 5, 10 and 17 are particularly holy? This prophet seems to be profiting quite nicely out of this “end of the world is nigh” malarkey without having to resort to selling bottles of air or water!
He has been wrong before though….just like Donald! I still believe in you Donald, I won’t defect to his cult 😀
And for a change, not a BBC link from me! Fantasy, sorry, Story link here
Several stops short of Upminster as I say to many of the people I see at work. (Barking…for those that don’t know the Underground map!)
There’s some new movement called “SlutWalk” which seems to be about confirming women’s freedom to wear not much in a slutty way.
There’s an image of some girls holding a banner “It’s my hot body. I do what I want.”
Some men might applaud this “outing” of rampant sexuality and from my point of view, yes, women should, within the confines of public decency, feel free to wear what they like. Continue reading “It’s my HOT BODY!”
The most important thing about Spaceship Earth – an instruction book didn’t come with it.
R. Buckminster Fuller
Good night everyone, sleep well
Boadicea's Chariot 
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