Noises in the night

 

Noises in the night

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

I was woken from a deep sleep in the wee, small hours. A fox was screaming her unearthly cry and uttering other inhuman, guttural sounds.

Foxes can call at any time of year, but in the December and January of winter in the UK, it is an indication that mating is being invited or enacted. Although dog foxes can call, it is usually the vixen that creates the eery cacophony, advertising that she is ready to mate, and seeking a partner.

Mating can take twenty minutes, and, like dogs, the foxes remain tied until Mother Nature decrees that they can decouple.

The following explains the copulatory tie better than I can:

A breeding tie occurs when the gland at the end of the male’s penis swells up and is gripped by the contracting muscles of the female’s vagina, preventing the two from being separated. A tie is often seen as a sign of a successful mating and is common among dogs, wolves, and foxes.

It essentially locks the male and female together after ejaculation, maximising the chances of successful fertilisation by keeping the semen inside the female for a longer period of time.

People used to throw buckets of water over copulating dogs in the street, which was a cruel and unnecessary reaction, borne of ignorance, or possibly embarrassment if children were likely to witness the sight. With fewer stray dogs, it is rarely seen now.

In addition to screaming, foxes can bark or mutter or sob, and their song can make the blood run cold.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Guard dogs!

 

Guard dogs!

We had some workmen here a few days ago, draining and servicing the pool. It’s something that has to be done every five years.

Roxy had a field day ‘seeing them off,’ except that all her noise was ineffective! She stood at the patio door, tail wagging furiously, barking her head off, longing to go out and make their acquaintance. There should not be strangers in her garden, she knew, and yet she would have loved to get to know them. Gilbert’s a very quiet dog and stood behind her, less sure, and learning from her that sometimes it’s good to bark.

The men, of course, took absolutely no notice.

It was all done and dusted in a couple of hours. There followed several hours of refilling, so it was a late night for us as we waited . . . and waited.

It took three years of intermittent thinking and discussing before we decided to go ahead and install an endless pool. The idea was planted because Barry’s knees were in such a parlous state that he was told to stop his life-long cross-country running, and advised to take water-based exercise. That is not an easy thing to do in a public pool, even one attached to a spa. ‘Ladies Who Lunch’ and their ilk object to their watery environment being used by people trying to exercise, or even those attempting to swim.

Construction was commenced in 2009, the same year I started this blog. Anyone interested in the Endless Saga of the Endless Pool should type ‘endless pool’ in the ‘search this blog’ bar.

Eve, Elliot and Louis, now 24, 26 and 22

 It has been a delight to see the grandchildren enjoying the pool. Callum, now twenty-seven, often asks if he can use it when he visits.

Frankie, now 12

I am looking forward to getting out there again for some gentle swimming and shall be nagging Barry to get out there and get on with it. He’s easier to live with when he’s well exercised, (like a thoroughbred horse! Maybe not!) and he’s had a year of not doing very much – not his fault, of course.

I need him to keep fit, as I’ve no idea what to do with the pool, other than swim in it. I’m sure there are people I could call on . . .

Gilbert the Good – enforced rest

 

Gilbert the Good – enforced rest

Roxy, Gilbert and Jellicoe

Barry and Janice went out this afternoon and left all us animals at home, but before they went, Janice noticed I was limping and holding my paw up. They had an appointment, so couldn’t look at me more closely then, but when they reached home again, they tricked me with words like ‘Treats’ and ‘Chicken’ and ‘Chews’ just to make me get up and trot towards them. I wanted to stay in my bed because my paw hurt, though I wasn’t whimpering or shivering. They thought I was a bit quiet, though, so Barry ‘phoned up and took me to see Selene-the-vet. She’s only five minutes away by car.

Everyone at the vets made a fuss of me, and I was pleased to see them all – they’re so friendly and always give me a couple of yummy biscuits.

Anyway, it turned out that my paw has a cut on the pad. I’ve just come home and I’m a bit fed up because I’ve been told I mustn’t go out for a walk for seven days! SEVEN days!! AND I’ve got to wear a boot on my foot every time I want to go out to do the necessary – that’s going to be a bundle of laughs, I can tell you.

Jellicoe, Gilbert and Herschel

I’ve got some medicine to have once a day with my food to take away the pain and make sure the cut doesn’t get infected. There’s also some stuff to mix with water to bathe my paw. Janice groaned when she heard that, remembering Dominie-who-went-before me and how when her paw was bathed, she shook the mixture off her paw and all over the place, principally over Janice. I’m sure I shall be a good boy, though. My paw has to be bathed twice a day for five minutes. I think Janice is looking forward to that, because she laughed when she read that out to me.

It's going to be hard seeing Roxy go out for a walk, knowing that I can’t go out for SEVEN WHOLE DAYS! Roxy says it will soon pass, but I will miss it, especially the ponds.

Yesterday, Barry threw a big stick into the pond for me to retrieve. (They have to be big sticks, so they don’t get caught in my throat.) The stick must have been quite old and damp because it sank, and I spent ages diving under the water to find it. I could smell it, but I just couldn’t locate it. Eventually, Barry called me out because he was getting worried about me getting too tired.

When we went back this morning for our walk, he wouldn’t let me go in the pond. I think he knew I would be hunting again for yesterday’s stick. He told Janice I’m the most persistent retriever they have ever had, and that’s quite something. I am a very good boy – well-bred, don’t you know!

Time for supper now and my first dose of medicine. Seven whole days! SEVEN whole DAYS . . .

TTFN

Gilbert

Jellicoe, Gilbert and Herschel 

 

Lunar New Year

 

Lunar New Year

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Lunar New Year is also known as Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival. It is the most important festival in China but is also celebrated in Vietnam, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and other countries with a significant Chinese population.

Lunar New Year falls on the second new moon following the winter solstice and therefore begins on a different date each year. This year, 2025, it began on 29^th January. Celebrations will continue until the fifteenth day, when the Lantern Festival is held.

There are twelve animals associated with the zodiac, and 2025 ushered in the Year of the Wood Snake, the first such for sixty years. The four other zodiacal snakes are Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.

The snake is revered for its intelligence and mystery. The Wood element signifies growth, passion, tolerance, and renewal.

Snakes are interesting creatures, found on every continent except Antarctica. They are absent from Greenland, Ireland, Iceland, and New Zealand, and from many smaller Atlantic and Pacific islands.

Not all snakes live on land. There are sixty-nine species of sea snakes, most of which are venomous, and three freshwater snake species. By contrast, most land snakes are non-venomous, killing their prey by constriction or simply swallowing it live.

Snakes have no eyelids or external ears. They sense sound through vibrations on the ground or in the air, and use their tongues to ‘taste’ the environment.

Snakes evolved from lizards about 150 million years ago. Some species, boas, and pythons, for example, retain vestigial limbs in the form of small claws either side of the vent, near the end of the tail.

Time has adapted the snake’s anatomy to accommodate its slender body. In the case of paired organs, like kidneys, these are elongated and situated in tandem. Many snakes have just one lung. A snake’s shape allows it to slither along many different surfaces and its flexible skin is covered in scales, which grip as it moves along.

 Colourful processions for Chinese New Year will include a dragon or lion dance and red will feature in decorations, as red is considered lucky.

This, from Wikipedia:

       According to legend, Chinese New Year started with a mythical beast called the Nian (a beast that lives under the sea or in the mountains) during the annual Spring Festival. The Nian would eat villagers, especially children in the middle of the night. 

One year, all the villagers decided to hide from the beast. An older man appeared before the villagers went into hiding and said that he would stay the night and would get revenge on the Nian. The old man put up red papers and set off firecrackers.

The day after, the villagers came back to their town and saw that nothing had been destroyed. They assumed that the old man was a deity who came to save them. The villagers then understood that Yanhuang had discovered that the Nian was afraid of the colour red and loud noises. 

(Yanhuang or Yan Huang is the name of a mythical ethnic group of ancient China who were said to have inhabited the Yellow River basin area. They claimed their descent from the two tribes led by the Flame Emperor (Yandi) and Yellow Emperor (Huangdi).^[1] Their main achievement was to join to strengthen the basis of the two tribes and their civilized community. The Yanhuang are considered to be the founders of the Chinese people and the initiators of Chinese culture.)

The tradition grew as New Year approached, and the villagers would wear red clothes, hang red lanterns, and red spring scrolls on windows and doors, and use firecrackers and drums to frighten away the Nian. From then on, the Nian never came to the village again. The Nian was eventually captured by Hongjun Laozu, an ancient Taoist monk.                                                

Is there an alternative?

 

Is there an alternative?

This is a long and rambling post – just thinking aloud.

Chris published a post on her blog, 'Always smiling,' about the sentencing of eighteen-year-old Axel Rudakubana. He was convicted of stabbing to death three young girls at a dance workshop and injuring eight more girls and two adults, and was sentenced to a minimum of fifty-two years in jail before he can be considered for release. By that time, he will be seventy years old. It seems unlikely that he will ever be released. He could not be given a life sentence because of his age at the time of the murders, and many are protesting that the sentence is too lenient. Fifty-two years is lenient?

I don’t advocate the death penalty, which was abolished in UK in 1998, although the last execution took place in 1964, thirty-four years earlier. Life incarceration is harsh. Execution is harsh. Is there an alternative? I cannot think of one.

 The grief felt by the families of the dead, and the shock caused to survivors and others who were involved will not easily be overcome. The young man’s family will also have to live with the shame and the aftermath of his actions.

The thing that concerns many people is the lack of meaningful action throughout this boy’s life. Born in 2006, he was known to be a troubled character, displaying violent tendencies, and concerning behaviour by the age of twelve. He could not be taken into ‘Prevent,’ an anti-extremism programme, although he had been referred to it three times in two years, because he was not considered a terrorist threat. It was known that he was obsessively interested in violent crimes and genocide.

He sought help when he was thirteen, contacting Childline to ask what he should do if he felt he wanted to kill someone. The police interviewed him. At the time, he had been excluded from school and was later expelled after he admitted taking a knife to school around ten times. In the ensuing years, and attending a *special education centre, he engaged in many incidents of aggression and the police were called multiple times.

In the five years preceding the attack at the dance class, the police, the youth justice system, social care authorities, and mental health services had all been involved in dealings with the boy.

Despite all this attention, he was able to plan and conduct his vicious, meaningless attack on innocent children.

Now that he has been locked away, the Government has announced that a public inquiry will be held. No doubt, ‘lessons will be learned,’ as they always are (not) so that answers will be found so that this ‘can never happen again.’ I have no doubt the people who make such pronouncements are well-meaning. There are good people in Parliament, in all parties.

Goodness knows how long the inquiry will take – probably several years, judging by the usual pattern of such events. The Office Horizon IT Inquiry took four and a half years, finishing in December 2024. The Infected Blood or Contaminated Blood Inquiry lasted for six years, completing in May 2024.

 However did the Nuremberg Trials manage to complete their findings in about four years? The major war criminals were prosecuted in under twelve months. Lower-level trials took two and a half years.

I am tired of the excuses made by successive governments for their several and repeated failings. It does not matter what colour the government is, the hollow words and hand-wringing continue, the mismanagement and blaming are repeated. Everyone is always deeply sorry and makes promises that such things will never happen again, but they do. If ‘ordinary’ people committed such ‘mistakes’ they would lose their jobs at the very least. Something happens to people who gain power. They make impossible promises and have to renege on them, all the while casting aspersions on their predecessors.

Meanwhile, troubled souls like Axel Rudakubana slip through the bureaucratic net, passed from pillar to post, with no-one able to take overall responsibility. He asked for help. He didn’t receive it.

Is there an alternative?

*My eldest daughter taught for a couple of years at a special education centre for troubled boys. She was supposed to have another adult with her at all times. She didn’t. She left because she became so dispirited, not by the boys, but by the way the establishment was run.

Snoopy

Snoopy

I love Snoopy. He always makes me smile. Charlie Brown could not have had a better, more loyal friend.

He's a dreamer, too, and we all need dreams!

Holocaust Memorial Day

 

Holocaust Memorial Day, Monday 27th January

Genocide is the deliberate political determination to destroy a racial, ethnic, religious, or national people.

January 27^th annually marks Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD). On that day in 1945, eighty years ago, Soviet soldiers liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, the largest camp of its kind. More than 7,000 prisoners were released. During the five years of its operation, more than one million men, women and children were murdered, ninety per cent of them Jewish. Victims also included Poles, Romani, Soviet prisoners of war, political prisoners, gay people, and those who were physically or mentally disabled.

From the HMD website: Auschwitz-Birkenau has become a symbol of the horror of industrialised murder, and what can happen when hatred is left unchecked.

 Holocaust Memorial Day also commemorates the millions of people worldwide who have been killed in genocides.

Remember the victims of the genocides of more than two million in Cambodia, under Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, 1975-1979, and around one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus, in Rwanda, in 1994.

In July 1995, eight thousand Muslim men, and boys over the age of twelve, were murdered in Srebrenica by Bosnian Serbs. This was the largest mass murder in Europe since World War Two.

Darfur, Sudan, was the setting in 2003-2005 for the genocide of two hundred thousand black Africans. War continues in Sudan.

Discrimination and persecution, bigotry and hatred continue to this day, in every nation, in every walk of life. From casual generalisations and crude jokes to organised marches and demonstrations, we are only ever a short step away from the breakdown of a civilised, caring society.

Dorset to Glasgow

 

 Dorset to Glasgow and back

On Thursday, our eldest grandson flew to Glasgow for a business meeting. There was a severe weather warning in place, with Storm Eowyn expected to wreak havoc, but Callum had not been told of any alteration to plans. While he was waiting for people to arrive and the meeting to begin, a colleague said, ‘Right, I’m off home,’ and wished him farewell. The meeting had been cancelled, but no-one had thought to tell Callum!. Everyone was being advised to go home and stay there.

There being no point in him remaining, Callum decided he had better return home. All flights had been cancelled, so he had to arrange to travel by train. He would reach London Euston just before midnight. He could have stayed with middle daughter, Susannah, in London, but wanted to get home to his pregnant wife and little girl. Eldest daughter, his mother, Gillian, donned her taxi-driver’s hat and drove from Dorset to meet him and take him home.

We were watching Miss Marple, the adaptation with Julia McKenzie in the title role, when the dogs alerted to Alexa announcing, ‘motion detected on the drive.’ That’s nothing unusual, but a few seconds later the front door opened, followed by the porch door, and finally the sitting room door, and Gillian appeared.

 Pandemonium ensued as two deliriously happy dogs mobbed her. She had decided to break her journey with us for a couple of hours and gee herself up with coffee before meeting Callum at Watford, the last stop before Euston. That was preferable to driving into London, and made for a shorter journey.

We tried to persuade her to come back to us for the night, but she was adamant that Callum wanted to get home, and we understood that.

It was so nice to see her, all the more so because it was unexpected. We knew she would not reach her home in Dorset much before 2:00 a.m. Consequently, I read until about 2:30, when I could be satisfied she had probably arrived home safely.

Eowyn didn’t do much in our area, but Herminia is threatening now, and many flights into Heathrow have been cancelled.

It has been a cold, wet and windy day, but at least there will be no ‘mercy dash’ by car to pick up a weary son/grandson.

On the other hand, son Gareth is supposed to be on his way to Austria today for a week’s skiing. I hope his time will not be spent in the airport lounge.

Children!

Children!

Remembrance

 

Remembrance

On a day when many have gathered to celebrate the life of Gail of ‘Nice Nobby/Naughty Nobby,’ I received a reminder to wish another blogger a happy birthday. I know that this person died in a car crash several years ago and is still missed and mourned by many. 

The impact some people have cannot be measured accurately, for it is only with their passing that the absence of their presence is felt. A funeral or memorial gathering is the finest party the departed soul will ever have. In many cases, it would be a surprise to the central, missing character that they had made such an impression on so many.

We do not tell our families and friends frequently enough how much we love and appreciate them. Beautiful words and flowers are manifestations of the regret so often felt for the many times that calls were not made, or meetings were postponed or cancelled.

Humans are fragile, confidence and self-belief easily crushed. Philip Larkin (1922-1985) said, ‘We should be kind while there is still time.’

‘I wish I had’ are some of the saddest words, and so often heard on such occasions.

Natural light

 

Natural light

Daylight is a blessing. Moonlight is magical. Starlight is bewitching.

Starlight, star bright,
First star I see tonight –
I wish I may, I wish I might
Have the wish I wish tonight.

This little rhyme is a nursery rhyme which originated in America in the late 1890s and travelled to Britain and other English-speaking nations by the early 1900s.

Wishing on the first star of the evening is a superstition that may have had its origins in ancient times, when people believed the heavens were peopled with gods. Shooting stars or meteors had special significance because they were rarer and an indication that the gods were watching the people below. The Ancient Greeks thought the sbooting stars were the souls of the departed rising to heaven, although as shooting stars descend,  I can't quite understand that.

The Ancient Romans thought that making a wish when seeing a shooting star would bring good luck and prosperity. If the wish could be completed before the shooting star disappeared, it was more likely to be granted.

In some cultures, a falling or shooting star is thought to be a new soul coming to earth to be reborn.

In the Disney film of Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket sings –

When you wish upon a star,
Makes no difference who you are,
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you.

If your heart is in your dream,
No request is too extreme,
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do.

Fate is kind,
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfilment of
Their secret longing.

Like a bolt out of the blue,
Fate steps in and sees you through;
When you wish upon a star,
Your dreams come true.

There is a British charity called, ‘When You Wish Upon a Star,’ dedicated to fulfilling the wishes and dreams of seriously ill children. The founder is Barbara White, also known as the Fairy Godmother. There is more information here.

There are many songs about stars or inspired by stars. Here is a small selection:

Catch a falling star

Waiting for a Star to Fall

All of the Stars

Shining Star

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Choose one of the above, or think of a personal favourite, and let it haunt your brain all day.

 

 

Cocking a snook

 

Cocking a snook

                    Statue of street urchin, Greater Manchester, UK

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

I wrote 'cocking a snook' in a blog comment the other day and as I typed it, I wondered if it was a universal saying.

I understand it to mean showing mocking disregard for something or someone, even contempt. I didn’t realise it described a gesture, the one where someone thumbs their nose at another person, or, as the internet informs me:-

‘place one's hand so that the thumb touches one's nose and the fingers are spread out, in order to express contempt.’

As I recall, the fingers are waggled, to exaggerate the gesture. The expression was first recorded in 1791, but became popular in the nineteenth century.

                                        Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

It is not particularly offensive, being used by children to tease their peers, or be rude to adults behind their backs. Sometimes, to exaggerate the gesture , the other hand is used, thumb to little finger, to make the meaning even clearer.

Apparently, it is a familiar gesture across Europe and in the USA.

Nebuchadnezzar

 

Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon (c.605 BC-562 BC)

Detail of one of the lions from a decorative glazed panel from the Throne Room of the Palace of Nebuchadnezzar II.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Some stories and songs remain in the recesses of the memory to emerge at the strangest times. Thus, it was with Nebuchadnezzar. Nothing I have been reading recently awoke this memory but there it was, demanding recognition. The song of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego was one I used to sing a long time ago. Maybe it was frequently on the radio. Who knows? There are several versions on YouTube, the clearest being this one. I wanted to highlight the Louis Armstrong clip, but it is not a good recording.

There were three children from the land of Israel
Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego

They took a trip to the land of Babylon

 Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego

Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon

 Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego

He took a lot of gold and made an idol
Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego

And he told everybody when you hear the music of the cornet
And he told everybody when you hear the music of the clarinet
And he told everybody when you hear the music of the horn
You must fall down and worship the idol
Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego

But the children of Israel would not bow down
Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego

You couldn't fool them with no golden idol

So the king put the children in a fiery furnace
He heaped on coals and red-hot brimstone
Seven times hotter, hotter than it oughta be
 Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego

Burnt up the soldiers that the king had put there

 

But the Lord sent an angel with snowy white wings

Down in the middle of the furnace
Talking to the children 'bout the power of the gospel

Couldn't even harm a hair on the head of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego
Laughing and talking while the fire is jumping around

Oh Nebuchadnezzar called when he saw the power of the Lord
And they had a big time in the house of Babylon
Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego

Nebuchadnezzar was the most powerful and longest-reigning ruler of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. He enjoyed great success in his military campaigns, conquering Jerusalem and exiling the Jewish people, and was lauded for the constructions he oversaw. Probably the most memorable of his projects was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

In chapter three of the Old Testament Book of Daniel, he was portrayed as a powerful leader and visionary. He proclaimed himself a deity and had an enormous ninety-foot-high golden statue made and ordered his people to bow down and worship it.  

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were three Israelites who refused to obey, so Nebuchadnezzar threatened to throw them into a fiery furnace. They declared that they would not deny their God and bow before a man-made image. The King was enraged and ordered the fire to be heated seven times hotter than normal and had the three men bound and cast into the flames. To his astonishment they were not consumed by the fire. Not only were they unharmed, there was also a fourth figure in the furnace with them, variously interpreted as an angel or a vision of the Messiah to come.

The men emerged unscathed, and Nebuchadnezzar was inspired to praise the God of the Israelites and order that no-one was to deny him.

Stained glass window in Dublin Christ Church Cathedral depicting an angel protecting Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The song is catchy, and I can almost guarantee that it will stick in the ears of anyone who listens to it. Sorry, not sorry. 😁

 

 

Morgenmuffel

 

Morgenmuffel

I thought this was such a lovely word that I had to share it. It is German and describes people who are not ‘morning people.’ A morgenmuffel is uncommunicative in the morning and unlikely to engage willingly in conversation, to the point of being monosyllabic. The opposite of morgenmuffel is morgenmensch, a morning person, lively and talkative from the moment they wake.

I’m sure Ingrid (Gattina) can probably add more to the context.

I am a morgenmuffel, while Barry is a morgenmensch. I am frequently accused of initiating the Colonel’s Breakfast.

Running out

 

Running out

Our youngest daughter’s gas supply has been cut off because a water main burst and flooded the gas pipes. She uses gas for heating and cooking. More than three thousand homes in her area have been affected. The water must be pumped out of the pipes and household appliances must be checked to ensure that they are safe to use. The gas supplier states:   

      “We first need to turn off supply at every impacted property, then remove all the water that flooded in, and only then can we safely reintroduce gas to the network. We will need to make a return visit to every property to turn supply back on and check everything is working okay.“

As a result, people are using more electricity. Now people are being asked to limit their use of electricity because supplies are running low. This creates many problems, for families, schools, businesses, and institutes which do not have stand-by electric generators.

Our daughter does not live in the boondocks. She lives in London.

It is hard to ascertain the facts behind the all-too-often political statements about the availability and stability of current and future energy supplies in the UK.

Such lack of clarity on the subject is leading to a growing number of people seeking independent power. This could be supplied from individual household backup electrical generators and batteries. There are already backup generators in a number of large establishments in the community.

EDF, one of the biggest suppliers of electricity in the UK, has stated that there will be sufficient energy because of solar panels on house roofs. This is, at best, an overly optimistic and unquantifiable view.

Meanwhile, our daughter and her family, friends and neighbours continue to shiver through the days, waiting for the gas to be reconnected and life to return to normal.

Perhaps this demonstrates that energy is a scarcer commodity in the UK than we have been led to realise. In a nod to the past, maybe we should become accustomed to the regularity of brownouts and power cuts.

Post script: The gas was reconnected late on Sunday morning!

Silver spoon

 

Silver spoon

Bust of Hippocrates

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Hels wondered if the giving of silver Apostle spoons as christening gifts gave rise to the saying, ‘born with a silver spoon in his mouth.’ Of course, I had to try and find out.

What does it mean? We understand it as being born into a wealthy family, particularly one with inherited wealth. Most of the ancient ‘noble’ families of the UK gained their riches and influence through the largesse of whichever monarch they were serving in times long since past.

In modern times, in much the same way, those supporting and endorsing influential people are rewarded with lucrative jobs and titles. When they fail, as so often they do, they are usually shunted sideways into other profitable rôles, or even promoted.

Silver has germicidal properties, first recognised and described by Hippocrates (460-377 BC) Ancient Greeks and Romans kept water in silver containers because they believed the silver would keep the water fresh.

During the bubonic plague of the Black Death pandemic, which raged throughout Europe from 1346-1353, killing perhaps fifty per cent of the population, rich families gave their children silver spoons to suck to ward off the disease. The phrase probably arose from this custom and first appeared in print in 1719-1721. In Elizabethan times (1558-1603) children of wealthy families were given silver rattles and teething sticks.

Such items are still frequently given to babies.

Place settings on the dining table were uncommon before the 18^th century. Guests would arrive carrying their own spoons, in as casual and familiar a fashion as people now carry their wallets and iPhones.

 Owning a silver spoon was an indicator of social class and usually the sign of a landowner. It was important not to be wrongly classified as a serf or servant, for, although dirt could be found under the fingernails of any farmer or artisan, possession of a silver spoon was a mark of ‘respectability’ and belonging to the lower middle class.

 Silver is a naturally occurring mineral found in the earth’s crust. It is a precious metal and has the symbol Ag, from the Latin argentum, meaning ‘silver.’ It is anti-microbial and used in many products, like cosmetics, catheters and bone cement, among others.

Silver ions ‘can kill bacteria by making their cell membranes more permeable,’ and ‘Once it has entered the bacterial cell, it accumulates as silver nanoparticles with large surface area, causing cell death.’

Silver can make antibiotics many times more effective, by a factor of thousands. That all sounds wonderful, but there are caveats. Silver should not be used indiscriminately, because it can cause a condition called ‘argyria,’ in which the skin changes to a bluish-grey colour. The change is permanent.

Paul Karason (1950-2013) from Bellingham, Washington, known as Papa Smurf or the Blue Man, turned blue because he took colloidal silver to combat dermatitis, sinus problems and acid reflux. The Blue Fugates, also known as the Blue People of Kentucky, had a rare genetic trait that caused blue skin. There is more information here and here.

 Were you born with a silver spoon in your mouth? I wasn’t and neither was my husband, and therefore, nor were our children. We have both met many who were thus blessed, most of them pleasant characters, some less so. 

 

Of mice and men

 

Of mice and men

I  wanted a brightly coloured mouse, but there aren't many around - at least, not in my price range. (My price range is cheap but serviceable!)

What sort of mouse do you like?

When I considered this subject, I had no idea how many computer mice there are.

Mine is a silent Bluetooth optical mouse. It was preceded by a Mini Mouse, which proved annoyingly small and fiddly and had to be replaced. The men in my family prefer rolling ball mice, but I don’t like them. I know I would get used to one in time, but I prefer not to have to!

I knew about gaming mice, for which I have no need, and touchpads, which I find really irritating, though necessary at times. Otherwise, I was familiar with tethered mice and ergonomic mice. There’s an entire world of mice out there, and, like the little real-life rodents themselves, they are constantly replicating, making decisions more difficult.

My mouse frequently falls to the floor, sometimes disturbing the casing, which is soon clicked back into place. I’m not really testing it to destruction or ruggedising it, though it sometimes seems like it.

Apostle spoons

 

Apostle spoons

I make a pot of tea two or three times a day. I use Twinings Assam loose tea, or occasionally Earl Grey if my son-in-law is visiting (the writer, not the plumber) and spoon the leaves into the pot with a little spoon that came from my parents’ home, long before they died. The spoon is an Apostle spoon, of no great value other than sentiment. I don’t know if my parents had a set, or whether they just had one, perhaps as a christening gift for someone in the family.

Similar spoons had their origin in 15^th century Europe and were used at table, often being produced in sets of thirteen, and representing Christ’s Last Supper in company with his twelve disciples. It is rare now to find a complete set, though they were popular and produced in large numbers in England and Germany.

During the 16^th century they were popular gifts from godparents to their godchildren, but the tradition had declined by the middle of the 20^th century. They were also sometimes given as wedding presents, to bless the couple with good fortune.

The earliest spoons were made from silver, with a representation of an apostle at the top or finial of the handle. Apostles could be identified by the objects they carried, known as attributes. Saint Peter was shown with a key or sword, or sometimes a fish. Judas was depicted holding a bag of money, and Saint Andrew held a cross. The Master, or Christ, carried a cross and orb. The British Museum in London has an irreplaceable set of thirteen, in which the thirteenth character is shown as the Virgin Mary.

In later years, many spoons were created in base metal, like nickel silver, with a thin layer of silver electroplated onto it. Nickel silver is a mixture of nickel, zinc, and copper.

My little spoon has EPNS (Electro Plated Nickel Silver) stamped on the reverse. It’s difficult to be sure, but I think the apostle is intended to be Saint John the Evangelist. It looks as if he is carrying a chalice, the cup of sorrow foretold by Christ.

It is not valuable, but I would be very sorry to lose it. All the while it rests in the tea caddy there’s little chance of that!