Author Archive
Bell-ringing for beginners: or should I say Bell-swinging?
May 22 2023- Madeleine
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Bell-ringing for beginners: or should I say Bell-swinging.
Did you know there’s a book listing every belfry (‘bell tower’) in the world with 3 or more swinging bells and 95% of them are in England? Swingers have the knobs on stalks (‘clappers’, as in, go like the ) inside that clang as the bell goes horizontal. There’s solo and twin bells, but they aren’t counted because all you can do with them is ding-dong or dong-ding. Not very exciting. You can’t make bell music ‘a method’ i.e. a sequence of dongs in a prearranged mathematical order. And that’s what fires up the bell-ringers of the British Isles and certain outposts of the ex-Empire.
Losing weight – motivation and safety rules
May 14 2023- Madeleine
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Losing weight is always a dilemma. We’d all like to shed a few, no doubt. But we don’t. The crisps, the biscuits, the chips, the icecream get bought, get eaten. You don’t seem to be able to stop yourself. It’s not an education thing, you know the facts, you know your food groups and what you should be eating and in what quantities. You just don’t have the will power to say no to yourself. You make excuses about time, fatigue, starting tomorrow. It’s comforting to eat. It’s not hurting anyone but me. It’s the least worst of the self-harms. Hunger pangs don’t feel nice. It’s our evolutionary biology, to stuff while the going’s good. Except that we have access to plentiful supplies of food everyday nowadays.
Learning to knit on your own: Part 2
May 13 2023- Madeleine
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After my first blog on how to knit, here’s part 2 instructions and a recount of my progress.
Pulling it together
Once I had a few fistfuls of granny squares, the game was to work out how many I really needed to cover my upper body. I found a crusty imperial tape measure that kept crinkling back up, and noted my measurements.
Kids at Kew Gardens: what is there to do?
May 12 2023- Madeleine
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Remember there’s no scooters, no balls, no dogs, and no climbing at Kew Gardens, all those things that would normally keep your children amused in a public park. So other that just walk about, (‘bor-ring’) what can kids at Kew Gardens do?
Russian Easter Festivities – what to expect!
May 10 2023- Madeleine
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Russian Easter Festivities – what to expect!
Russia is getting an awful lot of bad press, but to be fair, Putin isn’t Russia, the army isn’t Russia, Wagner isn’t Russia. I mean, are you Rishi? And as I happened to be thrown into my French exchange’s Easter jollities in Paris, it seemed a golden opportunity to show off the beauty of one of the country’s traditions.
French and Orthodox is an unusual combo; they are the descendants of White Russians who escaped the carnage of the Revolution. They keep the language and traditions alive in their uproarious celebrations, especially at Easter and Christmas.
