QUICK TOUR QUICK TOUR NORDELPH COMMUNITY WEBSITE: April 2009
These are not the best of (economic) times and little enough happens that raises a smile. So it was with some delight that we encountered these three examples of graffiti, each of which lightened our mood. The first two were spray painted together onto the wall of the Nat West Bank in Norwich. 'Keep calm and carry on' is of course the World War II slogan that has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity lately: the small print at the base of this version (click to enlarge any of the three) says 'your money is safe under the mattress'. The second, an obvious take on the Pudsey Bear 'Children in Need' mascot is self explanatory. And the third, found on the road out of Swaffham towards Holme Hale, surely deserves to be called 'beware of the bull' doesn't it?
Given the controversy that has been stirred by the introduction of Google's latest 'Street View' application, which allows you to 'walk' the streets of major cities via the Internet, it's probably a good thing that we never pursued
an early idea for this Nordelph website, which was the 'make your own Nordelph' kit. The idea was that we would photograph every house on the village, sew the images together into a long panorama that those without much of a life could print out and mount on card to create a model Nordelph. That was probably a lucky escape for us, but Google has been very much in the forefront of our (web) thoughts recently, not least because we discovered this item of entertainment on Google Maps:
This remarkable image, which suggests that somebody somewhere thinks that Nordelph has two places to cross Well Creek takes us on a wander in two different directions, as we'll discuss in a minute. But we found this erroneous image so entertaining that we took a snapshot of it to put into this web page -- just in case someone told Google, and they corrected it. However, clicking the image will take you to the Google Maps site live. Among other bits of exploration, you can click on the 'satellite' option and deselect the labels to convince yourself that no one has constructed a new crossing since you last strolled up High Street! We're not really sure how to explain this -- possibly the B1094 (Silt Road) wasn't rerouted when the new bridge was built, and the small spur where it used to go is still officially part of the (now dual carriageway) Silt Road?
Or perhaps, as we discussed some years back in our piece on in-car sat-nav systems, it's the deliberate corruption of data to identify its source.
Considering this delightful curiosity, as we said, takes us in two directions. There's the matter of the history of Nordelph's two bridges. In our Nordelph Past section, we already have an item on Nordelph's First Bridge. This month, we've added an item on Nordelph's Second Bridge with a contemporary newspaper cutting. But we've also explored the notion of How reliable an Internet Search is. That's an item that we've added to our Nordelph Future section.
CHUTZPAH
The slightly elusive concept of 'chutzpah' (basically 'cheek') has been exemplified as 'killing your parents and then throwing yourself on the mercy of the court becuase you are an orphan'! Users of Downham Market railway station have a different example to savour.
Some while back, First Capital Connect, the operators, installed a rather ugly (and expensive) ATM on the up platform. Slightly to their embarrassment they then discovered that planning permission was required -- which they retrospectively applied for. The application was rejected, in part because there were at the time two other ways of withdrawing money automatically at the station, and also because the machine was something of an eyesore in a building which we should cherish for its gently understated functional architecture and its thoughtfully local Dutch gabling.
Undeterred, FCC resubmitted the application -- but not until they had completed the installation of two (equally ugly) automatic ticket machines as shown above. The second application was essentially identical to the first except for one significant clause. The new ATM would not be detrimental to the visual amenity of the building, because this had already been impaired by the ticket machines!
By the way, the second application was rejected as well!
FOOTBALL IN NORDELPH
When we first encountered this photograph it was uncertian whether it showed Nordelph football club or Barroway Drove's. Since then, some detective work has identified some of the players, although we don't have a definite date. Find out who's who and where we still want your input by going to Nordelph Footballers in our 'Nordelph Past' section.
And while you're there, don't forget that there's a comprehensive history of local football in the same section.
HANDY HINT
We noted, when we described the new layout of the Nordelph website
(in March 2005) that the structure of three frames (a heading, an index and the main content) had one drawback -- there was essentially only a single page (default.htm) which refreshed parts of itself to give the impresion that the page was changing. This meant that if you found something that interested you and wanted to save the location (as a 'bookmark' or a 'favourite'), subsequently the bookmark would recall the initial state of the page rather than the frames you had found of interest.
There's still no perfect solution to this, but there is a partial work around available in Firefox now (if there's an equivalent in Internet Explorer, we 've been unable to find it). Right click in the frame you've found (sorry, Mac users -- we're not sure what the equivalent is for you: us PC users are impossibly parochial!). From the subsequent pop-up menu, select 'This Frame' which offers a number of options related to just that frame -- including the option to bookmark it. This is only a partial solution because using that bookmark will only recall the frame of interest on its own and without the surrounding navigation tools in the index or the tabs to take you to another part of the site. But it may just be useful. We'll continue to work around the problem by designing the pages so that wherever possible information is a maximum of three clicks away from where you are!
MATTERS ARISING ...
In our last update, we introduced you to the Bodgers Farm Pottery. The summer term of afternoon and evening classes starts in the pottery studio on 15th April.
It costs £84 for a course of 10 two-hour lessons. There is a choice between afternoon or evening courses, both of which run on Wednesdays. 2pm to 4pm, and 7pm to 9pm respectively. Each course runs for 10 weeks.
Both beginners and improvers welcome. Just call Kate on 01945 430880 or mobile 07740 291457
AND FINALLY ...
We're slowly but surely catching up on the missing Parish Council minutes. Since the last update, we've added a further four, including February 2009, the most recently approved minutes. Details of the Easter church services are also available.
And our steadily growing survey of Fenland produce continues with carrots. It's getting harder to find vegetables (we never seem to have started on fruit!) that we haven't already covered. But watch this space -- we'll find something!
Happy Easter!
Don't forget that you can visit all the pages mentioned above by repeatedly clicking on the 'THIS MONTH button.
THIS MONTH
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