Sunday Stroll

This holed piece of chalk looks like
an adorable little alien skull

 Having been cooped up in the house this morning because of the (admittedly light) rain and making sure that Chrysaor had gathered all his things together before he left, when the sun came out this afternoon, I took myself down onto the beach to get some air. 
 Svaathor offered to come with me, but the last time we took a stroll on the beach he moaned constantly because sand kept getting stuck in his hooves, so I thanked him but made sure to point out that he could "get a lot of his River Mun study done on a lovely afternoon like this". Luckily, he agreed and made his way back to Frogshall.

Chrysaor: The Tea Towel is Mightier than the Sword

 Well, that was unexpected.

 It's not everyday one has to shoo a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire off one's driveway with a tea towel.

 This all came about thanks to a visit from Chrysaor. You know, Medusa's son?
 I haven't seen him since he was a surly teenager, but now, five years on, he's grown up to become quite the successful young man. Of course, his success certainly hasn't been hindered by flashing his golden abs in the video for his most recent single.
 Anyway, he popped round for a catch-up, some advice on a troublesome spell he's working on, and to see my cousin, Svaathor da Vjis, who's conducting a study on the River Mun in nearby Frogshall. 

 §

The Witch Wringers of Small Hopes Hill

 There are not many things that leave me unsettled or uncomfortable, especially in my own neighbourhood, but the Witch Wringers on Smallhopes Hill never fail to creep me out a little when I pass by.

This 'wringer is located in Cromer on the cusp of the border with Overstrand. Note the cogged and geared spindles to which the accused witch (or witches) would be attached and wound through - somewhat like clothing through a mangle, but a lot more crunchy and bloody.

This 'wringer can be found a few yards from the first in the Parish of Overstrand. As you can see, it is still draped with vestiges of barbed wire from when it was repurposed as a fence post during World War II (although, the wire on this one dates from more recent times - probably from after the railway line was closed in 1953.

 
 These two examples were used until relatively recently - well past the end of the so-called Dark Ages in the 14th century, and even past the introduction of the Witchcraft Act of 1735 - as is evident by the fact that they're still standing and haven't rusted away to dust.
 As reminders of a different time go, they're pretty unspeakable. However, I am comforted in the knowledge that although these Witch Wringers have been used, no actual witches have passed through their horrific spindles. Instead, I believe they were used to torture ordinary mortals.

 Phew!

  

The be all, but not the end all

 is for...

 ...bazillions of things! But, the point of this meme from Eroswings is to choose five favourite things. So, without further ado, may I present my-
 Our!
 OK, our, lists. Five each.
 Me first! 

Weekend Walkies

 

Just some twisted old stumps on Northrepps Road

 I didn't plan on posting another Norfolk Walks post immediately after the last one, but as Saturday was (mostly) bright and sunny, if a tad cold, and I had the afternoon free, I set out on what I thought was going to be just a quick walk around the woods behind Castlette DeVice.
 However, as it took me a while to warm up, I kept telling myself: "Just a little further", and "Well, I'll just walk into Northrepps village", and "I might as well walk up Hungry Hill a bit now that I'm here", etc. etc...
 Anyway, before I knew it, I'd walked bleedin' miles!

§

Wednesday Walkies

 As it was another unseasonably warm day (13°C, or thereabouts) without the predicted rain, I thought I'd venture out to check on my marker sigils, amongst other agendas.
 But first, before we get to the photos from today, the following three photos are from Sunday's walk:

Some rather internal organ-y looking fungus

I think this will be some sort of ghastly lily when it grows up

Ah, snowdrops!

I'll take "Vulcan Love Slave" over "Burning Hearts of Qo'noS" any day*

 Or, Vpon her flew the flie and ſuckt her ſweet**

 Here we are with the first book post of 2016.

1. Charlotte's Web, by E. B. White

 I bought this book to read to Babyzilla when she comes to stay, but realised that I hadn't actually read it myself (or if I have, I can't remember). I've seen the film though, but that was decades ago. 
 I was struck by how useless and selfish Wilbur appears to be, and had to keep reminding myself that Charlotte considers him her best friend, so he can't be completely rubbish. Charlotte's inevitable death was very sad but the way she died confused me as it didn't happen like I thought it did. You see, before I read this book I'd recently watched Blade Runner, and there's a scene in which Rachel is telling Deckard of a memory she has when she was a little girl. She remembered watching a spider build a web outside her window and lay some eggs in it, and when the eggs hatched, the baby spiders ate their mother. I managed to mix up my own memories and was expecting Charlotte to be eaten by her kids!

w-w-w-WOW! LX Entropy Souvenir Edition

Happy birthday, LX!

Cold in Cromer

 For the first time in what seems like an age, we had blue skies here on the North Norfolk coast (although, maybe we have had more nice days recently but I just hadn't looked out of the window and noticed?). Rather than waste them, I decided to take a walk - the first one since the New Year. I did contemplate going out on Broom, but it's barely above freezing outside, so the wind-chill would have been horrendous.
 Anyway, here's some evidence of blue skyed loveliness:

Cromer pier in the distance

Waiter! Waiter! There's a dog in my gin!

Stop everything! Black Shuck's got in the Gincuzzi!

Oh, well. What's the worst that could happen?

 Anyone for a G&T?

This gin was a Christmas present from Inexcuseable and her husband.

New Year, Old Art

 As we've got nothing prepared at the moment, I'm just going to drop a couple of photos of some old artwork here that the Host produced many years ago. 
 I found these photos languishing in our 'downloads' folder, and as I have no idea what to do with them or where to file them, I thought we might as well plop them in on the blog then at least they are somewhere. The originals are floating around Castlette DeVice, being moved from place to place (not on the walls - they're not that good, as you can see) as, just like with the digital images, I don't know what to do with them.

This 3D thingummywotsit is about 20-22 years old - something the Host created at art school. Or possibly at college, which would make this 22-24 years old. Christ, I'm old.

Lighthouse Lookout

Cromer lighthouse on New Year's Day

 A new year has successfully begun (for those that observe the Gregorian calendar, amongst others). One has to check, though, as there's nothing worse than languishing in the stinky, alcohol-soaked ruins of the Old Year. So, this morning, I risked single digit temperatures (that's centigrade/Celsius, rather than the ridiculously confusing Fahrenheit) and made my way to the lighthouse on the cliff top to ensure that the Old Year had been well and truly vanquished by the New.