Early Risers.

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

About seven years ago my all time favourite band, Strawhead, decided to stop giving live performances after almost 40 years.  I was heartbroken, having seen them countless times in various parts of the country and got to know them personally.  To help me cope I played one of their tracks more than a dozen times in the car, at high volume and with the window down, to get their sound out of my head once and for all.  That worked until yesterday.  I fished out the “Late Bottled Vintage” CD and spent the next hour or so recalling what I had been missing all this time.  One of their best known songs, “Rochester Recruiting Sergeant”, brought just a few tears to my eyes.  I had last sung it in, of all places, Wenceslas Square in Prague.  It had come into my head because I was trying to choose some songs that I could remember in preparation for an appearance at Sidmouth that should have been this year.  The tune is that of “Waltzing Matilda”, which prompts debates from time to time as to which came first.  Folk is a lot more complex than many people think.

 

Today will see the relief fodder run, during which I will decide what to have for Sunday lunch and then buy it.  Now that supermarket cafeterias are opening again the idea of breakfast out is very appealing.  The fried bread at Tesco was always pretty good but time will tell.

 

Happy anniversary to Mr and Mrs Wass.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

Hi Brian,

 

We are going to have to agree to disagree. I had an uncle who fought in the war who used that pejorative and I'm sure he had been using it for many years. It was common in the UK long before WW2 and it was as much a racial slur then as it is now.

 

I'm not suggesting Gibson was trying to be vindictive or deliberately racist. He probably thought it was amusing but I'm pretty sure that had there been any black airmen in his squadron, they would not have been in the least bit amused, and I wouldn't blame them. In my opinion the notion that Gibson didn't understand the significance of the name is an attempt to re-write history.

 

Andy

 

(not far from the former premises of Aryan Nations)

 

 

I remember being able to buy paint that went by the name of N Brown. It also featured in watercolour sets.

[Andrew P]

Happy anniversary Mr & Mrs Wass, have a good one.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Yep cricket = rain PAH!!!

 

As it happens I tend to take a lot of wiki with a pinch of salt. People can change it for various reasons. Some entries are , how can I put it, based upon cobbled together bits and bats .. the one on a certain British tank has some strange information in it for example. And the Domesday Book does have details of all people including slaves according to the people who look after it.

 

Mugatea ready for dtinking so TTFN

 

Baz

 

 

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by Barry O
Spellung

[TheQ]

2 hours ago, pH said:

 

Eh - no it didn't. It didn't even record the population of all of modern England:

 

"The Domesday Book was commissioned in December 1085 by William the Conqueror, who invaded England in 1066. The first draft was completed in August 1086 and contained records for 13,418 settlements in the English counties south of the rivers Ribble and Tees (the border with Scotland at the time)."

 

and

 

"The survey does not cover London (city), Winchester, Northumberland and Durham or much of north-west England; the only parts of Wales included are certain border areas."

 

That said, there definitely was still slavery in the British Isles at that time, and apparently something that looked very like slavery for several hundred years after that:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Britain

 

Oops yes most but not all of England

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

I remember being able to buy paint that went by the name of N Brown. It also featured in watercolour sets.

 

Ah yes. The "Cecil John Rhodes" box of colours.

[Barry O]

3 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Ah yes. The "Cecil John Rhodes" box of colours.

You seem to be reading all sorts of things into the past. We were not there. There was a different way of thinking about life. What we don't agree with now shouldn't be retrospectively applied to the past. The past is gone but it is great to make sure people can understand why we are where we are about lots of things. When I was a child if we used "eenie, meanie, mini, mo" I didn't know what the words meant and never even thought about it as rascist.

 

My junior school had a new teacher appear one yeear. He was from India and we all respected him. In our village he and his wife arrived one day in ceremonial dress. We were gobsmacked. No one called him names..in fact we were amazed that so eone could speak beautiflEnglish that everyone could understan.

 

Baz

[Dave Hunt]

I have a very good friend, ex-RAF and a squadron colleague with whom I flew (and, incidentally, one of the best pilots I ever knew) who is Nigerian and dark skinned. He is of the opinion that the current fashion for decrying everything to do with past colonial activities and what happened historically in general is counterproductive for race relations and that the political correctness applied to such things as Guy Gibson's dog does more harm than good. 

 

A bit of a grotty day here in the borderlands so I may well have to put on hold any plans to get involved in outdoor activities such as the G word and settle instead for spending time in the workshop. It's a hard life sometimes.

 

Cheers everyone.

 

Dave

[AndyID]

I'm not reading anything into the past. Racism was rife in the UK just as it was here. I've experienced plenty of it in the UK and in the US.

 

Presumably Gibson called his dog that because it was black (Shona is also black but we called her Shona) or did he just happen to draw the name out of a hat? People like the aforementioned Rhodes were using that pejorative epithet in the UK long before Gibson and I can't blame him for falling into the same trap. I did too.

 

As I said before, I very much doubt  that Gibson had any intention of being hurtful. He was merely falling in line with a common sentiment at that time.

[AndyID]

10 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

I have a very good friend, ex-RAF and a squadron colleague with whom I flew (and, incidentally, one of the best pilots I ever knew) who is Nigerian and dark skinned. He is of the opinion that the current fashion for decrying everything to do with past colonial activities and what happened historically in general is counterproductive for race relations and that the political correctness applied to such things as Guy Gibson's dog does more harm than good. 

 

A bit of a grotty day here in the borderlands so I may well have to put on hold any plans to get involved in outdoor activities such as the G word and settle instead for spending time in the workshop. It's a hard life sometimes.

 

Cheers everyone.

 

Dave

 

I have worked with and employed people of all sorts of ethnicity both in the US and the UK and none of them ever suggested that exploring these issues was doing more harm than good. Quite the reverse actually.

 

The US has nothing to be proud of but neither does the UK.

 

BTW, I never got to meet my uncle Bobby. He died serving the RAF in WW2.

[jamie92208]

Good moaning to all from a warm and sunny Charente.  The day started with a wonderful  video call to the girls. A good chat was had with Rachel and Laura, Emily toddled around in the background all the time, waving to us now and again when she wasn't busy. Rachel starts back at work on Monday so we hope that things go well. Then it was off to the tip to dispose of 4 months worth of rubbish though some wasps nesting in the corner pillar of a skip didn't like my presence. I then pucjed up some long ladders forca little job. Quick break forca cool drink now then off to get the firstvif 6 stearscof wood from our friends house. Beth is out so after that the day is allegedly mine.

 

Congratulations to John Wass and his Mrs.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[iL Dottore]

6 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

....6 watts per channel is not a lot of "oomph" unless the speakers are quite sensitive. I had (still have but no longer in use at this time) a set of stacked The Advents on top of Advent Legacy 2s that would go to ear-bleeding levels as one approached 10 watts....

I find this whole business about Wattage a bit baffling. My newest toy (HIWATT Little D Rig) is 20/0.5W Switchable Class A Guitar Amp with the EL84 + ECC83 Valve Configuration. Output is 8 Ω into a WEM Starfinder Fane 1x12 Cabinet (output choice is 4Ω, 8Ω or 16Ω depending upon what speakers & cabs are being used). I've only used it at the 0.5W power level (well, to date) and It is far louder than my other amplifier: A Roland Cube 30W COSM jobbie which has onboard effects, amp modelling and it's all solid state with a 10 inch speaker (as opposed to the 12 inch Fane in the WEM Cab). In theory, the Roland should be louder than the HIWATT, but setting the volume knob at 12 O'Clock on the Roland (presumably equalling 15W of output) the Roland isn't as loud as the HIWATT atll the way up to 10 at the 0.5W Power Level (so presumably a full 0.5W of output).

For years, a friend of mine (and a semi professional guitarist) has been trying to convince me that Valves are better than solid state for Guitar Amps - I think I now know why....

Enjoy Saturday

iD

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

It's raining so I doubt they'll be any cricket at Old Trafford today! Breakfast is but a distant memory and muggertea No2 has been made so I'm off down to the workshop for a few hours. 

 

Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later. 

[BokStein]

Morning.

 

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

You seem to be reading all sorts of things into the past. We were not there. There was a different way of thinking about life. What we don't agree with now shouldn't be retrospectively applied to the past. The past is gone but it is great to make sure people can understand why we are where we are about lots of things. When I was a child if we used "eenie, meanie, mini, mo" I didn't know what the words meant and never even thought about it as rascist.

 

My junior school had a new teacher appear one yeear. He was from India and we all respected him. In our village he and his wife arrived one day in ceremonial dress. We were gobsmacked. No one called him names..in fact we were amazed that so eone could speak beautiflEnglish that everyone could understan.

 

Baz

 

Then there's Robertson's Jam's logo; golly!

 

Songs like "Young, Gifted and Black" and "Melting Pot - Blue Mink" would never even leave the composer / writer's desk.

 

History teaches us much but is all too often ignored. Gulf War 1 and GW2 have even been cited by a popular TV satirist as an example of such.

 

In many ways, it's a shame that PC has come about because most of it is in the mind of the receiver. Where would the English Language be without the Double Entendre, for example? The thirty Carry On films would never even left the writers' desk let alone made it to celluloid.

[Coombe Barton]

This domesday entry for my town has two slaves mentioned

https://opendomesday.org/place/SK4003/market-bosworth/

And this from the University of Hull on what slaves were called and actually did

http://www.domesdaybook.net/domesday-book/data-terminology/peasantry/serf

 

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by Coombe Barton

[Danemouth]

Three or four years ago there was a production of Jerome Kern's "Showboat" by a South African company in Cardiff. The most well known song "Ol Man River" is sung by a slave (a baritone) and chorus of darker skin. It is normally sung as " all work on the Missisipi" but this company sang the orginal version that started with the "N" word.

 

I will admit to being most surprised!

 

Dave

p.s. The most well known version on record is sung by Paul Robeson in the prewar film.

[81C]

Morning All

bright and sunny

Those pesky flying ant from Europe have hit mainland England shame it wasn't p!ssing rain this morning the buqqers could have drowned in the English Channel or the Thames.

Still no word from GDB hope all is well at Sutt towers I will contact him soon, I did remember Her Bossness required him to do work around the house a few weeks ago.

 

Must get on stay safe and mind the gap. S.T.Illshaggin  

 

Congradulations to the Wass's 

[Gwiwer]

Good Morning all.

 

Hayfever is out and about meaning I am not.  Breakfast outside was sneezed off as a loss and was completed inside.  SWMBO is now attending the gardens wherefrom I have managed to harvest a goodly handful of runner beams and several courgettes.  

 

In the course of things around the gardens we met New Neighbours (Top Flat) who are moving in today.  Final-year sports psychology students.  Quiet and perfectly-behaved with parents; we shall discover in due course whether that is their normal lifestyle or not!!!  

 

Former Neighbour (Upstairs) messaged at 2am in a bit of a state.  She hasn't been happy since the lockdown began and her work evaporated.  She isn't eligible for furlough and has no job to look forward to when things ease.  She had an interview yesterday but hasn't heard back which she felt was a sign of being unsuccessful.  She has also had a bad run with online dating (the only sort she can use until the social scene is more relaxed and she has an income) having one after another turn out to be losers of the rattiest-bag variety.  I am one of only a few people she will trust and vent with when things go wrong.  Tomorrow should see us around the picnic table for a socially-distanced afternoon tea and catch-up.  

 

I'll have a read of recent posts later.  The site went offline for me last night and has only just come back.  

[The Stationmaster]

5 hours ago, pH said:

 

Eh - no it didn't. It didn't even record the population of all of modern England:

 

"The Domesday Book was commissioned in December 1085 by William the Conqueror, who invaded England in 1066. The first draft was completed in August 1086 and contained records for 13,418 settlements in the English counties south of the rivers Ribble and Tees (the border with Scotland at the time)."

 

and

 

"The survey does not cover London (city), Winchester, Northumberland and Durham or much of north-west England; the only parts of Wales included are certain border areas."

 

That said, there definitely was still slavery in the British Isles at that time, and apparently something that looked very like slavery for several hundred years after that:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Britain

 

If it didn't record the population why did the commissioners checking the information which had been given to the compilers check how many  freemen, sokemen, cottars, and slaves had been declared?  If they kew that then obviously they could express the number of slaves as a percentage of the total albeit not necessarily a percentage of the total population.  That of course was not the whole population but it was part of it and it definitely included checking on the number of slaves where that information had been collected.  Or do we now believe that Wiki or some other secondary or tertiary source  is more accurate than the UK National Archive?  In fact is Wiki accurate at all in respect of anything because in some areas it seem to get things wrong almost as often as it gets them right

 

And Morning all,

 

So Guy Gibson was a racist because he called his black dog 'nigger?  is this more claptrap from the woke version of Wiki?  Gibson was a very complex character and not liked by many although his professional abilities were - rightly - highly respected but I think the last thing anybody has ever suggested Gibson to be was a racist.   His dog was black so that was how it got its name, probably like umpteen hundred other black dogs because the word derived from the Spanish 'negra' - meaning black (and no doubt the word 'negro' probably came from the same linguistic root).  Back in the 1960s (note, not the 1940s) my then girlfriend bought a suit in 'nigger brown - it wasn't a perjorative term but a  descriptive one in common everyday usage in Britain.  It is very easy to overlook that fads and fashion in the usage of language change over the years hence the fact that nowadays 'gay' means something totally different from its meaning even 50 years ago and the dreaded crass words 'train station' are nowadays even acceptable to the BBC (not that that means much as the standard of English it uses continues its descent into dumbo land). Sorry - I've just realised that 'dumbo' might be 'cartoon elephanist'.  But for all of that we should not be trashing our history. or anyone's history because once it is destroyed we can't get it back - like it or not it is history and Gibson and his dog, who was arguably his best friend and according to some sources the only animate thing (including his wife) that he ever really cared for. 

 

Back in the real world it is going to be another sunny day but some rain is promised for tomorrow.  The lad is safely on his way to Corsica and last reported in from St Pancras whence he should now be on the 2nd stage of his journey heading to Paris on a Class 374 (hard luck son - all the 373s are currently stopped as not required).  Following lunch a Paris the 3rd stage will take him south to Toulon for tomorrow morning's sailing to Ajaccio.  I might be doing a bit of unmentionable tesing using parallel strips of metal although I may tasked by the management to reorganise my loose change mountain.  Ad its ham, egg & chips for dinner this evening.

 

Enjoy your day and stay safe.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. When I was at secondary school there was only one African boy in the whole school. All the other pupils were Anglo-Saxon/Celtic. He also had tribal markings on his face that made him even more exotic. I remember being envious of the boys who's class he was in. The rule of thumb I apply when I hear things like the n word is 'is it deliberately intended to offend' and I react accordingly.

[Coombe Barton]

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

the commissioners checking the information

The commissioners were local people, and not above rewriting history.

From 1086 to 1974 there were a couple of parishes north of Lanceston west of the Tamar where were in Devon. They reverted to Cornwall in the 1974 local government boundary changes.

 

The reason for the original border migration is, according to Michael Wood, was that of tax. If you owned land in a  county you paid tax, but the amount of land was not considered. The commissioner owned land  in a couple of parishes in both Devon and west of the Tamar so conveniently moved the county boundary as a tax avoidance device.

 

The map below shows the white area to the north of Launceston which was the bit of Devon west of the Tamar.

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by Coombe Barton

[TheQ]

The Hull  report referenced by Combe Martin , is similar to what I had read on the situation at 1086, and in this village of 65 households there were two lords plough teams, and correspondingly two slaves. The Lord being King William.. ( Earl Godwin before) 

That actually means the population then was around 3 times more than it is now.. 

 

The basic block walls below barbeque level,  are now in place, the Stainless shelves are loosely in place.

Trial placement of blocks above shelf level,  has now shown planning authorities it's eventual size,  permission has been granted for completion. 

That will be next week looking at the forecast..

There is the problem of the lid,  the area to cover is 46 inches by 52 inches,  a bit big for a single piece lid,  it also needs to be secure in the high winds from the coast. 

 

Shortly,  I shall head out again,  this time to a little sanding experiment on the boat.  2.5 ltr of le Tonkinois varnish has arrived ordered a couple of days ago.  It will be deposited in the garage on a cool spot for safety.  That should allow me to complete the varnish renovation,  and give a supply for maintenance use. 

 

[Coombe Barton]

5 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Combe Martin

... is a village in Exmoor on the coast, a place with horrendous parking charges.

 

Coombe Barton I made up as a combination of two generic names, meaning "valley" and "the largest farm in the area".

 

But it then turned out that there's pub of that name at Crackington Haven,  Cornwall, home itself of some spectacular folded rocks

https://coombebarton.co.uk

 

[Coombe Barton]

Just about to get the mower out

 

Had opened the garage door

 

Then it started raining. That weather had not been on the forecast earlier.

 

Deferred mowing - it's an electric mower and electrons get rather cross when they're mixed with water.

[Gwiwer]

26 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

there's pub of that name at Crackington Haven,  Cornwall, home itself of some spectacular folded rocks

And a charmingly-named and delightful little spot it is too.  Not for the fainthearted as the roads on both sides are single-track lanes graded at 1:4   When you can safely reverse uphill along one of those roads for some distance to allow an oncoming vehicle right of way as the Highway Code requires then you can wear your driver's stripes.   

 

12 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

it started raining. That weather had not been on the forecast earlier.

Ditto.  No rain on the forecast earlier but the hands suggested it was coming.  A very recent check shows heavy overnight rain now expected.  If nothing else I can skip watering the garden tonight!  

Edited July 18, 2020 by Gwiwer