Welcome to this Researcher's Journal. If you'd like to comment on anything they have written here, just click the relevant 'Discuss this Entry' button.

The first time...
Oct 25, 2011

The first time ever I saw a plaice was on a fishmonger's counter in Carlisle.

We lived in two rooms at the back of a large house - a proper "Big House" with a gravel drive and everything - and had the exclusive use of a toilet at the bottom of the garden. To the side of the house was a water mill. By crawling through the hedge next to the shed that housed the toilet I was able to get onto the lane that ran alongside the stream that ran under the mill. Along the lane at ten yard intervals stood some locals with crude fishing rods, really no more than sticks and string with a hook on the end. I didn't know then of the seasons and the runs of eel to and from the Sargasso Sea to Carlisle, but I have a very distinct memory of one day seeing all the men, for they were exclusively men, with writhing heaps of eel at their feet. I asked one men that I had seen around a few times what they did with the eels.

"Come to front gate in mornin, 'bout four, before sun comes up, an I'll show thee what happens t'eels."

It was not unusual for any of us to sneak out to the toilet at night, so I made sure I was positioned on the outside of the bed that I shared with my brother and cousin, and kept a watchful eye on the big luminous hands of the wall clock that my Aunty Rosemary had given us all through the night. At a quarter to four, I shrugged off the blanket and quickly dressed in jumper and trousers. I slipped ot of the house and wriggled through the hedge and ran round the wall to the front gate. Four men stood there with a large bucket, each full of twisting and thrashing eels of many colours and sizes, in each hand. They ignored me, but I followed them down the cobbled streets into the town. every so often a smaller eel would escape from a bucket and try for the nearest drain. Once I managed to catch one and return it to its bucket, but my effort was ignored.

Just as the sky was lightening we reached the market place, filled with pens of sheep and cows. To one side, in front of the police station, was a fish stall with a large barrel to the side. One by one the men argued with the fishmonger and then tipped the contents of his buckets into the barrel. Until that moment, the only fish I had ever seen or touched was an eel, a round long wriggly eel. But there, on the fishmongers counter, were wooden crates filled with the opposite: flat fish with two terrified eyes staring at me. I dabbed a finger.

"What'r them, Mister?" I asked the blue-striped fishmonger.

"Plaice" he replied. "Now bugger off lill'un. 'For you feels the sole of me boot." The men laughed.

I ran all the way home and snuck back into my bed. And, from that day to this I have told no-one, until you today, of the first time ever I saw a plaice.

(9 replies, Latest reply: Oct 30, 2011)

No apology, No explanation!
Nov 4, 2001


So, return he did.

A busier life means less time to spend here.

A disciplined, and time restrained, approach will keep me away from conversations that upset me.

I shall endeavour to behave myself!

(5 replies, Latest reply: Nov 15, 2001)

Time to move on
Jun 11, 2001

I have enjoyed my time here immensely. There are some very very good people (and other lifeforms) on h2g2, I hope that it goes from strength to strength.

Before I found this place, I had never written to be read, to an audience. That I have enjoyed immensely, and I hope that I have contributed a good and interesting variety of entries. I also hope, he added mischievously, that "The Joy of Socks" will eventually find acceptance, as it stands. Not because it pushes at any limits (Thats a btw), but because it contains some sentences and phrases that I enjoyed writing and still enjoy reading. It can be my legacy.

I hope that I will be judged to have contributed. Both the BOFInn and Camelot have lives of their own and will surely survive me. For survive me they must.

For me, the time has come to gracefully disappear whence I came. Three reasons.

I have found myself spending too much time here. I have become dependent! It has to stop. I have work to do.

Last week I came across stuff I didn't like so much (on a thread called Whats wrong with Americans). Its happened before, (On this same thread, and on a similar one aimed at the French) and I have brushed it off and returned to my little corner of h2g2. I have always found prejudice and bigotry difficult. As I get older, I find it more difficult to understand. I don't want to be associated with it. Worse, it made me rude and petulant, in this case to Peta, and I don't like to see that in myself. I wish I could be more tolerant. I cannot.

I have been moderated, for a bit of nonsense in a shady glade. Now I understand about moderation and I certainly don't want to re-open any debates. But, when such narrow minded nonsense as mentioned above is allowed to pass unnoticed I find it difficult to find myself not trusted to make correct judgements as to how far to go with a little bit of frippery.

Tomorrow, I shall wind up a few threads, say goodbye to a few friends, and edit my page. I hope that it will be allowed to stand here for a while. I don't want it erased. I am proud of (much of) what I have said and done here.

Goodbye.

(11 replies, Latest reply: Jun 30, 2001)

That was then, This is now.
Jun 4, 2001

Camelot appears to have settled down nicely. The BOF Inn staggers along nicely. I don't think I'll blow it up after all. Just keep the money. Whilst we wait for 'socks' to get published, I must admit to returning to it repeatedly, just to change a word or add a link. It seems I have to have a little socks every now and then. Is this a socks addiction?

(No replies)

A winsomely expressed wish
May 15, 2001

So we are settling down, post Rupert, with most of the threads back and little now to complain of, and then DNA goes and pops his clogs. I cannot imagine my condolences to be of value, so I haven't placed them anywhere. Nevertheless, I am touched by the loss, and can remember the astonishment with which I first listened to the first radio series.

I see I still have one unacceptable entry (Planograms). I shall have to decide whether to delete or re-draft. Had a lot of fun with 'socks'.

My scouting activity has been interesting. I have to say that now I am obliged to read many more entries, I find many gems among them, but I am disappointed by most.

There are a lot of cats around here, aren't there? Am I missing a connection?

(No replies)