Interesting Facts
On Saturday, I took the first Great Western railway from London Paddington Station to Cardiff, Wales. In my seat pocket, I found a very nice brochure entitled ‘discover your journey west.’ Opening the brochure, I found pictures and information about things along the route. (Turning the brochure over, it was possible to ‘discover your journey east’ by simply following the pages in reverse.)
From this brochure, I learned the following:
‘Only 43% of the London Underground is actually underground.’
‘The “Covent” in Covent Garden is actually a spelling mistake. The area was a market garden of what was Westminster Abbey monastery and Convent.’
‘The power station at Didcot is located on a 300 acre site formerly part of the Ministry of Defence Central Ordnance Depot.’ The cooling towers for this power station are located right next to the rail line. Despite the initial impression, these aren’t nuclear cooling towers…the plant appears to be coal-fired. (Unless those huge mountains of coal are just there as a decoy…)
‘Prince William passed his driving test in Chippenham on his first attempt after just twenty hours of tuition.’
‘Frome is home to miles of mysterious underground tunnels. No one can explain when or why they were built. They are brick-lined and are approximately 4ft wide and 5ft high. They have connections to all the principal churches in the town and many of the old inns and public houses.’ Now, how can miles of brick-lined tunnels just appear? I mean, wouldn’t someone notice and maybe mention something? I know if I started digging underneath my local church and carrying loads of bricks in, people would certainly remember it.
‘Cornwall is home to the Cornish Pasty. Traditionally the pasties used to contain meat and vegetables in one end and jam or fruit in the other, to provide a practical two course lunch for hard working tin miners.’ As someone who has issues with his food touching, I find this highly disturbing.
‘The world’s only leech farm is in Swansea. The leeches are used for microsurgery.’ Farming leeches I can understand. Teaching them how to use tiny scalpels is something else altogether.
‘Wales has more castles per square mile than any other country in the world.’
‘The world’s largest chained library is at Hereford Cathedral which dates back to the 17th century. Chaining books was the most effective security system in Europe dating back to the Middle Ages. The system allows you to take a book from the shelf and read it at a desk, however the book can never be removed from the book case.’
Now, wasn’t that fun?
From this brochure, I learned the following:
‘Only 43% of the London Underground is actually underground.’
‘The “Covent” in Covent Garden is actually a spelling mistake. The area was a market garden of what was Westminster Abbey monastery and Convent.’
‘The power station at Didcot is located on a 300 acre site formerly part of the Ministry of Defence Central Ordnance Depot.’ The cooling towers for this power station are located right next to the rail line. Despite the initial impression, these aren’t nuclear cooling towers…the plant appears to be coal-fired. (Unless those huge mountains of coal are just there as a decoy…)
‘Prince William passed his driving test in Chippenham on his first attempt after just twenty hours of tuition.’
‘Frome is home to miles of mysterious underground tunnels. No one can explain when or why they were built. They are brick-lined and are approximately 4ft wide and 5ft high. They have connections to all the principal churches in the town and many of the old inns and public houses.’ Now, how can miles of brick-lined tunnels just appear? I mean, wouldn’t someone notice and maybe mention something? I know if I started digging underneath my local church and carrying loads of bricks in, people would certainly remember it.
‘Cornwall is home to the Cornish Pasty. Traditionally the pasties used to contain meat and vegetables in one end and jam or fruit in the other, to provide a practical two course lunch for hard working tin miners.’ As someone who has issues with his food touching, I find this highly disturbing.
‘The world’s only leech farm is in Swansea. The leeches are used for microsurgery.’ Farming leeches I can understand. Teaching them how to use tiny scalpels is something else altogether.
‘Wales has more castles per square mile than any other country in the world.’
‘The world’s largest chained library is at Hereford Cathedral which dates back to the 17th century. Chaining books was the most effective security system in Europe dating back to the Middle Ages. The system allows you to take a book from the shelf and read it at a desk, however the book can never be removed from the book case.’
Now, wasn’t that fun?
posted by Matthew Reames at 4/05/2005 08:47:00 PM
1 Comments:
Imagine making a Cornish pasty: big piece of pie crust laid out flat, meat-stuff in one quarter of it, jam on an adjacent quarter (NOT touching). Now fold the top part over them. squish the pie crust together around the edge. (Here comes the secret.) Squish the crust down BETWEEN the two kinds of food. Voila! Nothing touches. Each kind of food is sealed into its own little compartment.Everyone is happy, even finicky eaters.
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