So.........Yesterday was St Swithin's Day, the weather here in
Suffolk was overcast and chilly.......40 days like that I really don't
want.........but hopefully the folklore about the 15th is just about
rain.
The boiler came on for hot water after I'd had a shower,
which is quite unusual because normally the two Solar Thermal
water heating panels on the roof do their job without much help through
the summer, shows how dull it's been over the last few days.
We don't have any churches dedicated to St Swithin in Suffolk but there are a few around the country.
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| Picture of St Swithin in stained glass from internet (from a church in Berkshire) |
At the bottom of this weeks page in my Country Wisdom and Folklore diary it says............
In
1315, on the day after the anniversary of the moving of St Swithin's
body into the church, namely the 15th July, such was the deluge of rain,
that rivers overflowed their banks to an awesome degree,submerging
crops and rushing through houses, drowning men women and children. No
survivor coud recall such a flood, nor such a famine that followed.
(Attributed to Robert De Graystone c 1336)
That was written nearly 400 years after the actual event because it was in 971 when the body of Swithin, the Saxon Bishop of Winchester who had died in 862 but had just been canonised, was moved into the cathedral.
Other stories from this time say it was the actual day of the moving of the bones when the rain started.
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Yesterday I discovered the netball World Cup is on TV this week. Has netball ever been on TV before? I can't remember seeing it and also can't remember the rules. I had no idea why the whistle kept being blown. I know we occasionally played it at Grammar school but what time of year and whereabouts around the school the netball courts were I haven't a clue. We played hockey in winter and tennis in summer with a bit of swimming and athletics in there too, but where netball fitted in I have no idea. Did we play rounders? or was that just at primary school? the memory fails me. I wasn't at all sporty and hated and dreaded every minute spent in the gym or out on the fields. Now if we could have played table tennis, which I did at the Baptist Church Youth club, I might have enjoyed that time a lot more.
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Yesterday evening was small WI and we had a demonstration of wholefood cookery. Using just a electric frying pan and a electric grill the lady whipped up a whole load of dishes in 45 minutes. You could tell she was a trained cookery demonstrator. She said she'd once worked for the same company, demonstrating cookers, as Mary Berry although Mary was several years older and they were in neighbouring counties. It all looked so delicious but we weren't allowed to taste any which was a bit disappointing - Health and Safety and Council rules she said!
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Yesterday I was given some exciting news and allowed to share.............Grandchild number 4 is due after Christmas!
Son and DiL are expecting a small brother or sister for youngest granddaughter Willow.
Goodness, that means four grandchildren........... all under 4 years old ...........that'll be fun!.....or chaos!
Back Tomorrow
Sue
