Put That Light Out!

Barbed wire and the shadow of the imposing guard tower discouraging escape

What a fabulous late summer weather we are having here in most of the UK with temperatures this afternoon in my garden a comfortable and very sunny 23 degrees Celsius. It's not quite an Indian Summer as by definition, that occurs after the end of summer proper which in the UK I believe finishes at the end of September - who cares - a lovely day!

Recently, a very good friend and I visited Eden Camp in North Yorkshire. I know some of you enjoy reading about the various places around where we are here in the UK and this is another tourist attraction, a museum, built upon the real life of it's former past, a prison of war camp. Located just north of the town of Malton, Eden camp nestles uncomfortably close to an electricity sub station, in beautiful rolling countryside. 

Built in 1942, Eden Camp was a prison of war camp for German and Italian prisoners of war. The museum is built out of the original 'huts' that housed the prisoners, brick built edifices that survive today. The tour starts at hut one and takes you through a journey in time from pre-war (1939-45), throughout the war and shows some subsequent conflicts too up to the modern day. But more than just a time line, there are many many aspects of life depicted of the ordinary person left at home as well as the soldier, aircrew and sailor and other services who supported the country such as the Land Army, Civil Defence and Local Volunteer Defence Force.

Just a tiny number of the 'huts' which comprise the Eden Camp Museum

 There's lot of reading to do and thousands of photographs to see on display boards as well as displays of life in war time which is in itself fascinating and replicas of shops and homes and a bomb damaged site. This is an award winning site and it's not difficult to see why. There is ample parking, a very good canteen/cafe which is quite large, the only advice I would give you is this, if you catch a coach trip as we did, you could be queueing for meals for ages, so if you took packing up or a picnic, there are plenty of places to eat outdoors.

Just a small part of a display about what was available as medicines at the time of war.
I remember Sloan's Liniment (it stank!)

The site really does contextualise what an horrific time war is for any nation and the hardship that it goes through must have been experienced to be believed, but it's important that we do understand what conflict is and that the lesson is that we should try every conceivable means to avoid it.

A memorial to Bomb Disposal Units

The six acres of living history that is Eden Camp is suitable for disabled people (including braille sheets and an audio guide) and there is free parking. There are excellent first class roads to the site. Dogs are welcome too and at £6.00 per adult and less for concessions, this is good value for money and is thoroughly recommended. Their website can be viewed here.

Chat soon

Ta-ra.

Altweibersommer

A great turn around in the weather today, had the shorts on (guaranteed to make the sun go in - but it didn't) and enjoyed the warmth even though there is a nip in the air out of the sun. I even sat out for an hour reading after cutting the grass, not that it's grown much because of the lack of rain recently. I even planted out some winter flowering pansies in a basket which hangs near our front door ready for a bit of winter cheer for the bleaker months.

The picture above shows the amount of berries on just one small part of my Yew Tree, the most I have ever seen at this time of the year.

I got to thinking this might be an Indian Summer and wondered where the phrase came from. Well it seems you can only have an Indian Summer in October or November and before the first snow falls, so I suppose what we're experiencing is simply a late summer! The etymology of the word has its origins from America and mostly relates in one way or another to native American Indians as their traditional time to harvest their crops, or raids by Indian war parties on European colonies in the late summer, both unattractive explanations even if true.

In England, before the phrase Indian Summer became popular, it was apparently known as St Martin's Summer, 11th November - the end of summer. In Bulgaria, it is Gypsy Summer - an unexpected warm spell in late Autumn. In Germany and Austria it is called "Altweibersommer" (Old Ladies Summer) because the many white spider silks seen at this time of the year have been associated with the norns* of Norse folklore or medieval witches. I like that one and if you venture out just now first thing in the morning, you get covered in spider's webs.

Thanks to Wikipedia for some of these fascinating facts.

We haven't had a list for a while and I thought I'd give you some of my favourite Ann Robinson put downs from the BBC series, The Weakest Link:

"Who is about as useless as a rubber beak on a woodpecker?"
"If ignorance is bliss, who's in heaven?"
"Who is denser than Sherwood Forest?"
"Whose intellect is on a diet?"
"If brains were taxed, who'd get a refund?"
"Who would come third in a duel?"
"Who thinks Plato is a friend of Mickey Mouse?"
"Who'd win the Sweet FA Cup?"
"Who's more twit than wit?"
"Who thinks propaganda is 'having a good look?'" (think about that one.)

Time to vote off the weakest link.

Chat soon

Ta-ra.
*Female beings who rule the fates of the various races of Norse mythology.