I Couldn’t be a Catholic Priest
This is from this week’s Popbitch.
In August 1994, the Catholic church decreed that you couldn’t be a priest if you were an alcoholic or had coeliac disease (allergic to wheat).
But then I like women too much! And I don’t believe in god.
I have a feeling that the guy who said that is now Pope.
I have discussed this with several devout Catholics and they don’t agree! Wasn’t according to the Bible, Jesus welcoming of all and sundry? Even tax collectors.
Completing a Widowhood Survey
Yesterday I completed the survey for Lizzie Evans at Liverpool University.
It was fairly painless and therapeutic. So please do the survey!
Rabbits
Cuddly! Aren’t they? No! Delicious? Yes!
There is a report that they do a lot of damage to crops. As someone who keeps horses they are a nightmare, as what would happen if a horse at speed puts their foot in a rabbit hole and turns over. They don’t do too much damage to my crops as I don’t really have any, but muntjak do eat all my young trees.
The report says that nunbers are increasing and blames the government for removing rules that allow you to complain about your neighbours, who don’t keep rabbits down. And as those neighbours are often nebulous government agencies like highways or large corporations like the railways, it is not easy to complain without a big stick.
That may be the case in some areas, but I’m in the middle of nowhere and all then rabbits round here are either mine or my neighbours.
Rabbit numbers are increasing, but they really haven’t got to pest levels yet. But as they say rabbits breed like well – rabbits!
Could though one of the causes of the increase in rabbits be the ban on hunting?
But you say that you didn’t hunt rabbits with hounds! No, but you hunted foxes and whereas before the hunting ban, you saw lots of foxes round here, now they are very rare indeed. I don’t even smell them like I used to in the gateways, where they marked their territories.
So it’s not rocket science to see that if you have less foxes, you might well have more rabbits.
But why are the foxes declining? The only reason I can think, is that whereas some years ago, if they saw a fox, farmers and gamekeepers would leave him for the hunt, now they make sure he doesn’t get away.
Obviously, it needs a proper study, than just my personal observations.
Another reason for the increase is that years ago, country kids often used to go rabbiting, bring them home and skin them for the pot. I don’t know whether it’s still legal, but parents don’t let their fourteen-year-olds take out the 4-10 these days!
And talking of the pot! Rabbits are delicious and good for you!
So let’s make the farmers problem, someone else’s opportunity. We just need to buy them in the butchers or the supermarket. I’ll get some today in Waitrose for supper tonight.
How Did They Do That?
On Saturday evening, I ordered a copy of the Dorling Kindersley guide to Brussels from Amazon. The time on the confirming e-mail is 20:15 and I had another one on Sunday at 14:45 to say the book had been dispatched.
It arrived with the post this morning. At least Newmarket is not on strike.
I thought too, that the Royal Mail didn’t accept letters and parcels on Sunday. They obviously do for Amazon.
Diphthongs
My father was a printer and he was a great believer in dipthongs. In letterpress type they are actually double characters, so they have a nice heavy feel.
So in the last post on Coventry Cathedral, I have spelt mediaeval with an extra “a”.
The Destroyed and the New
I went to the football at Coventry today and as I was a bit early, I went into the city centre to see the two cathedrals; the destroyed mediaeval one and the new building created in the late 1950s to replace it.
The Two Cathedrals
The new one was designed by Basil Spence and is unusual in that it is aligned north and south, so that it is at right-angles to the old cathedral.
The New Coventry Cathedral
The sculpture is by Sir Jacob Epstein and portrays St. Michael’s victory over the devil.
Inside the Old Coventry Cathedral
The tower still functions as a bell tower, but only it and the walls remain after bombing of the 14th November, 1940. One notice on the walls said that one of the reasons it all came down, was that the heat was so intense the iron supports put in to make it stronger, twisted and destroyed the roof. So perhaps ancient builders did know a lot more than we give them credit for.
Ecce Homo - Sir Jacob Epstein
This is another piece of sculture by Sir Jacob Epstein. It is called Ecce Homo.
Reconciliation - Josefina de Vasconcellos
This is another of several pieces of sculture in the nave of the old cathedral. One poingnent piece was made by an 18 year old schoolbay, who lost his life in the war.
Alain John's Statue of Christ
The inscription under the statue reads.
This is a second casting, in concrete of a statue at Blundell’s School in Devon. It was created by an 18 year old pupil, Alain John. The Headmaster, Neville Corton, later became Bishop of Coventry and on the death of Alain John, an RAF navigator, in 1943 at the age of 23, the statue was recast for Coventry as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the war.
The Window Between the Two Cathedrals
As it was Sunday, I didn’t venture into the new cathedral, but I did take this shot of the window that effectively separates the new from the destroyed.
Let’s hope we do not see such destruction again. But I suspect we will!
Looking After Your Appliances
How many domestic appliances do you have?
Do you keep all the serial numbers safe?
A friend of mine in Holland, has a Rosieres cooker and one of the burners, well burned itself out. It was impossible to find the new part in Holland, so I tried the on-line spares company, Spares To Go, in the UK. They weren’t sure of the part, but after I’d e-mailed them the serial number of the cooker, they were able to despatch the part.
Rosieres Hob
It just slotted in, but for some reason only after I’d drilled a hole out in the part. Perhaps, as it appears to fit several cookers, the installation was different in each.
But it does show the importance of keeping track of all those serial numbers, even after the guarantee has run out.
It also shows that with companies like Spares To Go, there is no need to summon an expensive service engineer.
Glasses in the Bath
When I am abroad, I always have to remember to take my glasses into the bath or shower. At least for the first time, as I can’t read which bottle is shampoo. I once tried to wash my hair in body lotion. It didn’t work.
Can we have a big S on shampoo bottles please?
A Stray Hare
Another set of pictures from my office. This time in the evening sun a stray hare ambled past and had a nibble on some grass. Luckily I had the camera handy. But no video this time.
A Stray Hare
Off Goes the Hare
Hares really are the most amazing of Britain’s wildlife.
And these two pictures were taken from just a couple of metres, where I’m typing this.
I also found out later that the front door was open, so my basset hound could have given chase. After all they were bred to hunt hares. Did she move? No! Although, when she went out about ten minutes later for her evening business, she did liven up as she had definitely smelt something. Dogs have an amazing sense of smell.
Green Woodpecker
According to my Collins Bird Guide, green woodpeckers are shy and wary. But obviously, this juvenile, who I think is a male, isn’t! I took this video on the front drive just outside my office window. He was perhaps four metres away at the furthest.
If you want to know more go to the RSPB site.
When we first moved here about fifteen years ago, I never saw a green woodpecker. Now I usually see one or two every day in the summer months. I suspect that the individual in the video comes most days to eat on the ants in the grass. He’s always in the same place.
Now I have got some decent photos of him, I will be able to check.
A Technical Note – The video was filmed on a Fuji S5700, still/video camera and processed from a .avi file into .wmv using Windows Movie Maker. The latter software is excellent and comes FREE with Windows XP and Vista.
The Anonymous Widower 