No.19

This photograph was taken in a market in Uzbekistan. 

It shows lacquered boxes for sale at one of the stalls.

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An Edwardian schoolroom. 
It's difficult to count the pupils but I think there might be more than 50.

By the beginning of the 20th century every child in Britain was entitled to a basic education. The accent of course was on the three Rs, but geography and history were important as well, and in some schools 12 year olds were beginning Latin.

Part-time schooling was common in certain areas. Where it was necessary for children to earn money for the family budget, those pupils attended school in the morning and went to work in the afternoon, or vice versa.

Many women in impoverished circumstances continued working after marriage. Some went out scrubbing and cleaning for wealthier folk, and others, staying at home, took in washing.

The people who could afford domestic help were those who had their own shop or business, doctors, teachers, lawyers and the clergy.

Some workers were fortunate in having very good employers. An example was the Cadbury factory in Birmingham, where the owners built houses, schools, libraries and churches for the workers and their families.

The “top” class of people were the aristocracy of course. Their way of life, which seemed to be a continual round of parties, balls, theatre outings, hunting, fishing and shooting, would experience a serious upset in 1914 - the war was a setback from which the upper class never fully recovered.

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THE SHADES OF NIGHT
A parody of Longfellow's Excelsior
by A.E. Houseman

The shades of night were falling fast

And the rain was falling faster,

When through an Alpine village passed

An Alpine village pastor;

A youth who bore mid snow and ice

A bird that wouldn't chirrup,

And a banner, with the strange device -

MRS. WINSLOW'S SOOTHING SYRUP.

''Beware the pass," the old man said,

"My bold and desperate fellah;

Dark lowers the tempest overhead,

And you'll want your umberella;

And the roaring torrent is deep and wide -

You may hear how it washes."

But still that clarion voice replied:

"I've got my old goloshes."

"Oh stay," the maiden said, "and rest

(For the wind blows from the nor'ward)

Thy weary head upon my breast -

And please don't think me forward."

A tear stood in his bright blue eye

And gladly he would have tarried;

But still he answered with a sigh:

"I'm married."

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This video, taken by a visitor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, shows how one patient tries to overcome her incapacity. Please use full screen and turn up brightness .

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Good news for all oldies!

According to The Register, old people who use computers are less likely to get dementia. This is the finding of researchers at the University of Western Australia's Centre for Health and Ageing.

So the message is, for folks like me, - Keep on Blogging!!!

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