Just in case any researcher stumbles upon my thoughts on whether there was once a “rule of the road” in England that said drive on the left. Yes there was, and here’s proof it predated that 1835 Act of Parliament cited in the last post. Also, in passing, what a nice chap was the reverend… Continue reading The days when sorry did not seem to be the hardest word
Month: June 2015
The rules of the road in the 19th century
It’s been the equivalent to an earworm. It has been driving me a bit crazy after I read on another great history site that there were no traffic rules in 19th century London. The estimable site is Two Nerdy History Girls. I always thought that driving on the left was the rule, albeit an informal… Continue reading The rules of the road in the 19th century
Cycle killer: Qu’est-ce que c’est?
I have been thwacked on the back by a passing truck’s mirror while waiting at traffic lights to turn right opposite the Old Vic Theatre and nearly squished beneath the back wheels of a tour bus on Chelsea embankment where it meets Albert Bridge. In short I have been a cyclist in London. Cycle deaths… Continue reading Cycle killer: Qu’est-ce que c’est?
Shuttered
You kind of held out the hope that US medicine was somehow better — because of the money spent on aggressively interventionist diagnostics and treatment. Victo dolore says different and it’s mostly people that are the problem. But just to cheer you up, read her previous post, Happy Dance
“On the rooftops of London coo, what a sight!”
It was a crime born out of indoor plumbing, shipworms and the working class hobby of competitive pigeon racing.
What went into 19th century beer
Who does not like a cool beer after a hard day’s work on a summer’s day…? ok, not everyone, but those that do enjoy more than just the taste. It is a drink that since earliest times has signified the purest and mildest form of the drug alcohol. Purest? The Germans enacted a law in… Continue reading What went into 19th century beer
The case of the wandering organ
Can you imagine a pipe organ that took up 900 square feet, was 70 feet high, 54 feet deep, weighed 87 tons and had 4,209 pipes, the largest of which was some 38 feet long. Large, but not unexceptional for a public concert hall. More surprising is that this behemoth of an organ was originally… Continue reading The case of the wandering organ
John Hassall: the poster man
I’m a sucker for this Fauvist palette of sludge greens contrasted with pure tones, picked out with non-realist black outlines. Enjoy…