Cat, Bear or Seagull?

Mr Pooh: lives in Shoreham by Sea, on the Sussex coast (in England), which is just a stones throw from where I used to live in Engalnd, okay a very long stobnes throw, but close enough.

He's a seagull. Or maybe he's a cat. Or maybe, given his nickname, he's actually a bear.

Whatever he 'thinks' he is, Pooh the seagull is a family pet.

He has been part of the Grimwood family from Shoreham-by-Sea ever since he arrived unexpectedly as a baby.

Pooh didn't even arrive conventionally by exiting an egg.

In fact the Grimwoods found him in their fireplace one day.

"We heard a rustle in the lounge when we were watching telly and we suddenly thought 'Ooh - what's that?" said June Grimwood.

"We reached into the chimney and pulled out this young chick."
He was just a baby gull at the time, albeit an ash-covered baby after falling down the chimney.

"We put him back on the roof, but it was a bit of a windy day and he fell back off."

Instead of getting into a flap, June and Steve Grimwood calmly nursed him and fed him cat food.

He ate it alongside some unlikely companions - the family cats.

"He slept in the cats' basket, mingled in amongst the cats and was happy as Larry,"

Then, one day, Pooh flew the nest.

But he still returns for six months every year. In fact, in a sense, he's still at home with Mum and Dad, because he and his partner nest on their roof.

Pooh comes in for meals three times a day, with the cats Mitzi, Gus and Henry.

"He feeds out of the cat bowls, he comes indoors and takes the cats' biscuits out of their feeder. I think he does believe that he is actually a cat," said Mrs Grimwood.

"I wouldn't say he's mixed up. He's just very clever. He knows where to go for a good B&B (Bed and Breakfast)is by the seaside every year."

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:

Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond

Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat

Funny, Weird Or Just Interesting News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry

GOING HOME

Despite living now for almost ten years in the USA, England will always be my home.



In scouting terms this is the tracking term for "Gone Home"

Today I am flying back "Across the Pond" to the land of my birth, this time for the wedding of my eldest son... Kevin

I will be sure to take pictures of course, to share upon my return.

There will be no blog updates for a week, so here's a little of my country to share with you until I return.


ENGLAND






The music is "ENGLAND" by Ralph McTell, perhaps more well known for his song "Streets of London" it is to me though a song that means so much. The pictures are of England, my own location and some sites that others would know.




BARRY EVA (Storyheart)

Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book
"Across the Pond"

STORYHEART SUNDAY UK BLOG - THIS ROYAL THRONE OF KINGS

I was thinking about what to write in todays Sunday Blog, when something my guest on yesterdays "A Book and a Chat" (Shelley Seale) said made me think, in fact I did mention it in yesterdays blog.

The number of homeless children in India is Twenty Five Million, but how could that relate to say the number of people in various states within the USA.

In doing this I started thinking about England and how large a country Americans imagine it to be.

The name "England" is derived from the Old English word Englaland, which means "land of the Angles". The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in England during the Early Middle Ages. The Angles came from the Angeln peninsula, flanked on either side by the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. The oldest proto-human bones uncovered in the area date from 700,000 years ago/

Size wise, if we are just talking about England in comparison to US states, it would be the 32 largest in between Louisiana and Mississippi at 50,346 sq miles. England is such a small island, that the most you can be from the sea at any time is approximately 70 miles. There is a tree in Morton Derbyshire is marked as the center of England, the actual point is just outside Coton in the Elms in Derbyshire.

So England is small, narrow, yet the immigration levels have pushed population density in England to a higher level than any other major country in Europe. Within the European Union, only the island of Malta has a higher population density.

Population of England from the 2008 census was 61,000,000 people, so how does that figure compare to the American states?

California has by far the largest population of any American state with 36,756,666, Texas has 24,326,974. New York 19,490,297 and Florida 18,328,340 after which we're down to states under 13,000,000.

Of course like many states in American, England has more than it's fair share of illegal immigrants many coming from Europe and the eastern block, this made a lot more easy since the opening of the Channel Tunnel.

So next time something comes up about such and such going on in England, or how Britain stood against the might of Germany on it's own for two years before America joined in WWII just remember what a small dot of land England is.

Or as Shakespeare put it in Richard II

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,--
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.



Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book
Across the Pond
http://acrossthepond-storyheart.blogspot.com/
http://across-t-pond.com

STORYHEART SUNDAY UK BLOG - THE FASTEST KETTLE IN THE WORLD

A kettle, sometimes called teakettle, tea kettle or the pot, is a small kitchen appliance used for boiling water in preparation for making tea or other beverages requiring hot water. Kettles may be electric or for stovetop use. Depending on culture and historical location, the word kettle can also have a variety of other meanings.


However at this moment at Edwards air base, in California's Mojave Desert. The "Fastest Kettle In the World" is trying to break a land speed record. A team from Hampshire, England has begun four days of attempts to break the world steam car record.

The current world steam car record of 127mph (204km/h) was set by American Fred Marriot in 1906 in Florida.

Usain Bolt set a new world record of 9.58 seconds in the men's 100m at World Championships in Berlin, a speed of 23.3 mph.

Mallard, a Class A4 steam locomotive, set the steam locomotion land speed record - 125.88 mph - on 3 July 1938.

British-built Thrust SSC set the world land speed record in October 1997, reaching 763.035 mph in a desert in the US state of Nevada.

It is hoped this 25ft-long (7.6m) three-tonne car, nicknamed the "fastest kettle in the world" which has reached 137.14 mph in testing, will be able to get to speeds of up to 170 mph in their record attempt.

However the first attempt by the team of British engineers to smash the longest-standing land speed record was dashed when the car's turbine became stuck. Suffering from overheating electrical components,a lot of gas pressure problems, due to the temperature causing the liquid propane to vaporize further up the car than it normally does. They've started using a lot of dry ice to try and keep things cool.

The car which has 12 boilers that turn 40 liters (8.8 gallons) of water per minute into superheated steam at 400C (752F), at 40 times atmospheric pressure, has three more days to break this speed record that has stood for over a hundred years.

So when your making your cup of tea or coffee on the morning, just listen for the news that the "fastest kettle in the world" has broken the steam land speed record.




Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book
Across the Pond
http://acrossthepond-storyheart.blogspot.com/
http://across-t-pond.com


OTHER SUNDAY UK BLOGSABOUT

THE GRAND NATIONAL
WHY UK DRIVES ON THE LEFT
MOTHERS DAY ACROSS THE POND
ABOUT THE UNION JACK
ENGLISHMANS VIEW ON BASEBALL
WHAT IS BOXING DAY
BRITISH TV TRANSPLANTS
WHO WAS SAINT GEORGE?
BOBS YOUR UNCLE
SWEET FANNY ADAMS
EUROPE'S GOT TALENT - WELL PERHAPS
GOBSMACKED, BOBBIES AND AN ARM AND A LEG
BIG BEN... OR IS IT?
THE USA NEEDS A CITIZENS CHARTER
FROM CHARIOTS TO NASCAR
WHAT IS FATHERS DAY?

STORYHEART SUNDAY UK BLOG - CAN'T SEE THE WOODS FOR THE TREES

Can't See the Woods for the Trees

When I used this expression the other day at work, I thought it must be one of those fairly modern idiom. I was quite surprised when I checked around for today's UK blog and found that the saying thought to be around 500 years old.

Firstly though what is it's meaning?

"Can't see the woods for the trees" or sometimes used as "can't see the forest for the trees" is a phrase used on both sides of the pond, as well as the other side of the world UK, America and Australia). If someone can't see the wood for the trees, they are unable to understand what is the big picture because they are giving too much attention to details.

"Mark is so focused on product details that he can't see the forest for the trees when it comes to the overall needs of the company."

Also reminds of "don't sweat the small stuff (things)"

So where does the phrase come from?

UNABLE TO SEE THE WOODS FOR THE TREES - From "Heavens to Betsy" by Charles Earle Funk (Harper & Row, New York, 1955): "Too beset by petty things to appreciate the greatness or grandeur; too wrapped up in details to gain a view of the whole. In America we are likely to use the plural, 'woods,' or possibly to substitute 'forest,' but 'wood' is the old form and is preferable.

Actually, the saying is at least five hundred years old, and probably a century or two could be added to that, for it must have been long been in use to have been recorded in 1546 in John Heywood's 'A dialogue Conteynyng the Nomber in Effect of all the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue.' He wrote 'Plentie is no deinte, ye see not your owne ease. I see, ye can not see the wood for trees.' And a few years later, in 1583, Brian Melbancke, in 'Philotimus: the Warre Betwixt Nature and Fortune,' wrote: 'Thou canst not or wilt not see wood for trees.'

The saying has cropped up repeatedly from then to the present, becoming, in fact, more frequent with the passing years."

UK VIDEO

I also thought I'd share with you a a video I made some time ago, about my England, the sound on Youtube sounds a little like it's underwater, but I hope you enjoy it, and for those people from Across the Pond I hope it brings back memories.



Barry




Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book
Across the Pond
http://acrossthepond-storyheart.blogspot.com/
http://across-t-pond.com


OTHER SUNDAY UK BLOGSABOUT

THE GRAND NATIONAL
WHY UK DRIVES ON THE LEFT
MOTHERS DAY ACROSS THE POND
ABOUT THE UNION JACK
ENGLISHMANS VIEW ON BASEBALL
WHAT IS BOXING DAY
BRITISH TV TRANSPLANTS
WHO WAS SAINT GEORGE?
BOBS YOUR UNCLE
SWEET FANNY ADAMS
EUROPE'S GOT TALENT - WELL PERHAPS
GOBSMACKED, BOBBIES AND AN ARM AND A LEG
BIG BEN... OR IS IT?
THE USA NEEDS A CITIZENS CHARTER
FROM CHARIOTS TO NASCAR
WHAT IS FATHERS DAY?

The Weather, Guests and Childrens Stories

Somebody remarked at work today, that I should be used to all the wet weather we've been having so far in Connecticut this so called Summer.

While perhaps once upon a time it was true that the UK did get a lot of rain and perhaps not as hot a summers as in the US, with the climate change those days are gone.

Throughout the 90's and early part of this decade, in the South of England, we had drouts and hosepipe bans (means you can't water your garden). We had many Summers where the temperature was hotter than many places in the Mediterranean.

An article on today,.s BBC states... "The UK needs to plan now for a future that will be hotter and bring greater extremes of flood and drought." The fact that there's also been Tornado's of sorts in the UK over the last few years. Perhaps it's my country that will have to get used to American weather.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8107014.stm

A BOOK AND A CHAT

Guest for the next few weeks on my Radio Show are:

June 20th Joan Early
June 23rd Nancy Thayer
June 27th Kim Smith
June 30th Alley – Humor and Pencaps (blogger)

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Across-the-Pond




FOR CHILDREN OF ALL AGES:



THE THREE CURSES OF RIBANIA

http://romance2read.com/sirpot.mp3

PETER AND KINGS TEAPOT

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ov5xU7BcvE

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHH6kxD


SIR POT AND THE GOAT

Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXABQ3T7cj0

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae4ZFHsLN6Y

I do so hope you enjoy them



Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book
"Across the Pond"

Storyhearts Sunday UK Blog - Big Ben... or is it?

Big Ben: London's Clock Tower

The 320 foot high Clock Tower of the Houses of Parliament is one of London's most popular monuments for any tourist or visitor. The nickname "BIG BEN" is often used to refer to the clock and the clock tower clock itself.

The name though actually relates to the main bell, officially known as the Great Bell, is the largest bell in the tower is better known by the nickname "Big Ben". The bell weighs over 13 tons, and was cast in 1858 at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in East London. To this day one of the largest bells they have ever cast. Big Ben was the largest bell in the British Isles until "Great Paul", a 17 tonne bell currently hung in St. Paul's Cathedral, was cast in 1881.

The original clock tower was built at Westminster in 1288. The present tower was raised as a part of Charles Barry's design for a new palace, after the old Palace of Westminster was destroyed by fire on the night of 22 October 1834. Just two months later, Big Ben cracked. A lighter hammer was fitted and the bell rotated to present an undamaged section to the hammer.

The clock tower looks spectacular at night when the four clock faces are illuminated.
• Each dial is 23 feet square (2.13 square metres)
• Big Ben's minute hands are 14 feet long (4.26 metres)
• The figures on the face of Big Ben are two feet high (0.6 metres)

A special light above the clock faces is also illuminated, letting the public know when parliament is in session.

During the Second World War, the Palace of Westminster was hit by German bombing, on 10 May 1941, a bombing raid damaged two of the clockfaces and sections of the tower's stepped roof and destroyed the House of Commons chamber. Despite the heavy bombing the clock ran accurately and chimed throughout the Blitz.

The idiom of putting a penny on, with the meaning of slowing down, sprang from the method of fine-tuning the clock's pendulum.[11] On top of the pendulum is a small stack of old penny coins; these are to adjust the time of the clock. Adding or subtracting coins has the effect of minutely altering the position of the pendulum's center of mass, the effective length of the pendulum rod and hence the rate at which the pendulum swings. Adding or removing a penny will change the clock's speed by 0.4 second per day.

The chimes of Big Ben are known throughout the world, were first broadcast by the BBC on 31 December 1923, a tradition that continues to this day.





Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book
Across the Pond
http://acrossthepond-storyheart.blogspot.com/
http://across-t-pond.com


OTHER SUNDAY UK BLOGSABOUT

THE GRAND NATIONAL
WHY UK DRIVES ON THE LEFT
MOTHERS DAY ACROSS THE POND
ABOUT THE UNION JACK
ENGLISHMANS VIEW ON BASEBALL
WHAT IS BOXING DAY
BRITISH TV TRANSPLANTS
WHO WAS SAINT GEORGE?
BOBS YOUR UNCLE
SWEET FANNY ADAMS
EUROPE'S GOT TALENT - WELL PERHAPS
GOBSMACKED, BOBBIES AND AN ARM AND A LEG

UK BLOG - THE GRAND NATIONAL

THE GRAND NATIONAL – SOME INFORMATION FOR AMERICANS
By Storyheart

Yesterday was one of the biggest sporting events of the year. I don’t mean the play offs of the basketball, or the ice hockey must wins. And I surely don’t mean to pre-season baseball hit about.

Yesterday was “The Grand National”

The what? I hear colonials asking, as of course there was no coverage on any American TV.

THE GRAND NATIONAL A BRIEF HISTORY

The Grand National Horse Race is often called the world's greatest steeplechase.

The race is one of the most famous steeplechases in the world. It is a unique test of horsemanship for the rider and also a test of a great significance for a horse.
The course is nearly two and a quarter miles in length and has 16 unique fences including the famous Bechers Brook. The fences have an added problem for horses, the famous drop fences where the landing side of the fence is lower than the take off side, this means the horse approaching the fence is unaware of the drop until in the air.

At The Chair Fence the reverse of this occurs. It is the biggest fence on the course and the landing side is higher than the take off.

In the National the horses have to complete almost two circuits of the course and jump 30 fences and then complete a long 494 yard run in which has been the downfall of many in the past.

There are two fences that are jumped only once and this is on the first circuit and they are the famous Chair and the water jump.

The first 'Official Grand National' was in 1839 though history does mention a race much the same as far back as 1820. The race has always been held at Aintree, near Liverpool except during the First World War, when it was held at a racecourse at Gatwick now the site of one of London's busiest Airports. It was however not run between 1941 and 1945 and the course at this time was used for military purposes.

The only other time the race has not taken place was in 1993 was again to be a landmark year as the race had to be declared void after a second false start was not heard by half of the jockeys who went on to complete a full circuit of the track. A number of jockeys actually did a second round and they did not know until the end of the four and a half miles that the race would be declared void for a false start. This may seem strange but around this time there were a lot of protests being held on the course and the jockeys ignored the officials trying to stop them as they thought wrongly that they were protesters. The horse that finished first that day was Esha Ness now known as the horse that won the National that never was.

The 150th running of the race in 1997 was another bizarre story when a bomb scare meant that the course had to be evacuated and the race postponed until the Monday.

The Grand National sees nearly the whole country putting small bets on there favorite horses, and with the same horses coming back year after year people can follow there favorite horse. The great “Red Rum” for instance won the race three times, and came second twice.

1967 saw the biggest price winner; Foinavon won the race after he was the only horse to jump a very small fence in the race. There was a great pile up at the fence and this horse ridden by John Buckingham when on to score at odds of 100/1. The fence was later named after the horse.

With forty horses to choose from people pick names that they like for instance in 1992 it was the year if the general election (where the UK votes for a prime minister) a horse called Party Politics won.

There is always plenty of excitement the event being watched by many, many countries (except of course America). Yesterday was no exception with the winner a horse called Mon Mome ran away with yesterday's race, turning what still looked a fiercely competitive renewal two fences from home into a procession. The no big issue except the horse started at odds of 100/1 matching that of Foinavon, this time though there was no luck. 100/1 means for every pound/dollar you bet on the horse you got a hundred back in winnings. There was some big celebration going on at various locations around the UK after that windfall yesterday.



Once again the Aintree Grand National -- was full excitement, drama, courage. The country cheered, some celebrated however here in the US you would not even know the race existed.


Barry Eva (Storyheart)
Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book “Across the Pond”

WHY THE UK DRIVES ON THE LEFT

One of the first things anybody notices or remarks about when traveling in the UK is the fact that we drive on the left hand side of the road. However there is history and reasoning behind this.

In days of old logic dictated that when people passed each other on the road they should be in the best possible position to use their sword to protect them selves. As most people are right handed they therefore keep to their left.

This custom was given official sanction in 1300 AD, when Pope Boniface VIII invented the modern science of traffic control by declaring that pilgrims headed to Rome should “keep left”.

Nothing much changed until 1773 when an increase in horse traffic forced the UK Government to introduce the General Highways Act of 1773 which contained a keep left recommendation. This became a law as part of the Highways Bill in 1835.

Reasons to travel on the right are less clear but the generally accepted version of history is as follows: The French, being Catholics, followed Pope Boneface's edict but in the build up to the French Revolution in 1790 the French Aristocracy drove their carriages at great speed on the left hand side of the road, forcing the peasantry over to the right side for their own safety. Come the Revolution, instincts of self preservation resulted in the remains of the Aristocracy joining the peasants on the right hand side of the road.

Another reason was that when teamsters in the United States and France began hauling farm products in big wagons pulled by several pairs of horses.

These wagons had no driver's seat. Instead the driver sat on the left rear horse, so he could keep his right arm free to lash the team.

Since you were sitting on the left, naturally you wanted everybody to pass on the left so you could look down and make sure you kept clear of the other guy's wheels. Ergo, you kept to the right side of the road.

The first known keep-right law in the U.S. was enacted in Pennsylvania in 1792, and in the ensuing years many states and Canadian provinces followed suit.

In France the keep-right custom was established in much the same way. An added impetus was that, this being the era of the French Revolution and all, people figured, “hey, no pope is going tell ME what to do.”

Later Napoleon enforced the keep-right rule in all countries occupied by his armies. The custom endured even after the empire was destroyed.

Britain's imperial expansion (all of the pink bits on old maps) spread the keep left rule far and wide. This included India, Australasia and much of Africa (Although many countries have since changed to driving on the right when they became independent).

So why then, even in England, do boats keep right?
Good question with no clear answer, the favorite theory goes back to the fact that most people are right handed, if that was the case and if the boat was propelled and steered in the same way as a punt then you would want to sit on the right hand side and steer with a pole or board (might be where the word starboard comes from). If this is the case then you would keep to the right so that it is easier to reach the bank.

RADIO POD CAST

Check out today’s enjoyable interview “A Book and a Chat” with award winning author Joyce A. Stengel

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Across-the-Pond


MY LATEST BLOG RADIO APPEARANCE

My latest radio appearance at thegrits.com

http://www.thegrits.com/radio/?p=77


AMAZON REVIEWS:

No new reviews to let you know about you can read the 58 reviews for Across the Pond – by Storyheart at Amazon at… http://tinyurl.com/d6547j

Storyheart
Across the Pond
http://acrossthepond-storyheart.blogspot.com/
http://across-t-pond.com