Shanklin

Shanklin took the bronze prize with two visits into the course of our stay on the other island, both by way of the bus, and while we were tempted to walk down to the train on the second occasion, just for form, in the event it was quite warm and we settled for the much nearer bus stop.

Having arrived, our first stop on the first outing was Babushka Books in Regent Street, a well-stocked establishment where I was once able to buy a nice three volume edition of Clarissa, much better for reading than a giant paperback. On this occasion, a cheap copy of David Copperfield, rapidly superseded by the rather better copy noticed at reference 3.

This was followed up by a visit to a curio shop where I bought an entertaining history of the Royal London Yacht Club, penned by one Bernice R. Slater, PhD, with a forward by HRH Prince Philip, Duke, etc. Produced for the 150th anniversary in 1988 and as well as a history of the club includes all kinds of bits and bobs. An interesting bit of social history from the upper echelons of the yacht club world. With all the ceremonies, flags and rules reminding me of the Freemasons. With the middle echelons being full of swingers & boozers according to my informant from TB, a chap who got a great bang out of crewing for the principals, crewing which, inter alia, gave him the entrée to the après ski, as it were.

However, I checked one of the bits and bobs with Wikipedia this afternoon - references 5 and 6 - and found that the gloss on the affair offered by Slater was a bit thin, quite apart from her having got the wrong Hudson as captain. It seems that the whole thing was a publicity stunt to advertise a new model, galvanised iron life boat, carried sail appropriate to an entirely different kind of boat and had a thoroughly miserable crossing. The first, it seems, for a boat of its size - although I imagine that many Viking long ships were of the same order. The boats used by Columbus on his first voyage were perhaps twice the length of this one.

For some reason, my note made at the time links this book with Copperhead, perhaps a coffee shop in Shanklin. This afternoon, I can find no trace of it, only turning up the rather better known north American snake, as described at reference 4.

Followed up with £1 for a DVD of Dr. Zhivago (Sharif style), just in case we tired of Miss. Marple (Hickson style). As it turned out, we didn't.

Coffee and a rather good tea cake at Poppins. Lavazza coffee not quite up to Olle & Steen, but quite satisfactory.

From there we strolled along to the famous Chine for our annual visit, with a view back up from quite near the top offered above. A rather old-fashioned seaside attraction, but one which we rather like.

Looking down.

Some kind of fern. Most impressive.

A  modest echium, a migrant from nearby Ventor. A object for phyllotactical study?

Rather to my surprise, Google Images had no trouble at all with a slightly cropped version of this image, turning in a near unanimous verdict for the right answer, Echium pininana, that well known borage from the Canaries.

Crab salad from the house, the Fisherman's Cottage, at the bottom of the chine. Taken with sparkling water and very good it was too. Double lemon for her, my never having understood this thing about squeezing lemon juice all over sea food.

From there, for a change, we took the lift, from the top of which we strolled to our bus stop and so to the bull ring at Brading. Tea and Dundee cake on arrival.

We did the High Street on the second occasion rather more quickly, failing to buy a data stick in Poundland but taking a toasted tea cake in the same establishment as first time around. And the derelict cash machine snapped above, not something I see at home very often. At least, I can't remember the last occasion.

Then more phyllotaxis outside a church.

Again, rather to my surprise, Google Images did not have much trouble with this one either, uncropped, with a verdict of  Aeonium arboreum. Another escapee from the Canaries, widely grown as a house plant and something of a garden pest in Australia. What you see here are rosettes of leaves; the conical yellow flower heads appear in the spring. See reference 12.

From there, down to the beach by road, rather than by chine, stopping to take in the aparthotel noticed at reference 8. We also got a free view of the chine.

More of same. Chine below, beach beyond.

Checked in for a crab salad and then took a stroll south along the fine beach, threatening sky notwithstanding.

Getting towards the point. A point we have rounded in the past.

The sort of log which might have interested the late Monica Poole, although she probably had plenty of her own, in and around the estuary to the Medway.

Our second crab salad came on a round plate, rather than an oval plate, and was arranged slightly differently. Clearly a different chef - but just as good. Taken with chips this time.

After which we walked north along the beach until we reached what I thought was the nearest point the bus came to the sea - and a conveniently placed path up the cliff. I dare say I would have been in trouble had I got it wrong.

Horsetails: a whorl rather than a spiral formation? But I shall look it up in due course to check. I did have ambitions once to grow them by the side of our house, where we never go or look, but it never came to anything and I dare say they would have needed more sun than they were ever going to get there.

Emerged at Winchester House, now a YMCA; quite an operation if reference 9 is anything to go by. Didn't look like one from the outside, but then it was largely screened by a tall hedge, although we did notice the buddleia growing by a chimney. While the various pink flowers we encountered on the way up prompted the post at reference 10.

Sudden urge for tinned apricots when we arrived at the bull ring, an urge which was satisfied by a couple of tins of Prince - but as it happened not consumed on the day at all, settling for more tea and Dundee cake.

PS 1: the only connection that Google turns up between Copperhead and Shanklin is the line dancing magazine at reference 11. Not relevant at all. But there is a Copper Kettle café.

PS 2: this morning (Wednesday), I make a quick foray into the world of horsetails, first reminding myself that they are not flowering plants, then into the trusty Lecointre of reference 13. Where I read of horsetails being quite near the beginning of land plants. Horsetails are Sphenophyta and the latest common ancestor with the flowering plants are the Euphyllophyta. Not to be confused with the aquatic look-alike Hippuris vulgaris, which is a flowering plant. There is talk of both spirals and whorls, which confused me. Then more confusion at Wikipedia at reference 14. Much more interest out there in the evolution, taxonomy and sex life of these plants than in their more botanical details. But maybe the botanical fog will lift if I can get into reference 15. Maybe there is more to the dichotomy between whorls and spirals than might at first appear. 

I learn in the margins of all this that horsetails, which herbivores are not fond of, are close relatives of the rather larger versions from which we got all our coal. Also that horsetails do like the sun, so down the side of the house would not have done at all. Also that the whorls of green needles might be branches rather than leaves, which last are small and inconspicuous.

[Flamininus restoring Liberty to Greece at the Isthmian Games. Ex Wikipedia]

PS 3: while this morning (Thursday), I am prompted by the yachting book to investigate the origin of the term 'Corinthian', used in the late nineteenth century both here and in the US to denote yacht races in which the yachts did not have paid crews or captains. The idea was that the owner was captain of his own ship and did not delegate the function to the hired help. At the time, yachts were mostly pretty big, say twenty tons or more, and yachting was a rich man's sport. Show-off sport even. I had an interesting discussion with Gemini about all this and while there is some connection with Corinth, the Corinthian (or Isthmian) games, it is all a bit vague, and may well have been mistaken in the first instance. Athletes in these games may not have been professionals, but they did, after a more lowly start, involve substantial prizes in cash and kind. Not so unlike the progression of our modern Olympics. Once again, I have been impressed by Gemini's standard of conversational waffle, and while he may not have come up with a clear, checkable answer as to the origin of the term, I now suspect that there is not one to be had. Or, at least, if there is an answer it is lost in the archives of some ancient racing club in the eastern United States, possibly horse racing club rather than yacht racing club. But see reference 16 for a relic of all this which is very much alive and well.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/07/hms-marijuana.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/07/piano-88.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/07/ryde.html.

Reference 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_copperhead.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red,_White_and_Blue_(ship).

Reference 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_L._Hudson.

Reference 7: https://shanklinchine.co.uk/.

Reference 8: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/07/change-of-scene.html.

Reference 9: https://ymca-fg.org/isle-of-wight/.

Reference 10: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/07/invasion.html.

Reference 11: http://onlinedancer.co.uk/pdfs/213.pdf.

Reference 12: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeonium_arboreum. 

Reference 13: The tree of life: a phylogenetic classification – Lecointre and Le Guyader – 2006.

Reference 14: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equisetum.

Reference 15: Polymerous Leaf Whorls in Vascular Plants: Developmental Morphology and Fuzziness of Organ Identities - Rolf Rutishauser - 1999. Note: downloaded file name starts as title.

Reference 16: https://www.royalcorinthian.co.uk/.