The Dubious Saluki

[bunn]

Not at all sure about going for a walk yesterday.  She was keen to set off, but then she heard the wind roaring in the heights, and became doubtful and discouraged.  I had to be very cheering indeed to get her past this point.


As LoA has pointed out in the past, if a dog did this in a fantasy story, particularly such a poetic and elfish-looking dog, then ignoring her reservations would be a foolish thing to do, and would be certan to result in wandering into a parallel universe or being eaten by a dragon.    Perhaps both.

I ignored her anyway, and went to look for bluebells.  The wild ones are just starting to come into bloom, although their fat waxy Spanish cousins in the gardens have been flowering for weeks. 


Plenty of celandines in flower, although the light was not right for catching celandines at their golden best, so this photo also has a dog in it.
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The escaped daffodils in the woods, left behind by abandoned flower-farms, are still flowering their yellow hearts out, although some of them are starting to look a tiny bit ragged.


I photographed this because I thought it might be a Random Mine, but the Heritage Gateway says not.    It is just an old Nissen Hut (from the first or second World War, I am not sure which, is there a way to date Nissen Huts?)  and an almost equally elderly tractor.   There is a Random Mine somewhere behind it, but not in view.



More escaped daffodils, this time trying to mingle inconspicuously with the wood anemones.


And here is a photo of Brythen Being Good.  It is not a photo of Rosie.

This is because Rosie was down by the river, where she had found a very dead sheep that had been washed onto the bank.  It was, apparently, the BEST THING EVER.  This just goes to show that her initial reservations about the walk were based on her wild imaginings about things that might go wrong, rather than any genuine prescience about the Awesome that was awaiting her.

Comments

[bunn.livejournal.com]

... or are you suggesting that it's the quality of the metal used that has improved in the period between the wars...?

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

From my (limited) knowledge of such things, I think the quality was pretty poor in both wars. Many of the WWII huts that are jot being actively maintained have rusted a lot in the last 70 - 80 years; the hundred-year-old ones from WWI have had even longer in which to deteriotate.

A separate point is that a lot more were made in WWII - maybe something like 5m, cf 100,000 in WWI.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

It probably depends if it has been moved. This part of Cornwall was, I think, a lot more economically active during the first war than the second, because the mines were still going then. So a lot of the industrial junk lying around tends to be late 19th/early 20th, as the place was such a backwater after that.

But there were american troops stationed briefly in Gunnislake during the second War, and also evacuees from Plymouth, so it might be something to do with them. Although the Americans were supposed to have stayed in tents, so I don't think were here all that long.

I expect the parish archive people would know, I should probably ask them.

The Nissen hut that is our local polling station is in superb nick, I am sure it will see another century out if it continues to be maintained! This one looks older, but it could be that it's just not cared for so carefully.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Mm, interesting - thanks for the info.

A classic example of well-maintained Nissen huts is the pair used to build the Italian chapel in Orkney. They have been very well looked after; but on the other hand, they have had the Orcadian climate to contend with.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

The curved shape must make for a pleasing chapel, and no doubt the lack of insulation is expected in a place of worship!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Both of these are true.

There is more at:

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/eastmainland/italianchapel/ (although I don't think anything can give the feel of actually being there).

[bunn.livejournal.com]

That is lovely: what an enchanting building.