Another governors’ meeting over

With all the really necessary things to spend money on, it bemuses me that the matter of a tunnel past Stonehenge has reared up again.  If that’s the best description of a tunnel, which it clearly isn’t.  But really, why?  The A303 is a ghastly road down to the West Country, dualled in parts but not enough, and it has awful bottlenecks.  When Wink travels to see us, she is at least comforted that she isn’t on her way  to Somerset, Devon and Cornwall at a holiday time, but heading away from those lovely counties.  The whole damn lot could be made into a good road for millions of pounds less than a tunnel past Stonehenge.

I’m prejudiced, I know.  I love Stonehenge.  But what I love is that sight of it on a dreary journey down an awful road.  My heart lifts up, as if seeing a rainbow, on catching sight of that wonderful ancient monument, much altered over the centuries though it is, roped off from the public, reasons for its construction invented, disconsolate bunches of people round it, wishing they could be closer and feel its power to move, rather than pay to stand the wrong side of a barrier.  Some years ago, there was a movement to have a tunnel constructed and it came to nothing as it was just too damn expensive and impractical.  I cannot see what’s changed about that.  But it’s the fact that Stonehenge is part of the landscape that I appreciate, I don’t want it to be accessed only through some sanitised visitors’ centre.

Anyhow.  No more ranting here, darlings.  And I’ve just realised it’s almost midnight and I don’t know what happened to the evening.  I had squid for supper, stir-fried with lots of vegetables and chilli, on a bed of spinach.  Then, I microwaved frozen berries, as taught by Zig, and ate them with honeycomb ice cream.  It was delish.  I had to eat a couple of twiglets later, to save me from a second helping.  I made coffee, but spilt the dregs on my Rajasthan dhurrie, which is now in the washing machine on a cold, gentle wash.  I think it’ll be ok but it might need pegging out to keep it from curling up as it dries.  I’m not sure how to go about that.

7 comments on “Another governors’ meeting over

  1. Dinahmow

    Whaaa? A tunnel under the henge? Bullswool! Maybe it’s just a sappers’ training exercise! I’m very glad I went up there, long ago, before it was all cordoned off.
    If it’s not too late…lay your rug on a flat surface and weight the edges.

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  2. Z Post author

    There’s someone of influence with a bee in his or her bonnet who wants Stonehenge to be surrounded by countryside, not have a main road quarter of a mile away. I suspect it’s not so much (spurious) historical integrity as a mean reluctance to let anyone see it if they haven’t paid. It would be a ludicrous amount of money to spend unnecessarily.

    The whole rug needs weighting down evenly, not just the edges. I’m thinking about it – I’ll start by ironing it, but I don’t know if a domestic iron is up to the job!

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  3. Blue Witch

    Just catching up… sounds like you have already accomplished an awful lot, as well as ministering to the needs of others at a time when you naturally have limited resources for yourself. Well done. It will all happen, slowly slowly. But I do understand about all the ‘stuff’… have just written on that very subject myself – and at least mine is of my own doing!

    When blocking knitting (in the absence of modern gadgets), one stretches it out on a large towel, ideally on a carpet, and then pulls it gently into the shape required, and pins the edges every couple of inches down into the towel/carpet, and leaves it to dry naturally (sometimes a couple of days). I’m always amazed how this works for even very thick sections of garments. I use flower head pins as they are long and the heads stop the pins disappearing – ‘Sew and Sew’ in your town will sell them if youhaven’t got any long pins and want to try the technique with the rug (it’s quite possible to block knitting more than once, so I should think that you could do the same with your rug if any other method you’ve tried hasn’t worked out).

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  4. Z Post author

    I was going to ask Eloise’s advice as she knits and knows about blocking – the corners curling are one thing, but it’s quite creased overall from the washing machine, though it hasn’t gone out of shape at all, nor lost colour. I don’t think pins will have the strength to hold it, it’s quite dense. I haven’t got time now so will roll it up and keep it damp until tomorrow when she comes.

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  5. Rog

    I’m with you on the tunnel. I can remember being able to wander around the stones pre visitor’s centre, but they are best viewed from the road where the majesty of their achievement can be properly seen in context. A proper Northern Norwich by-pass would be handy!

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  6. Z Post author

    The last stupid government wanted to do it, this stupid government wants to do it. They appear to think the idiotic plan is a vote-winner.

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