Don’t Walk in the Road …

This was shouted out as I wandered up the old High Street, past the town hall, with the intention of going on home … 

Eastbourne Town Hall -
top of Grove Road (which was the main high street)

… but the junction by the town hall is a miss-mash (or mish-mash!): two one-way streets, one which bifurcates as it reaches the town hall, opposite a two-way street, just round the corner another road that comes in …

My mish-mash junction ... I was walking past The Grove
Experience (not sure what that is!) on the Town Hall side
of the road ... and walking on up past the Church
(see next image for the actual junction)

… so car drivers also don’t always know where to go … but the shout-out … took me a while to realise it was, more than once, addressed to me!

Town Hall on left as you look
at the image - and I was on the
pavement outside the town hall
- not quite visible in the photo ...
but the bifurcated bit of the road
in front of the town hall is -
where this electric was ...

I’d forgotten my bus pass and was wandering home and had decided to walk up on the other side of the road … knowing that ‘this junction’ might make me wait around for a few seconds – but to be ‘accosted (by shouting)’ don’t walk in the road took me by surprise – yes I was in the bifurcated part of Grove Road …

Eastbourne Town Hall
- built 1883

… but hadn’t heard a car coming up behind me, to then realise it was an electric one … as I was happily about the cross over to the middle of the road – so I stepped back onto the pavement.

I tried again … unusually! traffic in all directions – so kept stepping back …

Lewis Carroll's illustration
for the old man standing on his head

… the chap sitting on the town hall steps was now quite anxious – calling out did I need help to cross the road ………… by then I was laughing to myself.

But knew that he was being very thoughtful and was obviously concerned I was a completely incompetent old lady … so I did turn back to him and say … I’m fine thank you.

 I have to say these exchanges occurred a few times – eventually the traffic cleared and off I toddled.

The junction isn’t that easy – but it’s unusual to get held up … yet one needs to be aware of the various directions traffic could come at you from. 

I was on the bifurcated bit … and quite often it’s ignored by drivers: they get to the junction without using the bifurcation – which surprises pedestrians, who don’t expect to be accosted by a motorised vehicle turning right into their path.

Tenniel's illustration for 'turning a
somersault in at the door'

I should think I’ve lost you with my descriptions … blame it on old woman blogger syndrome!

I’m pretty road savvy and spatially aware … so was bemused to be ‘ticked off’ by a chap sitting on the cold town hall steps.  I might say he was there the next day – then I was in the bus … so in no danger of causing him anxiety!

Obviously I need to take heed … to others:

"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose

That your eye was as steady as ever;

Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose—

What made you so awfully clever?"

I think I need to pay attention to the first verse … where the old man stands on his head … my lack of hair might not show quite so much …

Another of Tenniel's illustrations -
thankfully I am not like that!

… and the third verse … my word for the year (not attributed to me!) is waistline … needs to be found – I am not, as the stanza says, ‘uncommonly fat’ … but a little reduction would help!

Well that’s enough waffle for me … setting the tone for Monday’s post … with the very appropriate poem by Lewis Carroll: “You AreOld, Father William” … or … You Are Getting Older, Blogger Hilary …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

2020 – Rhythm of Life …

Happy New Year everyone … a new date, but we carry on … the rhythm of life … as Sammy Davis Jr sang in 1969 …

1905 chasing out ancient 1904
Cartoon by John T McCutcheon

 To feel the rhythm of life,

To feel the powerful beat,

To feel the tingle in your fingers,

To feel the tingle in your feet.

While these powerful feelings engulf us … remember there are others around …

and as Simon and Garfunkel in 1970 reminded us in ‘TheBoxer’ from 1970 – the words ring so true today … as the first verse tells us:

I am just a poor boy

Though my story’s seldom told

I have squandered my resistance

For a pocket full of mumbles, such are promises

All lies and jests

Still a man hears what he wants to hear

And disregards the rest …

Diversity of Plants

The rhythm of life goes on – the seasons will come and go, disasters will happen, love will come, one hopes war won’t come and that leaders can be judicious and thoughtful in their proclamations …

Animal diversity

Yet the truism from Orwell should make us think … we are very much part of nature; so what we do to nature we do to ourselves …

George Orwell – ‘The only creature that consumes without producing = the human”

A Libyan, a Nubian, a Syrian and an
Egyptian, drawing by an unknown
artist after a mural on the tomb of Seti 1

Let’s embrace diversity, becoming pilgrims on earth, not tourists … to bring about change, we must be the change we wish to see …

Happy New Year to one and all … take care and enjoy the life we are lucky enough to  live …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

We are the World Blogfest # 32: You Raise Me Up – supporting families after the loss of a young adult …

Any loss of life will affect all ‘near and dears’ … here the local charity You Raise Me Up offers a support centre in Polegate and Eastbourne, for families who have suddenly lost a young adult …

 

Coffee Shop and Support Centre

Grieving is just devastating … so any specific support available may help others adjust – there’s a listener. 

The young adult age group (age 16 – 25) wasn’t represented … compassion and understanding come from fellow sufferers …

Offering Counselling

This family then, a few years later, had another blow … very sadly the mother died from cancer … 

... but despite the sadness the other counsellors were available to families in need.

A friend recently said his daughter had lost her husband (in his early forties) in August … but she was struggling to come to terms with his loss and the suddenness of it.

 

Listening  (1882)
William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Her father was obviously struggling too … so I suggested he should get some counselling – he said he hadn’t thought about it for himself …

… but when he’d lost his wife about ten years ago – the counselling really helped: I think he was relieved … as it would ease the stress and anxiety he was feeling about his daughter and her two grandchildren.

We all need guidance, help, compassion and counselling at various times in our lives ...

This charity reminded me of many things and I’m glad to know it’s local … this year too for so many reasons we will all need raising up …

… we will need to listen as we help others …

"In Darkness, Be Light ..."

New Year post coming tomorrow …

You Raise Me Up - Counselling Services page ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Christmas Greetings 2019 … with a nod to the charity You Raise Me Up ...

Father Christmas has arrived … by bus, or if you prefer by 1908 Wolseley Siddeley …

… early to Eastbourne … but as he had so many presents to drop off … he needed more than one vehicle …

… all the up-to-date ones were out in the skies … so he resorted to this beautiful one in the showroom window … loaded up and off he went …

Santa was driving his special bus … with his Rudolph the red-nose reindeer – who sang triumphantly! … he opened his mouth, set his tongue wagging and lo and behold Christmas carols came boldly out ..

here we're back in town

... the bus would be travelling at least three routes around town … I met up with it in town at my stop … and as he dropped me off I asked Santa when he was back etc …

 

… he said – well I have to go up to Meads – one of the westerly ‘suburbs’ (now part of the main town) nestling under the Downs …

… then I’ll be back in about ten minutes …. I hot-footed it (not far, thankfully!) up to my flat, drop my shopping off and back down to the bus stop on the other side of the road for the trip back into town …

… as is the way while waiting I met up with some locals – who I’d been meaning to catch up with: good connection – and back on Santa’s bus I hopped …

… off we went – into town, round the town centre and back to where I got off at my original stop …

… the other two routes were going a bit out of my way – and I was quite busy … so thought that this bus day was the bus day …

Meads Street looking north to south
the Downs are to the right in the picture

… then yesterday I was walking into town past the showrooms – where a couple of cars were on show … I couldn’t get nearer – for insurance purposes …

Beachy Head in the foreground - recent falls;
Eastbourne is just round the corner from these falls -
still in the lee of the Downs

… and I have no wish for a large bill should I have accidentally damaged one of these precious vintage specimens … so these ‘rough’ photos will need to suffice …

That’s my life … on occasions … and though the bus runs only once a year … I’ve been able to tell everyone – the whys and wherefores …

It’s for a charity called You Raise Me Up: You Are Not Alone – supporting life after the death of a child aged 16 – 25 … I will tell you more in my next post …

Have very special Christmases, and lovely holiday visits with family and friends … and remember those in need ... 

The local charity:  You Raise Me Up - You Are Not Alone ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Write … Edit … Publish … Bloghop/IWSG hop: Footprints …

She was dreaming of Tinkerbell … the little snowflake fairy who could mist magic over the land … bringing happiness and joy to everyone …

Tinkerbell in bronze (2005) by
Diarmuid Byron O'Connor -
commissioned by Great
Ormond Street Hospital

 … all life on the earth … she knew Santa Claus would not drive his sleigh of reindeer any more, but a train full of presents for the lucky ones would come down from the northern snowy lands …

… in her dream she just wanted the world to be full of love and understanding … 

Snow cyrstals

... she tossed and turned a little – but rested again … the morning would come and there would be fairy snow …

… a new day would dawn … but for now she snuggled amongst her warm bedding, hoping her dreams would come true … 

... then she could make footprints in the snow … her excitement grew … before she fell back to sleep …

Footprints in the snow …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Snail-like ...

Well this was to be a brief update after the hiatus of November and time away (it got longish) … I’ve been trickling along at a snail’s pace … with ‘interruptions’ of a funeral to help arrange and …

Top half  of issue Nov 1982 - this is the Great Blizzard of 1891
(link below) sent to me in South Africa by my mother

… taking over the organisation of a monthly dinner for +/- sixty - seventy … but with us both having incompatible software – ne’er mind … next year we start afresh: or rather I do … and I think we’re almost there!

I’ve got used to having ‘meetings’ or get-togethers in buses, or for some reason charity shops … I’m donating or friends and I are just quickly looking for a missing item – that we might find which won’t cost us a fortune.  Free buses are a boon, for those without a car …

Escargots served in their shells

Snails came up via the Beeb … but then the muddled grey cells also came into play … I thought I’d spotted a snail article in that November 1982 Western Morning News Souvenir compilation –mostly photos …

Frogcatchers (1930s) ... on sale
out of a Sunlight soap box!

… but it was about frogcatchers in the 1930s in western Cornwall – they were, I hate to say it, used in medical research – which frankly after the Depression was a useful evil for those who were able to earn a few pennies to feed their families.

Back to the American snails – ne’er a story to be missed … one of those ‘believe it or not’ slithery tales … Taylor Knapp, a chef, who after spending time in Europe realised there was an opening to put fresh (cooked and rather than tinned) escargots on the menu …

Snail caviar!

… but he couldn’t bring in live products for reproductive purposes … however he found some little grey snails in California – which with regulatory approval could be bred.

These slow moving slippery critters had been around since the 1850s … they’d got past the US Customs Service, which had been in existence since 1789 and were happily breeding in California.  

George Washington, (and I have something to tell you about him too,) signed the Tariff Act of July 4, 1789 – appropriate date.

Escargots in a snail dish with herby bread

Taylor fund-raised, worked to set their living quarters up – a greenhouse – Alcatraz style – passing the USDA’s strictures and hey presto – fresh French escargots could be on the menu.

The farm is in Washington state … so heliculture is rife on both coasts … and Taylor is aiming to expand his sales beyond the saturated market of New York.

I don’t want to bedazzle you with a new word at the end of 2019 – but perhaps heliculture could be brought into posts in 2020?    

It is the science and occupation of growing snails for food.  (Blend of New Latin Helix, genus of spiral-shelled molluscs from Greek helix, and culture.)

Frogs various

I thought I’d found more information on frog-catching in Cornwall … but no – it was ‘the crowning event’, at a Rolls-Royce picnic in Canada, when live frog-catching in a pond of very rich in muddy clay was the last children’s game … after the sack race, three-legged race et al … their enthusiasm brought results: the frogs being released after the count.

  

Frog Larva about to metamorphose

What the Rolls Royces look like afterwards isn’t told … but relating back to that era – the maidservants, chauffeurs and retainers presumably would have had to deal with the mess … while the family carried on with their lives.

My life at my snail’s pace is comfortable – a few things get done – then an interlude while I deal with things … and so it goes – I am sorting my Ma’s and my own papers out – clearing the decks and am finding all sorts …

The bottom half of the Souvenir - this shows
coach and horses pulling out of
Okehampton,  West Devon

… but once done – then that’s it and makes life easier for me, or should something happen – then ‘things be sorted’ …  a number of things going to charity or appropriate friends/family … it takes time.

I have been out and about a bit … on a number of tours, to museums and to my goddaughter’s family near Milton Keynes – which proved a very interesting informative long weekend – where George Washington came in …

Now to think about the WEP/IWSG challenge about ‘Footprints’ … Christmas and the New Year … after which  more posts will be forthcoming …

Great Blizzard of 1891 (9 – 13 March) Wiki post … but see Weather Events listed in a table under the wiki entry … interesting!  I’m glad I was out of the country in the 1980s …

Snail Farming c/o the BBC … and more can be found on the Heliculture wiki page …

My wellie boot imprint in
Canadian snowfall

I also wandered off looking for escargot photos with fresh bread … but came across this Brit – who has opened a snail farm ineastern France – fascinating read! 

... interesting ideas for snail recipes too … sausages, smoked snails with goats’ cheese and fig, snails with Roquefort and walnut butter in a wafer case, “tikka masala snails” are all loved by the locals and expanding clientele …

Take care my footprints are on their way …

... and last but not least - of course I could have had frogs legs as an appetiser ... forgot that!

Hilary Melton-Butcher 

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

We are the World Blogfest # 31: Searching for new remedies against the malarial parasite …

# WATWB – Soup War on Malaria?!  At long last we are researching indigenous remedies – but in this case finding them via the cuisine of London’s ethnic community …

#WATWB

… looking into the apparent blocking of the malarial parasite in the process of transmission, through various broths.

Malarial parasite connecting to a red blood cell

In one primary school – the pupils were asked to bring in samples of clear soup made from traditional family recipes (European, North African and Middle Eastern).   (London being one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world).

The broths varied: vegetarian, chicken, or beef based were all home-made – thus no obvious particular ingredient leading to an antimalarial activity … but which was known about.

Chicken Soup

Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine have been working with the students testing their families’ broths … against two stages of the parasite: when it can infect mosquitoes, and when it can cause the disease in humans.

The research is ongoing … but the other benefit has been to engage the children in the idea of research: where it can start, and how results are evidenced … how many of them will now become scientists?

Winsor McCay's 1912 animated film:
"How a Mosquito Operates"

We live in interesting times … and as usual to this curious mind two other appropriate links appeared … a BBC programme on Li Shizhen (1518 – 1593): who is considered to be the greatest scientific naturalist of China …

… and an Ethiopian Swedish chef and restaurateur,  Marcus Samuelsson, now living in New York … again from a conversation on the Beeb … bringing together those culinary influences.

“In Darkness, Be Light.”

Li Shizhen - and his Compendium of Materia Medica 

Marcus Samuelsson ... and his amazing story 

Imperial College's article: Scientists and Schoolkids find family soups have anti-malarial properties ...

Be thankful ... we, the privileged human race, can learn so much from history and each ecosystem.

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories