09:00 Steve, our American brother-in-law has emailed me from Pennsylvania to warn me to stay away from Cornwall at the moment. It's a Daily Telegraph exclusive. Biden will be there, Steve says, and a whole lot of other people apparently - oh dear!
When I first read this report, I had a sense of deja-vu, but didn't know why. Surely they didn't hold the G7 here last year also - that would have been madness! Then I remembered that I had in fact seen a report in January, when the idea of holding the G7 Summit in Carbis Bay in June was first mooted as a plan.
flashback to 2015: Lois and I walk along the coastal path from
St Ives to Carbis Bay and have a beer in the bar of the Carbis Bay Hotel
- happy times !!!!!!
11:00 After Lois and I finish our daily "Danish" session on the couch we drive out to fill up the car with petrol, equipped with disposable plastic gloves and contactless credit card.
It's sad, but this is yet another big event for us - I look back in my blog and I see that the last 2 times we filled up were 30 December 2020 and 26 August 2020. The tank holds 9 gallons and I think there's only about one gallon left, so it's taken us 5 and a half months to use about 8 gallons.
What madness !!!!
I don't keep tabs on petrol prices, but it seems to me it's cheaper than it used to be, which is a nice surprise!
our local petrol station
I always thought that the hill must have got its name from some long-forgotten battle centuries ago, but Lois tells me it was originally just the name of some Anglo-Saxon's farm - the Anglo-Saxon was called Bædela and the area was originally called Bædela's "tun", a word which just meant a farm in those far-off times.
What a crazy world they lived in in those days!
we go for a walk on Battledown Hill,
where Anglo-Saxon farmer Bædela once had a farm
about a thousand years ago
16:00 We have jam and bread and biscuits on the patio with our Earl Grey tea.
I look at the quora forum on my smartphone for the latest developments on the hot topic of the moment - all about exactly why the Swedes (allegedly) only have 10% so-called "Viking ancestry".
Viking expert Kris Chisholm has weighed in, agreeing that it is an interesting question, because the ancient Viking individuals researched from various burial places throughout Europe and Greenland did largely support the historians’ view that the Danish and Norwegian Vikings headed west and the Swedish Vikings eastwards.
Kris comments that the Danish Vikings’ DNA is largely reflected in the modern Danish population today, whereas only 15%–30% of Swedes today match the ancient presumed Viking individuals.
The above maps show how much of the ancient remains of presumed Vikings matches current day populations. It is categorised by ‘Atlantic-like’, ‘Danish-like’, ‘Swedish-like’ and ‘Norwegian-like’. As you can see, the more red (100%), orange (75%) yellow (50%) to blue (0) in an area denotes how much of today’s population approximates to those Viking individuals studied.
As you can see, says Kris, the North Norwegians match the Vikings who went to the ‘North Atlantic’; West Norwegians match the Vikings going to Scotland , Ireland and Greenland. The Danes match the Vikings who went to SE England, which had the Danelaw jurisdiction, so this matches historical records, and to large parts of western Europe, as well as Sweden.
The researchers could find little difference
between Swedish and Danish genes today. What is interesting is that the Vikings
identified as ‘Swedish-like’ have left their mark on Finland, Estonia and
Latvia.
Fascinating stuff, but it's going to take me a while to process this information, as well as that from all the other "Viking experts" who have been weighing in like crazy.
Watch this space!
20:00 Lois settles down to watch a few episodes of the "We Are Lady Parts" sitcom, while I disappear into the dining-room to hear a zoom lecture by Richard Scholar from the York Festival of Ideas, entitled "Emigrés: French Words That Turned English", about words the English language has borrowed from French.
The talk has been publicised locally among members of Lynda's U3A Middle English group as something group members might enjoy.
chairman Stuart Carroll introduces the talk
Richard Scholar begins his presentation
Oh dear!
I think it says something about a talk, especially one given on the Internet for a potentially huge world-wide audience, if there aren't many questions after it finishes. And with this zoom format, you can tell from the "Q&A" icon at the bottom of the screen that only 1 or 2 questions have been submitted by viewers. As a result chairman Stuart Carroll has to come up with most of the questions himself.
Oh dear (again), poor Stuart !!!!
the talk is now over, and chairman Stuart Carroll is trying to
think up some questions. The "Q&A" icon reveals that at this
point only 1 question has so far been submitted by viewers - oh dear !!!
There are one or two interest points for me in the talk, however. Richard shows us a marvellous picture representing the French concept of "ennui", featuring a middle-aged or elderly couple, with the husband sitting at the table, staring into the distance over a half-empty glass of water, and the wife leaning on some sort of sideboard and staring at the wall. Marvellous stuff !!!!
The second point of interest for me is the French phrase "a la mode". Although Lois and I lived in the US for 3 years from 1982 to 1985, I never realised that in the US and Canada, this phrase means "served with ice-cream". Who knew that? [probably at least 300 million people, I should imagine! - Ed]
What madness haha!!!!
21:00 I re-join Lois in the living-room and we watch an episode of "Meet the Richardsons", a reality TV documentary about the married life of two stand-up comedians, Jon Richardson and Lucy Beaumont.
Lois and I didn't realise, until tonight, what a rather sad life comedian Jon Richardson has had, despite being something of a celebrity in this country and abroad for several years.
He once did a gig in Amsterdam, and stayed for a drink in the bar after the show. A Dutchwoman in the bar offered to take him back to her canal boat for sex - it was about a 10 minute walk away from the theatre.
On the way to the boat, however, the woman happened to mention that there were mice on the boat, a remark which immediately made Jon remember a sad documentary series from the 1970's about Hannah Hauxwell, who lived on her own in the wilds of Yorkshire.
Jon remembered that Hannah Hauxwell's house was also infested with mice and that she had had to hang her bread from the rafters, to stop the mice getting it. This recollection immediately put Jon off from the idea of having sex, and the evening came to a rather sad end, with him going back to his hotel alone.
Poor Jon !!!!!
Lois remembers the Hannah Hauxwell documentary, which caused a sensation at the time. It was called "Too Long A Winter" and was made in 1973 by ITV.
Hannah was a farmer and a recluse. She was born in the Yorkshire dales at Slaidburn, a place she could still see from her current house.
In Hannah's house there was no electricity, and no water on tap. When she wanted a cup of tea, in order to get water, she had to go down to the stream in the field where the cattle grazed.
In the winter Hannah said she could go for 10 days without seeing another soul. She used to say, "In summer I live, in winter I just exist".
Hannah was 46 at the time the documentary was made. There had never been a man in her life, and no prospect of marriage. She died a virgin. But she had no regrets, she said.
Poor Hannah !!!!!!
And poor Jon in Amsterdam !!!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment