Without Lifting A Finger

The  Severn bore  is a  tidal bore  seen on the tidal reaches of the  River Severn  in south western England. It is formed when the rising tide moves into the funnel-shaped  Bristol Channel  and  Severn Estuary  and the surging water forces its way upstream in a series of waves, as far as  Gloucester  and beyond. The bore behaves differently in different stretches of the river; in the lower, wider parts it is more noticeable in the deep channels as a slight roller, while the water creeps across the sand and mudflats. In the narrower, upper reaches, the river occupies the whole area between its banks and the bore advances in a series of waves that move upstream. Near Gloucester, the advancing water overcomes two  weirs , and sometimes one in  Tewkesbury , before finally petering out. Bores are present on about 130 days in the year, concentrated on the days immediately following the  new  and  full ...

In the evening, just before eight o'clock, I took a walk alone, by a road which goes up the hill, back of our hotel, and which I supposed might be the road to the town of Windermere. But it went up higher and higher, and for the mile or two that it led me along, winding up, I saw no traces of a town; but at last it turned into a valley between two high ridges, leading quite away from the lake, within view of which the town of Windermere is situated. It was a very lonely road, though as smooth, hard, and well kept as any thoroughfare in the suburbs of a city; hardly a dwelling on either side, except one, half barn, half farm-house, and one gentleman's gateway, near the beginning of the road, and another more than a mile above. At, two or three points there were stone barns, which are here built with great solidity. At one place there was a painted board, announcing that a field of five acres was to be sold, and referring those desirous of purchasing to a solicitor in London. T...

April 7th.--I dined at Mr. J. P. Heywood's on Thursday, and met there Mr. and Mrs. ------ of Smithell's Hall. The Hall is an old edifice of some five hundred years, and Mrs. ------ says there is a bloody footstep at the foot of the great staircase. The tradition is that a certain martyr, in Bloody Mary's time, being examined before the occupant of the Hall, and committed to prison, stamped his foot, in earnest protest against the injustice with which he was treated. Blood issued from his foot, which slid along the stone pavement, leaving a long footmark, printed in blood. And there it has remained ever since, in spite of the scrubbings of all succeeding generations. Mrs. ------ spoke of it with much solemnity, real or affected. She says that they now cover the bloody impress with a carpet, being unable to remove it. In the History of Lancashire, which I looked at last night, there is quite a different account,--according to which the footstep is not a bloody one, but is a...

I think I neglected to record that I saw Miss Martineau a few weeks since. She is a large, robust, elderly woman, and plainly dressed; but withal she has so kind, cheerful, and intelligent a face that she is pleasanter to look at than most beauties. Her hair is of a decided gray, and she does not shrink from calling herself old. She is the most continual talker I ever heard; it is really like the babbling of a brook, and very lively and sensible too; and all the while she talks, she moves the bowl of her ear-trumpet from one auditor to another, so that it becomes quite an organ of intelligence and sympathy between her and yourself. The ear-trumpet seems a sensible part of her, like the antennae of some insects. If you have any little remark to make, you drop it in; and she helps you to make remarks by this delicate little appeal of the trumpet, as she slightly directs it towards you; and if you have nothing to say, the appeal is not strong enough to embarrass you. All her talk was ab...

    [From Wikimedia Commons: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Dido_Elizabeth_Belle.jpg ] 

Watched Belle last night (only thing on HBO that looked worth my while). Interesting story. Some pretty big names. Wonder why it didn't get more attention. * Dido Elizabeth Belle (1761–1804) was born into slavery as the natural daughter of Maria Belle, an enslaved African woman in the West Indies , and Sir John Lindsay , a British career naval officer who was stationed there. He was later knighted and promoted to admiral. [ 2 ] Lindsay took Belle with him when he returned to England in 1765, entrusting her to his uncle William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield , and his wife Elizabeth to raise. The Murrays educated Belle, bringing her up as a free gentlewoman at their Kenwood House , together with their niece, Lady Elizabeth Murray , whose mother had died. Belle lived there for 30 years. In his will of 1793, Lord Mansfield confirmed her freedom and provided an outright sum and an annuity to her. In these years, her great-uncle, in his capacity as Lord Chief Justice , ruled i...

Though various circular traffic junctions were used before the modern roundabout, the term "roundabout" is chiefly British (in the US "traffic circle" is also common) and was coined in the 20th century. We have them in the US--and they are apparently becoming more popular (supposedly they're more energy efficient)--but still they are much more common in certain countries in Europe, e.g., the UK. In the UK, where the mix also includes "driving on the left," roundabouts (oftentimes sign deficient) can create more than a little frustration for the tourist. 

We had fun with two in Chester (see earlier post), but I wanted to give them one more page.   

The itinerary strayed far from our original intent (it's called flying standby in summer), but we saw and did a lot of what we wanted to and now we're home again (jiggity jig). The barebones trip went: London -- Chester -- Holyhead -- Dublin -- Holyhead -- Conwy and Llandudno -- London -- Brussels -- Amsterdam.  We're thinking about making our own little film: Planes, Trains, Automobiles, and Ferries. The trains would include London undergrounds (tubes) and overgrounds, the Eurostar from London to Brussels, and an IC from Brussels to Amsterdam. The title's already too long but I suppose we could throw in taxis, shuttles, and a lone bike (the last night I biked from our hotel near Schiphol to a small village to use the only ATM). The Eurostar and IC only because we couldn't get out of Heathrow so we trained down to Amsterdam to have a better shot: it worked. Among the gold there was some dross: driving in England (we finally got used to driving on...