Live and learn (5)

 

Live and learn (5)

Nankeen breeches, Philadelphia, 1785-1815

Image source

Nankeen originally referred to a firmly-woven, hard-wearing material, yellowish-brown in colour, produced in Nanking, (now Nanjing) China. Nankeen is a corruption of the name Nanking. Later, material was dyed yellow to resemble Nankeen. 

The material was used in the 19^th century to produce working trousers, often known by the wonderful name, ‘Nankeen inexpressibles.’

Nankeen night heron (Nycticorax caledonicus)
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The Nankeen night heron (Nycticorax caledonicus) is reddish-brown in colour, and so is also known as the rufous night heron. It is native to Australia, and found in many other parts of Australasia. It is almost entirely nocturnal, emerging after sunset to feed on crabs, crayfish, frogs, lizards, and a variety of insects including crickets, caterpillars and ants.

Nankeen kestrel (Falco cenchroides) with catch

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Another rufous Nankeen bird, and native to New Guinea and Australia, is the Nankeen kestrel (Falco cenchroides) Though it is a falcon, it does not pursue its prey, although it often hovers over areas which might provide good hunting. One of its common names is the Mosquito hawk! Generally, it perches in full sight, scanning the ground for prey, mostly in the form of small rodents, and reptiles.

An early night

 

An early night

We go to bed too late. Every day we promise ourselves that we will have an early night go to bed at a reasonable hour, that is, before 10.00 pm. Every night, I crawl into bed, if I can find a space between the animals, ‘far too late’ I say, complainingly.

We even have an alarm on our watches, each of us, that tells us we should be preparing for bed. Every night we ignore it. There’s always another episode of whichever riveting programme we’re watching, though I do wonder if we should really be watching yet more in-depth war documentaries just before retiring for the night.

Sometimes, we decide we should watch something less horrific to sweeten the mind after an evening of such viewing. So, we watch ‘Frasier’, or some other comedy and again, one episode leads to another.

When I went upstairs a few nights ago, earlier than usual, Herschel was already there – he likes to go to bed early. Gilbert came up with me while Roxy and Jellicoe stayed downstairs with Barry. He likes to make sure the fire will stay alight through the night so that it’s warm downstairs in the morning. This involves a bit of riddling, (not the joking sort) and another shovelful of coal.

Actually, we use anthracite and thereby hangs a tale. The UK has enough anthracite for its needs but to prove our green credentials we are no longer mining it. Instead, we are importing it from Australia. That makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?

Anyway, Barry started his evening ritual of feeding the fire but as he opened the door the inner ceramic pane which looks like glass but isn’t, slipped down. One of the screws had worked loose. He was familiar with the composition of the stove, having recently replaced various bits – baffle, rope door seal - so he donned his heavy gloves and set to work to screw the window back in place. The fire was hot, but glowing rather than blazing. Nonetheless, it was uncomfortable work.

I was blissfully unaware of his trials and tribulations until he appeared much later and told me all about it. I would have left it until the morning, probably, but Barry does not procrastinate. It’s a good thing one of us doesn’t. It didn't help my 'early night', though!

Teenage enterprise

 

Teenage enterprise

This really made me laugh, from the Independent.

 A teenager in Australia tried to avoid Jetstar’s excess baggage fees by wearing several layers of clothing. She was travelling home to Adelaide from Melbourne with a friend and didn’t want to pay Aus$62 for the over-limit weight of her bag.

She ended up wearing 13 lbs of clothes but still had to pay the fine.

Now, although I understand the reasoning behind baggage limits, there don’t appear to be any limits on the weight of passengers. I know it would cause outrage to suggest that people should pay according to their weight, but it seems ridiculous that a petite person should pay the same as a gargantuan one.

How would such a scheme work? Would people pay extra money for excess weight and how would that be determined? What is a reasonable average weight and how would exceptions be made for illness or disability causing extra poundage?

It is extremely uncomfortable to have one’s seat space invaded by a larger than average passenger (whatever the average is). However, it is also unpleasant to sit next to someone who has an historical association with soap and water. Once we start down that route there’s no turning back. There are just too many variables!

Anyway, hats off to the Australian miss for giving this Pom a good laugh.

Latest threat levels or How to offend everyone in one short posting!

Barry recently received the following email:-


Latest threat levels
The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorised from "Tiresome" to a "Bloody Nuisance." The last time the English issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588 when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

The Scots raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the Dirty Bastards" They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide". The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralysing the country's military capability.  It's not only the French who are on a heightened level of alert.

Italy has increased its alert level from "Shout loudly and excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."
The Germans also increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Blitzkrieg".

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual, and the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Americans meanwhile and as usual are carrying out pre-emptive strikes, on all of their allies, just in case.

And in the southern hemisphere –

New Zealand has also raised its security levels - from "baa" to "BAA!". Due to continuing defence cutbacks (the air-force being a squadron of spotty teenagers flying paper aeroplanes and the navy some toy boats in the Prime Minister's bath), New Zealand only has one more level of escalation,  which is "I hope Australia will come and rescue us".


Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be right, mate". Three more escalation levels remain:  "Crikey!', "I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend" and "The barbie is cancelled". So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level.