Life – Page 9 – Journeys of Heart and Mind

Blast from the past… 23

We were living in our flat at 20 Belmont Road, and I already had a Scottish Widows life assurance policy as a first step towards securing a mortgage.

< Previous | Index | Next >

Notes from bygone years – October (Noctober after dark?).
Hint: Click on the thumbnails for larger images.

October 2023 (1 year before publishing this article)

An exciting scientific paper published in the journal Nature described how X-ray data and clever data manipulation had made it possible to recover small scraps of text from scrolls lost when Vesuvius erupted in October 79 CE. Hope was expressed that it might become possible to recover much larger sections of text, or even whole scrolls.

Our cat, Erin, was not feeling well; due to a tumour she was not eating very well and often threw up afterwards. She was losing weight quickly as a result. The vet suggested a steroid injection to see if it would help her cope better, but it would clearly be only temporary relief. It seemed well worth a try and during the second half of the month she seemed very much her old self again.

We visited Westonbirt Arboretum on 23rd October to enjoy the autumn colours, and Donna’s Uncle Ken died on 26th after a long illness.

JHM: I published Blast from the past… 11; and an index on posts about church as a network. World events: Mike Johnson was elected as Speaker of the US House of Representatives; and the Cricket World Cup was held in India.

< Sep 2023 – Nov 2023 >

October 2022 (2 years before publishing)

I began intermittent fasting, only eating between 11:00 and 21:00, as part of a Zoe trial. I’ve changed the timing slightly, but I’m still following the principle two years later.

There was a Roman Army historical display in the old amphitheatre on 2nd October, it was great fun to watch the events going on and look at the Roman equipment. They fired a melon from a ballista and it sailed right out of the arena. Seeing a crowd at the amphitheatre gave me a sense of scale and made the place look much larger. The crowd in the photo is using about a third of the seating space.

On Mondays I enjoyed meeting my friend Stephen for a walk, a coffee, and a chat.

JHM: I decided to make a fresh start. World events: Ukraine attacked the Kerch Strait Bridge; and Liz Truss announced her resignation.

< Sep 2022 – Nov 2022 >

October 2019 (5 years before)

I spent some time working out the route of the old canal through the built-up parts of Cirencester, it was an interesting exercise, poring over old maps.

We were also helping Donna’s Mum and Dad quite a lot, I get on well with Tony; we’ve always enjoyed chatting and he seems to trust me. He was mostly wheelchair-bound at this time as his Parkinson’s progressed, but on a good day he could still do quite a lot for himself.

On 19th I joined the People’s Vote march in London, quite an experience!

JHM: I wrote an article on climate change; and another about Cirencester Wharf. World events: There was a Turkish incursion into Syria; and tourists visited the summit of Uluru (Ayers Rock) for the last time.

< Sep 2019 – Nov 2019 >

October 2014 (10 years)

My friends Jim and Pam ran a church Mums and Tots group (Puddles) in St Neots. Jim ask me to take a set of photos of each mum with their child for official use by the group, here’s a more general shot that I included for them.

I was meeting frequently with different people, there was the Open Door small group once a week, coffee shop meetings with some friends in town, meetings with my friends Jim, Sean and Kevin rotating around our three homes. It was all good and seemed useful, but three such different groups!

JHM: I wrote about the ‘seal’ of an apostle; and about simplifying my blog. World events: Pope Paul VI was made a saint; and Alan Eustace set a world record highest and longest free fall jump.

< Sep 2014 – Nov 2014 >

October 2009 (15 years)

Donna’s Mum and Dad came to stay for a weekend in the middle of the month and we drove over to Olney for a walk and then to Stoke Bruerne to look at the canal and the ladder of locks. There were some great autumn colours on the day. The photo shows Isobel, Tony and Donna on a bridge.

JHM: I posted about a home meeting; and an article on Google Wave. World events: WikiLeaks published the membership list of the BNP; and Microsoft released Windows 7.

< Sep 2009 – Nov 2009 >

October 2004 (20 years)

At the end of the month we visited Cirencester to visit my Mum and Dad, and while we were there we popped over to Westonbirt Arboretum to look at the autumn colours. There’s always a wonderful display there, and the trees were more or less at their best.

JHM: I wrote an article about moles and what they can teach us; and about walking in the light. World events: Explorers reached the bottom of the world’s deepest cave; and the first European constitution was signed.

< Sep 2004 – Nov 2004 >

October 1999 (25 years)

These are the web development servers in the open plan office where I worked as part of the Web Team. Today these would all be virtual servers hosted at a data centre elsewhere in the company. It was very useful to have multiple copies of each website, one for the developers to work on, another for testing purposes, and a third for the live service.

World events: NASA lost a Mars orbiter due to a mix-up over measurement units; and there was a serious rail crash in London.

< Sep 1999 – Nov 1999 >

October 1994 (30 years)

Things seemed to go from bad to worse with Judy’s colon cancer. In October (I think) she began the first of three courses of chemotherapy (5-fluorouracil) to shrink the metastases and slow them down. This was expected to give her at least a couple of extra years of healthy life. But after starting the first course she became quite unwell and the doctors discovered that she lacked an enzyme that normally enables the body to dispose of the drug. She had to spend some weeks in hospital, quite dangerously ill for some of them.

World events: Tim Berners-Lee founded the World Wide Web Consortium; and Iraq withdrew its forces from the Kuwaiti border.

< Sep 1994 – Nov 1994 >

October 1989 (35 years)

I had been working in Long Ashton’s Electron Microscopy Lab, helping to manage the instruments and operating the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) for staff unable to do the work themselves. But with a further reshuffle at work I’d been moved to the Computing Section and was now working on MS-DOS and developing the environment that became the LARS System.

World events: The Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize; and the Loma Prieta earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay Area.

< Sep 1989 – Nov 1989 >

October 1984 (40 years)

I was the Computing Representative for Long Ashton Research Station’s Plant Science Division.

The photo of Lilias (my Mum) and my nephew, Tom, is a still from my Dad’s cine collection in October 1984.

World events: The Provisional IRA attempted to assassinate the UK PM and Cabinet ; and The Terminator premiered.

< Sep 1984 – Nov 1984 >

October 1979 (45 years)

The Good News Crusade came to Portishead and a number of us from Yatton and Claverham were involved. There were several days of the Crusade itself, and then we (and others) arranged some post-Crusade meetings as well.

Mum and Dad had a late touring holiday along the Devon and Cornwall coast. Dad took several 35 mm transparency films of that holiday.

World events: A National March for gay rights was held in Washington DC; and the eradication of the smallpox virus was announced.

< Sep 1979 – Nov 1979 >

October 1974 (50 years)

We were living in our flat at 20 Belmont Road, and I already had a Scottish Widows life assurance policy as a first step towards securing a mortgage. We were still not well-placed despite having quite a lot of available reserves in our joint bank savings account.

World events: Harold Wilson’s Labour government won a general election; and five bombs were detonated in Manhatten.

< Sep 1974 – Nov 1974 >

October 1969 (55 years)

I was back in Bath University and the fourth year was underway with the final exams looming after Easter. Judy’s position was similar, back at Aber (Aberystwyth) for her third and final year. She took the photo from a ground floor window in Alexandra Hall on the Aber seafront as the sun was setting.

World events: Hundreds of thousands demonstrated against the Vietnam War across the United States; and the first ARPANET message was sent between two computers (the start of the internet).

< Sep 1969 – Nov 1969>

October 1964 (60 years)

The autumn term meant the start of my time in the Lower Sixth at Cirencester Grammar School. During half-term a friend and I dug a hole in the Lower Garden just east of the footpath behind Churnside (37 Victoria Road). We found some Roman stonework, small pieces of burnt clay, pieces of a broken amphora rim, and a small piece of Samian ware with a failed repair, also a piece of tegula (roof tile). We had no idea this was a bad thing to do!

World events: The world’s first high-speed rail system opened between Tokyo and Osaka; and Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize.

< Sep 1964 – Nov 1964>

October 1959 (65 years)

I was in my first term at Cirencester Grammar School. Amongst other subjects I had to learn some Latin, it wasn’t my favourite subject at the time. The image shows a Latin exercise in which I managed to get seven correct answers out of nine. I think my favourite subjects were maths, geography and chemistry.

World events: Luna 3 returned the first images of the far side of the Moon; and Astérix the Gaul first appeared in a French comic.

< Sep 1959 – Nov 1959>

October 1954 (70 years)

Cindy turned three and I was in my second year at Querns School; we were living on the Beeches Estate in Cirencester. 17 Queen Anne’s Road was a three-bedroom semi so I had my own room. Mum and Dad’s room had a special feature, a wall-mounted electric fire with two switches. I never saw this heater in use, but there was also a two bar plug-in electric fire that was used downstairs on very cold days in the winter.

World events: Texas Instruments announced the first commercial transistor radio; and the Paris Agreement was signed.

< Sep 1954 – Nov 1954>

October 1949 (75 years)

I was 1¼-years-old, and life went on well enough as far as I’m aware. We were living in my grandparents house in Victoria Road, Cirencester and Dad was busy working on the nurseries, part of the old family business founded in 1795.

World events: The People’s Republic of China was founded; and the cornerstone was laid for the United Nations HQ in New York.

< Sep 1949 – Nov 1949>

October 1944 (80 years)

As October passed and Mum and Dad spent more time together, they became what today we would call ‘an item’. His brother Bob, an army officer and 15 years older than Dad, was married to Betty from the town of Dungannon 13 miles south of Coagh. Dad visited them from time to time, but spent much of his off-duty time with Lilias and her family.

World events: The first German Me 262 jet fighter was shot down; and Warsaw was destroyed by the occupying German forces.

< Sep 1944 – Nov 1944>

< Previous | Index | Next >

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Sean Carroll on future and prediction

If you’re interested in the future of society and human culture (and who is not?) then you’ll be fascinated to hear what Sean has to say in this podcast episode.

A recent Sean Carroll podcast considers the future, and in particular how humanity lives and how this may change. He discusses the nature of predictability, and its limits. Fascinating stuff!

Sean Carroll is an American theoretical physicist and philosopher specialising in quantum mechanics, cosmology, and the philosophy of science. He’s the Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University.

He’s also active on the internet with his website, Preposterous Universe and interviews experts on a host of topics on his podcast Mindscape. For fuller details about Sean and his work, it’s worth reading the Wikipedia article about him and/or visiting his website (both linked below).

Episode 270

Most episodes of the podcast are interviews with scientists, philosophers and others. But Episode 270 is a solo appearance in which Sean thinks aloud on a topic by himself, and that’s not to say he ignores the ideas and work of others – far from it. He discusses his own ideas and those of others, explaining why the early stages of exponential growth may not be easily distinguishable from other kinds of curve such as asymptotic (where growth eventually slow and creeps ever closer to a maximum) or even a singularity or a phase transition (where growth may suddenly settle into a new and altogether different pattern).

Sean unpacks a lot of ideas here, and he’s careful to express his thoughts in ways that most people will be able to understand and digest. Sean is a mathematician (a necessary skill for any physicist) but even non-mathematicians will be able to follow his arguments here.

If you’re interested in the future of society and human culture (and who is not?) then you’ll be fascinated to hear what Sean has to say in this podcast episode. He will certainly cut the ground out from under your feet if you hold the opinion that we will go on expanding and thriving indefinitely.

Useful? Interesting?

Image of the day – 64

Living in Cirencester always gives me a sense of history and the slow but unstoppable passing of the years and centuries. Will the hare mosaic still be available to see 1700 years from now?

< Previous | Index | Next >

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.

I’m posting an image every two days (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.

This is the same hare that we looked at in the previous Image of the Day, but this time it’s a modern interpretation of the Roman original, installed in a public space between Brewery Arts and Waterstones bookshop.

It’s great to have the hare mosaic out in the open for visitors to the town to discover as they explore; perhaps it will encourage some of them to visit the Corinium Museum to view the original as well. But I wonder what the owners of the town house where the mosaic was found would have thought about public display some 1700 years in their future!

Living in Cirencester always gives me a sense of history and the slow but unstoppable passing of the years and centuries. Will the hare mosaic still be available to see 1700 years from now, in the year 3724? Will the town even exist in 3724? What language will be spoken here in 3724? Certainly not 21st century English! Will we have cities on the Moon, Mars, and beyond by then? Deep time, both backwards and forwards, a fascinating topic to ponder!

Cirencester

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:

A417 roadworks, Advent Market, Bishops Walk, Baunton, Canal 1, 2, Castle Street, Christmas lights 1, 2, Church 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Churn flood, Countryside, Fallen tree, Fleece, Gasworks, Gloucester Street, Hare 1, 2, Hospital, Market Place 1, Phoenix Fest, Riverside Walk, Stone plaque, Stratton Meadow, Tank traps, View, Wonky 1, 2, Yellow Iris

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

< Previous | Index | Next >

Useful? Interesting?

How life begins

The gap has been closing little by little from both the astronomical and biological sides. But though it’s narrower now than ever before, it’s still a gap.

How did life begin? It seems possible, even very likely, that simple chemistry has the potential to generate life given the right conditions and plenty of time.

There’s always been a big puzzle over the origin of life here on Earth. Life is everywhere and in a vast array of forms. From the simplest archaea and bacteria, to the giant redwood and the humble grass in the field, the blue whale down to the smallest mite. So rich in variety, so wide in its presence from the deepest oceans to the highest mountains. Life is amazing!

The processes of evolution are well understood and impossible to deny; so puzzles over the many forms of life, its adaptability, and changes in the forms we see coming and going over deep time are clearly understood and well explained by biologists. (When did you last see a dinosaur?)

But how did it all start?

Ah! That has always been the unexplained mystery. Once we have a simple, replicating form of life on the planet we can see it might thrive, spread and grow in complexity.

There are various proposals. Perhaps it arrived in an asteroid kicked off Mars or somewhere else. But that does no more than move the origin to a different place in the Solar System. Maybe it all began at mid-ocean ridges where hot mineral-laden springs flow from hot rock layers below the surface. Perhaps, yes.

We know that many of the precursors for life exist out among the stars. Here in the Solar System, comets and asteroids are often richly endowed with amino acids, ribonucleotides, and all sorts of smaller precursors. These are the building blocks of proteins, RNA, DNA and so forth. We understand how these precursors can form spontaneously given simpler materials like water, methane, ammonia, compounds including atoms of phosphorus, sulphur and so forth. It just takes chance interactions, time, and a source of energy like ultraviolet light. The basic ingredients are there in the gas clouds that condense to form new stars and the material orbiting in disks around them.

All of these things are fairly well understood, but there’s a gap in our understanding between the presence of the components and the presence of life. The gap has been closing little by little from both the astronomical and biological sides. But though it’s narrower now than ever before, it’s still a gap.

Life in a computer?

Well, yes! And, no.

Some clever work by Blaise Agüera y Arcas, a Google vice-president of engineering, has uncovered an intriguing process. Setting a very simple ‘machine’ running random code (no meaningful program whatsoever) and waiting for something to happen, shows that eventually some very simple self-replicating code will appear in the system, and once it exists it replicates very quickly and then slowly increases in complexity. It’s not biological life of course, but it has all the qualities that we would recognise as lifelike. It replicates itself, different forms of replicating code compete with one another, they evolve, and they grow more and more complex. This doesn’t show us in any detail how biological forms got started, but it demonstrates that self-replication could happen in principle, and given enough time that it’s almost inevitable.

For the detail and background you should listen to Sean Carroll interviewing Blaise, the conversation is absolutely fascinating.

Useful? Interesting?

Image of the day – 60

Other species…include red kites, you’ll see these frequently in the skies around Cirencester, often flying very low, even over housing estates.

< Previous | Index | Next >

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.

I’m posting an image every two days (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.

These beautiful, water tolerant, native Irises pop up every year in the waterways in and around Cirencester. The photo was taken at the junction of Riverside Walk and Gloucester Street right by Abbey Way Services. The photo was taken in May, just as they were reaching their best.

Although our natural environment is struggling to cope with the many pressures we put on it, some species manage to do quite well. This is one of them. But there are many others that are in danger. Some of these, plants and animals, are fairly stable or even recovering in and around the Cirencester area with careful conservation management. Examples include the lovely snakeshead fritillaries that flower abundantly in North Meadow just south of Cricklade, pasqueflowers in a strong colony to the north of the town near the Stow Road, and the large blue butterfly on a reserve west of the town and on common land near Stroud.

NOTE: If you visit any of these sites, please treat them with respect. Stay on marked paths if they’re available, avoid trampling on plants, stay out of restricted areas, and definitely don’t dig anything up. Pay attention to signs and notices. Thanks!

Other species, once rare but now much more common include red kites, you’ll see these frequently in the skies around Cirencester, often flying very low, even over housing estates. Back along Riverside Walk you may be lucky enough to see a heron, a kingfisher, or a little egret.

Cirencester

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

< Previous | Index | Next >

Useful? Interesting?

Blast from the past… 22

At this time we were busy with faith meetings of various kinds. Our band, Fountain, played and Judy spoke at Pill Baptist Church.

< Previous | Index | Next >

Notes from bygone years – September after September after September.
Hint: Click on the thumbnails for larger images.

September 2023 (1 year before publishing this article)

From time to time we visit Donna’s brother Paul and his wife Ness in Weston-super-Mare, and their two Labradors (pictured). They are sisters, but they have different temperaments, just like people. On this visit, Paul and Ness were heading off for a holiday so Donna and I looked after the dogs for the week.

One of our favourite walks is to take the dogs to the beach for exercise and then to Stones Cafe, a seafront place where we like the breakfasts, so we get a treat before walking home. If we just take Maizi, she gets a dog sausage as well, but fatty foods are a problem for Marple.

JHM: I wrote articles on ‘Dad’s diaries‘; and on ‘Detail or big picture?‘. World events: A large earthquake struck western Morocco; and the world’s oldest wooden structure (¾ million years old) was discovered in Zambia.

< Aug 2023 – Oct 2023 >

September 2022 (2 years before publishing)

Donna, Paul and Isobel at Pembroke city wall

We finished our family holiday in the Pennines, and drove home on 2nd September. And the very next day we set out again to drive to the village of Llantisilio in Pembrokeshire for a week with Paul, Ness, Isobel and the dogs.

It was during our stay that we heard about the death of the Queen and the accession of Charles III.

One day we drove to Tenby to look around and visit the indoor market, and we unexpectedly bumped into some friends that we’d made a few years ago in Cirencester, who have since moved to Yorkshire. And here they were in Tenby!

World events: The G7 Imposed a price cap on Russian oil exports; and Liz Truss was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

< Aug 2022 – Oct 2022 >

September 2019 (5 years before)

The fencing around our back garden was finished, and we were very pleased with it.

I was working on some decorating in Tony and Isobel’s new house, next door but one to ours; having them living close would make it far easier for Donna to help her Mum cope as Tony deteriorated (he had Parkinson’s). A local builder made some alterations for them, including bricking up an unwanted door.

JHM: I wrote an index for articles on my family’s old business. World events: In the UK, Thomas Cook went bankrupt; and in the USA an impeachment inquiry began against President Donald Trump

< Aug 2019 – Oct 2019 >

September 2014 (10 years)

Donna started her teacher training at the college in Stewartby; and at a Small Group meeting in St Neots she read out Ezekiel 47 and asked, ‘How deep are we prepared to go?’ This led to some good discussion. She was also helping with the Food Bank at this time.

I was meeting with my friends Matt, Kev, John, and Mo, we’d been reading the Bible together and trying to follow Jesus better. Meanwhile, the BBC reported the grim news that Islamic State had beheaded a British aid worker in Iraq.

We visited York to see Debbie, Beth and their families, Sara was six this month.

World events: ISIS attacked the border town of Kobani; and Scotland voted against independence.

< Aug 2014 – Oct 2014 >

September 2009 (15 years)

I flew to the USA for the House2House Conference in Dallas over the weekend of 2nd-6th. From there I flew to West Palm Beach to stay with Steph and Earl, then on to Boston on 14th to join up with Donna for a holiday, returning home via Gatwick on 26th.

World events: WikiLeaks exposed internal banking documents in the Icelandic Financial Crisis; and powerful earthquakes struck Samoa and Sumatra.

< Aug 2009 – Oct 2009 >

September 2004 (20 years)

We drove down to the RHS Garden at Wisley and spent a good part of the day there exploring. There’s a lot to see! Donna managed to get this picture of me while we were there.

We’d been invited to a party in St Neots in the evening, but we still had enough time to look around quite thoroughly before driving home and getting ready for the evening event.

JHM: I posted meeting notes on Touch and seasons. World events: Chechen rebels took 1,128 people hostage; and West Sulawesi became the 33rd province of Indonesia.

< Aug 2004 – Oct 2004 >

September 1999 (25 years)

We had a house-warming barbecue on 12th at our new home in St Neots, with a mix of guests from Unilever, Open Door Church and some neighbours.

On 17th we set off for a holiday in Sorrento. The photo shows the remains of a bakery in Pompeii, the grey devices are flour mills and you can see a brick-built oven in the background. Pompeii and Herculaneum were both amazing to see.

World events: An earthquake left 50 000 homeless in Athens; and Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga joined the United Nations.

< Aug 1999 – Oct 1999 >

September 1994 (30 years)

Arthur Griffith, Sinn Féin founder (Mediawiki)

During surgery to remove Judy’s colon tumour, metastases were found in her liver. She was offered a course of chemotherapy (5-fluorouracil) but although this was likely to give her a few more years, it would not be a cure.

This was a shock to the whole family, I have few photos, documents, or notes for the year following Judy’s surgery.

World events: Britain lifted the Northern Irish broadcasting ban on Sinn Féin and paramilitaries; and the Taliban movement was founded in Kandahar, Afghanistan..

< Aug 1994 – Oct 1994 >

September 1989 (35 years)

Due to lack of rainfall and a hot summer, the water levels in Chew Valley Lake fell to the lowest we could remember. The photo shows a road crossing the River Chew over a stone-built bridge, all of which would normally be under water.

World events: An IRA bomb exploded at the Royal Marine School of Music in Deal, killing 11 people; and Hurricane Hugo devastated the Caribbean and the southeastern USA.

< Aug 1989 – Oct 1989 >

September 1984 (40 years)

It’s always fun to do something unusual. Here are Debbie and Beth eating outside in the sunshine, it was lunchtime judging by the direction of the shadows.

There are fully grown apples on the tree beyond the table, but unpicked so presumably not quite ripe at the time of the photo.

World events: Space Shuttle Discovery landed after its maiden voyage ; and Joe Kittinger became the first person to cross the Atlantic solo, in a hot air balloon.

< Aug 1984 – Oct 1984 >

September 1979 (45 years)

Debbie was 4½ and Beth just over 16 months.

At this time we were busy with faith meetings of various kinds. Our band, Fountain, played and Judy spoke at Pill Baptist Church around 16th, and on 21st Colin Urquhart spoke at Portishead URC where I recorded his address in support of the coming Good News Crusade.

World events: Pioneer 11 became the first spacecraft to fly past Saturn ; and Two families escaped from East Germany by balloon.

< Aug 1979 – Oct 1979 >

September 1974 (50 years)

We visited Blenheim Palace, possibly with Judy’s Mum and Dad. It was a fine, early autumn day with a blue sky and strong sunshine.

Judy was pregnant at the time, we had no way of knowing whether to expect a boy or a girl (no ultrasound scans in those days), but in the event it would turn out to be Debbie. A highly satisfactory outcome!

World events: A bomb exploded on TWA Flight 841 killing 88; and Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia was deposed.

< Aug 1974 – Oct 1974 >

September 1969 (55 years)

Judy’s 21st birthday was 10th September and we were all invited to Cheltenham for her party. I think this was at 18 Hales Close, and Judy’s brother Frank must have taken the photo. We were both about to head back to University for our final year, me to Bath and Judy to Aberystwyth.

World events: Colonel Muammar Gaddafi seized power in Libya; and China carried out an underground nuclear bomb test.

< Aug 1969 – Oct 1969>

September 1964 (60 years)

Our Irish holiday continued into the beginning of September. This is the River Bann at Toome Bridge just north of Lough Neagh. Granda was a water bailiff on the Lough, protecting the eel fishery from poaching. The boat he took us out in is the one in the bottom-right corner.

World events: The Forth Road Bridge opened in Scotland; and the Beatles refused to play to a segregated audience in Florida.

< Aug 1964 – Oct 1964>

September 1959 (65 years)

After my Grandpa’s death and the funeral, Granny (Nor) went to Kent for a holiday in the area where she grew up, and visited places she remembered and was fond of. Perhaps she had friends or family to visit as well, I don’t know. What I do know is that this card had a long strip of conceretina-folded photos with other views that you could pull out. However, this has not survived.

World events: Luna 2 became the first human-made object to crash on the Moon; and the Xerox 914, the first plain paper copier was introduced.

< Aug 1959 – Oct 1959>

September 1954 (70 years)

We were on holiday at Muddiford, near Christchurch 0n the south coast of Hampshire. I was six at this time and Cindy was three, and Dad decided to send a postcard to Ireland on our behalf. His message on the back seems a bit cheeky, though, recommending Muddiford over Portrush! I wonder what Granny-in-Ireland thought about that? (view the card)

World events: The magnitude 6.7 Chlef earthquake struck northern Algeria; and the novel Lord of the Flies was published.

< Aug 1954 – Sep 1954>

September 1949 (75 years)

It was Mum and Dad’s second wedding anniversary at the end of September, and I was 14 months old. I was likely becoming more confident at both walking and talking. Possibly I’d have been doing unhelpful things as well, like trying to climb the stairs! Keeping a young child safe gets harder as they try new things.

World events: The Federal Republic of Germany was founded; and the pound sterling was devalued from $4.03 to $2.80.

< Aug 1949 – Oct 1949>

September 1944 (80 years)

Dad’s Uncle Herbert died (he’d been ill for some time). Dad continued working with radar at the Ballinderry RAF site, and visiting Coagh to spend time with his new friend Lilias. And on 6th September Dad reported hearing ‘awe inspiring drumming’ in Coagh.

By the end of the month Lilias was feeling she was falling in love with Dad, but in his diary he wrote that this was ‘a pity’. I’m glad he changed his mind later!

World events: II: In Operation Market Garden airborne landings began in the Netherlands and Germany; and the first V-2 rocket was used to attack London.

< Aug 1944 – Oct 1944>

< Previous | Index | Next >

Useful? Interesting?

Making some changes

It’s all been fun and you, my readers, seem to have liked the results.

Every now and again it’s time to reconsider, take stock, and make useful changes. That’s the point I’m at with the JHM blog right now.

Oh, it’s nothing major, don’t worry! I chose to lighten things up and improve the pace of writing by publishing an image every day. I’ve kept that up now for 51 days and it’s time to assess the results.

First I should say how much I’ve enjoyed doing it. Choosing an image, writing some explanatory text to go with it, and often presenting further thoughts and questions – it’s all been fun and you, my readers, seem to have liked the results.

The downside has been the impact on my other posts, there’s been a lot less time to cover off other things that I want to write about.

What I plan to do

I’m going to try posting the images a little less often, perhaps just two or three a week. This means I’ll be able to devote more time to other things, like the series of extracts from JDMC, like thoughts about the war in Ukraine, dusting off articles from the past and giving them a second chance, writing more ‘Cruising the Gospel‘ posts, and more canal walking posts. I also want to drop in random stuff from time to time, comments on this or that, ideas here and there. If you have any thoughts on what you’d like to see, please drop them into the comments section below. Thanks.

Bear with me while I do a bit of re-shuffling. One objective will remain publishing something daily, even if it’s just another image!

Image of the day – 40

Nobody knows when rose breeding began, it may have been as far back as Greek or Roman times.

< Previous | Index | Next >

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.

I’m posting an image every day (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.

While we were at the Powerscourt Estate, Donna wanted to look at the rose garden; this photo shows a really beautiful example of the flowers on view. Looking at the image now I can almost smell the fragrance in my mind!

Roses like these are not part of the natural world; they’re the work of plant breeders crossing a range of wild species and selecting for characteristics they liked. Nobody knows when rose breeding began, it may have been as far back as Greek or Roman times, but was certainly underway in medieval Europe and perhps in the middle and far east as well.

I wrote an article four years ago that includes photos of a much more natural rose. Comparing the two images emphasises how plant breeding can make huge changes (the breeders might say ‘huge improvements’) to wild forms. The same is true for animal breeding, just compare any modern breed of dog with the wild, wolf ancestor for example!

Images from our Irish holiday 2024

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Irish holiday images:

28th Jul – Welsh Botanic Garden, Robin, Fishguard
29th Jul – Wicklow Mts, Glendalough, Powerscourt, Rose, Greystones
30th Jul – Liffey, Temple Bar, St Patrick’s Cathedral
31st Jul – Newgrange, Battle of the Boyne
1st Aug – Monasterboice, Mourne, Thrift, Window
2nd Aug – Spelga Dam, Hydrangea, Pipework, Lough Neagh
3rd Aug – Coagh, Springhill, Portrush
4th Aug – Beach at Portrush
5th Aug – Giant’s Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede, Portrush

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

< Previous | Index | Next >

Useful? Interesting?

Image of the day – 39

Most of these old houses and their gardens are now enjoyed by much larger numbers of visitors than the original owners could possibly have imagined.

< Previous | Index | Next >

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.

I’m posting an image every day (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.

National Geographic rated this as the third best garden in the World. It’s Powerscourt Gardens in Wicklow, Ireland. National Geographic is right, this is a very fine garden indeed. It’s spacious, well designed, full of interesting plants and landscape features, and very well maintained. We did spot a few small weeds here and there, but not very many; keeping a garden this large will require a lot of dedicated gardeners, either volunteers or paid staff (probably both). Most of the work has to be done manually, it will not be a cheap operation!

Of course, ordinary everyday people can’t manage a huge garden like this, nor afford to build a house as large as Powerscourt. A very tiny minority of the population could build and live in this kind of luxury either then or now. And even among the very wealthy, not everyone wants to.

But time moves on, and most of these old houses and their gardens are now enjoyed by much larger numbers of visitors than the original owners could possibly have imagined. Perhaps they’d have been horrified! But I, for one, am grateful for their beautiful legacies that I can visit and enjoy.

I have a final question for you, dear reader, and for myself too. What will you leave as a legacy for future generations? And what will I leave? Why not leave your thoughts below in a comment? There are no right or wrong answers.

Images from our Irish holiday 2024

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Irish holiday images:

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

< Previous | Index | Next >

Useful? Interesting?

Image of the day – 36

Be prepared to use sustained pressure; care, wisdom and understanding; accurate guidance; and by no means least, as much time as necessary.

< Previous | Index | Next >

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.

I’m posting an image every day (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.

We were leaving the Welsh port of Fishguard for Rosslare in Ireland for a two week holiday. We drove our car onto the ferry and then relaxed on board, and I watched as the ship’s maneuvering thrusters churned up the water and pushed us away from the quayside. Before these thrusters were introduced, a pair of tugs would be required to get the ship into a position where it could begin to leave the harbour. The disturbed water between the ship and the quayside is clearly visible in the photo.

Moving a heavy object from a fixed position takes a lot of force, but that force also needs to be well-directed and carefully applied for some time. Sometimes we are like the ship. We have some kind of fixed position (mentally, ideologically), but to get us to safely shift may require considerable pressure combined with delicate care and understanding, accurate guidance and plenty of time.

In principle, we are all the same. So it’s worth remembering the right approach when we want to encourage some kind of movement in others. Be prepared to use sustained pressure; care, wisdom and understanding; accurate guidance; and by no means least, as much time as necessary. You certainly don’t want to cause a shipwreck!

Images from our Irish holiday 2024

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Irish holiday images:

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

< Previous | Index | Next >

October 2023 (1 year before publishing this article)

October 2022 (2 years before publishing)

October 2019 (5 years before)

October 2014 (10 years)

October 2009 (15 years)

October 2004 (20 years)

October 1999 (25 years)

October 1994 (30 years)

October 1989 (35 years)

October 1984 (40 years)

October 1979 (45 years)

October 1974 (50 years)

October 1969 (55 years)

October 1964 (60 years)

October 1959 (65 years)

October 1954 (70 years)

October 1949 (75 years)

October 1944 (80 years)

Useful? Interesting?

Episode 270

See also:

Useful? Interesting?

See also:

Cirencester

Themed image collections

Useful? Interesting?

But how did it all start?

Life in a computer?

See also:

Useful? Interesting?

Cirencester

Themed image collections

Useful? Interesting?

September 2023 (1 year before publishing this article)

September 2022 (2 years before publishing)

September 2019 (5 years before)

September 2014 (10 years)

September 2009 (15 years)

September 2004 (20 years)

September 1999 (25 years)

September 1994 (30 years)

September 1989 (35 years)

September 1984 (40 years)

September 1979 (45 years)

September 1974 (50 years)

September 1969 (55 years)

September 1964 (60 years)

September 1959 (65 years)

September 1954 (70 years)

September 1949 (75 years)

September 1944 (80 years)

Useful? Interesting?

What I plan to do

Images from our Irish holiday 2024

Themed image collections

Useful? Interesting?

Images from our Irish holiday 2024

Themed image collections

Useful? Interesting?

Images from our Irish holiday 2024

Themed image collections

Useful? Interesting?