A note from Jellicoe

 

A note from Jellicoe

Hello everyone. Thank you so much for all your good wishes - you’re truly kind. I feel as though I’ve got friends all over the world.

I have had an interesting couple of weeks. I’ve met some really nice vets and nurses who made a great fuss of me, even though they shaved off so much of my fur and sliced lumps out of me.

I spent a few nights away from home, which was strange, and quite lonely, because I’m used to cuddling up with the dogs and The THINKER and The MAID. I wasn’t feeling very well, though, so it was as well that I was sleeping on my own in a nice secure kennel. I even had to spend some time in an oxygen tent because I was having difficulty breathing, and everyone was worried about me.

Soon, I was well enough to go home, but I couldn’t see out of my eye- the one below where the lump and the lymph node were taken out – as it was very swollen. I really looked a terrible mess. The THINKER and the MAID took photographs of me, but they haven’t shown them to anyone because they’re not nice. 

I had a tube in my neck, which seemed odd. I had to have that because the nice vets had taken some tissue from my mouth to build up my eye-lid, so my mouth was sore. I was wearing a soft collar round my neck to keep the tube in place, and a collar of shame to stop me scratching and licking where I shouldn’t. The THINKER and the MAID had to feed me through the tube, and it took forever, especially the first time.

After a few days, I went back to the hospital to have the tube removed. The nice vets and nurses were very pleased with me. It was so good to be able to eat properly again. I had lost quite a lot of weight, so I had to and see Selene-the-Vet. She was rather shocked when she saw me as I wasn’t my usual handsome self. My glucose curve had to be checked and now I’m back to my normal insulin dose.

I still don’t look very lovely, but the swellings are all going down and I can see out of my eye now. I look more like a cat than a battered old football, and my fur is growing back quickly. Next week I have to go back to have my stitches out.

The MAID and The THINKER discussed whether they had done the right thing in letting me have an operation, but agreed that the alternative, of letting the cancer take its course, would have been far worse. They took the advice of Selene-the-Vet first of all, and then the recommendation of the nice vets at the hospital.

I’m just glad to be home, where I belong.

(The MAID speaks: you can learn more about why we’re called The MAID and The THINKER in this blog post.)

AWOL

 

AWOL

Acronyms are sometimes misleading, but often amusing.

I’m not really AWOL, that is, ‘absent without leave,’ because AFAIK (as far as I know) I don’t need any BYL (by your leave) to post on my own blog.

IMHO (in my humble opinion) it’s usually advisable to follow the advice to KISS (keep it simple, stupid) and not release TMI (too much information)

 IDK (I don’t know) how many people are subject to FOMO (fear of missing out) and TBH (to be honest), FYI (for your information) it’s NOMB (none of my business)

 LMK (let me know) if you have any favourite acronyms or if you regard them as a waste of time and effort (WOTAE)

Making up my own, now (MUMO) so it’s time to go (TTG)

TTFN (ta-ta for now)

Groceries

 

Groceries

The groceries arrived this morning in good time, with no substitutions.

However, as the bags were handed to me, I noticed milk swirling around in a couple of them. I commented on it to the delivery driver and he explained that milk had leaked from someone else’s order.

Before putting the items away, I had to wipe away the milk. In a couple of cases, it had found its way inside containers so that the fruit or vegetables in them had to be washed immediately. That was not a big problem, or even a little one, but it was annoying. 

Milk is not a contaminant, so I’m not concerned about ill effects.

All in all, I’ll write it off to experience. Accidents happen.

I’m all right, Jack

 

I’m all right, Jack

            Royal Coat of Arms over the Main Gate of Chatham Dockyard

    Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Kent is the Garden of England (and Chatham is the dustbin in it!)

 I was brought up in the Medway Towns (now known as Medway) in Kent at a time when the Army and Royal Navy, including the Royal Navy Dockyard, were significant employers in the local community.

Chatham, often pronounced Cha’am (glottal stops are common in Medway) was a colourful society, stuffed with public houses after the end of the Second World War, because of the great density of workmen. There were between 200 and 280 pubs in the Chatham area.

It was, and still is, home to the Corps of Royal Engineers, and was an important Naval port. Therefore, many of the expressions familiar to me stem from that background, many military, and many more Naval.

Some phrases were blunt to the point of obscenity, but had usually acquired a semblance of gentility by the time they were adopted by the wider populace. Thus, ‘I’m all right, Jack,’ originating from the Royal Navy in the nineteenth century, was usually prefaced with a profanity, which was lost with time and usage.

It’s believed to stem from matelots (Royal Navy sailors) when the last person climbing the ladder up the side of a ship would say, on reaching the deck, ‘Pull up the ladder, Jack, I’m all right.’ In time, this was reversed to become, ‘I’m all right, Jack,’ sometimes followed by ‘Pull up the ladder.’

Out of context, it came to signify a selfish, smug attitude, with scant regard for the well-being of others.

I have only heard it used in jest.

 It was also the title of a 1959 comedy, about industrial life and strife in the 1950s, starring Peter Sellers, Terry-Thomas, Ian Carmichael, Irene Handl, and others.

Live and learn

 

Live and learn

The spike fiddle rested on the knee to be played.

 Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

More words gleaned along the way – some will be instantly forgotten, I’m sure.

Erhu: the erhu is a two-stringed musical instrument from China, known as a spike or Chinese fiddle. There is more information here.

 Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

'Not very long ago,

When we started for a show, 

We jumped aboard a street car, 

My! but it was slow.'

Jitney: Jitney is slang for a nickel, a five cent coin. A jitney is a low fare bus or car service, originating in the early twentieth century in the USA.

                                    Mahwa leaves and fruit

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Mahwa: Mahwa or Madhuca longifolia is a fast-growing tropical tree found in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. 

The leaves are eaten by a moth which produces wild silk, its flowers are used to make alcoholic drinks, and the bark has medicinal qualities. 

The seeds which follow the flowers provide oil which is used for skin care, detergent, soap, and vegetable butter. 

One of its popular names is Butter Tree.

It is a valuable, all-purpose tree.

Henry or Harry?

 

Henry or Harry?

Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!' (King Henry V, Act 5, Scene 2)

 Miniature of Henry V, 1412. 

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

 It is traditional for someone named Henry to be called Harry. I had an uncle Harry and so did my husband, but both of those men had officially been named Henry.

In the Middle Ages, the Norman French name Henri became popular after the Norman Conquest of 1066 to 1071. The English, unable to pronounce it correctly, adapted it to Herry or Harry, and it has become customary for it to be a diminutive or affectionate form of Henry. It was popular as a Royal name in Germany, France, and England, and was adopted by other European countries, such as Poland, which claimed Henry as Henryk, or Lithuania which had Herkus. In Wales, it became Perry, and in Ireland it was Annraoi.

The name lent itself to surnames, too, like Harrison, Henson, Heinz, and Henriques.

It was common to create female forms of the name, like Henrietta, or Enrica, or Heike, while Harry gave rise to Harriet, or diminutives like Hatty, or Hetty, Hena, or Jetta.

The meaning of the name Henry or Harry is ‘home ruler’ and the same applies to the female form.

Jackspeak or Naval slang

 

Jackspeak or Naval slang

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

All true Brits, we’re led to believe, have salt water running through our veins. UK is known as a Naval nation, and so it is to be expected that many expressions reflect that.

There is no place in the UK further than seventy miles (110 kms) from the coast. Church Flatts Farm, just south-east of the village of Coton in the Elms, (population 896 at the 2011 census) in Derbyshire, has been calculated by Ordnance Survey to be furthest from the sea at low tide.

Are you taken aback at that fact? In nautical terms, a ship was taken aback when its sails billowed in reverse, either through poor seamanship or a shift in the wind’s direction. In today’s parlance, it indicates that someone has been surprised, or received a shock.

Rigging on HMS Victory, Portsmouth

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

A boy joining a ship’s company in the era of sail would have to learn about rigging and canvas, so an older hand would show him the ropes, literally. The lad might at first find himself confused, or all at sea.

If he were joining a ship in Bristol, a port since Roman times, a seaman would soon learn the necessity of keeping everything in good order. Bristol had one of the highest tidal ranges in the world, so when the tide went out, ships would go aground and tip to one side because of their keels. This meant that everything had to be stowed neatly and efficiently to prevent damage. Thus arose the expression, ship-shape and Bristol fashion, now used, if at all, to mean organised and tidy.

Do you sometimes need a spot of Dutch courage before attempting an onerous task? This originates from the series of wars between the English and the Dutch in the seventeenth century, most of which took place at sea. British sailors unfairly accused the Dutch of being so fearful before engaging in battle that they needed to have a shot of schnapps to boost their morale. This became known as Dutch courage.

Still within the realms of battle, we find long shot and loose cannon. A long shot is any attempt that is doomed to failure, and derives from shots fired more in hope than expectation, when the range is exceeded.

A loose cannon occurred when a ship’s gun would work free of its securing ropes and carriage when firing and fly back across the deck, the resultant shot missing its target and causing mayhem. Today’s loose cannon is any person considered erratic, even unhinged, whose thoughts, words, and deeds are unpredictable.

After the fatigue of skirmish was done, the ship’s company might settle to eat. Frequently, provisions were expected to last for months and would be heavily salted or preserved in brine. This made them tough, requiring a great deal of chewing to break them down sufficiently to swallow. Chewing the fat took a long time, and sailors would chat, and possibly grumble, as they chewed. The expression has developed to mean having a long, perhaps rambling, debate or conversation.