I Feel the Earth Move…

Last night, I couldn’t sleep and was happily typing a Xanga entry.  At about 12:58, I heard rattling in the kitchen. “Odd,” I thought, “what could be making dishes rattle?”  All of a sudden, the whole living room, started to roll in one gentle wave. Then, all stopped and the kitchen was quiet.

“Oh. My. Gosh! That was an EARTHQUAKE!” said Excited Me.
“Be reasonable. This is Cambridge, England,” said Sensible Me.  “It must have been heavy wind.” 
(Sensible Me checked the weather online. No heavy wind.)
“See! See! It WAS an earthquake!” shouted Excited Me.
“You don’t even know what one would feel like,” snapped Sensible.
“Yes, I do! I got queasy in the simulated earthquake display at the Natural History Museum and it felt just like that,” Excited retorted.
“Well, either way, it’s over. Let’s go to bed.”

But, guess what? It WAS an earthquake! In England!

“Second Largest Quake in UK since 1984:  The British Geological Survey (BGS) initially gave the magnitude for
the 12.56am earthquake as 5.3 on the Richter scale but has now said it
was closer to 4.7. It said the centre was 8km east of Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, and 22km south west of Grimsby. [About 75 miles due north from Cambridge] Seismologist
Dr Brian Baptie of the BGS said: ‘This is a significant earthquake for
the UK and will have been widely felt across England and Wales.’ The BGS said it records around 200 earthquakes in the UK each year – an eighth of which are able to be felt by residents.”

I live in California for a summer and not even a shiver. England? I get a full-blown earthquake! Is this a sign that I will reach 100,000 credits? 

A Day in Duxford

It was Tuesday, so we had to go on a field trip. This week’s destination? The Imperial War Museum at Duxford.

We hopped a bus and then another and arrived at the mile-long complex soon after it opened.  There are six huge hangars there filled with different planes and displays.  There’s even one just for the American Air Force!

We had signed up in advance as a school group and were scheduled to see a talk by an ARP (Air Raid Precaution) Warden. This man (who was obviously not a REAL ARP Warden as he was only 45 or so) told us all sorts of nifty things about gas masks, shelters, bombs, and life during WW II in Britain.  Did you know 60,000 British civilians were killed during the war due to bomb raids? But 750,000 German civilians were killed. Staggering!

Here, the warden shows us the difference between a child’s mask and a toddler mask. He explained in detail (to his late-elementary school audience) how the masks worked and were worn and when.

Little Miss was called up to help with the demonstration of a “gas mask” for infants. You can’t put one on a baby’s face. It wouldn’t be able to breathe. Instead babies were placed in helmet-like things with a canvas tie around the waist. However, these weren’t gas-proof. One had to pump a handle 40 times a minute to make sure that air went through the filters and then pushed out around the canvas tie leaving no chance for bad air to seep in. She held that baby doll like a pro and worked that pump fantastically. No babies would get gas poisoning on her watch!

There were a number of classrooms touring around the hangars. I wondered heartily at the fashion sense of one girl until I realized that a whole class had dressed up as 1940s children who were to be evacuated. They even had nametags safety pinned to their shirts. Here’s a group of them. 

There were hundreds of airplanes, and if you want, I can show you pictures of many of them. One thing that I didn’t know was that an airplane’s wings can be folded up when it is in the hangar.

I enjoyed seeing what was painted on the planes, too. (Well, except for the totally-naked, reclining woman.) This one made me think of GhostFroggy. Do you like it, Ghosty?

Outside the hangars, they had missiles and missile launchers and anti-aircraft guns (which are HUGE). Here’s a missile. Big, ol’ thing, eh?

The American Air Force hangar was interesting. One side was a huge panel of windows, impressive. The other side was underground! It reminded me either of an air raid shelter or Laura Ingall’s soddie house. This is a side view so you get to see the strange elevation.

Inside the American part was a piece of the Berlin Wall. 

East side….

And West….

The last hangar had a big display of Normandy and the invasion. The movie was so interesting with actual footage. It summed things up well. It was interesting the whole time, actually, to hear about WW II from a different country’s point of view.  They had all sorts of spiffy displays set up.

We’re going to knock your wall down…

      

Then shalt thou countest to three…

   

On a completely un-airplane note, I’m trying to get free Lifetime by accumulating 100,000 credits. It should take me a while (hee hee). But, if you’d like to aid the cause, every comment you leave gets me 2 credits closer.  It would just be like the war effort!

Cheers!

It’s pretty common for me to think of my Xanga friends throughout the day. I’ll see a band performing in the streets of Cambridge and think, “I wonder if leadwoodfolk has ever done a street concert?” Or I’ll notice yet again that the label on something I’m eating her in England has “suitable for vegetarians” on it and muse how much easier that would be for ElizabethDNB. When I see anything involving medieval weapons, I imagine what arohk might say about it. Or, I’ll ponder how aj1965 is getting along or if TheTheologiansCafe might enjoy that news article or how mamaglop’s classes are or how MelissaWRN’s brother-in-law is doing or…(honestly, I could list every one of the people whose blogs I read).

A Castle Called Norman

I mentioned that the cathedral was only half of our day in Norwich. The real reason we went was to see Norwich Castle. The castle was built 900 years ago as a palace, but for most of its life it was used as a prison (from the 1400s to mid-1800s). Now it’s a museum.

I’m going to sum up with “good reasons to visit this castle.”

• It’s very child friendly. There was a whole floor of the keep just for kids with blocks and a play castle and a model of the castle. And, you could wear a crown and sit on a throne.
  
• You can walk on a 900 year old original staircase.
• You can certainly spend a whole day there with all the interactive displays and videos.
• Generally speaking, it was cool.

Now, for pictures and stories… (One caveat: flash was not allowed, so all of my pictures are a bit dark and blurry.)

We opted to pay extra for tours to the dungeons (Little Miss’s desire) and to the battlements (Gockle’s dream). Both were neat in their own way.

The first thing we did was check out the display on Boudica, the warrior queen of the Iceni, who took on the Romans and won (for a good while).  Most of the kids had just read a Dead Famous book about her (as did I), so we enjoyed the area.

You could take a simulated chariot ride…

Dress up in a toga…

Or pretend to take on a Roman soldier with a really short arm

Next we headed into the Natural History area. I’m not really sure why this part with stuffed lions and birds was in a Norman Castle museum, but it was.

Finally, it was time to head to the main part of the castle keep where most of the displays were! There was so much there that we ran out of time. (Museums and castles have an annoying habit of closing at 4:30.)

The Great Hall

There was a dollhouse which was modeled after the castle as it would have been in Norman times. You could peek in the windows and see different scenes from life–from a grand banquet to someone making use of a garderobe! (That’s a medieval toilet, by the way.)

    

The kids were intrigued by a giant hole in the middle of the castle. It may have been a well at one time, but now it is a place to drop money and watch it fall, fall, fall.

The dungeon tour was interesting, but not for the faint of heart. Instruments of punishment (like the gibbet, dunking chair, treadmill, and this box filled with rocks with a handle you had to turn 1,000 times before you’d get a meal) were fully explained and exactly what it was like to be in this dungeon were told. They even turned all the lights out for a bit so we could see just how dark it would be. We also found out that prisoners would sit in about six inches of “fluid”–rainwater and whatnot. Plus, it was very cold down there. 

They had displays set up inside some of the cells to give you ideas.

Rats! He got the last bed!

Not much hope…

The battlement tour wasn’t TGD’s or Little Miss’s favorite, but they were troopers. I thought it was cool to be on a 900 year old, fully-functional spiral staircase.

Norwich Cathedral on our foggy day
 

Our guide said Hitler was so taken with the building below, City Hall, that he imagined himself giving a victory speech between the two pillars. (Of all the gorgeous buildings in England, he liked THIS one best? No accounting for taste.)  Anyhow, he instructed his fighter pilots not to bomb this building. So, they came to the castle (which was a “no bomb zone” and flew either right or left. The Caley Chocolate Factory (to the left) was bombed, and the whole town smelled of chocolate for weeks.  Interesting thing: Caley’s gave Norwich Cathedral a brass (bronze?) big bowl that had been used for melting chocolate. It is now the font of the cathedral.

Little Man, Little Moustache, Big Pillars

(That’s a permanent open-air market in front.)

Another nifty story our guide told was that a man once jumped from the top of the battlements in a prison break. Even though it is easily 60 feet or more to the ground, he only broke his leg. The officials were so impressed with his bravery and hardiness that they didn’t kill him. Instead, they sent him to America!

Back inside, we went to the lowest level of the keep where they had all sorts of nifty things for the youngest castle-folk. (And lots of benches for moms an dads.)

I enjoyed the model of what the castle would have looked like 900 years ago.

Little Miss enjoyed the castle toy and blocks
     

We finished the day (but far from unfinished with the castle touring) with a demonstration of armor and weapons.  He explained how easy it was to move in armor and how nicely jointed it was.

We got to try on real armor, handle swords, and more.

The armor fellow told us that you couldn’t call it a “suit of armor” unless it was made for the same person at the same time. If it was not, you should call it a “harness of armor.” The harness bit comes from the straps on the under-jacket. 

The under-jacket, a thick coat designed to both be extra protection from sword slices and padding for the armor is where we get the phrase “jack of all trades,” he said.  He also showed us a small, dinner-plate sized shield called a “buckler.” When soldiers went into a pub, they’d slide the handle of the shield over the end of their sword, and “swash” the buckler–swashbuckling.  Or so the guide said. (My research says that it doesn’t come from hanging the buckler but banging it around and making a lot of noise–swashing. This was a way for braggarts to show off and challenge others.)

Giant kudos to you if you understand the allusion in my title!

Saturday Observations

I said I was going to post an entry on the Norman Castle.  I’ll get to it…sometime.

First, some observations, and then I’ll tell you what we did today. (Ooh, the anticipation! It’s worse than Heinz Ketchup!)

• Most people in Cambridge seem to be pretty fit.  It’s a biking and walking town, so I suppose that helps.  I was here for about two weeks before I saw someone who could stand to loose 40 pounds (my standard of truly overweight). I saw my first obese person today (lose 100 pounds or more), ironically sitting in front of Subway.
  

• The small-sized sandwich bags are larger here than in America. My best guess for this is that the bread slices are larger  and longer than they are in the US. They are more like our quart-sized.
  

• I’ve not really seen Tupperware-type containers here. Most people seem to reuse ice cream containers. I use baggies.
  

• The copier paper here is different. It is called A4. (I don’t know what the USA paper is called.) A4 is about an inch longer and half an inch narrower than “regular” paper. Since this will stick out awkwardly in our homeschool portfolios and I had run out of the ream of copy paper I brought with me in January, I tried to find “American” copy paper (which is also what the guy at the stationers called it).  I left without buying any. Why? It was $42 American for 500 sheets!
  

• I like to read Regency historical/romance novels. Strange thing, over here most of those authors are listed under “American literature”! The majority of English historical romances are set in hard-luck towns in England during the early 1900s, WW II, or contemporary times (with the exception of Georgette Heyer).  I guess real English people don’t care to read about imaginary lords and ladies in the early 1800s.

Today we decided to go to the Museum of Cultural Anthropology. Only, we made a goof and went to the Museum of Archeology and Anthropology.  They are on the same street, so you can understand our mistake.  We were prepped for seeing 600 classical statue reproductions and instead saw three floors of artifacts from early Britain and lots from British colonies and explorations.

I loved this turkey-looking jug. It was either Incan or Mayan.




The third floor had exhibits of modern art from New Zealand.
 


 

What mistakes did you make this Saturday?

Nine Hundred Years and Counting

It was cold, much colder than it has been. But, that didn’t stop your intrepid Teacherperson from finding Norwich Cathedral!  It’s not as impressive with the vans in front.

And the green net construction stuff didn’t help either.

This 900 year-old building was begun in 1096 by a bunch of Normans who put the Saxons to work.  In general, what I gather from the history  is that there were a lot of fires and a lot of riots. It seems like the cathedral was always catching fire (two spires burned until they decided to build one of stone). It was shot up during the English Civil War (Cromwell lived nearby) and attacked by Henry VIII’s anti-Catholic goons. A spire was hit by a hurricane, the peasants revolted, and on and on. But, despite it all, the cathedral still stands, still has worship services, and still has the second-highest spire in all of England. (Only beaten by Salisbury Cathedral.)

 
Here’s a bit of detail from the corner to the right. There’s just something excessively nifty about dragons and knights and medieval things.

The stained glass windows were pretty. They had all been shot out or destroyed in riots over the years, so they were Victorian glass, not medieval. Several windows featured knights.  This window was neat.  Notice the knight in the middle. Then, notice the “modern knights”–WW I and II soldiers on the sides.

And, they had more traditional subjects for the windows.

This is the Bishop’s Throne (I think!). Remember, to be a cathedral, one must have the bishop’s throne. Norwich has two cathedrals, one Anglican and one Roman Catholic.

Our guide said to us, “If any of you can tell me what this bird is, I will give you an ice cream.”  We all stared hard, wanting that ice cream (or to be thought amazingly brilliant). Hunter and I guessed phoenix.  I forget what the others guessed.

It turns out that this bird was supposed to be a pelican, obviously sculpted by someone who had never seen a pelican. He said that after the cross, the pelican was the most sacred Christian symbol in medieval times. People saw the pelican doing its thing (preening itself and regurgitating) and then feeding its young. They mistakenly thought that the bird was sucking blood from its own breast to feed its babies. They thought this was a nifty image of Christ and the church and communion, hence, the pelican.

I saw these carvings like these in the walls of the cathedral and asked our guide about it.  He smiled. “Those are ancient graffiti. Naughty choir boys used to sit and carve them. But we learned how to take care of rabble like that. We’d ship them off to America!”

Outside in the courtyard was the Jubilee Maze.  It was a circular maze of paved stones. The children had a wonderful time running around it and inventing games.

I caught Little Miss in mid-jump. (Yes, the crazy things took their coats off.)

Cool cross in the yard.

One fascinating thing the cathedral had were about 1,000 bosses. A boss is a decorative bit which covers up where the pieces of wood in a ceiling come together. (Or, for you technical chaps: an ornamental, knoblike projection, as a carved keystone at the intersection of ogives.  A bunch of them were on the top of the ceiling of the main cathedral, soaring above our heads and impossible to see. (They were also impossible to see as the main nave was closed off for construction.)  But, a number of these bosses were on the underside of the porch ringing the courtyard. 

  

They told all sorts of stories. I don’t know what they all were.  What’s you guess on this boss? Shamgar and his ox goad?  I don’t know.

Hang on tight!

And there were a number of Green Men bosses, too.  The church also had some Saxon pagan gods carved in it.  I didn’t get a shot of them.

Our guide told us another story of “Sweet Vi.” Violet Morgan was the secretary to Bishop Pollock (in the early 1900s). She apparently was a bit more than a secretary, although some say she died of the flu before the bishop, a man 35 years her senior, could marry her.  When she died, the bishop had this statue made of her.  After the bishop died, the scandalized church folk chucked Violet into the garden.  It was only in the last few years that they brought Violet in from the cold.

In front of Violet is a door, The Bishop’s Door.  Our guide said, “The bishop is the only one allowed to use this door to go in and out. And he is welcome to it. There is an unexploded bomb from WW II under the doorway.  It has been sinking in the sand for years and they can’t detonate it or get it out.”

There is another famous Thomas in Norwich Cathedral, Sir Thomas Gooding. He was buried standing up so as to meet God on his feet on the Day of Judgement.  His epitaph, carved on his tomb, is one of the most famous in England, our guide said.

“All you that do this place pass bye
Remember death for you must dye.
As you are now even so was I
And as I am so shall you be.
Thomas Gooding here do staye
Wayting for God’s judgement daye.”

  

     

And something we found for Poppy…

The day continues with a visit to A Castle Called Norman…

Tuesday Treat

On Monday, a new friend from church called me up and asked me to lunch at her apartment for the next day.  I said, “Yes,” of course! Her name is “M,” and she and her husband are here through July while her hubby does military research things.

She picked me up at my house, and we drove to her apartment, which was about 15 minutes away. It was just neat to be in a car, traveling down the foggy, cold country roads of England.  We got to her place, and the first thing I noticed was a stone on the side of the house which said “1687.”  “You live in a house that is almost 90 years older than America?” Wow.

The house was beautiful, but in a country/yard sale/bright colors sort of way. One would feel very comfortable there.  The owner has a small bed and breakfast, and I got to see the two bedrooms. M and her husband live on the second floor (which is the third floor to Americans). It was tiny and charming. There were exposed beams and sloping ceilings (real head bumpers for the tall). It was obviously an attic refurbishment as there were also huge beams sticking up out of the floor about every four feet!  They were about 12 inches high, so quite a bit of stepping was needed. 

But, the real treat was yet to come. M had set her table with her best china, fresh flowers, candles, and everything nice that I don’t tend to do for guests. She grilled salmon and had a lovely salad and an assortment of bread. She put on some classical music, and we chatted about church, international women’s groups, our families, and this and that. She is also an English teacher person and has done ESL work, too.

Over a dessert of shortbread and homemade lemon pudding, she told me that her 10th-great grandfather was the Bishop of Ely (remember that cathedral), a tutor to Edward VI, and part of the court of Henry VIII! And she had relatives who moved to PA, were captured by Indians, escaped and settled in VA, immediately joined up with the Revolutionary War, and then got big VA land grants. Her family (brothers) still have a big beef cattle farm on the land.  Wow. 

When it was time for me to head back to my real homeschool mom world, she gave me a quilted trivet she made and a “Warm Hug.”  It’s a bag filled with rice that you can put in the microwave and use as a heating pad. It’s a nice, big one, too–perfect for warming up my whole lap!

Yes, I’m making some lovely friends here.

P.S.–And happy birthday to another new friend, Lisa, who will be 40 on Friday! She’s not a Xangan, but you can still wish her happy birthday if you want. Go HERE.

Three Minute Update

I’m sleepy and have been working all evening on that writing project. I was very embarrassed when I got an email today saying the material I was to write was six days overdue!  I was never given a deadline, so I shouldn’t feel embarrassed, but I do. Oh, well. I got everything written but a vocabulary section. And I read The Rime of the Ancient Mariner out loud to the kids today.  Yes, a half-hour poem.  I shouldn’t have prefaced the reading with, “Even though I have 23 pages of print out, it’s not as long as you’d think.” It was longer.

We had a hard frost which caused many posies to keel over. Got some nifty pictures.  (may extend to a five minute update to post them)

I’m still fussing with a sore throat.  Life goes on. And, Wednesday we plan to go tour a Norman castle in Norwich. 

What are you fussing with lately?

Sounds Like a Laugh

I was looking up homophones the other day and came across a homophone quiz produced by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). Can you answer these questions? (Those were the actual choices for answers.)

1. A large, furry animal  [bare, bear, beer]
2. She went back to ____________ she had locked the door [check, cheque]
3. She had to go to ____________ to prove she was innocent.  [court, caught]
4. Tip the jug and ____________lots of cream on the strawberries.  [paw, poor, pour]

And, while you are at it, see if you laugh at these British jokes.

Why can’t you get any headache medicine in England?
Parrots eat ‘em all!

Two bags of crisps were trotting down the pavement.  A car stopped and asked them if they wanted a lift.
“No thanks,” they replied. “We’re Walkers!”

Why do elephants have big ears?

Because Noddy won’t pay the ransom.

(To understand the first joke, you have to know that Tylenol/acetaminophen is called paracetamol in England. Parrots eat ‘em all–get it?   To understand the second joke, you need to know that Walkers Ready Salted is the Lays potato chip (crisps) of England. To get the third joke, um…I don’t get the third joke at all. Does anyone?)

Valentine’s This and That

Someone at Marks and Spencer must have known me when they designed my Valentine’s treat from TGD.

A dozen of these     
 
                    A big pile of this   

                                        A gift of that