May 2020
Sunday 3rd May 2020
This afternoon we looked out from the balcony and saw these striking cloud formation.
A meteorologist friend of ours happened to be out on his bike at the same time and sent us some similar pictures, along with some more technical information. Apparently it is a cirrocumulus formation, (also known in English as a mackerel sky).
At the same time some cumulus clouds were forming along the mountains, just visible above the horizon on this picture.
A meteorologist friend of ours happened to be out on his bike at the same time and sent us some similar pictures, along with some more technical information. Apparently it is a cirrocumulus formation, (also known in English as a mackerel sky).
At the same time some cumulus clouds were forming along the mountains, just visible above the horizon on this picture.
Friday 8th May 2020
“Surely never city, at least of this bulk and magnitude, was taken in a condition so perfectly unprepared for such a dreadful visitation.”
No, this is not a quote from Prime Minister’s Question Time in the British House of Commons, attacking the government’s response to the coronavirus crisis.
It’s a text written nearly 300 years ago and it’s talking about the last time the bubonic plague hit the city of London in 1665. Daniel Defoe’s Journal of the Plague Year is a book which I read in English lessons at secondary school. And now it suddenly came back to my mind so I downloaded it from Project Gutenberg and started to read it.
Now, make no mistake about it, the 1665 epidemic was very much worse in its effects than our current pandemic - 100,000 people may have lost their lives in London alone, and many more lost their livelihoods.
But all the same, there are also many similarities between what happened in 1665 and what is happening now in 2020. I’ve written down my thoughts about it.
To read my thoughts on the 1665 Plague Year, click here.
No, this is not a quote from Prime Minister’s Question Time in the British House of Commons, attacking the government’s response to the coronavirus crisis.
It’s a text written nearly 300 years ago and it’s talking about the last time the bubonic plague hit the city of London in 1665. Daniel Defoe’s Journal of the Plague Year is a book which I read in English lessons at secondary school. And now it suddenly came back to my mind so I downloaded it from Project Gutenberg and started to read it.
Now, make no mistake about it, the 1665 epidemic was very much worse in its effects than our current pandemic - 100,000 people may have lost their lives in London alone, and many more lost their livelihoods.
But all the same, there are also many similarities between what happened in 1665 and what is happening now in 2020. I’ve written down my thoughts about it.
To read my thoughts on the 1665 Plague Year, click here.
After writing this little essay on the Journal of the Plague Year, I happened to discover that other people were reading the book too. The Guardian on-line newspaper has a Reading Group and the book that hey are reading together in May is none other than Defoe’s Journal.
The journalist Sam Jordison has also written several blog entries on the Journal. No, I didn't plagiarise them - I'd written my article before I found out about the Guardian Reading Group. Here’s a link to some of Jordison’s pieces:
The journalist Sam Jordison has also written several blog entries on the Journal. No, I didn't plagiarise them - I'd written my article before I found out about the Guardian Reading Group. Here’s a link to some of Jordison’s pieces:
Project Gutenberg
A few readers have asked me what Project Gutenberg is. It’s basically an electronic library which allows you to download older texts in easy-to-access digital formats such as e-pub. There are currently over 60,000 titles available on Project Gutenberg.
You can find out more about it directly from https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page.
You can find out more about it directly from https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page.
Monday 11th May 2020
Back to(wards) normality
I'm sitting in my office just after lunch. Glancing out through the window I can see something I haven’t seen for weeks now: kids walking or cycling to school. I wonder what it feels like for them, going back to school after (how many weeks is it now?) of home schooling combined with the spring holidays. During much of that time there was glorious spring weather.
One consolation is that today is a grey and miserable day, not a bad day to have to go to school.
One consolation is that today is a grey and miserable day, not a bad day to have to go to school.
Front page story
Look back to 1665: the Plague Year
Contact
If you’re interested in English lessons or translation and checking services, please feel free to contact me in the language of your choice - English, French, German or even Lingala!
Here are my details:
Here are my details:
Mobile
078 609 56 51
+41 78 609 56 51
+41 78 609 56 51
Location
Tödistrasse 9, 8634 Hombrechtikon
(New address from 24th March 2018)
(New address from 24th March 2018)
If you are travelling from Rüti / Wolfhausen, drive past the Hombrechtikon place-name sign for about 300 metres and turn right into Tödistrasse, just before the Tobel bus stop.
Approaching from Hombrechtikon
If you are approaching from the centre of Hombrechtikon, follow the signs to Rüti. At the Tobel junction (the Methodist Church is on the left) turn left. Tödistrasse is the next turning on the left, just past the Tobel bus stop.
The entrance to our new flat is about 100 metres from the junction with Rütistrasse, on the left-hand side of the road.
The house number is number 9 and we are on the first floor.
There are a few visitor’s parking bays a short distance beyond the entrance, on the left.
There are a few visitor’s parking bays a short distance beyond the entrance, on the left.
Arriving by bus
If you arrive by bus from Bubikon, get off the bus at Tobel and follow Tödiweg until you get to Tödistrasse. Our house is on the right.