Yesterday it was name a city without an A - I bet you can't. There were something like 10,000 replies to one of the easiest questions of this type. Try Norwich, Chelmsford, Southend, Berlin and hundreds of others. Strikes me these naming of things without a specific letter are pointless (which incidentally is a television quiz show without the latter a) unless they are part of an elaborate scam to find people's passwords as has been suggested.
It's the same as other nonsense like find your porn name by taking the name of your first pet and adding the first word of the road where you first lived. How pointless is that? Incidentally mine would be Sally Reepham and, just for the information of would-be scammers, that isn't my password for any of my sites.
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A big big big thank you to one of my readers for a lovely visit yesterday. Yes folks random people have started inviting us to lunch in many parts of the country. Actually that's not true. We have known Janet for many years and it was lovely to visit her in her home near Hereford and feed the Alpacas.
We had a lovely visit to the magnificent Hereford Cathedral and its main attraction the Mappa Mondi. This is dated from around 1300 and is a view of the world as seen in those days. It is thought that the author was one Richard of Haldingham who worked out of Sleaford in Lincolnshire.
The original was drawn on a single sheet of vellum (calf skin). It has Jerusalem at the centre of the world. Superimposed onto the continents are drawings of the history of humankind and the marvels of the natural world. These 500 or so drawings include around 420 cities and towns, 15 Biblical events, 33 plants, animals, birds and strange creatures, 32 images of the peoples of the world and eight pictures from classical mythology. In other words a right old mixture of stuff. Obviously in 1300 knowledge of the world was very limited but it is interesting to see such a mix of fact, supposition and myth. Perhaps in some ways they had a purer view of the world than we do today. There were probably numerous such medieval works of art but most have become lost, thus making the ones that survive even more special.
Hope you enjoy a few photographs of Hereford Cathedral and city. Incidentally the statue of the dude with the moustache gazing lovingly at the Cathedral is none other than Sir Edward Elgar. He took inspiration for his music from the cathedral and from cycling along the lanes around Hereford (hence the bicycle). I thought the look on his face was slightly self important and bearing in mind where he was I wonder of that's how he got the title Pompous and Circumstance for one of his most popular works. As Frankie Howard once said "titter if you must."