Post 166. Six Years and Counting

The sixth anniversary in the UK is reportedly iron. Strong, durable and unbending. Just like my new knee (I hope). Six years ago (3rd November 2018) I started this blog. It was intended to last a year or so, chronicling the Voyage of George and JD as they sailed around the world, with my journey flying to each stop to meet them at the port and do a bit of my own exploration.

As we all know, Covid intervened and the blog expanded to include routine life (kinda). We’ve seen births, marriages, deaths and emigrations (anything to get away from me and my musings). You’ve all been exposed to numerous cocktail recipes and disastrous cookery episodes. I have exposed you to my seemingly never-ending medical issues and (hopefully) saved some of you at least from worrying about developing the same or similar types of illness and their consequences.

Each Post takes me roughly a day to write, often with the germ of an idea popping into my head in the early hours of the morning (that explains a lot) followed by a fair bit of polishing (believe it or not) before it sees the full light of day.

Last time I mentioned the Australian Rally Debbie was driving in. Above is a photo of her in a fancy-dress outfit. They loved the event so much they’ve already signed up for June 2025, Perth to Darwin. We did that trip in 2007 but caught planes and trains, much easier if not as much fun. Somewhere in Darwin I lost a yellow jumper I’d knitted just for that trip. Here’s a picture of it: if you find it Debbie, send it back please!

Before I forget, my Last Post misled us all. Both Pat and Ella are still lurking in my joints, although one (let’s say Ella) has been ‘contoured’ to allow the new knee to fit snugly. So snugly that all is going well and my walking is better than it’s been for many years. I was once a kenspeckle figure (a Scottish word meaning conspicuous and easily recognisable). People are in tears now when they see me walking towards them. Oh, you don’t think that’s anything to do with my improved posture? You could be right.

Moving on…

https://heritagecalling.com/2018/11/11/an-introduction-to-thankful-villages/

Last week was Remembrance Day in the UK. You might think there is nothing good about war, but looking at different websites, there are an estimated 41 to 53 places that are ‘Thankful’ and 14 (or 16) that are ‘Doubly Thankful’. Most are in England, with only two identified in Wales and none in Scotland or Ireland. Thankful villages lost no men in the First World War and Doubly Thankful lost none in either the First or Second World Wars. Can you imagine, while some places lost a great deal of soldiers, sailors and airmen, and some families lost all their sons, others rejoiced to see them all come home. It seems odd to me, but obviously these places will have no War Memorial. It’s almost the most obvious thing you see when you drive through a British village, but you don’t notice the absence.

When we were up in Sunderland earlier this year, the seafront at Seaham has many benches and a huge memorial statue to the fallen in both wars, called Tommy 101. I’ve not been able to find anything out about it, other than the fact that a run takes place ending there the week before remembrance.

In 2014 I went up to the Tower of London to see their poppy tribute, it was possible to buy a poppy afterwards as they were ceramic (from memory, all made by one person?). I never got around to it but I have enough artwork in the house.

Conveniently for this Post, this Somerset village is marking six years of knitting poppies as a way of remembering the occasion.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgj7yd547xzo

I haven’t knitted for a long time now but maybe I should start again. I’ve lots of leftover yarn in my boxes, I just need inspiration. I’m not sure how much I’m inspired by the local knitting circle though. Call me squeamish if you like but I can’t quite imagine knitting the necessary parts.

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/glastonbury-themed-naked-knitted-window-9340550

Although I (used to) love knitting, I never managed to get to grips with crochet. Have a look at this and see what you think. I saw a designer watch advertised the other day that was seven figures to buy: maybe a knitted or crochet one would be better? Less likelihood of it being wrenched off your wrist I’d imagine.

https://www.ponymctate.com/

On my wandering around London, I’ve often seen small green buildings and initially wondered what they were. A friendly cab driver told me they had been built for cabbies to be able to take a break (and to keep them out of the pubs), especially in the days when they were driving horses. The first was built in 1875. There are now only 13 left so I think I need to visit each one. I was sure I’d a photograph of at least one of them but cannot find it. It’s made me realise that I’ve a lot of photos randomly saved on my laptop. Another job to add to the to-do list.

https://londonist.com/london/history/all-13-surviving-green-cab-shelters-now-have-listed-status

In exploring these, maybe I can also try some of the new London tube lines, of which there will be six. On reading it again, I’m not sure these are actually new lines, just re-named old ones to cause us yet more confusion. It might be easier to commission a cab for the day and ask them to drive me to each shelter. Not as much of a challenge but probably faster.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68296483

In Post 163 (24th August 2024) I mentioned secret bunkers and the book Attack Warning Red. That could be a very interesting (or tedious) blog post for the future if I ever get around to visiting them. One of them is in the Southwest, but I need to research where the others are. I mentioned it in that Post but didn’t give you the link. There’s even a pub where we could have lunch. An outing for the Saab once we have warmer weather.

https://www.southwestairfields.co.uk/page5.html

In my last Post there were no cocktails as I was off alcohol. That phase of my life didn’t last long, so back to today’s recipe. In honour of the constant miserable weather how about a ‘Naked in the Rain’? Not an action to undertake in the UK in November but we can dream of warm days. Take equal quantities of mezcal, Aperol, elderflower liqueur and lime juice. It’s going to stop you get scurvy so must be good for you.