No eruptions of political news today, I am leaving the conservatives members of parliament to sort a decent candidate. Though I might write to Craig Whittaker threatening him with eternal damnation if he votes for Johnson!
I have showered the plaster out of my hair, Paul may not be coming today, all that work yesterday was accompanied by groans as his back hurt, so it will be peaceful till Monday.
Funnily enough the picture that has been haunting my mind the last couple of days is of Ascelpius, the Roman god of healing. A statue of him is imbedded in Tockenham Church, Wiltshire. I have often wondered how in the medieval period how the people looked upon the Roman remains scattered around them. Maybe they saw Ascelpius as a Christian saint with his stick and the snake winding through it.
"Roman tesserae, tile fragments and pottery sherds were found at Tockenham and a possible villa was suggested. The site has been subject to investigation by the Time Team in 1994 and was confirmed as being a villa with associated structures, probably dating from the 2nd to 4th centuries. Finds from the excavations have included pottery, tesserae, window glass fragments and roofing tile. Scheduled. " taken from Pastscape Monument No.887838.
"The Rod of Asclepius symbolizes the healing arts by combining the serpent, which in shedding its skin is a symbol of rebirth and fertility with the staff, a symbol of authority, befitting the god of Medicine. The snake wrapped around the staff is widely claimed to be a species of rat snake,Elaphe longissima, also known as the Aesculapian (Asclepian) snake. It is native to southeastern Europe, Asia Minor and some central European spa regions, apparently brought there by Romans for their healing properties." taken from Wikipedia.
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Yesterday - thinking of clashing cultures here - the young lad who was working with Paul came downstairs and rather awkwardly thanked me for what I had done over the space of the day, it was so sweet and it set us all chatting.
I had made the point that I could not always follow Yorkshire accents, the difference between the South and North of England. Paul said 'they come from Somerset' meaning my family, as if that explained the difference. I modified it to Bath and the lad was intrigued by the city. I said lots of people both tourists and a rush of foreign students around April. The French being particular loud and pushy to Bath resident's ears.
Paul's mum lives a few doors down, and speaks to her son several times in the day and I am sure she would want the 'gossip' on me. Not that I mind, being a completely virtuous person!
Todmorden, as Paul said, is a quiet and friendly town with plenty of trees and walking, for those able to walk steep hills said I. And also, for the owning of a dog for companionship, my daughter says no, just in case I die and leave her with another animal to look after. I can see her point, apart from anything there is no garden here and steep steps down from front and back doors.
There is a Roman altar in the Temple Precinct area of the baths here, and one panel was discovered as part of an early Christian altar in a nearby village church. French school kids were the noisiest of the tourists in Bath, but this year there haven't been many - or they are quieter now. There have been a lot of very well behaved Spanish and Italian kids. Just think - Boris back at number 10. If that happens we will suffer even more than we are set to now.
ReplyDeleteThey (conservatives in favour of him) are trying to tell us his only crime was the 'Partygate affair' quietly forgetting he lived out a whole tenure ship of lies. I haven't seen that Roman panel, it is interesting how the Romans submerged the old native gods with their own around the Bath area. Sulis of course being one of them.
DeleteI miss my dog every day but she was old and ill and now I couldn't manage a dog, sadly.
ReplyDeleteNeither could I Pat, but I do get envious of all the people who walk by with little dogs.
DeleteSomething to consider. Do you know a working person who could benefit by someone stopping by to take their little dog for a walk?
ReplyDeleteNot really Debby. I could 'kidnap' a dog I suppose!
ReplyDeleteThe variety of regional accents has always intrigued me; even the relatively small area of my native New England has quite a few, some that are lampooned as the 'Boston' way of speaking or 'Down East. Growing up in Vermont's Champlain Valley and with a teacher mother who believed in speaking 'clearly' people have a hard time placing me by my speech. Being fairly familiar with southern accents in general I didn't expect the difficulty in comprehending the dialect of native Kentuckians. For instance, "I wouldn't care to do that," indicates that the speaker would be delighted to do whatever is under discussion.
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