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Month: June 2019

To market, to market

To market, to market

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Yesterday we hiked into Hinckley. It was more than a mile to reach the town center, excuse me, town centre. Andrew wrote earlier about the heritage museum but I want to share thoughts about markets. Hinckley is not a official market town. Having been to several towns with official market status, it would be a bit hard to see the distinction nowadays. But historically, not every town could randomly decide to hold markets. Generally markets were established near fortified areas…

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The Joy of Socks

The Joy of Socks

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Hinkley is stocking country. Oh, these days they make Triumph motorcycles, but historically the main industry of the town was knitted legwear. Woven fabrics are great for suits, dresses, ribbons, sheets and curtains, but for something that hugs the figure and can deal with a bended knee or disguise cellulite in the thighs you need a knitted fabric, which will stretch and give. As Heinlein said, “If you think rocket science is difficult, you should consider the topology of a…

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Onto the Ashby

Onto the Ashby

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We visited downtown Bedworth again this morning to check if it really was as bad as we had thought. It actually improves on a second visit. By far the best building in town is the set of almshouses built in the 1840s to house the poor. They were built by a charity founded by an 18th century parson and squire called Nicholas Chamberlaine. He left most of his estate to the charity. This included some land which turned out to…

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Brindling Along

Brindling Along

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We have decided that “brindley” is an adjective, as in, “This bit of canal is quite brindley.” James Brindley built the first canals of the industrial revolution, and he followed contour lines as much as possible to minimize the use of locks and spread the advantages of canal transport far and wide. It follows that brindle must be a verb meaning to wander apparently aimlessly here and there with very little visible concern for reaching your ultimate goal. The North…

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The Piano in the Gents

The Piano in the Gents

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Our new alternator securely mounted, we set off again on the North Oxford Canal, past the outskirts of Rugby. We stopped just north of town, hoping to pick up some groceries at Newbold, but the one grocery store is being remodeled, so we ended up going to the local pub for dinner. There was a piano in the Gents, lurking behind the baby changing table. Do the locals in Newbold enjoy a good sing-song while relieving themselves? Is there a…

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Old Gods and New

Old Gods and New

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What is the point of filming Tales of the City in San Francisco if you use the WRONG SAFEWAY? Sorry but it has to be said. It should have been Marina Safeway, not the one on Market Street. Nobody ever tried to get a date in the Market Street Safeway. The Marina Dateway on the other hand, well, people have got married there because that was where they met. It must have been a bit strange for the people trying…

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Low Bid Vernacular

Low Bid Vernacular

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There is not much to Hillmorton. A few pubs, a strip mall, the occasional chip shop, an old folks home… Most of it is suburban sprawl from the second half of the 20th century. The church, however, is a fine example of low bid vernacular. You start with a 13th century building built on the edge of a swamp, and then whenever bits fall down, you get the lowest bidder to do the repairs. The result after eight hundred years…

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Shore Power

Shore Power

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We’ve been having electrical problems for the past few days. First the alternator bracket broke, and when that was fixed the alternator broke. We were reduced to just the solar panel for the fridge, lighting, computers, phones, and Paula’s CPAP. That meant being pretty frugal. Then the solar panel stopped working, so we did some desperate rewiring to charge the leisure batteries from the little alternator that charges the starter battery. That meant being even more frugal. Today we made…

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Kindred Spirits

Kindred Spirits

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Last night we attended an event at the Leamington Museum, with live music, gin and tonic (we skipped the gin) and the museum curators talking about the collection. Guess what? We are not the only people who play Ugly Baby Jesus! We spent a while chatting to one of the staff who had her BA and MA from Birmingham University, and the art students there play UBJ. She also told us about  Renaissance Elbow, and we explained First Cows of…

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The Tennis Craze of 1874

The Tennis Craze of 1874

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I went for a walk this morning along the River Leam (pron: LEM) and one of the many River Avons to within sight of Warwick Castle. Though the area is quite built up, development has avoided the riverbank for fear of flooding, so for much of the way you can pretend to be deep in the country. There was constant birdsong. I had to look up this SBB. It’s a juvenile European Robin. I saw occasional butterflies, too. This is…

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