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Showing posts from May, 2024
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Our farming neighbour thinks that the finest May tree on the island stands outside our office.  He estimated that it's probably carrying at least a million blossoms.  It's a lovely tree, particularly at this time of the year. The Hawthorn, as it's more usually called, is traditionally thought to guard one of the gates to the realm of the little people, and is also considered as a protection against evil spirits.  In Celtic cultures - and the Isle of Man has a strong Celtic tradition - it is treated with particular respect, with gifts hung on the branches to propitiate the fairy guardians. Perhaps because the trees are thought to belong to the little people, in some areas it was considered very unlucky to bring hawthorn blossom into the house.  Or perhaps it was merely because the blossom looks spectacular but smells 'like death' if cut - almost literally.  The chemical in hawthorn blossom is the same one as is in bad meat.  It was also unlucky to cut hawthorns down
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  As many of you know, the Tower of Refuge stands on Conister Rock in Douglas Harbour.  The rock is sneaky in that it lies just underneath the water when the tide is in.  Boats which don't know the waters - and a few which do - have been known to ground or even wreck on Conister Rock.  The Tower of Refuge acts as a marker so that skippers of incoming boats know where the rock is. The Tower is usually only accessible by boat, and then only by boats whose occupants know what they're doing and have permission to do it.  However, at Spring tide it's just possible to walk to the Tower, if you don't mind getting your feet wet.  The walk is organised by the RNLI (its founder, William Hilary, built the Tower) whose members supervise to make sure people don't do anything daft, or at least can be rescued if (when) they do do daft things. Last Thursday was the day, and getting on for two thousand people enjoyed the unusual sunshine (remember that large round yellow thing?) to
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Pictured above is His Excellency Sir John Lorimer, Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man, and King Charles' representative on Mann. Yesterday Loaghtan Books was honoured by a visit from Sir John and Lady Lorimer. ....... The King's representative came here. Here. ARGH! His visit was of course a huge honour, but it did bring with it some difficulties.  As our delivery drivers will testify, vehicular access to the office is, frankly, awful.  While I was sure that His Excellency's driver could cope, I had visions of the official limousine getting scraped on our famously hostile hill. Tentatively I suggested to Sir John's PA that he and Lady Lorimer might arrive on the Manx Electric Railway, and we would meet them at the Dreemskerry tram stop.  Rather to our surprise, they not only came on the MER but on an ordinary service tram.  Good for them!  In Sir John's position he could have requested the Royal trailer, if not a 'Special', and it would of course have be