You must have lit fires when you were young and out in the country.
It’s frowned upon by adults but you have to do these things to learn.
The first lesson is that wet things do not burn. The second is that there is nothing as satisfying as something cooked on your own log fire. [Read more…] about Log Fires
There was a time when there were no sweets. Adults used to talk about Mars Bars, Kit Kats, Gobstoppers and Acid Drops. I had no idea what these were but they sounded desirable.
During WWII there were no sweets.
If you were lucky and could put on a cough, there may be a few pence worth of cough sweets. There were like the Fishermen’s Friends you can get today but bigger. You could suck one or maybe two but no more. They were good currency in the playground, you could swap one for a cigarette card. [Read more…] about Sweets Glorious Sweets
We can all enjoy Christmas. It is not necessary to focus on baby Jesus and the traditional story of shepherds and three wise men.
Last Christmas was spent in Sri Lanka, a country with only 10% Christians but where the Buddhists (70%), Hindu and Muslim all joined in the celebrations.
We had to dress as Santa and his helper [Read more…] about What Does Christmas Mean For Non-Christians?
Jesters are portrayed as fools but they are clever. They make us laugh and gasp at their cheeky and audacious remarks. Their humour is barbed and aimed at a person or persons in powerful positions.
A jester must have someone to jest about. In court they performed the important function of saying things to the King and Queen that no courtier dare speak. [Read more…] about Jesters, Mentors and Advocates
Today one of the boldest, most audacious and exacting feats of space engineering will be attempted. The European Space Agency (ESA) will attempt to land Philae, a lander module, from the Rosetta spacecraft onto a comet known as 67P Churyunov.
Rosetta has already made 3 orbits around the sun and is near to completing a fourth. [Read more…] about Comet Rendezvous
After Nick John’s post about the Hutments I made enquiries from a friend, Robbie Sprague, who was born and bred in Chandler’s Ford. He wrote to me as follows:
We are not to have fluoridation in this part of the country. Southampton City Council is against it. We have to ask why and our leaders do not tell us.
There is no doubt that our dental health is poor and that fluoridation is a cheap and effective way of improving it. [Read more…] about Fluoridation – Have We Tripped Ourselves Up?
Eastleigh is to have a new housing development for the fields along Chestnut Avenue & Stoneham Lane. One thousand, one hundred dwellings on 62 hectares [a hectare is 10,000 sq metres] or 153 acres. That is 18 houses per hectare or 7-8 per acre.
What will it be like, this new development?
Of course it will have to have “affordable” housing [Read more…] about Houses For Eastleigh
Today saw the first serious gales of the winter. All summer and probably for many years, trees have been rotting away inside their trunks.
Fungi feast on the lignin and cellulose material that gives wood its strength until the outer, living, wood is no longer strong enough to stand the stresses of bending.
The force of the wind on leaves and [Read more…] about Another One Bites The Dust – Rotten To The Core
Have you had to learn new things because of your children or grandchildren?
Horses have never featured much in my life. Not since, as a boy, I was put on one and sent off onto the beach at Cleethorpes. The horse ambled into the middle of a tidal puddle and sat down. I fell off into the cold water and the horse ran away. [Read more…] about Learning From Children – Horse Play
Chandler’s Ford is changing. Recent changes are in its centre, wherever that is, its public buildings, new community halls, library, parks, shops and recreational facilities. Even Eastleigh Borough Council has recently moved into new premises.
Less obvious but marching slowly on are changes in its older residential areas. [Read more…] about Chandler’s Ford Changes. What’s Your View?
The rambling rose and Russian vine had made a great thicket on our pagoda so I got out the electric trimmer. Branches fell away and the jumble of twigs was beginning to take a reasonable shape.
The blades skimmed through another mass of branches and left a pigeon on view eyeing me angrily. It shuffled and flew off leaving two eggs in a primitive nest. [Read more…] about New Arrival
In 543 BC a group of sailors, traders, adventures and probably an assortment of ruffians arrived in Sri Lanka after sailing down the east coast of India from the region of Kolkata. They established a kingdom in Anuradhapura, which lasted 1400 years. [Read more…] about Ancient Vedda Tribe Becoming Extinct
µWhat do sick people do in Sri Lanka? Anyone can see a doctor free of charge.
If they go to the hospital, they will be seen. Any required medication is provided free. Repeat medications can be obtained from the hospital.
There is no general practice as we know it and some rural patients [Read more…] about Traditional And Modern Medicine in Sri Lanka
Everyone who stays in Sri Lanka has to have an extension to their visa at some time and the visa run to the government office in Colombo is one of those things that ex-pats have to do. ^
The train leaves Kandy at dawn before the sun colours the land. [Read more…] about Dawn Train Down The Mountain To Colombo
Tourists know Kandy for the Temple of the Tooth. They are bussed in during the late afternoon and dine in a hotel. The next morning they are conducted around the Temple of the Tooth after leaving their shoes at the gate. Then they are back on the bus and off to Nurawa Eliya and the tea plantations.
Tourists don’t see Kandy City, nor do they see the Tooth. It is too sacred. [Read more…] about A Temple For A Tooth?
Not as big an event as in Glasgow but Hillwood College Sports Day for the Nursery and Playgroup was great fun.
We knew we were to be invited but when the invitation came it specified us as “special guests” and that, before the prizes were distributed the special guests would make a speech. We thought we had better try to speak in Sinhala. How would you do it? [Read more…] about Commonwealth Games In Kandy
Anuradhapura is about 100 miles from Kandy. On our travels, Bernard, our driver, advised us that we passed through the best area in Sri Lanka for mango.
He sampled a few before advising us which to buy at 12p each. The farmers are keen to sell at the roadside stalls. If they sell wholesale they get only 2.5p each. Six weeks later the season was almost over and the price was 25p each. Never mind, they are still very good. [Read more…] about Life On The Road
The ubiquitous tuk-tuk makes Asia work. Just a motorised Rickshaw, a driver, a bench seat for 2 passengers and an engine. No doors, no safety belts, no baggage space, no in car entertainments but what a lot of fun.
The warm air blows around you, when stuck in traffic you can strike up a conversation with the people in the tuk tuk alongside you. [Read more…] about Tuk-tuk: My Transport Of Delight
No, not Orlando Gibbons’ anthem of John the Baptist, but another John who served his community in Sri Lanka for 15 years and what happened to him next.
Who was John?
