Brazilian Orange

A rich, dark chocolate ganache infused with Brazilian orange oil, encased in dark chocolate

Has a real zest for life and is very squeezable

*****

That's the published description of the chocolate I'm still savouring. All I can say - all I was saying, even sitting in my room alone - is "Mmm... mmm... mmm..." Seriously mmm...

That's all I can think, except that I'm not sure whether the italicised bit is supposed to describe the chocolate itself, or the person who favours the chocolate...

Happy days

[NB: I wrote this Saturday morning.]

The Langdale household had a very exciting day yesterday. The most exciting things that usually happen in our house are that Kirsty has made brownies, I'm home from hospital early (although the excitement then is more curiosity and/or concern) and Hollyoaks has been cancelled. The latter hasn't yet happened, but I live in excitement that it one day could! Ok there's probably other exciting things that happen, but it's only half 9 and I can't remember.

But I can remember yesterday, so let me tell you. Charly's parents and brother and sister were visiting, and they did some wonderful things.

*****

Charly's Mum bought us a vacuum cleaner, that works in real life and everything! Thankyou Charly's Mum! And so, charged with the prospect of being able to clean the floor, I set to work, little knowing what madness would befall me. I vacuumed my room, which didn't take long; I vacuumed the upstairs and downstairs communal areas; I vacuumed the stairs.

While on the stairs, I noticed that (k, this is going to be hard to explain) the "corners" of the stairs - where the vertical bits meet the horizontal bits, and where the edges meet the walls - probably hadn't been vacuumed in a decade or so, so I got the vacuum tubey thing and vacuumed them too. Those of you who are aware of my Monica tendencies can predict where this is going...

Becoming intimately acquainted with our stairs yesterday evening led me to notice that the skirting boards both sides, the dado rail, and the entire banister thing probably hadn't been cleaned in a decade or so either. Out came the hot soapy water and a cloth, and I spent the next 3 hours of my life cleaning the aforementioned offenders.

Amusing as this may be, the real excitement lay in the newly discovered fact that spending a lot of time in a stairwell is a very sociable thing to do. I could talk to my upstairs and odwnstairs housemates all at once, and most of my housemates spent at least an hour sitting on a very clean stair, chatting to me and everyone else. It was a very social event.

And after we housemates had finished our various tasks for the evening, we had an impromptu house night in the lounge, and talked... well we started on painting the bathroom and making a calendar (not going to elaborate), were on the delicacies of Brighton society at half 12, and were just moving on from the Thatcher years when I gave in to sleep...

*****

Charly's Dad, to move on, spent his afternoon yesterday in our house:
1) bleeding the radiators
2) fixing the whatevers that didn't now work because the radiators had been bled (something to do with pressure?)
3) fixing the radiators that were still holding out defences
4) teaching us how to set the boiler to come on etc.

Thankyou Charly's Dad!

So, this morning at 8am (would have been 7:30 but one thing wasn't set right) we had an hour of blissful warmth. And, although my room has 3 outside walls, 1 of which is permanently wet, my Daddy was right in that, being a little spaciously challenged and containing the boiler itself, my room really does get... well alright not "warm" in the objective, global sense of the word, but warmer than the rest of the house!

So I'm happy, and strongly considering conducting all my business henceforth with my housemates, the medical faculty and anyone else via telegrams back and forth under my door, so that I don't have to open it and let the warmth out. And my housemates will be happy, when they wake up or get back, because they've been waiting a while for the heating, and clothes might not take a week to dry any more!

What an exciting day!

*****

This morning, I emerged from my warmish cocoon (no pretty wings though) to find that one of my housemates had already left with her future to liaise with her past for a while and another two housemates were just leaving for the library, at half 9 on a Saturday! NB: Not Normal. Tonight we're having a planned house night, and Kirsty's getting some ice-cream and facepacks for the occasion. And today I have to get myself a grounding in the general medicine apertaining to cancer. And wash some clothes. And eat breakfast. I'll do that now - I'm hungry and I think that for once we actually have milk...

xxx

What I didn't know this morning...

and probably could have gone quite well without knowing, but oh well...

I am worth $1,613,058 on HumanForSale.com

God holds the key

God holds the key of all unknown and I am glad;
If other hands should hold the key, or if He trusted it to me,
I might be sad, I might be sad.

What if tomorrow’s cares were here without its rest!
I’d rather He unlocked the day, and, as the hours swing open, say,
“My will is best, My will is best.”

The very dimness of my sight makes me secure;
For, groping in my misty way, I feel His hand, I hear Him say,
“My help is sure, My help is sure.”

I cannot read His future plans, but this I know;
I have the smiling of His face and all the refuge of His grace,
While here below, while here below.

Enough! this covers all my wants, and so I rest!
For what I cannot, He can see, and in His care I saved shall be,
Forever blest, forever blest.

Joseph Parker 1830-1902


PS: Such the FIEC girl.

Leg or wing?

Sorry to those of you (and myself) who have been anticipating not-so-patiently a long-awaited new post from me. The following is not what I had in mind, but is rather an impulse ricocheted from Tom's latest blog-post (see bottom left bar) and will be quick to write. He is one of my favourite people, normally...

As a disclaimer, although not as an apology for I am not ashamed of my political beliefs (if you allow me to explain/debate them!), it is late, I am tired, I do not have my political head on, should not engage in politics on very little sleep and a baited impulse, and this net-test may be influenced by all sorts of bias which may result in its not reflecting my true views (especially as I had to ask the Oracle of Delphi - Wikipedia - for a breakdown of one or two political terms before I made my quickfire choice). But here goes.

You scored as Republican. <'Imunimaginative's Deviantart Page'> Anarchism 75% Republican 75% Socialist 58% Democrat 58% Green 58% Communism 42% Nazi 17% Fascism 8% What Political Party Do Your Beliefs Put You In? created with QuizFarm.com

In conclusion I appear to break the mould a little, but my underlying tendencies are republican. Hmm, maybe I shall comment on that when I've considered it longer.

York, York, so good they named it twice, three, five times?

*****
Lesson 1: I’m a geek. You knew that.

Lesson 2: I’m a geek for words and their derivations. Etymology, to be precise.

Lesson 3: I’m a geek for etymology who love to amaze all around me with my findings. Just ask my parents.

*****
My Mum’s off to York next week with her school class. They’re going to walk around the city walls and do other historocultural things to broaden the children’s education. You may or may not know that the Latin name for York was Eboracum, a fact that has intrigued me since I learnt of it years ago, the two words not being obviously linked. So with this reminder, I took the opportunity while on skype with my Mum to google it. How did Eboracum become York?, was the question...

Eburacon (Ebur/acon)
The place now known as York was originally named Eburacon by the native Brits. Eburacon means “place of the yew trees”. Yew tree = ebor/eburos; a sacred Celtic tree.

[Another theory says that Eburacon means “estate of Eboros”, supporting a claim that Ebracus was the founding king, but this meaning doesn’t seem to me to sit right.]

Eboracum (Ebor/acum)
The Romans invaded in 43AD, and it only took them 28 years to make it north and realise the strategic position of Eburacon, being on high ground in between the junction of the two rivers, Foss and Ouse. Thus in 71AD they occupied and fortified Eburacum, and either by mispronunciation or deliberation her name was Latinised to Eboracum. As with most other things the Romans did, it kinda stuck.

Eoforwic (Eofor/wic)
Well, the Romans moved out and the Anglo-Saxons moved in. They made the former Eboracum the capital of the Northumbrian sub-kingdom, Deira, and either by misinterpretation or deliberation, confused the Celtic ebor (yew tree) with their own eofor (wild boar) and renamed the place Eoforwic, meaning “wild boar settlement”, hence the boar is often seen as a symbol of York.

[Another theory says that it was the Roman general big cheese, Legio IX Hispana, who thought that Eboracum meant “place of the wild boar”, thus the boar symbol and ebor/eofor confusion. Those at the top never do seem quite aware of the truth down on the ground, do they… but, although I quite like this story for the satirical comment, I’m afraid I can’t believe it. First, it would be a fairly startling coincidence for both the Roman guy and the Anglo-Saxons to make the same yew/boar mistake. Next, remember that the Romans left in c4AD and the Anglo-Saxons didn’t arrive until c6AD, so I don’t see how one general’s misunderstanding would so directly affect the Anglo-Saxon naming 200years later. Also, the Latin words for boar are aper and verres; not easily confusable with eboracum in the first place. Anyway…]

Jorvik
In c8AD those bearded Vikings in longships arrived, who also liked York. Either by mistransliteration or deliberation, Eoforwic became Jorvik. The written and spoken f, v and w letters have long been interchangeable in old Germanic linguistic variations, so a change of this kind does not seem to me unlikely. Incidentally the change from the Saxon f to the Viking v can be seen in the evolution of the Saxon seofan to the Viking seven, which remains today.

York
The Vikings pronounced j as y, thus Jorvik was pronounced Yorvik. Further to this, I cannot find a better explanation for the change from Yorvik to York other than that it is not an improbable linguistic leap. Even with my limited knowledge I know that there is evidence of many more, far greater linguistic leaps than this achieved by the powerful plebeians and their (mis)pronunciations, so this assumption satisfies me.

Eburacon, Eboracum, Eoforwic, Jorvik or York, I trust my Mum and the kids will have a nice day; after all, the city has a very hospitable history.

PG

And another thing...

My parents have brought us three kids up with wisdom and self-denial. They are sensitive to our needs for privacy and the latest example of this is that my Dad said he doesn't comment on my blog in case he "cramps my style". While I recognise and am thankful for the respect of my space, I want to say you guys can comment any time you like, although somehow I think my Dad may have the same issues as I with brevity... something I've managed quite well today.
.

*****

Proverbs 17:6

.

Children's children are a crown to the aged

And parents are the pride of their children.

.

Not many people can say that these days.

A Nutshell

Bill spoke today: am Esther 4; pm Romans 8. Key verses for me:
.

*****

Esther 4:14 (easily one of my all-time favourites)

.

"For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews

will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish.

And who knows but that you have come to royal position

for such a time as this?"

.

*****

Romans 8:28

.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those

who love him, who have been called according to his purpose"

.

*****

Those of you who know me well will realise why today has been an encouraging day for me, sermon wise. Those of you who aren't that privileged (?!) will either have to try and work it out, or ask me... the explanation will be long though, so only ask if you really want to know...!

.

Either way, those verses are rich with meaning for all of us, so give them some prayerful thought for yourself.