For newcomers

At the bottom of each post there is the word "comments". If you click on it you will see comments made by followers, and if you follow the instructions you may also comment and I always welcome that. I have found many people overlook this part of the blog which is often more interesting than the original post!

My blog nick-name is SIR HUGH. I'm not from the aristocracy - my middle name is Hugh which relates to the list of 282 hills in Scotland compiled by Sir Hugh Munro in 1891. I climbed my last one (Sgurr Mor) on 28th June 2009

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Thursday 1 September 2016

Thursday Walk with Pete - Mansergh


For Pete, now at age 81, we are scaling these walks to around four miles, and generally on Tarmac, or well established tracks, and as always we end up at Café Ambio at the new Preston Auction Mart just off Jct.  36 on the M6; their flapjack is top class.

I have previously mentioned running out of circular walks within those parameters, and within reasonable driving distance. But Pete points out that views on a linear walk are always different on the way back, and anyway these occasions are just as much social as we chunter and meander along. We climbed together back in the fifties and sixties, and more recently Pete did over thirty Munros with me - we have agreeable and sometimes amusing memories. 

Today I managed to introduce a loop at our northern end and this gave us good views of Middleton Fell and Calf Top across the Lune valley. That brought memories of my traverse of that hill leaving my bike concealed at Fellside to the north (SD 637 889), driving back to Barbon eventually using the bike to get back to Barbon after the traverse - a satisfying day.

Our leisurely pace allows for taking photos and  studying our surroundings in some detail.

Today we stopped off at the slightly unusual Mansergh church, not very old, but with a roof on the tower like a conventional house, and a timber porch which I guessed was not old, but purporting to be Tudor, and I was gratified to read Wiki's  confirmation of my thoughts.

Wikipedia:
The church was built in 1879–80 to replace a church built in 1726 or 1727 on the same site. It was designed by the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin. The new church provided seating for 148 people at a cost of about £2,000 (equivalent to £180,000 in 2015)... the porch was added in 1903.

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After camera discussion a few posts back I  found that my Panasonic TZ60 had HDR set as default and I have disabled it, preferring to make any adjustments to reducing/incresing highlights and/or shadows in Photoshop to my own satisfaction, and I reckon I am now getting better results.


PLEASE CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE FOR SLIDESHOW


This and next seen in a garden at the start


A neat example of vernacular stonework

Middleton Fell and Calf Top

Mansergh Church 1879/80


The timber porch added later in 1903


Another contender for Photographer of the Year Competition - a very low flying military transport plane, but I wasn't quick enough on the draw

Ancient oak trunk with unusual bark texture

Rose hips


Start at Kearstwick- clockwise

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My latest language usage gripe: the use of the phrase, "no pressure then."

Why? I'm not sure, but it smacks of somebody being clever clever. I reckon it would have been acceptable and carried weight the first time it was ever used, but it probably holds the record for becoming the fastest evolved cliché ever.





7 comments:

  1. Aha, you're ahead of me. Ever since I encountered that meaning of vernacular (probably disgorged by the needlessly stressful KmC) I've had a vague impulse to use it, proof that I'm at one with the architectural community. Now the opportunity has passed and I'm left with my two favourites "rebarbative" and "jejune" which I may not yet have used in 2016, guiltily aware that this was not the case in 2015, 2014, 2013, etc.

    "No pressure, then." grates for other reasons. It was intended to be ironic but irony that works depends on a delicacy of touch. This is far too bludgeonly.

    Inevitably it was born out of the sports pages, a great source of linguistic innovation which, alas, shares the mayfly's fate, lasting little more than twenty-four hours. If you're not convinced try the French national daily sports paper, L'Equipe, which employs a language that is aeons ahead of modern-day French and is often difficult to translate. But never worry; another innovation will be along the following day.

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  2. RR - vernacular: I have a confession to make. I thought it meant, relating to rustic architecture of that district, but my dictionary only gives the rustic definition, but not particularly relating to a district. But, i like the word and my intended meaning was close enough to the dictionary definition so it was gladly used.

    I seem to remember you disagreeing with me about my irritation with KmC, but now you have come out to some extent. His programmes are watchable and interesting but his doom and gloom hyperbole is hard to bear.

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  3. I have not "come out" re. KmC. I was merely using your condemnation as an identifier.

    Vernacular means "fits its surroundings". The trick will be (for me that is) to shift it to some other non-architectural area where the displacement gives it added impact. "IB had a vernacular and proximal relationship with Lister's Mill, both being grandiose yet somehow morose."

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  4. RR - I had only consulted an inferior electronic dictionary, and now looking at The Chambers 11th Edition, 2008 (enhanced by a foreword by Jeremy Paxman) I see the definition you give, and also confirming my original meaning of relative to the locality.

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  5. Disabling HDR is a good thing as it should be used in conjunction with a tripod. Most of the photo's we take are mostly on the fly and it is not required for this type of shot. I think the TZ60 has already got image stabiliser and that is good enough. Probably why you are getting better results.

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  6. If you use the OED in whatever form you will be left in no doubt of the 'correct' original and evolved meaning(s) of the word !
    But of course it originally referred to the language of a locality and has, not ineluctably, thus come to mean, also, the local architectural 'language' or 'idiom' etc etc - very important if you are the Conservation Architect in an AONB, who would use the term hourly - if not more frequently - without bothering to explain why your planned 'amelioration' could not be permitted !
    I think they would asserve the IB image too liberal to permit.

    On a more practical matter - I've had a lot of trouble with the TZ60 image handling and deciding for me how a 'shot' should look - to the extent that it has completely ruined a whole portfolio of haunting and foreboding moments - I will be calling on you for help !

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  7. Alan R. - I am sure you are right. And I think I am now getting better results. This complicated technology is sometimes too much for its own good.

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    Gimmer - I think we have now comprehensively explores that valuable word between us, but now none of us will dare to use it if we think the other two may be reading.

    Not sure what you mean about the TZ etc. Are you talking about composition, editing, or technical settings of the camera. I would have thought your scientific background would give you better expertise than me for the third of those, but I would of course be glad to pass on anything you may find helpful.

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