World Empires

Over the millennia the World has been dominated by many empires, some bigger than others. While certain areas of the globe have been fought over and claimed many times by different people, other regions have known only a few occupants. So I wondered how it would have looked if some of the biggest empires had happened at the same time, and this is what I came up with.

I cannot claim complete accuracy, largely because of the various overlaps, but also because I have drawn this from other individual maps, which is not altogether easy. However, it does show the extent of these eight empires and the obvious impact they made upon the world. Sadly, of course, most of these empires came about through war and bloodshed, and it is good that we now live in a time where countries and people are happy with the land they have, mostly. It is also interesting, though, that those areas most fought over throughout history are the ones still most hotly contested today.

It doesn't take a genius...

When we think of the great engineering and industrial countries of the past 50 years, Germany and Japan both come high on the list.
     There is another connection between these two nations: they both lost in World War 2, and in fact, were hugely decimated. After the war neither were allowed to rearm, or use their engineering knowledge and expertise (that had dragged out the war) for anything remotely military. Consequently they built cars and (seemingly) toys, among other things, which helped both their industry and their economy.
     Meanwhile, France and Britain had been rearming, for no apparent purpose, while America and Russia (who had taken over as the World super-powers) put all their expertise into reaching the moon first. Something that was very expensive and not particularly useful to the common man (or woman).

I wonder what the world would be like if everyone had put their energies (and economies) into improving the quality of life?

Sketching - Part 4

Attempts of a few interesting flowers that maybe I'll try to grow some day.

WW1 Centenary

100 years since the beginning of World War 1. We can barely imagine the horrors of that time and pray that nothing like it will ever happen to us.

This is a mini saga concerning my Great-Grandfather's brother, Captain Peter Ligertwood.

 

 

Three years of distant war, three days in brutal Passchendaele, three hours the Captain of A Company, 2^nd Marines.

He tied the men together with yarn and led them from the front as they crossed the Paddebeek. His company took the target, but four times wounded Ligertwood marched no more.

Captain Tory

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick (Chris Van Allsburg) is a collection of fascinating sketches with each one having a title and 'caption'. They provide great inspiration for writing. Here is one I have attempted.

Captain Tory

He swung his lantern three times and slowly the schooner appeared.

 

August 5th was one of those quiet summer days when no one's around and there's nothing to do. Hadley Cuirc had spent the morning kicking stones along the quay and watching the boats coming and going and was set on doing the same after lunch. However, as he trudged slowly beside the river in the general direction of home, he saw a man in a long, dark coat and sailor's cap, standing and staring out over the water. Hadley stopped and, being of an inquisitive nature, called out, "What are you looking at?"

     He expected the man to jump in surprise or to ignore him, being so preoccupied. Instead, and without turning around, the man gave a quiet reply.

     "My schooner, young man. My beautiful schooner."

     Hadley was perplexed. Not by the sailor, nor by his manner: there were often odd men around the town. What confused Hadley was the lack of any such vessel, there was not so much as a dingy on this section of the river at that moment. Carefully he stepped across the grass to where the man was stood, in case he was missing something, but the water was clearly deserted.

     "What schooner?"

     "You don't see it," replied the man. It was not really a question, more a statement, but Hadley felt that he aught to clarify.

     "No, I don't see any boats."

     The man turned towards him and Hadley noticed for the first time that he held a lantern that glimmered faintly in the noonday sun.

     "Then you'll be thinking I'm mad," said the man in a low, gruff voice, "but Ol' Captain Tory ain't mad, he's not even half mad. Young man, you come back here at midnight tonight, and I'll show you I'm not mad."

     By this point Hadley had decided he didn't want to hear any more, being quite sure the old man was perfectly mad, and he began to edge away.

     "Midnight, remember," said Captain Tory.

     "Yes, Sir," said Hadley, to show that he'd heard, before he turned and skipped into a run that took him all the way home.



A poor case of language lessons

"For they have a way of teaching languages in Germany that is not our way, and the consequence is that when the German youth leaves the high school at fifteen, it can understand and speak the tongue it has been learning. In England we have a method that for obtaining the least possible result at the greatest possible expenditure of time and money is perhaps unequalled. An English boy who has been through a good middle-class school in England can talk to a Frenchman, slowly and with difficulty, about female gardeners and aunts. Possibly, if he is bright, he may be able to tell the time, or make a few guarded observations concerning the weather."

This quotation (slightly altered) comes surprisingly from Three Men on the Bummel by Jerome K. Jerome, the sequel to his more popular novel, Three men in a Boat. I say 'surprisingly' because the book was published in 1900. The fact that someone could write exactly the same words today, more than 100 years on is somewhat worrying. It also shows that the British attitude to languages and indeed anything beyond our shores is unchanged and at best dismissive.

We do of course hamper ourselves (as Jerome pointed out) by spending barely a few hours a week learning a language (mostly French) that is of very little value. Looking at the most common and influential languages of today Mandarin, Spanish, Hindi and Arabic, these would be more helpful, but when the teachers can barely speak French there is little hope of progression into other tongues.
     In some cases (again as Jerome noted) schools employ French men and women, who are often from Belgium, and who can speak their own native language very well. Sadly in many cases they are not teachers and so are equally unable to pass along their knowledge to a class of thirty children who have no interest in our nearest neighbours and certainly don't care to study their verbs.

West Highland Way Review

Just over a week ago my sister, Hannah, and I set out on our journey through Scotland, following the West Highland Way from Glasgow to Fort William. On the way we had sunshine, rain, wind and even a little bit of snow (on a mountain). Our feet got wet and tired, but fortunately our spirits didn't and we arrived in Fort William right on time for the train home!

Here are a few snippets from our week of walking:

Day 1 began in Milngavie, just north of Glasgow, after a five hour train ride from the midlands. Hannah had forgotten gloves, but with it being summer and everything no shop was able to supply her with some. This was a good thing because she didn't need them and if there's one thing we learnt from when we walked the Coast to Coast in 2012 it's that you don't take anything that you won't use!
     The day was damp but fairly flat and we made good progress over the 12 miles to our first campsite. Now there is a rule in camping that when you go to pitch your tent it will begin raining, or if it is already raining, it will rain harder. Then, as soon as you have your soggy pile of canvas badly erected, it will stop. This rule was firmly applied on our first evening, but we overcame the weather and our inexperience with a new tent and had it set almost perfectly.
     At this campsite we met several other West Highland Wayers, most of whom were a similar age to us, camping and carrying everything (this was quite different to the Coast to Coast). They were also, largely, from mainland Europe. Some we found out their nationality, such as the Czech couple and the 4 French, but there were also some we guessed including the Potentially Polish and Potentially Germans (not to be confused with the Definitely Germans we met the next day).

Day 2 was sunny, and possibly my favourite day of the whole trip as we climbed Conic Hill and strolled along the south-eastern shore of Loch Lomond. Being sunny and a Sunday the Scots were out in force and we met many families, old ladies, and small dogs also hiking around the area. Most of them had something to say about the West Highland Way, either that they'd done it themselves, or knew someone who had, and told us about how the wind and rain battered them for several days in the later stages of the walk. We chose to ignore this.

 

 

Day 3 was not so sunny. The morning was grey, although not difficult for walking. The afternoon, however, found us scrambling over rocks and around trees in an attempt to find any sort of path along the north of Loch Lomond. It did not help that the rain came down with a vengeance, drenching everything and leaving puddles in our shoes.

     The two Czechs, who we had been following for a while, disappeared around lunch time and then reappeared shortly after disguised as camels. They had donned enormous rain-macs that covered them and their bags giving them large humps on their backs as they plodded on behind us. This was a small cheery moment, though, because as we finally left the loch for the last time the thought occurred to me that we were so wet, we may as well as swum.

 

Day 4 saw a reappearance of the sun and another pleasant day as we edged further north. This was the day when we lost the two Potentially Germans. (We still don't know what happened to them. One moment they were behind us, the next they weren't and we never saw them again!) However we did find two Scots, who, when we first passed them, were sitting about a quarter of a mile apart having a telephone conversation in which the keener one (who was ahead) was trying to encourage the less keen one to keep going. This was clearly taking some time, but worked eventually because they caught us up later.

     We finished that day in the village of Tyndrum, which is an old mining town, but now is entirely made up of B&Bs, a large hotel, two campsites and a row of identical holiday cottages. Most people only stop here for petrol, but there are some who stay. As we wandered in to find dinner I said to Hannah, "Do you think Tyndrum is a place that retired people come to?" At this point a large coach full of over 80s came around the corner and the question was answered.

 

Day 5 was our longest day at 18.5 miles but this would have been a small matter if the weather was nice. The path was on wide tracks and old roads that rose and fell gently. The morning was wet and largely unmemorable and it wasn't until we reached Rannoch Moor that the day truly showed what it had in store.

     O Rannoch Moor, have I ever been in a more wild or desolate place. For two hours the rain drove down with a fierce wind and the open ground offered no shelter. There were, however, three consolations that to my mind made this day better than other similar days we have experienced.

     Firstly there was a clear path. Admittedly it was also a stream, but it was clear and we followed it. Secondly, the rain and wind were mostly at our backs, and thirdly, there were several other groups ahead and behind, which gave us comfort and reminded us that however foolish we might be there were plenty of others in the same category.

     Finally the rain broke and amazingly the sun found it's way through, but only just. Shortly after we descended off the moor and were faced with the dark, imposing entrance to Glencoe, guarded by Buachaille Etive Mor. Now, I have seen beautiful mountains and I have seen majestic mountains, but under heavy clouds and with evening drawing in, this mighty peak was a brooding, hulking mass of bare rock and was, without doubt, the most menacing mountain I have even seen.

 

On Day 6 we passed though Glencoe, sight of the famous massacre in 1690. Fortunately the clansmen were having a day off and so we were able to climb peacefully out of the valley and continue North.

     The descent to our next destination of Kinlochleven was steep, leading one of a party of six Scottish women, who we had been playing leapfrog with for two days, to call out "I canne stop!" Happily she did and we all made it to the bottom of the hill safely, in glorious sunshine and with plenty of time to explore this picturesque village.

     I would very much recommend it as somewhere to visit, just for the views, but there is also an indoor ice climbing-wall and, even more excitingly, a museum devoted the town's aluminium industry. (We didn't go in).

 

Day 7 then was the last major walking day in terms of distance as it brought us almost to Fort William and left us under the towering might of Ben Nevis. This giant is another mass of rock and not the nicest of mountains, however on this day it was sunny and we could at least see it in all its glory.

 

On Day 8 we set out to conquer the mountain, starting a measly 10 metres above sea level and rising to 1343 metres, the highest point in all of Britain. Sadly the clouds were thick and sat heavily on all the hills and well before the top we were walking in a white world. Fortunately there were many others on Ben Nevis and we found our way to the top and back down again safely, including crossing a patch of snow that provided some entertainment.

 

Finally on Day 9 we finished the last few miles into Fort William with time to find a tacky gift shop to purchase the obligatory tacky souvenir (actually I got a nice pin badge, so it wasn't too bad!) Then we loaded ourselves onto the train, along with many other walkers and their backpacks to repeat the same 100 miles, but in reverse, and slightly faster.

 

 

 

To find out more about the journey click the link to see a short video of our walk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBrZ-kUuBI0&feature=youtu.be