The Hooverville Hexagon: From North to South

 

 

From Inverness to Dorset, actually.

 

A Walking Tour of Inverness

by Paigetheoracle

(Interpretive notes by DG)

 

Three Churches

 

Paige: Firstly, from last week. The three riverside churches. The Old High is on the left, the middle one is that which is having the steeple renovated and which I sent you photos of way before then. The one on the right is the brickwork church, I sent you a sign for and a photo last time (keep up, there will be a test next week).

 

DG: He's always doing this: expecting me to remember exactly what confusing photo I got and when. Sir, you are mistaking me with a computer. Never mind: the churches are here. We move in for a closer look.

 

Paige: Old High [Church], private graveyard area. I will be sending written material from the entrance after this. It looks like the Acropolis* but isn't. I've tried to make the inscription above the entrance as clear as possible but it's all Greek to me (more likely Latin but I would have needed a step ladder to get a better shot but as I didn't have one with me...)

*The Editor has seen the Acropolis. It, er, doesn't look like this.

 

Next Email: Plaque Outside Church (including cat).

 

DG: I made a slideshow. Enjoy. That inscription is definitely Latin, but it needs a good cleaning before we can read it.

 

 

The Tolbooth Tower

 

Editor's Notes: This is the Inverness Town Steeple. It is located at the corners of High Street and the aptly-named Church Street. It's 43 metres (141 feet) in height, built in 1791 in the Neoclassical style to replace the old Tolbooth.

 

I always wondered why stories from Scotland always mentioned toll booths. Where I come from, this is a toll booth.

 

Malcolm: So your dad lives in Pittsburgh with a lady who works in a toll booth.

Cole: What if she has to pee when she's working?

 

The website GPS My City describes the Inverness tollbooth as 'a landmark rich in history and architectural charm.' I'm sure the prisoners on trial in the courtroom (it was a courthouse) appreciated all that charm. These days there's some kind of souvenir shop downstairs.

 

That GPS-My-City page was probably written by a chatbot. It finds it necessary to put an explanatory twist on everything. It's not enough to tell us that the clock was electrified in 1979: it has to add 'modernizing its historic mechanism.' If a human wrote that they should stop writing.

 

Personally, I believe all historic tollbooths should be retrofitted with Faraday cages and used to house unruly chatbots.

 

Research Note:

 

This is what I got from the Google searchbot when looking for that quote.

 

Prompt: sixth sense toll booth quotes

 

It appears you may have combined the movie title The Sixth Sense with the classic children's book and film The Phantom Tollbooth. The Sixth Sense features famous quotes like "I see dead people", while a toll booth is central to the plot of The Phantom Tollbooth.

 

It took numerous tries, but I outwitted it, got past the obsessive fansites arguing about whether Cole's mother just made that up, etc, and found the movie script. Seriously. I feel like it's 1998 again. If this keeps up, if I want information I'll have to talk to Brother Cadfael in the scriptorium.

 

Picture Puzzle: Answer

By DG

 

These crop plants in Mrs Hoggett's garden are a disappointment to her. Those little nubbins are supposed to be okra pods by now. Okra is super-tasty in soup but hard to grow this far north. Back to fighting the other Southern exiles for it in the frozen-food section.

 

Comment Section

SashaQ compliments photographers: No wonder Buddleia is nicknamed 'the butterfly bush' - great photo and video. Yay for bugs - great edition. 'Waldbrettspiel' is a fascinating name for a butterfly, but it is apt - the cream markings do look like a path on a board game, and some look to have black counters on them!

Lovely photo slideshow, and excellent to see the inchworm inching along!

 

Sasha has found us another Waldbrettspiel (Speckled Wood Butterfly).

 

Galaxy Babe says: Love the dolphin! They have been spotted off Cleethorpes but we've not been lucky enough to catch sight ourselves yet.

 

Paigetheoracle has maidenhair associations: When I was a teenager, I had a maidenhair fern but it died. Over the years my green fingers have improved , except for a grazed thumb (the editor may explain) as my accident prone life attests. Like Awix's title for his review - probably better than the film. Rex Gilroy, the cryptozoologist, who lived in Australia has collected reports from various witnesses, possibly indicating that dinosaurs may still be around or time slipping into our world, so you've been warned about holiday destinations abroad...but Nessie may still be hanging around Scotland (no I'm not selling a tour of the loch tickets! That's a totally unsubstantiated rumour, put about by the guy suing me!)

 

 

The Mists of August Are

in the Gloaming

(and Other New York Cliches)

Photo by Paigetheoracle

 

Heather. On a hill. Because there isn't any place else for the heather to grow. I mean, it's not called the Highlands for nothing.

 

Video of the Day:

Moors Valley Railway:

Dorset

(Bluebottle)

 

Moors Valley Railway celebrated its 40th anniversary with a gala parade. A 7¼"-gauge steam miniature railway in Dorset, it boasts a track over a mile long with two stations, four tunnels and a spiral.

 

Repeating this one because the Shorts version means more people will get to see these fantastic little engines that can.

 

Keep chugging along, Dmitri Gheorgheni, Editor