where art collides philosoperontap

Relatively late stroll to the shed at 08.45 this morning. Slept well last night, presumably due to the longer than usual 40 minutes swim. I was pleasantly and gently brought into a waking state by the arrival of the tea tray.

Now listening to a relaxing Classic FM playlist. The official start to the day this morning  is 09.30. In my mind I had it down at 10.30 but now I remember that it was CET. Sokay.

My new Macbook Pro delivery has moved back to Thursday having been brought forward from Monday next week to yesterday. This is not normal Apple operation. One has to assume this is down to a combination of demand at launch, semiconductor supply, global availability of transport and pandemic induced absence from work of drivers. When I ordered it they were saying week commencing 6th December so I suppose it is an improvement.

Made some headway with my new scansnap yesterday. Wasn’t a totes intuitive UI but we got there. However I did begin to understand the deficiencies. For example when scanning photos it is meant to reorientate them if upside down and store them in a photo folder at high (ish – 1.7MB) res. It does this when scanning to the local PC drive but not to the cloud. OK as long as I know.

This means that I’ll have to scan when the mac is switched on, which it always is although it is asleep overnight. It’s not the end of the world but adds a stage to the process of storing it in its ultimate destination, GDrive and Google Photos. 

I have thousands of photos to scan. These are divided into those not in albums, largely mam and dad’s and those nicely presented for the reader with accompanying labels describing what you are looking at. Ours. These are a bit more faff as I have to take them out of the album before scanning and then replace.

The scanning process itself is like lightning. Around 40 photos a minute so the “loose’ pics will be quick to do. I also need to decide on what to do in respect of uploading to Google Photos. GDrive is easy as I just put them in folders. Google Photos stores photos by date (ok and albums if I chose to do so) but the date on a scanned photo is that of scanning. It all means a bit of curation but once it’s done it’s done. The hard copies can go back into a cupboard to be looked at once every thirty years (never).

In other news I have 3 LED units on the blink in the shed. Going down like flies. I bought a replacement and spare ages ago that I have yet to fit but now I’ll need some more!

The darkest hour is just before dawn, it is said. I googled it for confirmation and it is so. You can’t always rely on Google mind you, try as they might. There are companies who specialise in keeping specific bits of information low in the Google rankings. For example for celebrities who want to keep their heads down after doing something naughty. This is not the case here. Notice the use there of a capital G for Google the proper noun versus lowercase g for google the verb. Sgood.

That opening phrase is ripe for exploration but tempting as it is I am merely going to say that in the heart of the city, where we live, it is not so. This is because the urban dwellers amongst us have elected to install artificial lighting to preserve the safe passage of said dwellers when walking home from the pub. There could be other places they want to walk home from at night but pub adequately covers it.

In our house there seem to be light emitting diodes everywhere that also invade the sanctity of darkness. It does feel like an invasion. I could happily do without but the act of switching everything off at the wall before going to bed doesn’t seem to be worth the effort. I do switch things off in the shed, monitors for example, and cover up LEDs to minimise the light pollution emanating from the bottom of the garden which totes doesn’t seem right. 

The 16 port Ethernet switch remains on but I can’t see that from the house so all good. It is somewhat bemusing to observe that most of the ports are in use. In the shed! Hey…

On this occasion, ie now, the darkest hour also represents the time at which I get up and make the tea. Let there be light…

Up and not particularly at it at 08.20. There is no rush although I do need to repair the clothes airer before Anne gets back from Liverpeul so the clock is ticking somewhat. She has supplied a new cord for the purpose and it will be done. It is not particularly convenient banging into it every time anyone goes into the utility room, hanging, forlorn, as it does.

I sense I might also mow the lawn this morning. It is once more covered in leaves and mowing is an easy way to remove them to the compost heap, shredding the little blighters in the process. It ‘s not really fair to call them blighters as they have, in their short season on the planet, done the job asked of them.

My other job is to properly fix the handle on John’s bedroom door. The spindle keeps slipping out of the housing on the inside door handle rendering it inoperable from inside the room, if you get my drift. Why it just started to do that after only being installed in 1939 I will never know. The application of a bit of gorilla glue should sort it.

…

Rand Armitage was on Classic FM as I was preparing breakfast. What sort of name is that I said to Hannah. Actually it was Alan Titchmarch. I was only half listening. No name should come as a surprise nowadays. I then envisaged the young Alan in school whilst his teacher read out the register. Titchmarsh, Alan, “here”. Or even Titchmarsh, Al! I can call you Eddie and Eddie when you call me you can call me Titchmarsh, Al. Works for me.

Up at 05.30. Again. I don’t have a problem with this. In the summer it is great. I sit in the conservatory enjoying the light, and the birdsong. In winter I sit in complete darkness apart from the light of the laptop.

Today is November 11th. Armistice Day. I looked in the media but the headlines are all about Covid 19 and Cop26.The wars of our day?  I’ve seen poppies being worn but not noticed much else in respect of commemorating the event. Maybe I’ve had my head down a bit, doing stuff.

My grandmother was born in 1907 in a miner’s cottage opposite the Blaenhirwaun pit in Cefneithin, on the western edge of the South Wales coalfield. So she would have been seven years old at the start of the first world war, eleven at its conclusion. My grandfather, who I never knew as he was a miner and miners did not live to old age, was born in 1899 I think. Just missing the war but he would have been exempt from military duty.

I was looking for the right word there but exempt was all I could come up with. He wouldn’t have been allowed to join the army but mining was not a particularly pleasant alternative. Anyway that’s not really the line I’m trying to pursue here.

We no longer really have a collective memory of the first world war. We rely on what is provided to us by the media. I’d have occasional conversations with my dad about the second conflict of which he had clear memories.

I don’t think I ever discussed the war with my grandmother. Our family, on my grandfather’s side had a woolen factory in Maesdulais near Tumble and I believe that at the time we made products for the military.  I know no more than that really.

It isn’t difficult to picture those times when I close my eyes. My grandmother’s house had signs from that era. Around her fireplace you could see the outline of the old range that used to be there and on which all the cooking was done. She also had a scales that were used to weigh the pig when it was slaughtered each autumn. We kept a pig at the bottom of the garden.

Although opposite a coal mine, one of a few in the area which must have made up the majority of local employment, it was very much a rural area. A cousin had a farm, Y Garn or Garnedd Fach. He was called Owain Y Garn. I remember visiting once and got my wellie stuck in the muck heap in the farmyard.

Neither factory nor farm are any longer in the family and one of my sisters has the scales. When I finish full time employment one of my projects will be to better document the family history. I started about ten years ago but got to the point where it needed a lot time on the ground putting into it and the project was parked. It is, to me at least, quite fascinating encompassing very recognisable historical periods and events such as the religious revival, the industrial revolution and the move away from a farming led economy and then the disappearance of the mining industry.

I will be stood on the platform at Lincoln railway station at 11am and will spend a moment thinking about the first world war and the men who gave their lives for us. We wouldn’t have conflicts such as these were it not for leaders and politicians who in their wisdom decide to get us involved in them. They are the same type of person at COP26 discussing the world’s approach to climate change. God help us.