Tales of Home

pallets burn much faster when turned vertical - horizontal boards restrict upward airflow. Just saying.

Amarië wrote:

halfwise wrote:I take it the purpose of the tower fire is to provide light for all the drunken pilots to navigate home by at night.

Interesting theory. But if you look at the video... it's nearly 11 pm here.

Edit: sunset at 23.37 and sunrise 03.38, according to the charts.

I realize you people long ago abandoned any working relationship with the sun, but maybe you could tweak the holiday so as to better appreciate the flames?

{{ Been flicking through a little book that covers the history of the village I grew up in from the outbreak of WW1 to the end of WW2, and telling the stories of al those remembered on the War Memorial.
Its full of tales such as this, the story of Robert Patterson. He was a Merchant Seaman. In 1942 he was serving on the SS Chulmleigh in the artic sea, it had a crew of 58.
On Nov 5th it was bombed by German planes and then hit by a u-boat and the survivors took to the two lifeboats, one life boat was never seen again.
For days the 24 men in the boat drifted in the freezing conditions and then the most senior officer onboard, the First Mate announced he was "going round the corner for a drink" and jumped overboard. Robert and the remaining survivors managed to drag him back out the water but their deteriorating conditions and the freezing water led to his death.
Besides Robert there was one Peter Harvey on board, Peter was a keen yachtsman and Robert had been a fisherman in Shetland and they managed to convince the others they were going the wrong way and managed to set a new course and eventually saw the cliffs of Spitzbergen come into view. But there was nowhere to land, the coast there being made up of sharp jagged rocks. In desperation they deliberetly grounded their boat but a swell in the waves at the wrong time dashed them upon the rocks in the freezing water. Eventually forzen and weakened they found themselves on land, but in the snow in the depths a Norweigan winter with no food or shelter.

Fortunetly they came acros a primitive trappers hut but there were no supplies and they had nothing but melted snow to sustain themselves.
They were stuck there throughout November and December, during which time they became increasingly weak and many of the men died. With the first few deaths they managed to take the bodies outside the hut, but as time went on they were to weak to even do this and the dead remained in the hut with them where they had died.
By January Robert weighed just 5 stone and all those who remained were in similar condition and all afflicted by frostbite.

It was at this point a figure appeared in the door, seeming to shine in white to Roberts eyes and he believed it was an angel come to take him and his life was over. Only to note the 'angel' was holding a grenade.

It was a member of the Norweigan Resistance who thought they had found German Occupation troops. Fortunately he realised they were not Germans before blowing the hut up. He gave all his supplies to the men and promised to return with help.

A few days later he returned with other members of the Resistance who appeared with sleds and huskies and transported the survivors to their secret hideout in the disused mines of Ny Alesund. The Norwegians were trappers and whalers who had been too far north to have fallen under German Occupation and were conducting the fight back.
Slowly but surely they nursed the men back to health, remarkably not only did no further men under their care die but they were adept at dealing with frostbite and not a single man lost so much as a digit or appendage as a result, and when finally Robert had recovered his strength he repaid the resitance by building a working Radio set for them as he had been a radio operator.

Out of the 23 who made it to land 14 had died in the freezing winter conditions, but in May using his newly built radio Robert managed to contact British HQ and they were finally rescued. The dead now lie in Tromso cemetery.

Though Robert himself has now long passed away he maintained a strong lifelong friendship with the Norweigan who first found them and saved them in the hut, and the two families remain in close contact to this day.

There are so many of these stories, and no doubt so many more lost and forgotten.}}

wow thats an amazing story it makes you wonder how anyone could have survived that hardship.

Just thinking of that story, and it reminds me of a John Buchan book, it might be Greenmantle. Similar kind of desperate fight for survival in the snow and ice. Gripping stuff. Buchan walked the walk and a lot of his stories are based on his own experiences in the 1WW.

The weather is weird here, its 20 degrees below a 'normal' Summer. Its now around 27-29 and for the last four years or so its been around 38-40 degrees at this time of year, in fact in 2016 it was 48-49 degrees all July and August. This year I haven't had to use AC, not complaining because its very comfortable, but it is odd. Maybe its cyclical and this is really a 'normal' Summer. I do hope it doesn't explode in August because it means you can go out in the middle of the day and not get fried.

49 C all summer? You gotta be kidding me. That's sahara temperatures.

Its true, there was one July and August cant remember exactly if it was 2018 or 2019, but it was 49 degrees (in the sun). I remember looking at one of those street temperature thingies and it was 49. We at that time didn't have AC in our house and it was 35 degrees IN the house. I thought I was going to suffocate in the extreme heat, it was absolutely unbearable, so I packed a bag for me and Mr Figg and got in my car, which had no AC, and we drove to the nearest hotel. I will never forget that journey, I thought I was going to die of heat stroke. It was like opening an oven door and sticking your head in. We bought AC soon after because I dont ever want to experience heat like that again.

Wow. Can't trust measurements made "in the sun" because it depends on the absorption and thermal properties of the thermometer, but being that hot indoors is rough. Have sit with a fan on you, drinking water constantly as the evaporating sweat dehydrates you.

yep I know in the sun temps are different, but it was 49 degrees you felt. and it was 2017 not 2018. 55 degrees in some places

https://www.ansa.it/english/news/2017/08/01/perceived-heat-50-degrees-in-sardinia-49-in-naples_76437448-fa8f-473e-8fd6-1920e787ea1a.html

http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/5734

{{ high of 26 today. I may have melted }}

Its 29 in my bedroom But my brain did melt a bit so I put the AC on and got it down to 26.

A neighbor with an artistic eye and a drone just posted this photo of our bogs at dawn

{{...let me know if this works......}}

It works!  Quite ethereal.

EDIT: wait, the link disappeared.  It was to facebook, and it was a link.  Now I just have question mark.  What happened? It seems you edited it. If posting an image, go back to posting it as a link.

EDIT 2: now it's gone entirely. No link or question mark.

EDIT 3: Now I have a GREAT BIG space with a question mark in the middle of it.

EDIT 4: now it's back to nothing.  Only the link worked, and I miss it.  Go back to the beginning.

EDIT 5: you have reverted to the first edit, small space with question mark.

Here, you do it like this:

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=210457274423085&set=a.124556919679788

Aaand now I know you live on gould road. I had guessed that before from other photos, but wasn't 100% sure.

very pretty with the mist.

halfwise wrote:Aaand now I know you live on gould road.  I had guessed that before from other photos, but wasn't 100% sure.

We got 'em!

Did this a few months ago, thought I posted it but looks like not. Every week some opera singers get together on the Upper West Side of Manhattan over dinner and sing like a bunch of buskers.



I brought a youngish friend who knows how to dance, and she was swept off her feet by the leader. He even made a flower out of a napkin, lit it on fire and there was a real flower in it's place. Thought I caught that on film but I muffed it. But at least I captured a little dancing.



My friend and I agreed that New York was BACK after this dinner.

I'm actually posting this for the second video in the series, but the first one about the discovery that ancient sculpture was painted is worth watching, even though it's news to nobody here.  For me the biggest discovery is that a travelling exhibit of painted sculpture is on the hoof, and I can't wait for it to get here.

But on to the second video, which can use some background.  Many will have heard about the Highline (I could rave endlessly about it), which was an old elevated railway through the city that was converted to a famous park which quite honestly revitalized an entire section of Manhattan far beyond anyone's expectations.  One of the first people the originators of the idea approached was Dianne Von Fursternburg, who's offices is in the area, and she and her husband became essential boosters of the highline.

Well, that gave Fursternburg's husband Barry Diller an idea, and an old pier that was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy has been converted to "Little Island", and they even added an endowment for nightly performances.   I'm posting this now because I was there this morning for the first time, and thought a video may be better than my static photos.

So here's the video: https://www.yahoo.com/news/ancient-sculptures-reveal-true-colors-141500564.html

EDIT: Damn it all, just found out that's an old video. Exhibit doesn't seem to be on the road any more. I don't want to see them in digital format, I want to see it in person. Sigh.

Okay, I just found out the second video is set at random.  Here it is.

wow! that's beautiful so creative and maybe how we will all be living in the future, gardens on stilts.

There's a whole set of piers in that area that have been converted to parks - this was the natural evolution. Combine those with the HighLine and that's your whole day sorted. You can even throw in the art galleries in between.

uh-oh we have 42 degrees coming on Thursday and Friday straight outa the Sahara. that's flipping hot.

(working it out on my fingers)
Wow, that is flippin' hot!  I wouldn't think Northern Italy would do that to you.  What's going on in south?