Skip to main content

Vileness and Vikings

Penny, Felicity and Joyce enjoying the spring sunshine.


Last night I discovered a flavour which I hate even more than aniseed, and that is cardamom.  Big pods of the stuff were in the curry which I had been really looking forward to, as I love a good curry.  Then I was attacked by what surely has to rank as being amongst the most vile flavours on earth.  People like this stuff?!!   Wikipedia describes it as having a "strong, unique taste".  I agree.  It's also revolting; spectacularly so, even.

Each to our own, of course.  This body of mine has always had a strange relationship with some foods, which seems to run contrary to average reactions.  For example, peppermint tea, which is supposed to settle upset stomachs, actually makes me feel nauseous.  Salad, beloved by millions, gives me excruciating indigestion, as do certain dark green foods.  Echinacea, which is supposed to boost the immune system, gives me splitting headaches.  I could go on, but I'd only bore you.  Besides, it's not an issue as I learned how to work around these things long ago. 

Yesterday also brought a pleasant surprise, though.  While walking through Ashton Park and enjoying the spring flowers -  the narcissus and hyacinth border around the main bowling green smells heavenly right now - the elderly lady I was with wanted to have a closer look at St Bridget's Church.  To our surprise, we were invited inside.  My companion, who has been a church-goer all her life, was thrilled to be able to have a look inside this lovely old church.  Apparently this site has been used as a religious centre for over a thousand years, though the oldest parts of the existing building date back to the 14th century.  Other parts of the building are from the 15th and 16th centuries, though major restoration was done in Victorian times when the stained glass windows and the iron grill partitioning the Lady Chapel were added.

Of particular interest to me was the 11th century Viking Hogback Stone, a relic of the old Norse settlement here in West Kirby.  It is believed to have been a grave marker.  It's an oblong stone, carved with a rather typical interlaced design at the base of the front, and with half-oval lumps across the upper two-thirds of the front.  Perhaps the lumps signify grains, or feathers - it's open to speculation and interpretation, really.

Share   Subscribe

Comments

Damaria Senne said…
Hi Adele
I came by way of Rachel Cooper's blog. thanks for doing the interview there. It was nice to have my feelings and views about self-publishing reinforced. BTW, I don't have strong feelings about cardamom one way or another, but i love the way you express its vileness:-)
You're most welcome, and thanks for your visit to this blog. Drop by any time.

Popular posts from this blog

A Cure for Aging?

"All that we profess to do is but this, - to find out the secrets of the human frame; to know why the parts ossify and the blood stagnates, and to apply continual preventatives to the effort of time.  This is not magic; it is the art of medicine rightly understood.  In our order we hold most noble -, first, that knowledge which elevates the intellect; secondly, that which preserves the body.  But the mere art (extracted from the juices and simples) which recruits the animal vigour and arrests the progress of decay, or that more noble secret which I will only hint to thee at present, by which heat or calorific, as ye call it, being, as Heraclitus wisely taught, the primordial principle of life, can be made its perpectual renovator...." Zanoni, book IV, chapter II, by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, first published in 1842. Oroboros keyring - Spooky Cute Designs The idea of being able to achieve an immortal life is probably as old as human life itself.  Folklore and mythology ab

Remembering Richie Tattoo Artist's Studio

Richard in the street entrance to his tattoo studio in Liverpool. The vertical sign next to Richard is now in the Liverpool Tattoo Museum. Yesterday, my sister Evelyn, Richard and myself stood outside Richard's old tattoo studio and looked up at the few remaining signs, whose paint has now mostly flacked away to reveal bare wood. On the studio's window are stick-on letters which read, "Art", where once it boldly announced his presence as the city's only "Tattoo Artist".  I can remember him buying that simple plastic lettering from an old-fashioned printer's shop. This was in 1993, not long after he'd opened the studio and before he could afford better signs. After he'd patiently stuck them onto the glass we realised that from the outside the sign read "Artist Tattoo", so we had to carefully peel the letters off the window and have another go, laughing over having made such an obvious error yet worried in case we spoiled the letteri

Ancient Rock Carving in Stapledon Woods, Wirral.

Richard on top of the rock, to give an idea of its size.  This strange carving can be found on the Caldy side of Stapledon Woods, facing farm fields which are separated from the wood by a low sandstone wall with a castellated top.  In summer, the rock face is hidden from casual view by trees covering the slope which leads up to it from the path running alongside the sandstone wall. Has anyone got any information about this carving - what it is, its age and purpose?  I've been given several theories; one that it was made for shelter, (which seems dubious as it wouldn't work very well); or that it was somekind of ancient relinquary relating to pre-Xtian religious beliefs.  Any further ideas or documented evidence would be most welcome.