Hilton Head Island: GANNET worthy; goodbye to the NY TIMES; history in objects; the man who shot the war

 

As long time readers know I firmly believe that my favorite liquid, 10 year Laphroaig, should be drunk from a crystal glass.  Unfortunately GANNET is hard on crystal and no matter how carefully I pack them in bubble wrap, the Dartington Double Old Fashions that I have preferred for some decades do not survive.  A while ago I happened across the above, which may.  They are heavy and thick and pleasant in the hand.  Norlan states that they are intended for drinks with ice in them and advises for drinking whiskey neat to use their whiskey glasses which are formed differently.  Obviously they don’t know GANNET.  I have some.  Their whiskey glasses are nice, but far too fragile.  If I break a Rauk Heavy Tumbler I will tell you.

https://norlanglass.com/products/rauk-heavy-tumbler?variant=32120585322566

Even going to sea for only ten days, it was something of a shock to read the news online upon my return.  It shouldn’t have been.  The news has been the news, people’s behavior has been people’s behavior for a very long time.  Irrational to expect change, and I didn’t really, it is just that I had so completely put it all out of my mind as I left the land behind.  I have a small Sony radio receiver on board, but I don’t recall the last time I turned it on.  I don’t want contact with the shore.  An exception during this last sail was that I did send an email via the Yellowbrick to Carol wishing her a happy birthday.

An unanticipated consequence of the sail was that since returning to Hilton Head I have cancelled the auto-renew of my digital subscription to the NY TIMES.  I had been considering this for a while.  I accept that no business can survive appealing just to Webb Chiles and that the TIMES must find a young audience.  However in doing so there has been increasing entertainment and fluff in the paper rather than news.  The deciding article for me was one headed, ‘I stopped wearing a bra during the pandemic.  What do I do now?’  Really?  Not only is this not my problem I don’t want to associate with others who have to ask.  I will get the news via Apple News+ and the BBC site.

During the sail I finished an excellent book, A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 100 OBJECTS, which should have been subtitled ‘From the British Museum’.  I learned a great deal from it, including that agriculture sprang up almost simultaneously in seven parts of the world from Africa to the Americas, to India, China, and even New Guinea.  I had mistakenly thought the first agriculture was in the Middle East.

A fascinating and highly recommended book.

Also fascinating and highly recommended is a documentary film, THE MAN WHO SHOT THE WAR, about an until recently unknown Irish Corporal, George Hackney, who took his camera to the trenches in WWI and recorded what has been called the photographic find of the century.  I watched the film on Amazon Prime.  There is also a book, but in this case I think the film must be superior.

George Hackney was a remarkable man as well as photographer.  He was wounded during the war, but survived into his 80s.  

There is a line in the film that perhaps no man who fought in the war survived undamaged.  George Hackney was damaged.   I suppose that every man who fights in every war is.