Nick Jordan

I work from home most of the time. There are many advantages to this, of course, such as not having to travel every day, but there are also some disadvantages. In particular, it can be quite lonely sitting at my desk all day with nothing but a computer for company. And that’s why I love my constant companion, Radio 4.

Not only does it provide a soothing background voice when I’m concentrating particularly hard but, in the moments when I’m able to actually listen to what’s going on, it entertains, amuses and informs. I often find myself beginning a conversation with, “There was a great programme on Radio 4 the other day…” As a result of hearing about them on the radio I’ve read some great books recently, too. I’m currently working my way through The Drunkard’s Walk by Leonard Mlodinow, for example, which is a very readable work on randomness and probability and to which my attention was drawn by Radio 4.

I know it’s a bit of a cliché but it’s true that Radio 4 is worth the licence fee on it’s own.

I watched last night’s first episode of Can’t Read Can’t Write today and found it not only interesting but also very moving. The difficulties faced by adults who have trouble reading were highlighted very clearly, as were the shortcomings of the current official approach to helping these people.

Of particular note was the struggle faced by Linda, an intelligent and cultured woman in her forties who has never managed to read a single word and has a desperate desire to read Shakespeare. Initially she just doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere but eventually the breakthrough comes and it’s truly magnificent. There were tears in my eyes at that point, as at many others throughout the programme.

It goes without saying that I shall be glued to next week’s episode.

I saw this in a kitchen cupboard in a church hall yesterday. I have a mental image of some poor little kid being deeply traumatised by it.

Tales from beyond the grave

Beneath our feet, stories of the past lie waiting to be told.

Over the last 30 years, the Museum of London has excavated, examined and archived 17,000 skeletons. Now, 26 of them are to go on display at the Wellcome Trust in London.

They each have a story to tell about life in the capital hundreds of years ago.

Truly fascinating stuff. I think I’ll have to go and see them.

If a man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.
Japanese Proverb

I came across the above proverb and it made me wonder about other tea-related sayings. A quick search turned up Tea Quotes and Sayings. Tea is a wonderful thing, and it seems that lots of other people agree with me.

I won’t bore you with too many details of my weekend, but I will say that I had a fantastic time doing mediaeval re-enactment in Winchester, despite the cold, on Friday night and Saturday, before heading to Portsmouth to see the Mary Rose, which was very worthwhile. While there I was lucky enough to see the Sea Stallion, a replica Viking longship, and chat with a member of the crew.

I got home last night feeling absolutely knackered, but very happy. I’m still very very tired today. I’ve learnt my lesson; if I’m going to have a very busy weekend in the future I shall take the following Monday off.

Upstairs, downstairs. As Britain’s rich see their wealth grow are we risking a dislocation in society that would surprise our Tudor forefathers?

A nice little article that contrasts the way the super-rich live now with the way that their Tudor counterparts did, especially in their interactions with the less fortunate people who supported them, with some nice references to the re-enactments at Kentwell Hall, which really are worth visiting.

This month’s edition of FolkCast is now available. It’s a special tribute show, after attacks on the Woven Wheat Whispers music site brought it down so many times that it was decided, very sadly, to abandon it. There really are some unpleasant people out there, people who seem to delight in destruction and in spoiling other folks’ pleasure for their own amusement. I can only hope that, somehow, they get what they deserve.

Yesterday I met up with some friends at Goldsmiths’ Hall to see the Treasures of the English Church exhibition. We were expecting to see a great deal of Victorian silver and just a little mediaeval stuff (our main interest), but actually there was a great deal of beautiful and fascinating mediaeval church silver on display. I did pick up a very cool fact, though. Apparently the Victorians built so many new churches that specialist suppliers started to sell their wares through catalogues, from which you could buy everything for your new church, from gold and silverware through pews to general fixtures and fittings. The Victoria and Albert Museum has some of these catalogues, which I’d love to see.

Once we’d finished at the exhibition we repaired to the Cittie of Yorke for a spot of lunch and then made our way via a couple of other pubs (we wanted to check them out for possible hire for an event) to Clerkenwell where we had a quick look at the well before heading to St. John’s Gate and the museum of the Order of St. John there.

I arrived home with very sore feet but I think it was well worth it.

I was chatting to a very nice American lady at the weekend about deep frying food and the conversation came around to Turducken. This was the first time I’d heard of this particular delicacy, although I’d come across similar creature-inside-creature dishes. Despite what the Wikipedia entry says, I was assured that deep frying is quite a popular way of cooking this dish, which I have to say sounds rather unpleasant in a hell-I-have-to-try-that kind of way. Mind you, I have yet to experience the joy that is deep fried Cadbury’s Creme Egg.