ˈaɪsəleɪtɪd Isolated: placed or standing apart or alone; detached or separate from other things or persons; unconnected with anything else; solitary To protect others, you must stay at home if you or someone you live with has symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19). This is called self-isolation. UK National Health Service, Self-Isolation Advice (2020) During the Current … Continue reading Isolated
Lock-down Walks: Dundee Law
Dundee Law (NO 391313, 174m) 5.1 kilometres 183 metres of ascent Another day, another park on the way to another Dundee hill. My starting point this time was the southwest corner of the steeply sloping Dudhope Park, on my way to the Dundee Law. Dudhope gets its name from the old word hope, meaning “valley”. … Continue reading Lock-down Walks: Dundee Law
Latin Plurals: Nouns Ending In -um
DESIDERATA Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Those are the opening lines of Desiderata, by Max Ehrmann, originally written in 1927. The text has a rather complicated history of publication, and … Continue reading Latin Plurals: Nouns Ending In -um
Poul Anderson: A Midsummer Tempest
Valeria whirled. Her finger stabbed at Rupert. “You talked about Hamlet and Macbeth—as if they were both real,” she cried. “Contemporaries, even. You said you’d met Oberon and … Titania … yourself. Well, did Romeo and Juliet ever live? King Lear? Falstaff? Othello? You mentioned cannon in Hamlet’s time. How about, by God, how about a University … Continue reading Poul Anderson: A Midsummer Tempest
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Fantastic Plastic Space Station V: Part One
After all the scratch building and revision work on my Apollo Recovery SH-3D Sea King, I decided I wanted to build something straight out of the box. With hindsight, this perhaps wasn’t the best choice from my stash—it’s not exactly a quick and easy build. It’s is a resin and steel photo-etch kit from Fantastic … Continue reading Fantastic Plastic Space Station V: Part One
Lock-down Walks: Balgay Hill
Balgay Hill (NO 377308, 146m) 2.8 kilometres84 metres of ascent Well, needs must when the Devil drives. The current UK coronavirus lockdown imposes paradoxical advice on the Oikofuge when it comes to walking outdoors—apparently I’m to “stay local”, but take my “normal exercise”, so long as it lasts “no more than an hour”. Given that … Continue reading Lock-down Walks: Balgay Hill
Does The Sun Set On The British Empire?
In short, taking every thing into consideration, the British empire in power and strength may be stated as the greatest that ever existed on earth, as it far surpasses them all in knowledge, moral character, and worth. On her dominions the sun never sets. Before his evening rays leave the spires of Quebec, his morning … Continue reading Does The Sun Set On The British Empire?
Sidlaws: The Mystery of Lundiecra Wood
So here’s a puzzle. I was wandering around in the snow in the Sidlaw Hills, back in February when random wandering around was still a thing people did, when I noticed an odd placename on my 1:25000 Ordnance Survey map: “Lundiecra Wood”. I’ve been nigglingly half-aware of it before, but on this occasion its … Continue reading Sidlaws: The Mystery of Lundiecra Wood
New Government Self-Isolation Advice
Well, there’s nothing like being in lock-down in your own house during an epidemic to put a crimp in the whole “oikofuge” thing. So the Oikofuge is at present forced to revive his dormant childhood oikotropism. Expect more posts about words and books and model-making for the next few months, and very little about walking … Continue reading New Government Self-Isolation Advice
Corona
kɒˈrəʊnə Corona: a circular structure, or spiked circular structure, surrounding a central core Corona is the Latin word for a crown. And, after passing through French, it’s the origin of our word crown. In its original form, it’s used to designate all sorts of crown-like structures. The spiky protrusions from the capsule of the coronavirus … Continue reading Corona