ENGLAND, Settle - Social Human Beings

Hi Family,

I imagine the pattern is similar with any move to a new place.  First there is a need to settle, then do nothing, then start to do things, and then, find people to talk to.

There’s a researched, although obvious, phenomenon known as "weak ties" resulting from the regular banter which occurs when we go to the grocery store or workplace watering hole, and from those many other “small talk” interactions we have during daily life.  "These connections have been shown to improve physical and mental health and to help reduce loneliness", according to an article in The Walrus.  No kidding.  These weak ties are slowly dying as our culture turns more to online shopping, grocery/meal deliveries, curbside pick-up, especially as a result of the pandemic.  They are still active here in Settle, and have indeed been a mental-health saver as we march down to the shops pretty much every other day (our fridge takes minimalism to a new level) - a short walk down the hill, visit the egg-and-veggie mini-market, the grocery shop, perhaps the butcher.  Colin has found his favourite farmers around the area for venison, beef, and sausages, albeit with less frequent visits.

Colin has been out paragliding and meeting the local scene.  He also has a selection of friends scattered around the area for climbing days out.  Darwin’s school is no longer just full of noisy children, but rather individual people named Agnes, Eva, etc., about whom he talks regularly.  It made me think of mom, when we moved to England in 1993.  While dad had work, and Kathryn, John and I had school, how was mom to get social interaction beyond weak ties?  I think joining the American Women's League gave her interesting things to do, places to go, people to see.  As a stay-at-home mom in a place where you know no one, you have do things out of your ordinary repertoire to find social interaction (at your age/mental level).  So, I joined the Settle Harriers.

It seems that every larger town in the northern UK has a local running club, typically called the "'Some-town' Harriers".  The name “Harriers” is derived from a game played by school children in the 1800s, called “Hares and Hounds”, involving lots of running and chasing, which later became an adult athletic sport.  And like 99% of terms and phrases in the UK, it was shortened to “Harriers”, although the current use of the term no longer seems to involve any chasing...

Route finding: the grass is juuust a bit of a different shade...

My first run with the Settle Harriers, a Monday evening, we reached the high point with a view of the sun setting in the west, and a glowing, nearly-full moon rising in the east.  Did I mention, one of the best (and hardest) things about running around here:  there are no trees!  It does however make for difficult route finding at times...  My compass and map have become very good companions.

I prefer to run on my own and not have to try and gasp out conversations, but do look forward to wild Monday nights out with the Harriers, occasionally followed by a pint in the local pub nearest our start location.  I manage to not be left in the mud by the group - being on the very low end of their age range is not necessarily an advantage around here.  Similar age distribution for the vast majority of (quite fit) walkers and cyclist in the area too.  Respect.

Some of the Settle Harriers on descent from Ingleborough Peak

While out on my own, the wildlife encounters, supposedly benign compared to bears (and owls), still put me on edge with the intense staring:

"You're not suggesting I mooooo-ve, are you?"

However, the geological and anthropological encounters give me one-way staring as long as I like:

Samson's Toe

Limestone Pavement

1873 Hoffman Lime Kiln

Darwin's school

One day I passed by an exposed scar - a rocky wall in Yorkshire - containing visible brachiopod fossils, crinoids and corals.  I wish I had taken a photo - the Brachiopods look similar to scallop shells.  Brachiopod fossils go as far back as the early Cambrian age (about 550 million years ago); provides some perspective for the human-made "really old" 1000-year-old castles and abbeys...

Speaking of school, one day, a few weeks ago, when having our evening ‘what was your favourite thing today’ conversation, Darwin answered “going to the school!”.  Pardon me?  A few days later, on a non-school day, he spent the morning singing all the songs he knows and has been learning to his own circle of children at school...

What else do we do all day, besides go to the shops?  Look for sheep to pat, play Pooh sticks, visit the ABCs, and of course still lots of walks.

Appleby Castle

Walking along Clapham Beck

You can add "Beck" (small stream or brook) to our growing Norse vocabulary, along with Dale, Fell and Scar.  There will be a test at the end or our Northern UK stay.

ENGLAND, Settle - Out and About

Hi Family,

We’ve graduated from “just doing nothing” to “doing stuff” now - train rides, museums, galleries, hikes further abroad from our front door.

I don’t know how Robert Louis Stevenson forgot to mention “sheep” when he wrote ‘From a Railway Carriage’, but otherwise the poem is a rather apt description of flying through Yorkshire on a train (if you gloss over the dated reference to a runaway cart).  

My class recited that poem at a competition when I was in grade 3 (we didn’t win), and the first few lines come out of brain storage every time we ride the train.  There is something calming about rolling by endless green hills criss-crossed with stone walls, stone houses and sheep.

The “dark satanic mills” of William Blakes’ poem ‘Jerusalem’ - yes, the song they now sing at English football matches - are still prominent, tall blackened chimneys, 20-30m tall, rising from the small villages as the train flies through.  They are a legacy of the Industrial Revolution in these parts, when household looms were eventually replaced by small textile mills/factories during its 700-year-old industry history.  Now, the abandoned mills are slowly being converted to fancy apartments, offices, shops, etc.

Wandering further from home

Stainforth Force

We try to get to the outdoor Tuesday market, which has been a Tuesday market since 1249(!!!) when King Henry III granted a market charter to the town of Settle.  Why on earth would a town need permission from the king to have a market?  The charter meant the town could hold a market, and the council could collect rent/tolls from those setting up their stalls, and maybe by extension the king could collect his due?  Settle basically grew out of the town square (notably called “Market Place”).  We mostly buy fruit and veggies (right now from Spain ha ha) and fish from the market, but if we wanted to we could buy slippers, picture frames, clothes, baby clothes, shoes, plants...  And this is just the mini-me winter version.

Settle, from the rocky crag above town - Market Place in the centre

Part of the allure of Europe is of course to be immersed in our cultural history, to try (really hard) to understand how our culture and lives got to be the way they are today.  We attempted a visit to the Leeds art gallery, and learned a few valuable lessons about what not to do when taking a toddler.  I thoroughly enjoyed my 20 minutes in the “story” gallery , where each painting in the gallery told a cultural/anthropological/historical story, some related to the social realism movement of which I was not familiar.  I learned something new today.  While Darwin looked at a couple paintings with me, he much preferred watching the older gentlemen playing life-size chess outside the gallery.  He doesn't even understand time yet, so maybe history is a bit lost on him...  I'll keep showing him paintings and telling him the stories - you never know what's sinking in.

I know this because there is not much of a need for radio, podcasts or music in the late afternoons while I prepare dinner.  The various characters and bits of storyline from books Darwin has read - recently or even months ago - interact with each other and reappear together with his favourite cartoon characters from Leo the Truck, taking part in all sorts of wildly entertaining scenes and dialogue.  Leo the Truck helps an ambulance take someone to the hospital to get their tonsils out, but they mustn’t use a shoe… and so on.

I try to maintain our Quiet Time ritual.  We start by watching a YouTube clip on the 15 biggest bells in the world.  We often hear church bells in England, but at first Darwin had no concept of what was a “bell”.  The other day, as we sat down to our usual church bells, I said to Darwin: what else do you want to learn about?, thinking perhaps he’d say something along the lines of “how do they build tractors” or “how to pat a sheep”.  Instead, he got all philosophical and asked “why are children noisy at school?”, and when that didn’t bring up too many great YouTube videos, his next attempt was “why do kids have fun?”…

Bowes Museum

We met Colin’s parents in Barnard Castle for lunch and a wander around the Bowes Museum.  The museum's fame results from its development, from scratch, as a “public museum”.  It opened op the world of art and other collections, typically reserved for the gentry, to the working class.  Mrs. and Mr. Bowes began their project in the mid-1800s, with Mrs. Bowes focussed for 15 years on collecting everything from art, fashion and design from around Europe and the world, creating a fascinating insight into our sometimes strange cultural customs…

For example, Did You Know…. We didn’t start using forks until the 16th century?  And even then, it was mainly a “gimmick” for the wealthy.  Most of us were still eating with our hands, and the wealthy typically owned their own set of cutlery (mainly knife and spoon) and brought it in their pocket when heading out to dine.  The knife was used to spear food when required.  Wanting to keep themselves above the common people (I imagine), fancy cutlery made of silver became a symbol of status and wealth in the 18th century.  Then came, you guessed it, the fancy (lockable) wooden boxes in which to store them, and which were often handed down generation after generation…  It seems that our generation (in North America anyway) is perhaps the end of a tradition born from a reach for status, as fewer of us are interested in having a fancy set of silverware for special occasions.  I know that Nanna’s and Grandma’s sets of silverware have been broken up to some degree as Kathryn, John and I have taken a few pieces, the rest I think donated to charity by mom.

While more busy "doing stuff", one of the many things Darwin has taught me lately is the importance of sitting on benches.  The hundreds of benches that I’ve run/walked/speed-walked by, thinking to myself “I should stop and sit one day”, haunt me every time I pass by a new one.  Darwin simply said one day, about halfway along our daily trudge home up the hill from town: “we should sit on this bench”.  So we did.  And so we continue to do.