Cunobelin wrote:Graphite was very valuable. If you were able to sneak out a pocket full and knew teh right people it was several years wages.
The colloquial name for graphite is "Wad"
ALlegedly this value gave rise to a pocketful of money being called a "Wad" as well
Some say I'm a tight wad not just because I use pencils until they're little more than a point.
Same with biro pens. I get very pi$$ed off when someone nicks my pen after my biro has only half a centimetre of ink left. It's got live left in it.
Seriously though, graphite was black gold at one point. It's been a big part of Lakeland smuggling history. You hear about cornish smuggling (poldark no doubt helps) but lake district has had a big smuggling history too. There's trods in place now that were smuggling routes, famous names and even myths. There's even the remains of a shed hidden halfway up a crag that requires climbing skills to reach apparently. It was either a smugglers shed or a shed for illicit stills. Moonshine westmoreland style!
I do love ascending church towers, it is good exercise and sometimes a bit frightening (exposure)
Some towers had dwellings high up for firewatchers, one flat in a tower in Goettingen Germany was let to students later and was open to visitors for a fee. Anyone who lugged a bucket of water up the steps went for free
In Berlin many many years ago, some choirboys were gathering eggs from the birds nesting in the tower. One of the lads missed a step and fell. Fortunately he was wearing his cassock which spread out like a parachute and he landed safely with 13 eggs intact
Entertainer, juvenile, curmudgeon, PoB, 30120 Cycling-of course, but it is far better on a Gillott We love safety cameras, we hate bullies
We went to the Motability show at Peterborough's East of England show ground looking for a new wheelchair.
We had a late lunch in Peterborough and topped into the Cathedral
They have an interesting exhibition....
Not the first venue I would have thought for a Spacecraft and associate exhibition, but absurdly it does not seem out of place and they have attracted a lot of visitors that would not have been there without the exhibition
Went to a church that used to have a little hole in the wall beside the altar, so that people who had the plague could hear the sermon without going near other people. The hole is bricked up now
Plan to visit a service tomorrow in a church where plague victims were buried, that was a few hundred years ago fortunately
Entertainer, juvenile, curmudgeon, PoB, 30120 Cycling-of course, but it is far better on a Gillott We love safety cameras, we hate bullies
This little patch of land is a graveyard for Nineteenth Century cholera victims, their bodies buried outside the main graveyard presumably because of a need to bury them quickly. These days all that separates this area from the main graveyard and the church is a cycle track, but that track was a rail line. The cholera graveyard is now a green place where you can sit on a bench and eat your sandwiches before resuming your ride up the valley, and it is easy to overlook the suffering and tragedy that it represents.
Cyril Haearn wrote:Went to a church that used to have a little hole in the wall beside the altar, so that people who had the plague could hear the sermon without going near other people. The hole is bricked up now
Plan to visit a service tomorrow in a church where plague victims were buried, that was a few hundred years ago fortunately
One I loved, but never checked... simply because I want it to be true
A small church and above the Pulpit is a small opening
Allegedly the incumbent used to use puppets and as the sermon went on, characters would appear through the opening to emphasize good, evil etc
Allegedly this was the origin of the Jack in the Box toy
Cyril Haearn wrote:Went to a church that used to have a little hole in the wall beside the altar, so that people who had the plague could hear the sermon without going near other people. The hole is bricked up now
Plan to visit a service tomorrow in a church where plague victims were buried, that was a few hundred years ago fortunately
One I loved, but never checked... simply because I want it to be true
A small church and above the Pulpit is a small opening
Allegedly the incumbent used to use puppets and as the sermon went on, characters would appear through the opening to emphasize good, evil etc
Allegedly this was the origin of the Jack in the Box toy
Easy to believe, where was that? Not so long ago most people could not read but understood stories
Entertainer, juvenile, curmudgeon, PoB, 30120 Cycling-of course, but it is far better on a Gillott We love safety cameras, we hate bullies
We went to the Motability show at Peterborough's East of England show ground looking for a new wheelchair.
We had a late lunch in Peterborough and topped into the Cathedral
They have an interesting exhibition....
Not the first venue I would have thought for a Spacecraft and associate exhibition, but absurdly it does not seem out of place and they have attracted a lot of visitors that would not have been there without the exhibition
Just the right place I think for an exhibition about ascending into the heavens %)
Entertainer, juvenile, curmudgeon, PoB, 30120 Cycling-of course, but it is far better on a Gillott We love safety cameras, we hate bullies
Cyril Haearn wrote:Went to a church that used to have a little hole in the wall beside the altar, so that people who had the plague could hear the sermon without going near other people. The hole is bricked up now
Plan to visit a service tomorrow in a church where plague victims were buried, that was a few hundred years ago fortunately
One I loved, but never checked... simply because I want it to be true
A small church and above the Pulpit is a small opening
Allegedly the incumbent used to use puppets and as the sermon went on, characters would appear through the opening to emphasize good, evil etc
Allegedly this was the origin of the Jack in the Box toy
Easy to believe, where was that? Not so long ago most people could not read but understood stories
Scottish Borders IIRC - all my old notes and slides are in the loft, so inaccessible at the moment
Churches have other uses too, in war they have been used as stables or barracks
Special services are held for pets, +1 ("all animals that pass through the door are welcome") I went to a jazz service once, or tried to. As soon as the music started (it sounded like the screams of a dying animal) my legs carried me out of their own accord
Entertainer, juvenile, curmudgeon, PoB, 30120 Cycling-of course, but it is far better on a Gillott We love safety cameras, we hate bullies
I do love cemeteries, they are beautiful cared-for interesting places, I often go through one on the way into town Stopped there yesterday to read the paper, should do that more often
Entertainer, juvenile, curmudgeon, PoB, 30120 Cycling-of course, but it is far better on a Gillott We love safety cameras, we hate bullies
Stone circles... not for any hippy dippy new age reason .. there are over 30 in the peak district around Sheffield .. Think "sacred places" generate their own peace because we project our own peace on the place ... if that makes sense..
“Quiet, calm deliberation disentangles every knot.”
Be more Mike.
The road goes on forever.
