Gull

 

Gulls

The latest post box topper near my home features a gull, an ice cream and a bag of chips (fries for the Americans among us). These are all features of a British summer.

The gull has a chip in its beak. Gulls are notorious in seaside locations for their thieving ways, swooping down on unsuspecting visitors to steal a lump of fish, a tasty chip, a piece of cake or any other toothsome morsel. In short, anything a human is eating is considered fair game. They can be very aggressive and difficult to deter. Probably the best way to escape being targeted by ravenous gulls is to avoid eating outside!

There is no such species as a ‘seagull’ but we all call the flying creatures around the seaside seagulls, even when they come inland to scavenge in rubbish tips. They are very difficult to identify and change their vestments according to the season and their age. The bird on the post box is probably a Lesser black-backed gull, with its yellow beak and legs. The Herring gull has a yellow beak, but its legs are pink.

On reflection, the post box gull looks very like the seagull in one of the Wallace and Gromit films!

The cat on the hat

 

The cat on the hat

 

The cat sits on his master’s hat, 

And slowly gazes round;

This place is better than a mat

And high above the hound.

 

His claws are sheathed in velvet paws,

With eyes half-closed, he naps;

Twitching his tail, he gently snores,

Dreaming of mice, perhaps.

 

Alas! Alack! His brother’s back,

Time to vacate the cap,

Anything to avoid the whack

Of a less than friendly tap.

 

                                                      

Syrup

 

Syrup

                                                                            Barrister’s wig

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Syrup comes from the Cockney rhyming slang ‘syrup of figs’, meaning a wig.

There are three different forms of wig that are worn in criminal court cases – the barrister’s wig, the judge’s bench wig and the judge’s full bottomed wig. The barrister’s wig, the ‘tie wig’, is curled at the front, above the forehead, and has two or three horizontal rows of curls around the sides and back of the head and two ‘tails’. 

                                            Judge’s bench wig 

                             Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The judge’s bench wig is tightly curled or frizzed all over with two small ties at the back. 

    

                             1st Viscount Hewart in full-bottomed wig

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The judge’s full-bottomed wig, similar in style to the barrister’s, has frizzed sides rather than curls and extends over the shoulders. Such wigs are not normally worn now, except for ceremonial occasions.

 Before wigs became the accepted dress in court, lawyers were simply expected to trim their hair and beards neatly.  That changed during the reign of Charles II (1660-1685) when wigs became a popular form of dress and were considered essential in polite society. Wigs had gone out of fashion by the 1820s but remained part of court dress. Since 2007 they are no longer required in family or civil court cases but are still worn during criminal trials.

Traditionally, wigs, also known as perruques, are hand-made from horse hair, though synthetic versions are available. Horsehair from the mane is finer than the coarser hair from the tail, but either may be used. The hair is washed before work starts on making a wig, to ensure that it is clean and free of bacteria, and it is then graded by colour. Wigs take about three weeks to make by hand. Some wigs are bespoke, while others are ‘off the peg’ in sizes small, medium or large.

There is some debate over how frequently wigs should be cleaned. Some authorities suggest that once every 25-30 years is sufficient, while others recommend professional cleaning at least once a year. Presumably it depends how often and in what circumstances and climatic conditions it is worn.

Baby barrister Frankie - he is 10 years old, so still quite young

The Hanging Judge, about to don the black cap!

From Wikipedia: The black cap is a plain black fabric square formerly worn as symbolic headgear by English, Welsh, Irish and Northern Irish judges in criminal cases when passing a sentence of death. When worn, the square was placed on top of the judicial wig, with one of the four corners of the fabric facing forward. The cap is based on Tudor court styles.^[

Would she be more lenient? Don't you believe it!

 Judge not, that ye be not judged (Matthew 7:1)

The Train

 

The Train

                                    French locomotive, 1944 - 1950

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

We watched ‘The Train’ the other night. It was released in 1964, starring Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield and Jeanne Moreau, and was directed by John Frankenheimer. We had seen it many years ago but found it well worth viewing again. The version we watched included commentary by the director, which made it unique and very interesting.

 It was loosely based on the book, ‘Le front de l’art’, by Rose Valland, who was an art historian and member of the French Resistance. She recorded the Nazi theft of masterpieces of art from national and private Jewish ownership. A few weeks before the liberation of Paris, she learnt that plans were afoot to remove the plundered art works to Germany. 5 wagons containing 967 paintings by Braque, Degas, Modigliani and others, were hooked up to another 48 carrying stolen furniture and precious goods. The train left Aubervilliers railway station just outside Paris and broke down at Le Bourget. While it was being repaired, the French Resistance derailed two trains, blocking the tracks and leaving the train stranded.

Rose Valland saved thousands of works of art.

Frankenheimer’s commentary throughout added immeasurably to an appreciation of the work that went into it. Burt Lancaster learnt the skills required for driving a locomotive and engineering replacement parts, and performed all his own stunts. On a day off from filming, he damaged his knee while playing golf. It swelled up, in John Frankenheimer’s words, ‘like a football’, causing him to limp in great pain. He was very upset and thought filming would have to stop but he and Frankenheimer found a way round the problem by writing in a scene in which his character, French resistance worker Labiche, was shot in the knee.

  Frankenheimer described how scenes had been set up and the difficulties involved in filming explosions.  He also commented on social attitudes in the France of 1944. 

Bedtime

Bedtime

 

A little piece of doggerel. Why is there no catterel?

 

When the busy day is done,

When there’s no more time for fun,

Up the stairs we lightly tread,

Now’s the time to go to bed.

 

Lay your paws upon my leg,

Do not scratch me, please, I beg,

I am big and you are small,

But that matters not at all.

 

Stretching out our weary limbs,

Sighing as the daylight dims,

Closing eyes to all around,

Off to Dreamland we are bound.

 

Reveries of joys we’ve shared,

Dreaming of the things we dared;

Tomorrow is a different place,

Another day to run and race.

 

                                               Back to school . . . . . already?

The local schools broke up for the summer holidays just two weeks ago. The children are enjoying their freedom even as the parents wonder how they’re going to occupy their youngsters. Maybe they’re even counting the days until school commences once more.

There are still four weeks of the holiday left before term starts, but already advertisements are appearing exhorting parents to stock up on school essentials. Can the children not be allowed to be carefree for a little while until they have to think about pencil cases and backpacks and the like?

The summer holidays are too long, in UK, at least. Children, particularly the youngest, can regress quite alarmingly. For decades there have been discussions about splitting the school year into four terms, rather than three. At least one authority tried it for a while, but it has never caught on nationwide.

Christmas catalogues soon!

The Clairvoyant Cabbie

 

The Clairvoyant Cabbie

?

My daughter had a strange experience in a London cab some years ago. The cab stopped at some traffic lights and the cabbie looked at my daughter through the driver’s mirror and said my late sister’s name. My sister had an unusual name, not one that would naturally spring to mind or easily be guessed, so my daughter was taken aback.

 When the cabbie then added my brother-in-law’s name to the mix, my daughter was even more perplexed. He said she was not to worry and that my sister was well and happy. My daughter and my sister did not look alike – blue/green eyes and long blonde hair against dark brown eyes and short dark hair, so there could have been no visual ‘jolt’ even in the unlikely event that my sister and the cabbie had met.

Was it chance that he happened upon my sister’s name? He and my daughter had never met before – it was a casual encounter between driver and passenger and they knew nothing of each other and had not been conversing. My sister had lived near her husband’s family in rural Norfolk for many years after moving from Kent and had never lived in London.

This was brought to mind when I was listening to Radio 4. Julian Clary was a guest on Paul Merton’s programme, Room 101 and mentioned a psychic cabbie in London. Apparently, there is also a psychic cabbie in Gateshead.

 

As Shakespeare’s Hamlet expressed it:

‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’