A Sunday blog: things to do on a glum day

Glum (adjective): sullenly or silently gloomy; dejected [Dictionary.com]

Treasure hunting is a difficult activity to carry out glumly (adverb). You need the presence of a small person to get the most out of an impromptu treasure hunt, I think, but from the home-crafted version around the house to sophisticated manoeuvres involving vehicles and map-reading, there is the distraction of putting clues together and the frisson of finding treasure.

If that’s too energetic, have a long hot deep bath in something odd. Not just any old odd thing. This is one of those activities where it’s not good to improvise too far. Put cornflakes in the bath and you’ll regret it, as well as block the drains. 

Try this one - mix together:

• a smallish amount of baby shampoo (say 100 mls)
• 4 drops essential oil of lavender
• 4 drops essential oil of tea tree
• a good dollop of honey (couple of spoonsful)
• one egg white – this will really make the bubbles last

When the bath is close to ready, pour this mix under a fast-running tap (the cold one, you don’t want to end up bathing in scrambled egg)

Climb in and soak. The glumness (noun) will lift.

Forgotten pioneer, victim or killer?

It was around this time of year in in 1928 that Bessie Hyde probably became the first woman to run the Grand Canyon rapids. She and her husband took on the challenge as their honeymoon trip in a home-made boat, but after restocking and returning to the water on 18th November they were never seen again – alive or dead – although their boat eventually turned up undamaged. 

Their disappearance gave rise to the usual conspiracy theories. Had Bessie's husband murdered her? Had she killed him? Had they been attacked and robbed? There was no credible evidence behind any of the speculation. Many years later a woman claimed to be Bessie, saying she’d murdered her husband all those years ago, but that story was debunked.

Based on the scant evidence that was uncovered - their boat undamaged and still upright; their families' fruitless search - chances are they made it through the most dangerous run but met with an accident. Underwater rocks in a shallow but fast moving stretch might have unshipped them both. Was one of them thrown overboard and did the other fall in attempting a rescue? As their bodies were not found quickly, they would have been crushed in the turbulent water, scattered and disposed of by wild animals.

Coming up for air

As a weekend of reading proofs draws to a close, I feel the need to come up for air. A swift flight would do it, soaring above the trees, feeling the roller-coaster of the tail end of storm Abigail (a-big-gale great name for a storm). However, I’m not an eagle, not even a humble sparrow and I don’t have a microlight at my disposal. So instead, I’m going to look for something else to mark the day.

15 November 1738 saw the birth of William Herschel who was a big name in astronomy, having pioneered techniques such as astronomical spectrophotometry and who discovered Uranus, which was called Herschel for a while. His sister Caroline was an astronomer too. She discovered a number of comets including Herschel-Rigollet which retains her name.

Days that go down in history

Lewis Carroll’s diary entry for 13 November 1862 includes the line: ‘Began writing the fairy-tale of Alice. I hope to finish it by Christmas.’ That seemed a reasonably auspicious anniversary on which to write my first blog post, given that I hope to see my book on sale before Christmas.



Not that my first blog post will disturb anyone’s historical perspective, but I found another rather neat anniversary. November 13th in 1907 was the day of the first ever helicopter flight by a man called Paul Cornu.



But then today became a dreadful anniversary all of its own. Terrible attacks in Paris on people out in theatres, restaurants... bombs, gunfire. Many dead, many injured, and still going on as I write. The world caught in a mad cycle of revenge and killing.



And even if today’s events hadn’t left my Carroll and Cornu anniversaries out on a limb, today became tomorrow as it always will, and my well-timed blog post has missed its mark.



I can only be thankful that that’s the sum total of my own personal woes. This is a time for counting blessings and thinking of others. And as it happens, November 14th is also the anniversary of an aviation first. On this day in 1910 a guy called Eugene Burton Ely made the first successful take off of a plane from the deck of a ship.



And so, as my new publisher would say, and as I am learning to say, Onwards, Commanders!