Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Author: admin

  • British Airways – Executive Club

    British Airways – Executive Club

    British Airways e-mailed this morning with the subject title “something to make you smile”. And, the e-mail did, so that’s my loyalty to the wonderful BA confirmed for years to come. And, most importantly, I hope that BA are able to ensure their staff all remain in employment and that routes don’t need to be dropped.

    Dear Mr White,

    We all love to hear some good news every now and then. And so today, we wanted to tell you something that we hope will make you smile.

    As the world prepares to fly once more, we know there is still a long road ahead, and we wanted you to know that we’ll be right there with you every step of the journey.

    To say thank you for all your loyalty and support, we’ve added 12 months extra onto your Silver Executive Club membership. So you have more time to enjoy your benefits, whenever you’re ready to return to the skies.

    What’s more, it will be even easier to retain your Silver status next time you’re up for renewal, as we’ve decreased the amount of Tier Points needed by 25%. This is the same for upgrade thresholds too, making that next Tier more achievable.

    You can read more information here, and other ways we’re supporting you during this period.

    We hope that put a smile on your face. Thank you again for your loyalty.

    Your Executive Club Team

  • Phoenix – Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport T3 Opening

    Phoenix – Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport T3 Opening

    It’s six years since I’ve been to Phoenix, but it seems they’re doing great things with their renovation of T3. After spending a cool $590 million on their terminal, it opened in February 2020 which wasn’t entirely perfect timing for an aviation launch, but relative normality will return soon enough.

    What they have done is made an effort to get local restaurants to open at the terminal and not just rely on national brands. So, they’ve got the Ajo Al’s serving Mexican food, Giant Coffee which is self-evident, the Phoenix Beer Co serving craft beer, Scramble who specialises in breakfasts, SanTan serving craft beer and The Tavern for burgers amongst other things. There’s also a Habit Burger Grill, a Panera, Shake Shack and Starbucks for those who feel more comfortable with chain restaurants.

    This is one problem with Heathrow T5, nearly all of their outlets are generic chains and there’s no nod to localism. Hopefully I’ll be back in Phoenix in 2021 at some point…..

  • Bristol – Banksy Artwork

    Bristol – Banksy Artwork

    This artwork was stencilled onto this wall on Frogmore Street in Bristol by Banksy in 2006. My photo is from 2013, after the artwork was vandalised with a paintball gun which had fired blue paint at it, but before it was attacked with black paint. It’s five metres up from the floor, which required Banksy to erect scaffolding and the council discovered the artwork when they removed that structure.

    Although Banksy had been painting on walls in Bristol for some time before this, the artwork gave the city council a challenge. They were against graffiti on buildings, but the works produced by Bansky proved popular with locals and they were of a higher quality than much of the other graffiti that was scrawled onto walls. So, in this case, the council went along with it and it has remained in place since.

  • Bath – Views from Bath Abbey

    Bath – Views from Bath Abbey

    Just photos from a few years ago, from the roof of Bath Abbey which can be accessed as part of a behind the scenes tour of the building.

         

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day Eighty-Four

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day Eighty-Four

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the Coronavirus crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored…..

    Cold Pig

    This cheery little phrase is defined as “to give cold pig is a punishment inflicted on sluggards who lie too long in bed: it consists in pulling off all the bed clothes from them, and throwing cold water upon them”. The phrase was relatively common in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, then started to fade away and instead meant damaged or returned goods. The phrase is still used today by some shops who use the term to mean seconds or returns, but the original definition of cold water seems to have been lost.

  • Bath Abbey – William Oliver Tablet

    Bath Abbey – William Oliver Tablet

    This lengthy memorial tablet is to the memory of William Oliver (1659-1716), a medical pioneer who was the uncle of William Oliver, also a medical pioneer from the city, who invented the Bath Bun and Bath Oliver. He was buried in Bath Abbey, which is where this tablet remains in place today.

    This William Oliver spent some of his time as the surgeon responsible for Lord Monmouth’s army, something which would have rather an innovation at the time.

    His tablet reads:

    “In memory of William Oliver MD FRS. He was descended from the family of Trevarnoe, in the County of Cornwall. While he was prosecuting the study of physick in foreign universities. The miseries of his country called aloud for a deliverer. He was ambitious of contributing his might to so great a work. He came into England an officer in King William’s Army in 1688. He was appointed physician to the fleet in 1693 and continued in that station till the year 1702. He was appointed physician to the hospital for sick and wounded seaman at Chatham in 1709 and in the year 1714 he had pleasure to have his old fellow sailors committed to his care. He being then appointed physician to the Royal Hospital at Greenwich in which honourable employment he died a bachelor on 4 April 1716. His love to this city, where he practised physick many years appears in his writings”.

  • Langley – Name Origin

    Langley – Name Origin

    And, since I’ve written about the origins of the place name of Hardley, here’s Langley since they share a village sign. Back to The Concise Oxford Dictionary Of English Placenames.

    Langley, Norfolk. Langale in Domesday Book, Langeleg in 1201. 

    This one is easy for the dictionary to define as there are Langleys up and down the country, all nearly certainly derived from the old English ‘long leah’, or long wood, both of these words having Germanic roots. Confusingly, later on ‘lea’ came to mean an open area of land, just to make things complex.

  • Hardley – Name Origin

    Hardley – Name Origin

    Moderately intrigued following seeing the village sign, I went back to The Concise Oxford Dictionary Of English Placenames. I certainly know how to have an entertaining afternoon…. Anyway.

    Hardley, Norfolk. Hardale in Domesday Book, Hardele in 1115, Hardeleygh in 1268. Hard clearing, perhaps referring to hard soil. Some forms have halh.

    The ‘halh’ is the old English for cave, closet or corner, which has apparently slipped into the settlement’s name over time. Some of the area around Hardley is today marshland, so a hard clearing would make sense in this context.

  • Hardley and Langley Village Sign

    Hardley and Langley Village Sign

    I’m not sure that I’ve seen a village sign with two different village names on it, but this is the sign for Hardley and Langley. The two villages have somewhat merged together and their formal name is now ‘Langley with Hardley’, which were both historically separate parishes.

    According to the village’s own web-site, both parishes had their own council in 1894, but they were amalgamated in 1928. There was some debate about dropping the name of Hardley, but the residents of Langley must have been a vocal bunch, and so their parish wasn’t forgotten. The school districts had already been merged in the 1870s, so it looks like harmony prevailed in the end.

    The Hardley side of the sign has Hardley Church on it, along with birds and sweeping views of the landscape, whilst the Langley side of the sign has Langley Abbey and a wherry on it. All colourful and bright, a rather lovely village sign and it’s also been placed pretty much on the official boundary between the two villages.

  • Buckenham – Name Origin

    Buckenham – Name Origin

    Further to my visit to Buckenham this week, this is the origin as given by The Concise Oxford Dictionary Of English Placenames. To confuse things just slightly, there are three Buckenhams in Norfolk, Old Buckenham, New Buckenham and what is mostly now just called Buckenham, but has historically been known as Buckenham Ferry.

    Buckenham, Norfolk. Buchanaham in Domesday Book, Bokenham Ferye in 1451. From Bucca’s Ham.

    Ham is a village or settlement, with Bucca being one of the early leaders of what became known as the Anglo-Saxons, a similar word origin to Buckingham, as well as the other Buckenhams in Norfolk. Unless he meandered around a lot between Buckinghamshire and Norfolk, I assume this was some related group of people who came to Norfolk in the seventh century. Incidentally, the ferry at Buckenham operated until the 1940s, but more on that another time….