Jane Austen

One of my favourite authors. A number of good films have also been made some quite recently although she was born some 250 years ago.

We have visited houses where she lived and enjoyed tea at Chawton House Hampshire where her brother had lived though Jane Austen had resided there at one time also. 

The Times has a good but brief article about her today reading:

 "Weather Eye: How Jane Austen used weather to flesh out her novels

 

This year marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth. One aspect of her work is often overlooked: she was a genius at weaving weather into her novels, with plots often turning on a weather incident.

In Sense and Sensibility, Marianne Dashwood goes for a walk with her sister Margaret, declaring that the day would be “lastingly fair” despite threatening clouds. “Suddenly the clouds united over their heads, and a driving rain set full in their face”. They run down a hill in a rush to reach home but Marianne falls and sprains her ankle and is left helpless. Just then, the dashing John Willoughby sees her fall and carries her home, stirring strong feelings in Marianne for this gallant stranger. But just as she misread the weather, so she misjudges Willoughby’s devious character.

In Emma, a Christmas Eve dinner at the home of the Westons brings together a cast of key characters. But when snow begins to fall, Mr Woodhouse, Emma’s father, becomes particularly anxious, “What is to be done, my dear Emma?—what is to be done?” Woodhouse is portrayed as somewhat neurotic, even though the other guests are also fearful of the snow, but this apparent overreaction was understandable. Austen wrote Emma in 1814 and truly reflected the weather during a particularly cold year with heavy snowfalls.

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Bennet is invited by Caroline Bingley for dinner at Netherfield. Her mother, Mrs Bennet, sends Jane on horseback rather than by carriage, “because it seems likely to rain; and then you must stay all night” as she hopes to stir a romance between Jane and the eligible Mr Bingley. But Jane is drenched in rain and becomes so ill she has to stay at Netherfield. Her sister Elizabeth comes to care for her but Elizabeth’s stay has unintended consequences when Mr Darcy, another guest at Netherfield, realises that “she attracted him more than he liked” — and so the plot thickened..."

To me at least, there are many attractions of reading Jane Austen's novels; no guns apart from hunting, no mobile phones and no TV. The novels themselves do all the work that modern day novels share with so many other aspects of the media.

 

Lambeth Palace

Youngest sister kindly organised an away day at Lambeth Palace, where for a small fee members of the public may on a few occasions, enter the buildings there which serve the Archbishop of Canterbury.

 

 

The exteriors of the buildings on the extensive grounds were attractive but I found the interiors relatively dull. Westminster Abbey only a short walk away has a far finer interior. 

However our family visit was fun and Lambeth Palace was not at all crowded with visits being limited generally and time slots for entry.

The interior of the palace and buildings we also visited despite their overall unimpressive effect. Many National Trust and English Heritage  buildings visited  in the past have been rather more impressive though maybe the HQ of a church should not be too attractive. Having said that however, mrs  maytrees and I marveled at St Peters in Rome and many of the artifacts  in and around the Vatican, upon our visit there some years ago.

One of the more interesting features of our visit to Lambeth Palace was the principal  dining room there which was used for state banquets or at least when the Archbishop was entertaining   state or religious leaders from around the world. 

The dining room was  attractive enough with the table there  being laid as if  a banquet was shortly to take place. None the less for me, the most attractive objects in the room were the dining plates which appeared thus:

 Rather than have a sandwich lunch in the gardens of the palace we decided to walk towards St James underground station and enjoyed a cheap cooked lunch together at an Italian Cafe enroute.

No new Archbishop of Canterbury at this time.

An enjoyable afternoon. 

 

 

 

 

Climate Change - Weather

Almost amusingly, the car pictured on the left of the above 1952 London smog photograph, is a Morris Minor convertible, the car I took to Ireland over 50 years ago, to holiday with mrs maytrees who hales from Dublin.

Amazon had a recent filmed account of the dreadful 4 day London smog in 1952 that was said to have killed c. 6,000  people,  largely through S02, rather than C02, inhalation. 

Amazon are probably correct in suggesting that the death toll was far higher rather (though not mentioned by Amazon) like the death toll from the Covid-19 pandemic  in the UK, is much higher than the published figures suggest. After all if one became bronchitic during the smog, death from bronchitis might not have occurred until years later. 

The causes of the smog were a static high pressure atmospheric situation over London combined with the huge amount of coal being burnt in fireplaces for people to keep warm in the winter. Added to these factors was that post WWII coal rationing had only been halted for the cheapest most sulphuric type of coal.

Amazon was  critical of Churchill for not being entirely open with the public about smog figures and for not declaring a state of emergency in London. The NHS in London was overwhelmed with smog sufferers even having to take up beds in maternity wards.

In C21,  smog is not the main climate problem for the world or the UK though SO2 is still a huge difficulty, but climate change, which for example is causing sea levels to rise especially risking low lying islands and nations. 

The UK which probably accounts for under 1% of world C02 emissions is now hardly the cause of the excess of C02 in the atmosphere, the increased heat in the world and rising sea levels. Furthermore hardly any coal is still mined in the UK.  Excessive CO2 is largely caused here by motorised transport such as motor cars and lorries. Then there are aircraft, shipping and armed forces. 

Whether attempts to adapt more vehicular transport to electrical rather than petroleum energy will be hugely successful remain to be seen.

Though quietly optimistic about future becoming more electric, the way forward will not be easy for any government. Already in the  talk  in the UK is of a further year of freezing petrol prices whilst almost certainly, increasing nationalised train fares.

 

 

Family Celebration - The Anchor Ripley

 

A  family birthday outing to the above pub for lunch  was a great celebration of the birthday of mrs maytrees. Only maytrees max and his wife, who live in the CIs Jersey were absent.

My own menu choices were:

 
BURRATA & CHERRY TOMATO (v)
Salsa Verde, Avocado, Crispy Shallots 

TROUT CEVICHE
Cured Trout, Beetroot, Radish, Grapefruit Gel, Pickled Jalapenos
Mains

SOUTH COAST COD
Pan Fried Fillet, Potato Salad, Soft Boiled Egg

Dessert
ETON MESS (V)
Strawberries, Hibiscus Cream, Mini Meringues, Strawberry Sorbet

To drink I enjoyed a couple of glasses of delicious non alcoholic Strawberry and Elderflower smash.

Afterwards we traveled to  the nearby home of maytrees ma where the grandchildren were being cared for by their father. 

Given the continuing heat, I enjoyed with the grand children a couple of  orange ice lollies whilst maytrees min and her husband looked at all the new baby clothes and other items which they may be needing in November 2025 should all go well.

An excellent family celebration. 

 

The Times Weather Reports

Only recently and more or less accidentally did I check the column to the right of the weather reports in The Times newspaper.

Occasionally when looking for a weather report I quickly glanced at the comments for the area which was likely to affect travels that day, but rarely read the script on the weather page beyond the actual reports. 

However, recently almost by accident, I started to read the column in dark print alongside the weather graphs and summaries. Today's report for example is fascinating and the above is a copy of the Tate Gallery portrait of part of the Monmouth Rebellion at Sedgemore:

 Weather Eye: Night fog turned surprise to chaos at battle of Sedgemoor

1685 was a volatile time in England. Charles II had died and was succeeded by his brother James II — but James was Catholic, leading to fears that Anglicans would be persecuted under his rule. Instead, many Protestants argued that the Duke of Monmouth was the legitimate heir to the throne because he was the son of Charles II, even though he was illegitimate.

On June 11, Monmouth returned from exile to overthrow James and gathered a rebel army in the West Country. But this was a motley band of poorly trained men, badly equipped to take on royalist troops and when the king was alerted to Monmouth’s return he quickly dispatched forces to head off the rebels.

The Battle of Sedgemoor was a resounding victory for James, but only three years later he was deposed by William of Orange in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

 Monmouth’s army camped on the edge of Sedgemoor, moorland on the Somerset Levels criss-crossed with ditches. With the odds stacked against him, Monmouth planned a surprise attack across the moorland in darkness on the night of July 5 hoping to catch the royalists off-guard. At 11pm the Rebels set off silently, but rain, fog and darkness made their progress treacherous, and even though a local man guided them across the moors, they became lost. Even worse, one of their guns accidentally went off, alerting the royalists to the attack and so the rebels lost the crucial element of surprise.

“At 2 a Clock this Morning (securely sleeping) Our Camp was Rouzd by the near approach of the Rebells; a darke Night and thick Fogg, covering the Moore,” reported Edward Dummer, serving with the royal artillery train.

Monmouth now had to commit to battle and launched a cavalry attack, but in the fog and darkness the horsemen lost their way and rode into a royal cavalry patrol and turned in front of the royal army, who opened fire. The rebels fled headlong into their own foot soldiers creating even more chaos. Although Monmouth rallied his forces they were hopelessly outgunned, and by dawn the rebels had been routed.

 The Battle of Sedgemoor was a resounding victory for James, but only three years later he was deposed by William of Orange in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

The Times should in my view make rather more than presently that newspaper does of  the the journalist's fascinating "weather" column.

 

 

 

Wimbledon Tennis 2025 Qualifying Matches - Roehampton

Wimbledon Tennis qualifying rounds  at Roehampton from Monday to Thursday, with tickets at £15 each, are more accessible and  rather less expensive than the main matches in Wimbledon itself.

We decided to attend the qualifying rounds on Tuesday, with two friends who also live locally. Parking free at nearby Richmond Park was straightforward followed by a shortish walk to the grounds. 

Safety precautions at the grounds meant that  accessing the tournament took a few minutes after which there were few problems.

There is a limit of 2000 spectators so the grounds were rather less crowded than the main Wimbledon Tennis grounds. People were friendly, including the main Wimbledon steward who who chatted to us for five minutes whilst awaiting  break for court one tennis. He told us that one year they managed to persuade Heathrow Airport to alter the take off  and landing patterns for aircraft which limited airplane noise.

We were fortunate to watch the match between Roland Garris (Paris)  star Lois Boisson. Ms Boisson reached the semi finals in Paris (on which see further below) but had to qualify to enter Wimbledon as she had insufficient points to enter directly. We watched her match with Carson Branstine of Canada and like most of the others in the packed stand of viewers, were astonished when the Canadian won.

Interestingly  changes from past years which presumably apply to the main Wimbledon tournament, include use throughout, of  the Hawk Eye camera which previously  usually only showed pictures when one of the players called for such to be done. Now  close calls were displayed almost at once. Another change is the discontinuance of the use of linesmen and women presumably as a result of the increased use of Hawk Eye even in the qualifying matches.

The BBC reported: The 22-year-old rose to 65 in the world following her fairytale run to the French Open semi-finals as a 361st-ranked wildcard at the French Open.

However, the cut-off to enter the main  (Wimbledon) draw is about six weeks before the tournament - when Boisson was still ranked outside the top 400.

That meant she had to go through qualifying, where on Tuesday she suffered a 6-2 6-7 (1-7) 6-4 defeat by Canada's world number 197 Carson Branstine.

We enjoyed lunch together  near the tournament viewing screen.

After the interesting afternoon, we stopped enroute back to our cars, at the tea shop near by to the car parking area in Richmond Park and enjoyed tea and cake in the sunshine.

Summer

Today is mid summer's day, so we go downhill from hereon in until January. Days  gradually become shorter and nights longer. I like British Summer Time but wonder if we would all be better off with BST  throughout the year?

Possibly the Scots would prefer GMT for the whole  year. However I recall an experiment for two or three years back in the 1970s when 12 months of BST was tried. Presumably the experiment was unsuccessful, as the UK reverted to the current BST/GMT mix after some three years. 

 

Walking on Wimbledon Common this morning even earlier than the usual 6:30 am was enjoyable. Almost empty trailer paths though there was much wildlife about including foxes and despite the former, some  rabbits. The shade of the trees was welcome and there was much cooing and screeching of birds. 

Yet come December and January, a torch will be needed for walking on the Common at that hour. 

What goes round comes round. 

.