The latest post in my series “A Grockle’s Eye View of Cornwall”, concluding my account of my day out in St Ives.
INTRODUCTION
In my previous post in this spread out series about my recent visit to Cornwall (Thursday July 12 through Monday July 16) I covered a boat trip to see a seal colony. I now account for the rest of that day after the trip. Don’t forget that a more local view of St Ives is available from The Cornish Maid.
BACK ON TERRA FIRMA
I was back in St Ives at 1:15PM as scheduled, and had two definite targets for the remainder of my time there – find a cash machine and find somewhere not too extortionate for lunch. By this stage the town was packed, and far as I was able to locate there was a but a single cashpoint there, so I had a bit of a wait. Still I eventually got my money and found a place to have lunch.
This building may once have been a non-conformist chapel.
THE RETURN JOURNEY
I was back at the station in good time for my three stage journey back to St Germans (changes at St Erth and Liskeard, and longish waits at both). My father collected me from St Germans and we headed to Cawsand to meet my mother, sister and nephew at a pub there before heading to Fort Picklecombe together. My camera battery just made it to St Germans before giving out for the day after one more picture en route for Cawsand.
I suspected (rightly as it turned out) that I had only one shot left by this stage, and this view, from the heights above Cawsand, seemed a worthy way to finish my photography for the day.
Advertising the Walk for Wildlife and attending to mathematical matters.
INTRODUCTION
The centrepiece of this post comes courtesy of the team4naturetwitter account. I have also included the solution to a prnblem from brilliant.org and a new problem from the same source.
carrying out the subtractions in thte brackets above gives us (2 * 3^22)(2 * 3 ^23)(2 * 3^24). This becomes (2^3)(3^(22+23+24))= (2^3)(3^69). Thus m = 3 and n = 69, and 69 + 3 = 72.
As a supplement to this little problem, would you have an observation platform where the three bridge segments meet at the centre of the lake? This latter of course, unlike the mathematical question is purely a matter of opinion. I would go for a circular platform just below the level of the bridges, accessible by lifts and stairs.
My previous post in this series covered the journey from St Germans to St Ives and hinted at the feature of my time in St Ives. This post picks up the story. The Cornish Maid has produced posts giving a more local take on St Ives in her blog.
SERENDIPITY IN ST IVES
From the station I headed in the general direction of the sea front, taking photographs along the way.
This olde-worlde telephone box caught my attention, while the attached clock had all the appearance of being an old railway clock……soon confirmed by my zoom lens.This panel is set into the wall of the Roman Catholic churchSt Ives Guildhall, a handome building, though not quite in the class of King’s Lynn’s 15th century masterpiece. It is home to a tourist information office but they evidently have staffing issues as it was closed and locked that day (a sunny friday in July)
This is the main Anglican church
As I hit the sea front area I encountered a man selling tickets for boat trips to a seal colony. Knowing that I was operating to a time limit (the connections back being less good than those for the outward journey I needed be back at the station around 3PM to be sure of getting back to St Germans at 6PM as I intended) I made enquiries about departure times and the length of the boat trip. I benefitted from being a natural born singleton – there was exactly one seat remaining on the Sea Horse, which was departing at 12:00 and would be back around 1:15, and that was the decision made (there is a seal colony at Blakeney Point in Norfolk, but this seemed likely to be an improvement on that).
One takes a small boat out to the main boat one is booked on, and at low tide (as it was for my outbound journey) one has to walk out into the sea to about knee depth for the first pick up. The water was cool but not shockingly so, and it was actually very pleasant standing in the shallows.
OUTWARD BOUND
I managed to board the small boat taking me and others out to the Seahorse (a 12 seater boat, so still not huge) without incident, and the transfer to the Seahorse also passed without incident.
The rocks in the background of this shot are the near edge of the seal colony.
AT THE SEAL COLONY
I will let the pictures tell their own story…
Some of the seals, like this one waved flippers at us.
BACK TO ST IVES
The start of the return journey featured the bumpiest sea of the entire trip (fortunately there was a breeze rather than a serious wind blowing, so the sea was choppy rather than actually rough). I imagine that in a winter storm (I encountered Cornish winter storms and their effects in 1989 on a christmas holiday when we stayed in a Landmark Trust cottage. I believe that the enitre village was actually owned by Landmark Trust, but the perimeter fence of RAF Morwenstow was within walking distance for those looking to place it). Fortunately the tide had risen to the point that the transfer boat could get right up to the quayside, so no further paddling was required.
This put me somewhat in mind of Seahenge, now on display at The Lynn Museum.
The second post in my series about my visit to Cornwall, in which I cover the journey from St Germans to St Ives.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the second post in my series about my recent vsiit to Cornwall. As mentioned in the opening piece in this series I am breaking my coverage of my day out in St Ives into several posts. This post deals with the journey there (for the record, a day return from St Germans to St Ives costs £10.80), which is very scenic. For a Cornish perspective on St Ives check out this offering from the Cornish Maid.
ST GERMANS TO ST ERTH
The railway element of the journey to St Ives consists of two parts – a journey west along the main line as far as St Erth (penultimate stop on that route), and then a short journey north along a branch line which terminates at St Ives. St Germans to St Erth is a scenic journey in its own right:
I was particularly glad to note this tribute to the great Richard Trevithick.
ST ERTH TO ST IVES
Though the route from St Germans to St Erth is scenic by any normal reckoning it is as nothing compared to the branch line from St Erth to St Ives. Although the route lists several intermediate stops the only one still in regular use is Lelant Saltings. I secured a window seat, although it turned out that I was not on the best side of the train and settled down to see what I could capture in the course of this journey.
The stop at Lelant Saltings enabled to me to zoom in on this heron.The next few pictures feature mhy attempts to capture the beauty of Carbis Bay from a moving train.
A SNEAK PREVIEW OF THE MAIN FEATURE OF MY NEXT POST
A few minutes after my arrival at St Ives the decision about my main activity while there was settled. It will be the subject of my next post – for the moment here is a clue to whet your appetite:
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The start of a new series – A Grtockle’s Eye View of Cornwall.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome the first post in my series about my recent visit to Cornwall. Before we move on, here is a little bit of etymology for you:
For an insider’s view of Cornwall check out the Cornish Maidblog. In this post, because it is an introduction, and mainly about the journey down, you will only see Cornish photos near the end of it, but there will be several with many more pictures (St Ives is getting at least two posts and maybe more, St Michael’s Mount may well get more than one post and the Cremyll Ferry may figure in more than one post) before I wrap things up with a post about the return journey.
KINGS LYNN TO PADDINGTON
I had booked my tickets in advance, and part of the deal was that I had to be on a specific train for the long haul section between Paddington and Plymouth. My recommended itinerary had me on the 08:44 from King’s Lynn, but my usual prompt preparations on the morning of a major journey saw me at the station in time to catch the 08:12, and figuring that having extra slack to make the connection across London from King’s Cross to Paddington could not hurt I took that train instead.
This service was listed to call only at Royston between Cambridge and London, but at Cambridge stops were added at Letchworth, Hitchin, Stevenage and Finsbury Park, at which point having got the earlier train seemed an even better idea than it had originally.
From King’s Cross to Paddington was noteworthy only for the fact that in a situation that is practically headline making these days all of London Underground’s lines were working properly at the same time, and I was early at Paddington, and had to wait for information about the platform.
PADDINGTON TO PLYMOUTH
I was booked in a seat in a designated quiet coach, a window seat that should have been facing the direction of travel, but because someone had decided to reverse the running order of the train was not. However, the coach was quiet, and although I was facing against the direction of travel I did get some pictures along the way, and this train stuck exactly to its schedule.
PLYMOUTH TO FORT PICKLECOMBE
My train from Plymouth to St Germans was due to call at a number of places en route, and at Devonport it picked up a number of schoolchildren, who were fortunately well behaved, and not too noisy. It arrived at St Germans exactly when it was supposed to as well, making two successive trains that had run to schedule. My parents picked me up at St German and we went by car to their apartment in Fort Picklecombe.
Crossing the Tamar
This “flowerpot” can be seen at Saltash stationA distant glimpse of the famous bridge. bridge that is used by Saltash station for advertising
AT FORT PICKLECOMBE
Thursday evening in the vicinity of Fort Picklecombe is fish ‘n’ chips evening, courtesy of the two wonderful girls who run ahoyfishandchips, a mobile chippy. The meal was magnificent – if you are ever in an area being served by Ahoy Fish and Chips do not miss out.
A view of the fort from out on the bfreakwater.
I found a location harbourside from which The Hoe is visible (this is only a couple of miles from Plymouth in straight distance).
A crab in the shallow water
This image from the breakwater reveals two things: The concrete had not set before someone walked on it, and that it regularly gets sea water washing over it.
Solutions to na couple of problems and a new problem for you to get your teeth into.
INTRODUCTION
A couple of aeons ago in the post I put up immediately before setting off for Marxism 2018 I presented two problems from brilliant.org, one easy and one hard. Now at long last I offer solutions to them.
THE GUARDS PROBLEM
Here is the answer:
Now here is an official solution, posted by Siva Budaraju:
Yes, Anna, you were right about this one, as you are about many things.
THE CLOCK PROBLEM
For this one I shall present the confirmation that my answer was correct, my sneaky way of solving the problem and then an official solution.
I got the solution by realising that if there was an arrangement of the hands that enabled this to happen it would not be unique – as with problems involving two hands on a clockface there would be a number of possibilities, which would mean that finding such an arrangement would not be very difficult, and this was supposed to be a dificult problem, which led me to the conclusion that there could not be a time when the three hands divided the clockface into equal segments. Now here are two official solutions:
A NEW PROBLEM
I finish by sharing another problem with you that I enjoyed solving:
Wrapping up my series on Marxism 2018 with an account of the Final Rally.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the final post in my series about Marxism 2018. As this series has for various reasons been somewhat spread out I start by providing links to all the previous posts in the series, in chronological order:
As I mentioned in the overview of the weekend I left my last regular meeting a little early to head for Friends Meeting House. I deposited my bag there, and then had to wait to be let into the meeting room because it had been decided not to open the doors until 5:15PM, which given the size of that room was allwoing absurdly little time for people to be in and seated before the 5:30PM start. Knowing that I would be leaving early I positioned myself in a position to do so without generating any fuss.#
The panel for the final rally – Tina McVeigh, Christine Buchholz, Janet Alder, Amy Leather and chair Naima Omar
THE RALLY ITSELF
A little later (but only a little) than originally intended chair Naima Omar got things started.
The first speaker to be introduced was Dublin councillor Tina McVeigh, who talked inspiringly about the current Irish political scene, and reminded us of the recent triumph for progressive forces in that part of the world, the repeal of the 8th, about which her compatriots Mary and Siomha had spoken so movingly during the Opening Rally.
Tina McVeigh making her speech
The picture above shows The Team, the people who keep the event running smoothly, act as first point of contact for queries etc. This is a challenging and exhausting task (I did it six times myself, so I know whereof I write).
The second speaker was Christine Buchholz of Die Linke, a member of the German parliament, and virtually bilingual. She gave us a direct account of fighting against the rise of the far right in mainland Europe (Germany being one of the places where this is a particularly hot topic at the moment).
Naima Introduces Christine
Third to speak was Janet Alder, whose brother Christopher, a former soldier, was killed while in police custody. This is bad enough, but what followed was if anything even worse – while consistently refusing to reveal the truth about what had happened to Christopher the police also used resources that should have been used to investigate the death to spy on Janet instead (similar to how Doreen Lawrence was spied on by those who were supposed to be investiagting her son’s murder). Janet told us about the campaign, which has now been running fior almost 20 years to get justice done – to this day Christopher’s killers remain unpunished. It was at the end of this speech that I left the event.
Janet Alder
The two pictures above show the response to Janet’s speech.
HOMEWARD BOUND
There was a train nominally for Cambridge and King’s Lynn leaving just after 7PM, which I managed to be on. An announcement by the driver told us that they hoped to be able to split at Cambridge and travel onwards to King’s Lynn but that they may not be able to because there had been problems, so I prepared myself to change at Cambridge (I have a justifiably low opinion of Great Northern, so I given two possibilities I naturally assumed that the worse would eventuate). In the event my assessment was correct, and those of travelling beyond Cambridge did have to change trains, so I arrived back at almost exactly nine o’clock.
St Pancras Station from the far side of the Euston RoadEly Cathedral
A brief account of the genesis and development of a Lynn News article advertising James and Sons’ upcoming auctions.
INTRODUCTION
This post tells the story of the development of an article that appeared in today’s Lynn News about James and Sons upcoming Militaria auctions.
EMAIL AND PRESS RELEASE
I created a document for emailing out to potential militaria buyers, using lot 11 as the main image (at that time I envisaged that lot being on the front cover), but also including an image of lot 50, which I realised was an interesting item. On the advice of my employer I used the exact same document as a press release, though for this purpose I attached the original word document, a jpg thereof and full image galleries of both featured lots. Thus those receiving the press release saw all of the following:
Not long after I had sent this press release came a response from Julie Graham of the Lynn News, whose eye had been taken by the Agincourt bas-relief. She requested some additional information which I supplied and indicated that an article in the business section of the issue for Friday July 20 would be forthcoming. For obvious reasons the Agincourt piece also became the front cover item on the printed catalogue. The article duly appeared as promised this morning:
You can find out more about James and Sons from the company website, and online catalogues for our upcoming auctions can be accessed from there, or on the following links below:
Welcome to the penultimate post in my series about Marxism 2018 (to be followed in the not too distant future by a series that I will title “A Grockle’s Eye View of Cornwall” following my recent visit to Cornwall (more on that curious word grockle at the start of said series). I missed only one of the environmentally themed meetings at Marxism 2018 (it clashed with a meeting about mental health, which I attended instead), the one featuring John Bellamy Foster.
MEETING 1: MARTIN EMPSON ON CLIMATE CHANGE
THis meeting was the subject of my first Marxism 2018post. Here is the featured image:
WHY DOES CAPITALISM LOVE PLASTIC?
Amy Leather started her talk with a potted history of the development of plastics. She then talked about plastics as a by-product of fossil fuel extraction, linking in to controversies over fracking. She also talked about how when disposable plastic first became a thing there were advertising campaigns to persuade people to dispose of the stuff. During the discussion James from north Derbyshire mentioned that the company who are seeking to engage in fracking in his part of the world and against whom he and others are fighting are primarily a plastic making company, and their interest in fracking is based on a desire to use by products of fracking to make more plastics.
SARAH ENSOR AND IAN RAPPEL ON CAPITALISM AND EXTINCTION
This was the first meeting of the Sunday. The Institute of Education has a somewhat curious system of floor numbering, whereby you enter the building from outside on level 4. This meeting was in a room on Level 8, and I chose not to use the lift (I have been known to opt for the stairs at both Russell Square – 175 – and Covent Garden – 200 – stations, so for a mere four floors it was barely even a question).
I enjoyed the meeting – both speakers were excellent, and although the sun prevented the presentation from being seen to best effect (even with blinds drawn and the lights off in the key part of the room – the latter a suggestion on the part of yours truly) it was still well worth the climb up and down.
DIRTY ENERGY AND CAPITALISM: WHAT’S THE REAL STORY
This meeting which featured Suzanne Jeffery and anti-fracking campaigner Tina Louise Rothery took place in Clarke Hall, on Level 3 of the Institute of Education in the post lunch session of the Sunday. It had been made even more topical by the fact that in the run up to the event the Tories had simultaneously refused to provide funding for the Swansea Tidal Lagoon (capable of supplying 10% of the country’s energy needs had it gone ahead) and forced through the 3rd runway at Heathrow. Both speakers were excellent, and during the discussion Brid Smith TD talked about a bill she is trying to get through the Dail which would mean that no more fossil fuels will be extracted from Ireland (it has already passed its first reading).
Suzanne Jeffery
Tina Louise Rothery
Brid Smith talks about her fossil fuels bill that is curfrently going through the Dail
AN EXAMPLE OF A CAMPAIGN
A common theme running through these meeting was the necessity of supporting campaigns all over the world. I therefore conclude this post with a mention of the Save Trosa Nature campaign. You can find out more about this campaign by reading Anna’s posts about it. There is a petition currently running which you can sign here.
aspiblog 