No, I Don't Mean There Are No Chairs In The Room
I could always sit on the floor. I would probably need help to get back up again, given my aging bones and unco-operative joints
ANYWAY we're not here to blather on about my sinovial fluid situation; I cannot sit down because the Dog Buns Coincidence Hydra has it's teeth in my nethers AGAIN. Allow me a minute.
CAUTION! Unsuitable as a domestic pet
I bet it costs a small fortune when it's eyes get tested. Although they appear to be as sharp as it's teeth, for the purposes of embedding them in my behind. To explain, we need to go back to "Sir Nigel" and a point in the narrative when Nigel (not yet a knight) is being escorted by Sir John Chandos around the castle walls at Winchelsea, and he asks Nigel if he notices anything unusual? Nigel, being sharp-eyed and quick-witted, noticed that all the town's buildings were new. Sir John confirms this and says that Old Winchelsea was destroyed in a great storm, which of course immediately caught Your Humble Scribe's attention, as havoc and mayhem are always of interest. Art!
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| The evidence ("Winchelsea the drowned town" for those unfamiliar with my scrawl) |
'New' Winchelsea
Given that the submerging took place in 1287, there are no photographs of the event <sad face>, so I decided to look for more information on-line, wondering if we'd find an artist's impression or two. What did I find? Art!
It gives an outline of Old Winchelsea's existence as a port, with as many as 5,000 inhabitants, and up to 50 pubs, inns and taverns. It's position on an island meant it had excellent facilities for shipping, all of which began to suffer in 1251 when storms and bad weather began to seriously erode the island away. Art!
The old port is at mid-starboard
HOWEVER that's not what I wanted to point out. Over to starboard on their page about Ol' Winch, what do we espy but ...
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| "The Rude Mechanical Theatre Company" is what. |
Erk. Your Humble Scribe has encountered the term before, once a long time ago, as it's the title of a book (I think) about tanks (I think) and set in the Western Desert of the Second Unpleasantness (I think). I agree, all very vague. After posting this scrivel I may endeavour to get a bit more focus on this.
The other reference is to <hack spit> Shakespeare, because in the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" there are half a dozen characters who are described thus because they are artisans who work with their hands.
What was one of the clues for yesteryon's Cryptic Crossword? Art!
What do you think of that, hmmm? Once again the Universe is trying to tell me something, which would be a lot easier if it could just use Twitter. I suppose digital communication, let alone language, is a bit new-fangled for the Ol' Uni, which has been around for a while and is quite set in it's ways.
Just been down to stir this week's iteration of Bigos, which has used up an old half-cabbage, some chestnut mushrooms, aging bratwursts and the pound and a half of pork shoulder I got going cheap on Sunday at the Co-Op. It needs to cook for at least another 45 minutes or it won't reduce enough to fit in the biggest plastic container I have access to. Ah, the thrills of an aging man's rock and roll lifestyle!
A Bigos, by gosh.
Tragedy On The Dan River
If you follow South Canadian news, then you may have heard that four people are dead with another missing after they overshot a dam whilst going downriver on inner-tubes. They hit the Dan River's Energy Dam, and anyone who reads that the dam is only 8 feet high must be wondering how on earth a fall this small could be so lethal. Art?
That's the explanation right there.
This is more a weir than a dam, built to create an area of deeper water as other waters cascade over the top. We have covered this matter before, and these types of dams are INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS to anyone travelling downstream. The water, once it comes over the top, creates a continuous circular loop at the bottom of the dam that traps anything falling into it and if a person is caught in this, the only way out is to physically drag yourself along the river bed.
If you are ever planning on 'tubing' ensure your route is clear of weirs or low head dams.
"The View From The Turret"
There is a chap over on Youtube who puts up a Military History quiz on a weekly basis, and you know Conrad - big on Military History and cannot resist a quiz, so both combined are -
Difficult, is the word I'm searching for.
https://www.youtube.com/c/theviewfromtheturret
There's the link for your genial Irish host (sorry, haven't checked out his name, shockingly lax I know, jolly bad form and all that give me a minute) hmmm nope no mention of a name. Art!
"Archie was fed up hearing 'Lili Marlene' for the fourteenth time that day"
Conrad is subscribed to the Youtube channel but rather balks at viewing any of the videos because 1) there are a lot of them, and 2) once he starts he won't stop. Very poor self-control. None at all, actually.
FYI I do definitely know 2 answers to this week's 10 questions. Which is more than you can say <avoids giving out any of the questions just in case>
Finally -
Before I begin this coda I'd better go turn the hob off, we don't want seven pounds of charcoal for lunch the rest of this week, do we?
Where was I? O yes, "Ben Hur", probably the most impressive Biblical epic ever, and Your Humble Scribe has - er - cheated, by discovering yet another blog that recounts details of behind-the-scenes especially for the battle at sea, For example - Art!
The word 'miniatures' for these ships is an oxymoron, as they were simply enormous! You can judge how large by the stage hand dragging one around in the background. The site explains that the ships were 1/6 scale, and thus 10 feet long, which explains how they managed to get their oars moving, thanks to having enough space for miniature engineering gimmickry.
Are we done yet? <checks with Vulnavia> Yes. Yes we are.
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