One of the signs of Spring may be the sight of a cabbage white butterfly, fluttering across the garden. A gardener may not be pleased by the sight, as the butterfly may well have laid eggs in the cabbages or other brassica, from which emerge leaf eating caterpillars. The hobby of collecting butterflies, called Lepidoptery, …
Clouds are visible masses of water droplets or frozen ice crystals, suspended in the atmosphere above the Earth. On condensation, the droplets fall as rain or snow, or sometimes as hail or sleet. In addition to water, clouds also contain microbes, aerosols and sulphates. The science of clouds is called Nephology. There are numerous types of …
Some people don’t like Christmas Pudding and the chances are that they don’t like Mince Pies or Christmas Cake either. The fruity, spicy, sweet taste is not for everyone and so the disaffected may go for the alternatives of the Trifle and the Chocolate Yule log. For others, Christmas Pudding is an essential part of …
Almost certainly, most households will have at least one tin of baked beans in their store cupboard. First canned in the 1860s mass production of tinned baked beans started in 1895 by H J Heinz &Co in Pittsburgh. It was very much an American product at this point, containing haricot beans, molasses, brown sugar and …
The Red Mist is defined by psychologists as a ” reactive aggression” A loss of self-control takes place under conditions of stress or anger. It is a response to provocation, frustration or threat. Sometimes displayed in Road Rage, when another driver’s manoeuvre so infuriates the driver, that he reacts out of all proportion to the …
If Silence is merely an absence of sound, the title of the song by Paul Simon is contradictory. The lyrics of the song tell us that through empty streets, he walked alone, to the sound of silence. He poignantly expresses his loneliness and his frustration that this palpable silence is caused by the failure of …
I once had a friend called Harry, and I can only wish that if you are going through a time of extra stress, that you find such a friend as Harry. Harry was a good listener and responded with empathy to whatever misery was being offloaded onto him. He had learnt to cope with his own …
Since the advent of Covid, it is not news that people have been spending a lot more time at home. Social isolation and lockdowns have kept people indoors, some shielding, some on furlough and others working from home. This has inevitably had an effect on the choice of clothing for day wear, track suits replacing …
At least I’ve never met anyone who says “I don’t mind if I lose something” in effect “Am I bothered? However, It doesn’t seem to bother some people that much, as they keep on losing everyday items. In the case of keys, these need to be found before leaving the house. For some people, though, …
” Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst and unsurprised by anything in between ” Maya Angelou “I know why the caged bird sings” Autobiography. This is an example of a proverb, written in poetic language, offering advice. The Old Testament has a whole Book of Proverbs, giving instruction on how life should be …
Do you know your Aphorisms from your Adages and from Proverbs? Read More »