Saturday, August 23, 2008

Depending upon there being no problem with no passport...

Depending upon there being no problem with no passport...







Saturday Departures from London
24/05/08 to 13/12/08
London King's Cross 09:34 11:48 13:38 17:05 19:41
Grantham 10:44 12:48 14:44 18:10 20:43
Retford 11:06 13:14 15:10 18:31 21:05
Doncaster 11:24 13:27 15:25 18:48 21:20
Selby 11:40 13:43 15:41 19:08 21:36
Howden 11:50 13:53 15:51 19:18 21:46
Brough 12:03 14:05 16:03 19:30 21:58
Hull 12:20 14:22 16:20 19:47 22:15

http://trustedplaces.com/review/uk/hull/food/1a7c57/sicilian-takeaway

Sorry, no shower only bath...


UPDATE: Just received a phone call. The Eagle has landed at Gatwick and is crossing London heading for King's X, and should see him arrive in Hull at 19:47.

The Death of Ann Sadler: Murder by over enthusiastic Dancing

I have been as readers of my own blog can see, musing on the Old Bailey records this morning. Amongst those records one finds interesting cases- and one that I thought the readers of this blog might be interested in was a case of murder by over enthusiastic dancing: here it is
Simon Durrant , was Tryed for Killing Ann Sadler at Leather-sellers Hall , on the 9th of August last, by brusing, rowling and throwing down the said Sadler, of which she languished till the 3d of September and then dyed . The Proof was, that there being a Feast heald there that day and a Dancing Bout ensuing, whilst Durrant was Acting the Countryman, Ann Sadler came in to call her Mistresses Son from thence, when upon intimation Durrant caught hold of her and obliged her to Dance, which she did for almost a quarter of an hour, and then she being about to make her escape from him, he pursued her and puling her back by force threw her down, and tumbled with her over and over; so that being bruised thereby, she went home and sickned and languishing to the day aforesaid, dyed, to which he plaaded that her Dancing was with her own consent and as for the rest it was but a Frolick, and he intended no harm and bringing credible persons to testifie it, and that he laid her down very easily, and further, it appearing upon the Testimony of two Chirurgeons that she dyed not by any Bruise thereby occasioned, he was acquitted , as also upon the Coroners inquisition for Manslaughter.

What lies behind this record? It seems odd at first sight. Let me set up the situation in modern English- what Simon Durrant was accused of was grabbing this young girl, dancing with her, throwing her to the ground, tumbling over her and bruising her so much that she died. It sounds implausible and the two doctors who visited her agreed with my modern impression, that 'she dyed not by any bruise thereby occasioned'. One interpretation sees this case as emerging from something else: Ann Sadler died and her friends hung this charge around the neck of Simon Durrant. He seems to have been a lively young man- and perhaps one that people wanted to bring down, to hang a noose and a murder round his neck.

But look at it again and the evidence changes- its possible to see something there that we might describe as sexual assault- Simon Durrant's excuses are very much in that mould- I did it with her consent, it was just a bit of fun etc etc. That was obviously not the opinion of Ann Sadler's friends when they brought this case to the attention of the court, nor does it seem to be her opinion- she 'languished' for several days before dying. There may have been internal injuries- possibly a little more than a tumble in the hay- that seventeenth century post mortems could not find. Furthermore Sadler may well have faced depression from her ordeal- if we presume that what this account masks is a sexual assault- and that may have assisted her death.

We will never know. Both accounts make sense. A spurious charge invented by Simon Durrant's enemies or a sexual assault that the prejudice and ignorance of the time could not properly judge: its up to you to decide. The evidence is fragmentary and I hope this suggests one of the problems of being a historian, you have a fragment like this and you have to work out what happened from it. Sometimes it is uncertain and you just cannot know- this case is one of those.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

[this blog] brought up to date

Seem to write this type of thing every few days but this weekend, whichever way it falls, is a change of life for the Higham. If I don't get back here to this blog, there are other team members I'd invite to contribute.

If I do come back, it will be a metamorphosed Bigglesworth you'll be seeing. This is living by the seat of the pants and you can keep it. I'm more for the quiet life.

'Nuff till we meet again, dear reader.

The temple of tame tigers

The temple of tame tigers

The Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno Monastery in Thailand is home to a family of tigers raised by a monk and living alongside human visitors

After poachers killed its mother, villagers brought the first tiger cub to the monastery in 1999

Since then Abbot Chan has created a wildlife sanctuary where tourists can touch resting tigers

There are around 40 tigers in the temple, all of whom have been hand-raised by the monk and have learnt to control their aggressive behaviour

Chan says there is no secret to their friendliness toward humans...

...after four hours of swimming and a good meal of boiled chicken, the nocturnal animals want to sleep through the heat of the day

Tourists can attend, at short distance, the tigers' morning programme which includes exercising their hunting skills in the pool

It is a great tourist spot and a potential death trap, but there have been no accidents yet

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Boy in hospital after 'gas lighting' stunt backfires

Boy in hospital after 'gas lighting' stunt backfires



A 12-year-old has been taken to hospital with burns after blowing up a petrol can while breaking wind.

"The boy was attempting to set fire to his farts as part of a competition against his cousin in the garden of a house in Tipton when the accident occurred".

This is a variant of the Night of the Flaming Arseholes...

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

[outdoor concert] la traviata and other pieces

Just saw the weather report for Britain below as I came up here to report on a magnificent outdoor concert I just attended beside Hotel Palazzo Failla, everyone done up to the nines and expecting great things.

It was great too. Maria Gabriella Ferroni, soprano and Giuseppe Veneziano, tenore sang from Verdi, Puccini, Tosti and Carrubba. It might have been Caruso again in a feast for the ears called "Un lieve palpitare". The outdoor concert was a one off and I am so pleased to have been invited to attend it.

The champas and eats helped a lot too, just to lower the tone a little. However, the tone was considerably lowered by people coming late, standing, blocking others and generally making pests of themselves by then talking so that during the finale, I jumped up and went forward to hear it uninterrupted.

A balmy 29 degrees ensured all were in shirt sleeves for the event. Wish Welshcakes could have been here but there was no chance to get her here at such short notice.

Last observation - my goodness, the Italians put passion into everything they do, don't they?

Weather forecast and lightning strikes

Weather forecast and lightning strikes

Summer lightning over southern England

A series of spectacular lightning strikes lit up the skies as a thunderstorm swept from Sussex through to Suffolk

Despite the London skyline experiencing the impressive light show, there was little actual rainfall in the area, with the clouds particularly high in the atmosphere for a storm

East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service had a busy night, receiving 52 calls in an hour and a half as heavy rain caused floods late Wednesday night

Although not much damage was reported, firefighters from Eastbourne were called to two houses where lightning had struck roofs

Crews in Brighton and Hove were also caused to a series of small floods at houses

The Met Office said the particularly high temperature - peaking at 80F (27C) - contributed to these types of storms, as they made their way from mainland Europe

Today, they expected some more thunder, moving further north up through East Anglia, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, perhaps with some heavy downpours

Temperatures are expected to peak at 72F (22C) in the London area

Some minor showers are expected, scattered with sunny intervals, although over the weekend things could well go downhill again

Monday, August 18, 2008

What is a McCannism?

What is a McCannism?

A commenter believes this post displays a McCannism. I particularly like this post, and this comment in response:

"How “ludicrous”…

Can you spot the ten alternatives (taken from the Mac Microsoft Office thesaurus) for this popular McCannism word in my Mitchell-style rant below?

How absurd to accuse the innocent Kate McCann of being a “cold fish” and an “ice maiden”. Such a ridculous suggestion just shows how ridiculous some of the stories about the McCanns have become. The daft idea that Kate would hide Maddy’s body in a freezer just shows how farcical this smear campaign has become. The personal attacks on Philomena, with reference to “Comical Philly” are simply outrageous. It is preposterous to claim the McCanns would be so foolish as to invent an abduction to cover up their own dubious actions. Anyone who suspects the McCanns is just plain stupid.

Answers later, folks and what’s the odds on Dimmo Mitchell starting to use some of these alternatives instead of his beloved “ludicrous” from now on".

This post also claims to have the answer to what is a McCannism. Some interesting comments.

We need to ask the McCanns some questions, we also need to ask the Mainstream Media some questions.

The answers are in the details.

Previously, both the McCanns and Clarence Mitchell told reporters when they asked pertinent questions that they could not go into details because of the judicial secrecy laws in Portugal. However, as Gerry states on his blog “It is over 3 weeks since we learned that the Portuguese authorities had...ended judicial secrecy". Why is the MSM not re-asking the questions?

For me a McCannism is a lie told by the McCann camp which we are meant to swallow as truth. It's a bitter pill. Like a secondhand car sales man selling you a lemon. In a wider sense it is also words like ludicrous which the McCann camp kept repeating. They never did say why the accusations were ludicrous.

It is not just Madeleine who is missing, the freedom of the press went walkabout on the McCanns wild goose chase.

P.S.

Kate McCann has said:

“To be honest, I don’t actually think that is the case. I think that is a very small minority of people that are criticising us.”

If that isn't a McCannism is I don't know what is. Between 73 and 82% criticise the McCanns to some greater or lesser degree.



Thought for the Week!

To see the whole world in a grain of sand, and heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and in eternity in an hour.

William Blake

Sunday, August 17, 2008

[making gelato] and the dangers of creativity


There are some very interesting people around and sometimes they’re right beside us all along.

I’d include Welshcakes in this, fluent in French and Italian and with immense knowledge of those cultures as well. Her CV, her early years and later moves have shaped her character and now she’s carved out a niche which is sustainable and it’s where she wants to be, as long as health remains good and bureaucracy allows.

Into this came I, some time back, privileged to share a portion of her life but unable, at that point in time, to put very much back in, to my chagrin, a matter I intend to resolve when I can find my own sustainable base. For two such individual characters of different backgrounds, politics and genders, I don’t think it was total disaster and I hope she doesn’t regret the time spent together [too much].

On the other side of town I’ve come to know a young man, Georgio, who has his own talents in his own modest way and he’s interesting on the topic of cuisine/kuchina, gelato making and pizza design, with his own take on language, culture and many other topics. From another town, he’s carved a niche for himself in both places and lives not far from where I am currently holed up.

I think what I like most about him is that he is solitary, not entirely by choice and at the same time enjoys great warmth from those about him. He’s creative and recognizes and respects that in others. Whilst he’s a humble barman on one level, a person the crass would dismiss out of hand, his solitariness does not exclude others - it’s just that people are wary of someone like that who’s done it his own way and for whom every step forward, every break he gets, is accompanied by an opposite vicissitude.

The net effect though is that he does go forward.

Italy seems to me admirably suited to accommodate human tragedy. Sitting, drinking Nasto Azzurra and nibbling on nibbles, discussing shades of difference in the Italian language, discussing architecture, painting and kuchina on a 40 degree plus day, when virtually the whole population was at the beach enjoying what they saw and we both didn’t as la dolce vita; in the early evening, with the periphery of the northern Italian storms arriving, the umbrellas and awnings flapping wildly in the wind to the point we all had to race outside and batten them down – this was no ordinary experience.

Some people live lives of quiet desperation and wish and hope, in that Walter Mitty way, for some excitement or break from the tedium. Some live from tragedy to tragedy, blow to blow, punctuated by bouts of joy. Some might even be happy and contented, surrounded by family and friends – I wouldn’t know about such people but I wish them well.

Then there are those fey characters we meet, ships out on the sea who come into port for a brief time and then must move on again – think of the experiences they’ve accumulated, like barnacles which can’t be scratched off, not willingly itinerant by any means but ready to meet that someone and to settle down - yet something in the firmament will not allow this to ever happen.

You can’t call such people depressed, as they usually bounce back but they are, ultimately, tragic and a little cold, a little unapproachable until they themselves find a way to interface with others at a personal level. I find such people not sociopathic; there are few skeletons in the cupboard of any consequence – they’re just appreciative of the chance of human warmth though they don’t really know what to do with it once they are extended it. In the end, they’re nice people but will never be part of any circle of friends.

Everyone hopes they find what they’re looking for - normal people always like to demand concrete goals of others - but their goals are just to find a sustainable base and some human warmth, as with “normal” people, yet somehow things manage to get in the way to prevent that, quite rotten luck really, in part a product of their own unusual and interesting lives.

And as they grow older, what was once seen as a life of adventure is now viewed with a jaundiced eye and as they fail to settle into the wife, home, car and two kids life-in-hock, people say, ‘Nice man, kind face,’ but secretly resolve he’ll never marry their daughter. They almost resent his bad luck and think, perhaps with an element of truth, that he brought it all on himself.

These are things I saw in the future yesterday for my young friend and hope to goodness it doesn’t go that way. Fine thing to be creative, to sit on the steps beside limestone churches and admire the baroque period but it hardly puts bread on the table, does it?

Also, he’s not getting any younger but at least he’s in the country of his upbringing.