259
In this blogposting…
*A Simple Little Question

*AGM XXV
*Local Words
*1,001 Buildings
*And Finally…

Go forth…

A SIMPLE LITTLE QUESTION
The picture above (which was sent to me by Eric and Jean, who run The Commercial in Tantobie) was shown to a sample of infant-school children in the UK. They were asked to say which direction the bus was travelling in: to the right or to the left.

90% of them said that it was travelling to the right.

They were correct. And my ‘simple little question’ is...why?

(Answer in blogposting 260, unless I receive a rush of brilliance and prespicuity in the meantime.)

AGM XXV…
...will take place at 1100 on Wednesday 23 March. Possible venues this time round include Gateshead Library, Saltwell Towers or the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle, which is currently hosting an awesome exhibition of the work of John Martin, the immensely popular Victorian painter from Hexham.

If you have a preference, or another suggestion, get in touch.

And remember, a splendid time is guaranteed for all.

LOCAL WORDS
A big Thankyou to Martin, from Houghton-le-Spring, who has sent me a list of his favourite local words (see postings, passim).

clarts - mud
snaggers - turnips
spuggy - sparrow
spelk - splinter (also one of my favourites)
lowp - jump
gansey - jumper
cuddywhiffler - left-hander

I know the definite origin of only one of these words: gansey is derived from Guernsey, the sheep from which the wool came, presumably.

As for the others...spelk looks vaguely Viking and lowp seems to be a corruption of ‘leap’.

Cuddy has a complex presence locally. On its own, it used to be the word for a pit pony; there was a pub playfully named The Kicking Cuddy. In compound words, it’s usually a reference to St Cuthbert, as it is in ‘cuddy ducks’, the local name for eider ducks, which were supposed to be under the saint’s special protection.

I’m not sure, though, whether he was left-handed or not. And even if he was, whence whiffler?
1,001 BUILDINGS
Here goes with the next ten ‘buildings you must see before you die’. If you’ve seen any of these buildings, or have plans to go, please get in touch.

They take us from 550AD to 715AD

21 Skellig Michael, County Kerry, Ireland
22 The Hanging Monastery of Xuan Kong Si, Datong, China (pictured)

23 Church of St Hripsime, Vagharshapat, Armenia
24 The Great Mosque, Mecca, Saudi Arabia

25 The Great Kyz Kala, Merv, Turkmenistan

26 Ise Shrine, Japan

27 Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, Israel

28 St Domnius Cathedral, Split, Croatia

29 Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Suzhou, China

30 Umayyad Mosque, Damascus, Syria


So far, that’s Italy 8, Egypt 4, China 3, Syria 2, Ireland 2, Iraq 1, Greece 1, France 1, Libya 1, Turkey 1, Armenia 1, Saudi Arabia 1, Turkmenistan 1, Japan 1, Isreal 1, Croatia 1

As the list progresses, one of its most though-provoking aspects is how few of these buildings I’ve even heard of, let alone visited.

It raises other issues, too. Such as...who were Sts Domnius and Hripsime?

AND FINALLY…
Dave Shannon has emailed me to say that this year - 2011 - July has five Fridays, five Saturdays and five Sundays. Apparently, this happens only once every 823 years. Dave also says (and I quote) ‘Gawd knows who sits and works these things out but he /she has more patience than me!’

CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or email me: truckshunters@googlemail.com

6 comments:

Vivienne said...

Hi Ian,

I've seen this puzzle before, but couldn't remember the answer. However, I think I've worked it out. There is no door shown in the picture, so it must be on the other side of the bus. Therefore the driver must be facing to the right.

Sid said...

Unless the bus is in the USA, in which case the bus goes left....

Which is your favourite location, from the ones suggested, for the next agm Vivienne?.

mim said...

Hi,

Is it not due o the fact that we read from left to right so we assume the bus is also going that way, left to right.

Margaret x

Sid said...

Something to make you wonder ........

The Metro Newspaper conducted a survey of it's readers and asked, 'Who is the most influential woman to work or live in London, during the last 100 years'.

Answer.......Leona Lewis.
Margaret Thatcher came a not very close second.

When you think of all the women that deserved the top spot, I am trying very hard not to be despondent.

Ian Robinson said...

I know I shouldn't ask this...I know perfectly well that everybody's going to get VERY sarky, but...who's Leona Lewis?

Unknown said...

Who's Leona Lewis?!?! Come on Ian, even you can't claim to be THAT far out of the loop surely!!