RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted September 30, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 30, 2020 4 hours ago, Nearholmer said: I am in awe of the quantity and quality of reading that goes on here. Possibly the only times in my life I've ever equaled it were when young and making many train rides for work/commuting, and for a few months over one winter when I was living alone in a very dull flat. For the other many years: too much work; too busy with family; or, both at once! Very true Kevin. I can't even keep up with my model railway magazines, being still in the middle of August as far as they are concerned. I have made a little progress with my complete set of Nevil Shute. Perhaps not one of the finest novelists but a cracking story-teller. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 9 hours ago, St Enodoc said: Very true Kevin. I can't even keep up with my model railway magazines, being still in the middle of August as far as they are concerned. I have made a little progress with my complete set of Nevil Shute. Perhaps not one of the finest novelists but a cracking story-teller. Good stuff, Nevil Shute. I've read two or three. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Annie Posted October 1, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 1, 2020 Ah reading. I used to read a lot, but since narcolepsy rewired my brain I can't read books anymore. I don't know why it is, but a good many other folk on narcolepsy forums have said the same thing, - they can't read books without making a herculean effort to concentrate on the words on the page. Just in the past week or two my daughter discovered my stash of Sci-Fi/fantasy novels and has been reading them and enjoying them just as much as I did. That made me happy, - enjoying books by proxy perhaps? And it is very good to see you posting again James. 1 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 10 minutes ago, Edwardian said: Good stuff, Nevil Shute. I've read two or three. "On The Beach" is contra-indicated at the present time. "A Town Like Alice" is a bit more uplifting. As for the rest of the books, GMFs "Quartered Safe Out Here" is an interesting read, whilst the Flashman series, is pretty good and even over the whole series. I might essay a re-reading of LoTR when the nights really start to draw in! I've just scrolled up to the top opf the page and encountered the Highlights box... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Compound2632 Posted October 1, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 1, 2020 18 minutes ago, Hroth said: I've just scrolled up to the top opf the page and encountered the Highlights box... Dear me I need to up my posting rate. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 Cheery news this morning. Our Great Leaders are considering tackling the "migrant crisis" by re-introducing prison hulks ... . 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Andy Hayter Posted October 1, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 1, 2020 Marginally better than the resurrection of the deportation to Australia concept I read about yesterday - just substitute South Georgia for Australia. 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted October 1, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 1, 2020 “South” because that’s where we are headed, and “Georgia” because frankly the disdain of the government for the people and parliament is positively Georgian in its contempt. 2 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 27 minutes ago, Andy Hayter said: Marginally better than the resurrection of the deportation to Australia concept I read about yesterday - just substitute South Georgia for Australia. Which, of course, failed. A mere two centuries later they had made it back at least as far as Earls Court 25 minutes ago, Regularity said: “South” because that’s where we are headed, and “Georgia” because frankly the disdain of the government for the people and parliament is positively Georgian in its contempt. Ever wonder about where North Georgia went? Not that it's always on my mind, you understand? 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
drmditch Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 24 minutes ago, Edwardian said: Cheery news this morning. Our Great Leaders are considering tackling the "migrant crisis" by re-introducing prison hulks ... . Well, we can't send them to Virginia any more, so re-create the hulks. Australia perhaps? But that now means Nauru or New Guinea or other fenced camps. But hang on, those 18/19th century 'solutions' were for those adjudged criminals by the laws and lawyers and juries of their day. (Don't go stealing a loaf of bread anybody, let alone a handkerchief!) I don't think the hulks and/or transports were used for immigrants and refugees. Of all the bad news recently, I have seen none that has disgusted me more. Just waiting for this government to re-create the concept of the 'Malthusian third'...…. but hang on again, haven't they already...….. I am going try to get some masks made with 'My ancestors were immigrants' on them, unless anyone can suggest a snappier caption? NB I think the Prison Hulks were first used to accommodate POWs, after Napoleon (where are these tyrants when you need them) prevented the previously fairly civilised policy of exchange. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 (edited) The other use for hulks was as quarantine "hospitals", something that I think continued into the late Victorian period, possibly even into the nominal period of this thread. IIRC the police pier on the Thames near Blackwall Basin was originally provided to give access to quarantine hulks, but that is more for Schooner's thread than this one. All uncomfortably topical. EDIT: I'd misremembered, it was the pier next door to the river police station that was for "infectious diseases". Read all abaht it! https://islandhistory.wordpress.com/2016/03/03/cold-harbour-infectious-diseases-receiving-station/ Edited October 1, 2020 by Nearholmer 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Compound2632 Posted October 1, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 1, 2020 39 minutes ago, Edwardian said: Ever wonder about where North Georgia went? States-side. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 31 minutes ago, drmditch said: NB I think the Prison Hulks were first used to accommodate POWs, after Napoleon (where are these tyrants when you need them) prevented the previously fairly civilised policy of exchange. The land-based prison camps (Time Team excavated one) were a bit better, though still grim. Perhaps these proposals for hulks and inescapable and inhospitable island detention are the first fruits of that Aussie bloke the Boris recently imported as an adviser? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium TheQ Posted October 1, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 1, 2020 You do wonder if just talking about the possibility of such detention, is in itself, designed to discourage attempting to cross the channel.. 1 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 35 minutes ago, drmditch said: NB I think the Prison Hulks were first used to accommodate POWs, after Napoleon (where are these tyrants when you need them) prevented the previously fairly civilised policy of exchange. Just now, Hroth said: The land-based prison camps (Time Team excavated one) were a bit better, though still grim. I am aware of two such. Norman Cross. That was mainly a sort of wooden stockade and blockhouse affair, manned by the Cambridgeshire Militia. There were quite a few escapes by the French POWs and at least one riot (IIRC that was some Americans; rowdy bunch). I know all this because there is a decent amount about it at the Peterb*gger museum. You used to be able to stop at the Eagle memorial beside the Great North Road/A1. A very poignant and windswept spot. My father took me to see it as a child. He is a terrible old Bonapartist! I think it's been moved somewhere near the surviving masonry parts of the old camp. Hope it's still there. The other one, of course, is Dartmoor, which might get us to Sherlock Holmes, which might get us within period! So, where was the Time Team dig? Just now, Hroth said: Perhaps these proposals for hulks and inescapable and inhospitable island detention are the first fruits of that Aussie bloke the Boris recently imported as an adviser? Housing people in a floating prison, sorry, asylum seeker processing centre, in a time of Covid seems to be a very good way of creating a hospital ship. However, as it's HMG, I am sure it will all be properly thought through, planned, organised and financed, and it will all work beautifully well and everyone will be perfectly safe. That's an idea, why not create "Care Hulks" for our elderly? Then the PM's developer friends can be given the necessary planning permission to convert all those former Care Homes into luxury apartments and make millions. Ooh, I'm good at this, 'praps I should have answered Dominic's ad for wierdos with dumb ideas? 3 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 1 minute ago, TheQ said: You do wonder if just talking about the possibility of such detention, is in itself, designed to discourage attempting to cross the channel.. Then again, self-defeating as it would encourage an influx trying to beat the imposition of such measures. Rather like pre-lockdown parties and gatherings... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 2 minutes ago, TheQ said: You do wonder if just talking about the possibility of such detention, is in itself, designed to discourage attempting to cross the channel.. Crossed my mind, but I doubt is would discourage all those poor b8ggers on rafts in the Channel prepared to risk drowning rather than become French! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 1 minute ago, Edwardian said: So, where was the Time Team dig? Norman Cross. I was trying to remember where it was, you saved me having to look it up! 2 minutes ago, Edwardian said: Ooh, I'm good at this, 'praps I should have answered Dominic's ad for wierdos with dumb ideas? Only if you want to have to run cover-up each time he decides to go for an eye-test... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 4 minutes ago, Hroth said: Only if you want to have to run cover-up each time he decides to go for an eye-test... Ah, but, even in full lock-down, I'm allowed to go to Barnard Castle! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 50 minutes ago, Hroth said: Then again, self-defeating as it would encourage an influx trying to beat the imposition of such measures. Rather like pre-lockdown parties and gatherings... As the song goes, it's murder on the dance floor Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wagonman Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 54 minutes ago, Edwardian said: Crossed my mind, but I doubt is would discourage all those poor b8ggers on rafts in the Channel prepared to risk drowning rather than become French! That reminds me of another one for the Reading List: "1000 years of Annoying the French" by Stephen Clarke (Bantam 2010)... 1 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 So, here was I speculating as to whether the Plague might free up some of the local housing stock and drive the prices down, and whether, if so, I might somehow steal a march on the baying hordes of latte swigging Millennials. If so, I might live long enough to own a house. Well, it seems not. On the one hand, happily, the older folk hereabout seem impervious (or, possibly just oblivious) to the danger and stride around the place quite happily. I would have thought they'd be hunkered down by now in bunkers made from horded loo roll, but no. On the other hand, the local undertakers have started mailshotting me. 1 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 5 minutes ago, wagonman said: That reminds me of another one for the Reading List: "1000 years of Annoying the French" by Stephen Clarke (Bantam 2010)... Oh read that, it's hilarious. No one lies like a Frenchman writing history and Clarke has huge fun calling them out on it. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Compound2632 Posted October 1, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 1, 2020 9 minutes ago, Edwardian said: On the other hand, the local undertakers have started mailshotting me. It must be a hard life advertising funeral services. Like the wedding "industry", there's not much repeat business. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm 0-6-0 Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 27 minutes ago, Compound2632 said: It must be a hard life advertising funeral services. Like the wedding "industry", there's not much repeat business. Oh I dunno most undertakers find that people are just dying to see them ....... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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