Minus Multiply

By the time you read this [or shortly thereafter] any blogs you have [or had] on Multiply will probably be floating in an anti-clockwise fashion down the plughole ...

My first blog on Multiply was dated the 26th October 2007. That's over five years ago and whilst it never reached the heights of Yahoo! 360 there's no doubt that it had a lot going for it.

I don't think things will ever be the same again.

Originally I wasn't going to save any of my blogs from Multiply but then I realised that all my 'Ticking Away ...' postings are on there and if nothing else they provide a factual account of my decline [I use the word with my tongue in my cheek] ... and who knows in years to come someone might want to read them and see how things went. Heck, I'm dying to know.

I've also saved a few family tree blogs but only one or two walking blogs. 

When I'd gone through 33 pages of postings and saw there were still another 30 pages left I thought enough's enough ... and, of course, my photos are on Flickr and my hard drive or my external hard drive. You can't keep everything.

Another chapter comes to a close.

In the meantime Blogger, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram keep me busy enough.

A Farm Journal ~ August 1867

My great great great uncle John Bayliff Bowman lived at Summer Hill, near Monyash in the County of Derby.

The Bowman family, who were Quakers, had three farms, One Ash Grange [which John Bayliff Bowman often referred to as O.A.], Cales and Summer Hill [which he usually referred to as S.Hill or S.H.]

In this photo John is fourth from the left. My great great grandparents, Ebenezer and Hannah Bowman, are the third and fourth adults from the right. John and Ebenezer were brothers and their parents are the elderly couple in the middle, Henry and Mary Bowman.

"A Farm Journal"continues :~

 

8 Mo[nth] Mostly fine hot weather for the harvest - our corn looks well -  

 

6 - 16 some just turning a little - lead[in]g manure  on to N[ether ?] Flatt S.H.

 

7 - 17 Fine day

 

1 - 18 Ditto

 

2 - 19 Beautiful day har[rowe]d manure etc

 

3 - 20 Deal of thunder & sheet light[nin]g early this morn[in]g - drizzly rain fine grow[in]g weather

 

4 - 21 Ditto Beautiful harvest weather

 

2 - 26 B[akewe]ll Fair Fine full cheese Fair 60/- sheep about same stores low fat 6d to 7d - pigs low - took Star mare & Mountney - sold

 

 

It seems as though John was too busy with the harvest to write in his journal at the beginning of August 1867. 

The Green Man ...

Those who know me will know that I have an interest in the Green Man. Whenever I visit older churches and assuming I can get inside [legally] I always look out for the Green Men on the walls and arches in the church. 

Sometimes they're carved in wood as at Tideswell ...

 

or as at Ault Hucknall, where he's sticking his tongue out ...



Usually though they're carved in stone. Here's one from the cloisters of Norwich cathedral ...

 

You have to look up to see him as he is in the celing looking down on those who pass below.

More locally I spotted this one, a corbel in the church at Alstonefield ...

 

There are many, many more though I haven't photographed as many as I would like.

I've recently been reading Clive Hicks's book on the Green Man and on the front of the book there's a photograph he took of a Green Man in Bamberg Cathedral. This is a Green Man you ought to see if you haven't already. If you click on this link ~ http://www.clivehicks.co.uk/seeforyourself/greenman.html ~ you'll see the photograph to which I am referring.

I don't think I have ever seen such an unnerving Green Man before. It must have something to do with his eyes which appear to be staring straight at you. Or perhaps it's those lips ...

Ticking away ... Day 756 ~ stocking up ...

Forgive my self indulgence [if that's what it is] ... 

I just wanted to say that 'It Stays' [the "gentle roll on body adhesive"] really works. My compression stocking hasn't fallen down since I started using it. I won't be pulling it up every five minutes when I'm walking. [This sounds like an advert doesn't it.]

I never thought it would solve my little problem.

Oh happy day.

A Farm Journal ~ from the 1st to the 29th July 1867

My great great great uncle John Bayliff Bowman lived at Summer Hill, near Monyash in the County of Derby.

The Bowman family, who were Quakers, had three farms, One Ash Grange [which John Bayliff Bowman often referred to as O.A.], Cales and Summer Hill [which he usually referred to as S.Hill or S.H.]

In this photo John is fourth from the left. My great great grandparents, Ebenezer and Hannah Bowman, are the third and fourth adults from the right. John and Ebenezer were brothers and their parents are the elderly couple in the middle, Henry and Mary Bowman.

"A Farm Journal"continues :~

 

2 - 1 7 Mo[nth] Fine & hot - little rain even[in]g at turnips mow[e]d round seeds

 

3 - 2 Wet day to Middleton for Mother A[rmitage]

 

4 - 3 Dull & wet aft[ernoo]n self to Furnace M[onthly] M[eeting]

 

5 - 4 Fine at turnips

 

6 - 5 Ditto began mow[in]g mach[ine ?] aft[ernoo]n Barn close S.H. horses very awkward

 

7 - 6 Fine fin[ishe]d mow[in]g Barn cl[ose] Long cl[ose] & N[ethe]r Pingle

 

1 - 7 Fine

 

2 - 8 Fine day mow[e]d Dale top & lead B[arn & L[ong] closes

 

3 - 9 Ditto weather fetch[e]d 2 ton cotton cake fr[om] Bakewell £6 10/- began mow[in]g at Cales - co[u]s[in] H[enr]y Bowman here

 

4 - 10 Ditto lead Dale top 

 

5 - 11 Ditto

 

6 - 12 Ditto lead Old Meadow & Little Lamp past[ur]e

 

7 - 13 Ditto mow[e]d Bottom close & lead part Broad Meadow wet evening

 

1 - 14 Showery

 

2 - 15 Very stormy W[ind] S[outh] E[ast] Mr Almond here to look at cheese very low sold Cales lot @ 56/- or 7

 

3 - 16 Showery weather

 

5 - 25 Fine day got Broad Meadow & Bottom close hay

 

6 - 26 Ditto dull & cold finish[e]d mowing

 

2 - 29 Very fine finished the hay - belted Peetfield & manured part 

 

 

 

There were no entries for many of the days in the second half of July 1867. Usually John Bayliff Bowman would have made some sort of note but this time he didn't.

Furnace [or Toadhole Furnace to give it its full title] is a collection of a few properties which used to include a Quaker Meeting House. There is an article here ~ http://www.crichparish.co.uk/webpages/quakerburials.html ~ about Toadhole Furnace and its Quaker. It is a good 15 miles from where John Bayliff Bowman lived.

Chatsworth ~ two more sculptures ... and a wooden seat.

I'm just about finished with the photographs I took at Chatsworth in September of this year. 

There are some sculptures that are permanent and there are some seats that are probably less though. 

Here are two examples of the former and one of the latter ...

 



 

Quite a contrast between the three pieces but I rather like them all though my particular favourite is the one in the middle.

Ticking away ... Day 752 ~ it was all going so well ...

I asked for a couple of repeat prescriptions at the medical centre earlier this week and was told to collect them today. One was for various tablets [and my Doublebase gel] and the other for a couple of the 'third edition' stockings.

I went along to collect the prescriptions this afternoon.

I live three miles away from the medical centre and there is usually some hassle when it comes to parking but today [it being Thursday] it was fine.

I went into the medical centre and the receptionist fished out the prescriptions. 

"Oh, the doctor's not signed this one ... ah, he wants to know why you're taking Prednisolone."

[I've been on Prednisolone for over a year now since I had chemotherapy.]

I replied, in a rather resigned fashion, "They're for my prostate cancer ...". I wanted to add "... which he would have realised if he had read my notes ...". I actually added " ... I dare say that will be mentioned in my notes ..."

The receptionist apologised and said she wouldn't be able to get the prescription signed until later in the day ... or I could come back tomorrow. "You've got enough tablets for tonight have you ?"

I believe I have.

She handed me the other [signed] prescription for the stocking. There was '1 item' mentioned in the prescription. I thought 'here we go again' ... "I actually asked the doctor in the note that I handed in yesterday if I could have two more stockings because that's what the Lymphoedema Service have suggested". 

The receptionist apologised again and said she'd have to have a word with him ...

So I came away without either prescription.

Now, as you know, I have been full of nothing but praise for the National Health Service and all the medical people I have seen during the past 752 days [except for the two people who carried out a bone scan right at the beginning]. 

However, I felt disappointed in the doctor this afternoon.

All he had to do was to [1] look through the notes; [2] phone me; or [3] get one of his staff to phone me ... then he would have known what I wanted the Prednisolone for ... [though I would have thought it might have been highlighted somewhere on my notes].

As for the prescription for the stocking I assume he hadn't read my note or, if he had, he should have explained why he wouldn't or couldn't supply two stockings.

We might just be patients but we should be treated with respect.

What really put a cap on the afternoon was the fact that Costa's 'Buy One Get One Free' offer which I thought I'd take advantage of ... isn't until next Wednesday ! Still I tried their praline and cream latte and the afternoon felt just a little better ...

 

The Cuckoo Way ~ the fifth day ... Killamarsh to the M1 [and back]

My fourth day following the Cuckoo Way was on the 14th November 2010 ~ nearly two years ago.

My fifth day started in Killamarsh ... once I'd found somewhere to park. In places in Killamarsh the canal and even the route of the canal are hard to find. The Cuckoo Way sign is easier to locate and at least you know you're on the right route ...

So, thirty five and a half miles to go before I reach the River Trent !

I'd got to get out of Killamarsh yet. 

Anyway, I did find the route of the canal after a while though it seems to have been used for dumping litter ...

It has also been built on which should make the challenge of opening up the canal a big one. 



Nearly a hundred years ago on the canal in this area, on the 28th November 1915 to be precise, six young people drowned.

They had been skating on the frozen canal when the ice suddenly gave way and the six of them aged between 6 and 21 crashed through the ice into the water beneath. Efforts were made to rescue them but to no avail. It was subsequently reported that one of those that died, 21 year old Alice Reid of Dock Walk, Chesterfield, was engaged to be married to Tom Northridge, brother of one of the other victims, Fred Northridge aged 18. Their banns had been read for the second time that morning. 

A number of the victims are buried in the churchyard at Killamarsh.

As I continued north through Killamarsh it was obvious that quite a large section of the original canal has been lost ...



I assume the path I was following is the original towpath and the canal was too my right, now forming parts of people's gardens ...

 

Eventually though the houses were left behind and I could see where the canal used to run, even though some of it was full of garden cuttings.

 

Until I reached the A618 the route of the canal could be seen to some degree ...

 




Just before the A618 I reached the 12 mile post ...

 

... dedicated to Jet Walden by her husband ...



Jet Walden must be one of the best names I have ever heard ... that and Darwin Vest.

On the eastern side of Rother Valley Country Park I crossed the A618 and now the canal looked a bit more like a canal ...

 

... though the banking was showing signs of collapse ...

 

On the northern edge of Nor Wood a redundant mid-19th century brick bridge ...






... and the view looking back towards the country park ...



Heading towards the M1, a couple of hundred yards later the canal appears to have been incorporated as a feature in a garden ...




 ... assuming this was the route of the canal ...

 

It looks like there might have been a flight of locks here ...

 

... or was there ?

 

I knew I was on the correct route though, the line of the Cuckoo Way, heading from a 200 year old 'highway' towards a busier and more modern one, the M1 ...

 

... and passing under it ...

 

I walked alongside the M1 initially before crossing a field towards Woodall, turning to watch trucks, lorries and other vehicles hurtling along the motorway behind me ...

 




No sooner had I got into the small village of Woodall than I was walking out of it to pass under the M1 again and head into Nor Wood, over half a mile south of where I first saw the wood ...

  

A bridleway led through the trees ...



  

Killamarsh Pond looked serene in the winter sunshine ...

 


  

After struggling to follow a path through the outbuildings of a large farm I could see Killamarsh below ...

 

Then I was back to following a path beside high fences ...




This walk was followed on the 17th January 2011
 
Length of walk ~ 5.07 miles *
 
Total mileage walked so far in 2011 ~ 20.87 miles
 
Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 17th January 2011 ~ 549.92 miles
 
5 of 2011

 
* distance calculated on Ordnance Survey's Getamap

Ticking away ... Day 750 ~ the very latest ...

Since my last update I have been fitted with a third stocking and by third I mean using a third set of measurements. This latest stocking is ok for walking once my leg gets a bit sweaty [there's no other way of putting it]. Then if I'm out walking it will stay up.

There may be another solution though ! Glue ! Yes, there is a type of glue that could work but I will be encouraged to make a donation for it as I can't get it on an NHS prescription. I think I might have to try the glue because on shorter walks [before my leg heats up] I have taken to dropping my trousers in secluded places and hoisting up my stocking as far as it will go ! If I get arrested for a public order offence I will be referring the authorities to this blog.

What else ?

I've had a pneumonia injection and a flu injection. I knew you could have the latter but had never heard of the former. Well, it seems because I have a weakened immune system [due to the chemotherapy I had] it is best I have them both. I didn't have them together though. I waited a week between them and had what felt like a bruised arm for a few days after each of them.

Two weeks on Wednesday I go back to the Cavendish Suite to have a check up it being three months since my last one. Bearing in mind that the doctor said the chemotherapy could work for just a few weeks or as long as 12-18 months [if I was lucky] I feel pleased that it is now some 7 months since I finished my chemotherapy and I feel ok. Still, a visit to the Cavendish Suite always gets my heart a-fluttering slightly. I won't be spending the next 16 days worrying about my next appointmenr though. I know it is a case of 'when' not 'if' ... and there are things to be done !

Eric Gill's sculpture is under threat ...

According to the Daily Express ~ "PERVERT’S STATUE GREETS VISITORS" ~

the BBC is under some pressure to remove Eric Gill's statue of Prospero and Ariel from outside Broadcasting House in London.

It has been there for at least 75 years presumably [Gill died in 1940] and 'we' have known since the late 1980s about Gill's sexual proclivities. I ask why the call for it to be removed now. Well we know why don't we. 

Have we entered an age of intolerance where everything must be squeaky clean and be seen to be squeaky clean ?

I don't for a minute approve of paedophilia, incest or bestiality but surely we need to keep things in perspective.

Who else's work do we have to burn or destroy ?

If you wish to see the statue in full, click here ~  http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil:Prospero_and_Ariel-1.jpg

Spider amongst the bananas ...

Spider amongst the bananas ..., a photo by Charles Wildgoose on Flickr.

When I went to pick up a bunch of bananas in Sainsbury's today, I got this too.

An excellent piece of design ...

Whilst wandering around the garden at Chatsworth a couple of months ago I discovered the most impressive bench rather tucked away from the paths.

If you look at it straight on you can see straight through it ...

Initially I didn't latch on to what it was. Then I got nearer and thought what an interesting feature ...



Eventually I realised this is a bench or seat [I can be slow] ...



If I had had more time I would have taken more photographs, it was just so pleasing to the eye ...



One of the best things about it is that it's great to sit upon.

It was designed by Corin Mellor.

I think it's more interesting than some of the sculptures I've seen in the grounds at Chatsworth.

A Farm Journal ~ from the 16th to the 30th June 1867

My great great great uncle John Bayliff Bowman lived at Summer Hill, near Monyash in the County of Derby.

The Bowman family, who were Quakers, had three farms, One Ash Grange [which John Bayliff Bowman often referred to as O.A.], Cales and Summer Hill [which he usually referred to as S.Hill or S.H.]

In this photo John is fourth from the left. My great great grandparents, Ebenezer and Hannah Bowman, are the third and fourth adults from the right. John and Ebenezer were brothers and their parents are the elderly couple in the middle, Henry and Mary Bowman.

"A Farm Journal"continues :~

1 - 16 Fine

2 - 17 Ditto dull but warmer finish[e]d all turnip sowing

3 - 18 Fine day pulling thistles out of corn

4 - 19 showery ditto

5 - 20 Fine ditto

6 - 21 Fine shearing hogs

7 - 22 Fine day warm  shearing hogs fin[ishe]d Lane lot pull[in]g thistles - things doing pretty well 2 ch a day at each place

1 - 23 Fine

2 - 24 Ditto B[akewe]ll market open for Cattle a lot of all sorts & dear sheep dull sale - bo[ugh]t 10 store pigs 28/-

3 - 25 Fine shearing good clip of wool Irish thinning swedes

4 - 26 Ditto

5 - 27 Ditto

6 - 28 Ditto

7 - 29 Ditto Fin[ishe]d shearing

1 - 30 Ditto Irish came

I have no idea what "2 ch" refers to on the 22nd June 1867.  

The English language takes another knock ...

I know spelling isn't everyone's strong point but I always think it's best when issuing instructions that you get it right.

I saw this handwritten note inside a changing room this afternoon [for the benefit of the staff presumably] and it just makes me smile ...

My apologies for not getting a sharper image. It was a quick shot just in case someone came back into the changing rooms ...

Laura Ellen Bacon ... at Chatsworth

I've posted some photographs of Laura Ellen Bacon's work before. Here are a few more ...