Russell and Carol - hayle and hearty

"I mean to say that the impulse towards good involves choice and is
complicated, and the impulse towards bad is hideously simple and easy"

Maeve Brennan; ‘Talk of the Town’ for New Yorker

“We need to dispel the myth that empathy is ‘walking in someone else’s shoes.’ Rather than walking in your shoes, I need to learn how to listen to the story you tell about what it’s like in your shoes and believe you even when it doesn’t match my experiences..”

― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience, 2021

Came across an early mention of Crumpets - in a herbarium !

Culinary uses of Polygonum aviculare L. (Knot Grass): 'The Seeds furnish a nutritious meal; it
is made into thin cakes called Crumpits.'

a small extract in a fascinating article by Jessica Shepherd, Natural History Research Assistant (St. Aubyn)

Bringing a herbarium to life at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery

“True is such a twentieth-century concept. The question is, can I get you to believe it, can I get it repeated enough times to make it as good as true.”

—? Salman Rushdie, The Golden House 2017

Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor and nuclear disarmament activist Sunao Tsuboi died on October 24 at the age of 96, according to advocacy group, Nihon Hidankyo, the group of atomic bomb survivors he headed.

Sunao Tsuboi's experiences at Hiroshima

Tsuboi was 20 years old when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on his hometown on August 6, 1945. He was on his way to engineering school when the bomb hit, killing 140,000 people.

Three days later, a second nuclear bomb fell on Nagasaki, killing another 70,000 people. Japan formally surrendered on August 15.

"I suffered burns all over my body," Tsuboi said in 2016. "Naked, I tried to run away for about three hours on August 6 but finally could no longer walk."

He gained consciousness 40 days after the bombing, but he was so weak that he had to start by crawling. A part of his ear was gone because of the burns. Later, he developed cancer and other diseases.

It matters because it involves standards, rules and integrity in public office. And once those values start to erode - can the public ever expect to get them back?

“Time shall unfold what plaited cunning hides:
Who cover faults, at last shame them derides.”
Cordelia; King Lear Act 1 Scene 1

—William Shakespeare

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
  That mark our place; and in the sky
  The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
  Loved and were loved, and now we lie
      In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
  The torch; be yours to hold it high.
  If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
      In Flanders fields.