I dare you

From the Girl Effect and the Nike Foundation

I dare you to rethink what it means to look at a girl and see

not a burden,
not an object,
but the answer.

Beatrix Potter's birthday

By coincidence I was in Gloucester over the weekend, just returning today, Beatrix Potter's birthday.

I particularly wanted to see the cathedral which was signposted down this alley.

As I went along I realised the shop at the archway was called Beatrix Potter shop. I assumed it was a shop selling souvenirs based on the children's book "The Tailor of Gloucester".

because there was the sign hanging outside.

Later on during the weekend I was browsing various bookshops, when I noticed in one this display of Beatrix Potter books.

Although I had the books as a child, and even read them to my own sons when they were little, there were several titles I didn't know at all. I'm pleased to see the original versions because I had heard they had been "modernised". I imagine the owners of the shop will have known about the upcoming birthday but at the time I didn't and thought they were using the Gloucester connection. Considering they were 80 odd miles away, the connection was tenuous.

I looked up The Tailor of Gloucester, having thought it was just a story, and it seems that it's based on a folk tale about a tailor who had to make a suit of clothes for the Mayor of Gloucester. Beatrix Potter became fascinated by the tale and wrote her story based on it.

On investigating the story I find that the shop is not merely a souvenir shop, but also has a museum dedicated to Beatrix Potter, so that was an opportunity I missed. All the same I was delighted to find that today is her birthday, and that at least I had noted the place. And I don't have to do my "Dr Foster went to Gloucester" rhyme again.

PhotoHunter: hanging

I'm away, and have hastily scheduled this.

On my recent walk on St Catherine's Hill I noticed the trees were laden with seeds. Obviously a good year for ash.

And for lime - the European common lime, not the citrus fruit.

A fuchsia, one of my favourite flowers.

Allium I think, and I think I may have posted this before too , but another of my favourites.

Sorry I won't be around to comment for a few days. I'll be back late on Monday.

Technorati tags: PhotoHunt, flowers, tree seeds

Going away for a few days, and hoping the weather holds!

Addis

Another video from Girl Effect and the Nike Foundation.

Addis, a beautiful 18 year old from Ethiopia, was married at the age of 11 to a man from her village. He wouldn't let her continue at school.

She is no longer married so she's returned to school, along with her son.

St Catherine's Hill

I first walked to, but not up, St Catherine's Hill almost 5 months ago. Yesterday I finished the "up" part of the journey, though the further I went the more I realised there were still more places to explore.

St Catherine's Hill was a settlement over 3,000 years ago, long before Winchester was in existence. In 3 BC it was ringed by the ramparts of an iron age hill fort. In the 12th century, a chapel was built at the top. Nowadays it is a nature reserve, with butterflies and birds everywhere.

The picture of St Catherine's Hill which I took last February. The greens looked rather dull at that time.

If you click on the picture to open up a larger size you can just about see the stairway up the hill. This is what I am heading for, so that I can get to the top.

A little brighter this time as I make my way up the pathway.

Until I get to the fork in the path. Two apparently equally used paths and not a signpost in sight. Which one to take? I choose the right hand one.

And I rapidly realise it isn't the right one. I am faced with what seemed like a vertical wall of grass. But I am intrepid. Up I go, attempting to appear dignified at all times, even while sliding back down.

A view of the Hospital of St Cross, but not really in the direction I am expecting. Taking photos gives me a chance to regain my breath.

A view of Winchester, the more modern part. On the skyline from the left: the hospital, the prison, and Hampshire constabulary. The prison is called Winchester Community Prison. I'm still unsure what the "Community" part is supposed to mean. We can all go in for a look?

The copse at the top of the hill. A mystical, magical atmosphere, perhaps because it is the site of St Catherine's chapel (12th century), though there is no longer any sign that it was there.

People often meet at the summit to celebrate the solstices, or for no particular reason. There are quite a few places where fires have obviously been lit.

The path along the upper rampart, with the underlying chalk showing through.

Looking down at the lower rampart with a ditch in between. Rabbits all over the place.

Eventually I reach the stairs I thought I would be coming up, but I am by now clearly on the other side of the hill from where I started. There must be two sets of stairs.

I eventually make my way right around the hill, back to where my starting point, but still no sign of the correct route. I end up having to scramble back down the bank, through some more trees and clamber under a rail that goes along the correct path.

This was the way I should have gone. Pretty looking steps with a convenient bench half way up. If this stairway seems shorter than the other, it's only because the path itself climbs before reaching the stairs, and the route is more direct and quite a bit steeper here.

The pathway continues along the ditch between the rampart earthworks. But I stop here and turn back, because I'm running out of time (and breath). I'll save the rest for another day.

On the way back, I notice another path, this one running along the Itchen Navigation Canal. I believe it's part of the Itchen Way, and looks like a good route for a future walk.

Cold baths are good for you

Back in England for a week, and almost everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong. And of course the weather has been bad - cold and rainy. It all reached a peak on Friday night when I discovered there was no hot water, just as I stepped into my bath.

On Saturday morning we realised that the boiler wasn't working at all, so we switched on the immersion heater. After a couple of hours, it seemed that the immersion heater wasn't working either.

Photo from Flickr/Bashed. Creative Commons Licence.

After a number of abortive attempts to find someone who could come out and fix one or the other, or preferably both, we decided we could manage until Monday morning. Let me tell you, it's not as easy as it sounds.

Photo from Flickr/esterase. Creative Commons Licence.

Of course, Monday morning dawns, nothing, nobody arrives. Mid-afternoon the plumber does turn up but doesn't have the right parts. The immersion heater provoked one of those long intakes of breath and a shake of the head. Apparently it's marked in Fahrenheit! How long have we been using Celsius in the UK? Forty years? More?

So, for the time being, keep on with the cold baths.

BUT. At least the weather has improved, considerably, and I managed to get right to the top of St Catherine's Hill. Something to be grateful for (with apologies to Solomon).

PhotoHunter: what is that?

In the roof-space I found this box which appeared to be full of rubbish. I brought it downstairs to get rid of it but had a closer look before doing anything. On inspection it was, in a way, a treasure chest. It yielded some fascinating things.

A pencil drawing of my mother dated 14.8.46 Naples. It's not much of a likeness but it reminds me of the story of how my mother got to Naples in 1946.

Letters from my father while he was on active service during WWII, all having been opened by the censors. This one in particular caught my eye because someone had gone to the trouble of cutting out offending sections.

It's particularly interesting because elsewhere in the letter my father says:

"Now we are in North Africa, our meals consist largely of dates and oranges"
"We are now under canvas in the sand dunes on the edge of the Med. "
"a drive through orange and lemon groves past [cut out piece] (very thrilling to my simple mind)"

So I think I could hazard a guess as to where in the world he might have been. In another letter he assures my mother he wasn't chasing after "dark-eyed Sicilian beauties". Where on earth could that be I wonder? Granted my father's writing was, like any good doctor's, appalling, but it seems to me that the censorship was slightly lacking.

It's going to take some time to go through all the papers, and to decide what to do with them. But isn't it a good thing that I did indeed wonder "what is that?" before putting it into a rubbish bin.

Technorati tags: PhotoHunt, WWII, censored letters

HIV/AIDS - susceptibility in Africa

Photo from Flickr user jonrawlinson. Creative Commons Licence.

It has been noticeable that HIV/AIDS rates vary tremendously throughout the world. It has frequently been blamed on different social conditions and sexual behaviour, though scientists have thought that there may be a genetic factor to the problem.

Researchers from University College London and the University of Texas have recently published a study which indicates that this may be the result of having a gene, the DARC gene, which gives protection against malaria but which at the same time seems to increase susceptibility to the HIV virus by 40%. At the same time, it appears to prolong survival causing AIDS to develop more slowly.

HIV affects 25 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, a far greater burden than any other region, and 90% of Africans carry this gene.

UCL news release

Boobs 4 justice

Photo from Flickr user zmxncbv.com. Creative Commons licence.

Apparently Marks and Spencer have been charging extra for larger bra sizes, £2 for anything over size DD. They say it's "standard practice".

So, do larger people have to pay extra for larger clothes? I don't think so.

Do larger people have to pay more for air fares? Not that I've heard.

Would Olga the Travelling Bra approve? I'm certain she wouldn't.

Join the Busts 4 Justice protest.

Doodle bug

When our dog was still alive I used to take her for walks several times a day. When it was cold I used to wrap up in my son's coat because it was warm and cozy.

One evening, as I was approaching home, I felt the label of the coat scratching my neck. I tried to adjust it with my free hand, the other one being busy with the dog's lead. I rapidly discovered that the label was moving around. A lot.

I put on a mighty sprint, which involved jumping down the four steps to the front door, dragging the poor old dog behind me. She and I crashed through the front door at the same time, she landed on her nose while I stripped all my clothes off as fast as I possibly could (it was a record, let me tell you) until I found the moving label. This was it.

It was ENORMOUS. And it was angry. And it's antennae were red. And they were whizzing around so fast, they were a blur.

It's Doodle Week, and today it's a bug.

Bastille Day

We missed Bastille Day again this year, and by only one day. The town was all done up in its finery. The flags were out, the band was practising.

The town hall was looking official.

I'd have made rather more of an effort to stay longer, had I known that the official entertainment was an Irish band and that the evening was being billed as a ceilidh. How a ceilidh fits with Bastille Day, I am intrigued to find out. It must be a night to remember, and it's happening this very minute.

July sunset

I'll leave you with a picture of last evening's sunset, while I travel back to England.

Technorati tags: sky, red sky, clouds, sunset

PhotoHunter: support

I'm travelling back to England this weekend, so a very rapid rummage around my photos has revealed these candidates for support.

This and the next photo show the arches that support the bridge I featured for the theme "bright".

Massive wooden supports surround Les Halles in Questembert, built 1552, restored in 1675 and again in 1997. It is used these days for markets of all sorts, concerts and other exhibitions. There was an exhibition for ecological buildings while we were there, very well attended.

I managed to dodge between the exhibitors to take this picture of the timbers supporting the roof. An incredible sight.

Really though I can't leave this subject before saying that even though I have no supporting photos, I must thank everyone who has given me support on this blog. Some of you have been with me from the very beginning, others I've met along the way. So very many of you have become good friends, and I thank you.

Technorati tags: PhotoHunt, bridge, arches, Questembert, wooden beams, Les Halles

Morning sun

It looks so peaceful in the early morning sun. I love the way the light catches the trees at this time of day, as I stand here looking south. Balm for my soul.

Anaconda, or electric eel?

Photo from Flickr/skippy13. Creative commons licence.

Researchers at the University of Southampton are developing a new way to create electricity from wave power.

They have called it the Anaconda because of its shape - a long narrow rubber tube, closed at both ends. It is designed to be anchored just below the sea's surface, with one end facing the oncoming waves. It is made of rubber and has no joints or hinges, so making it less expensive to make and maintain.

The New Scientist has produced a short YouTube video, and there is more information from Southampton where you can find still more links.

It was easier to find a picture of an electric eel than an anaconda, and in some ways it seems a more appropriate name. Still, the picture above doesn't seem to generate any warm feelings inside me, not at all..

Lesotho

Photo from Wikimedia/Tjeerd Wiersma. Creative Commons licence.

Lesotho is a small country surrounded by South Africa. The census of 2006 put its population at less than 2 million. It has one of the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the world.

As I was watching the news this evening I learned that Prince Harry and 20 or so of his army colleagues were in Lesotho to refurbish a special needs school. Apparently this school cost $165,000, say £85,000, funded in part by a local charity Sentebale. He said that the problem was huge but that they could definitely handle it "as long as we can keep the funding coming".

And how much did it cost to have the whole thing filmed for television?

Was it only last week that it was announced that Prince Charles' personal income had risen by £1.1 million to over £16.2 million? And that his tax bill had reduced?

I'm sorry to say that I find it obscene.

Roses are red

Picked today from our garden. Old-fashioned, far from perfect, but the most wondrous scent.

Technorati tags: roses, red roses, scented roses,

Bridges between

On a recent holiday to Brittany, we passed through a small town called Redon. We found place criss-crossed with waterways and bridges.

It is now a centre for pleasure boats.

To me the interesting part about it is that it is here that the Nantes-Brest canal crosses the river Vilaine. Napoleon I of France decided to build the canal to link the two largest military ports when the British fleet was blockading Brest. The mammoth task was started in 1806, first used by boats in 1842, and completed in 1854.

At one time this was a very important crossroads for the navigable waterways of the west. The canal was used to carry freight up until the 70s. Since then pleasure boating has kept a large part of the canal alive.

Bridges Between participants.

Technorati tags: canal, bridges, Redon, Vilaine, Brittany