MrsDoyle

Shetland is an archipelago, but ok. Historically populations in the Scottish islands moved around a lot more than you would think. Sick of the tiny village you grew up in? Hop in a boat and go to Orkney, or Skye, or Lewis. Travel by land was difficult, by sea was comparatively easier. There was also a lot of incomer traffic, from Ireland, Scandinavia, even the Baltic. So yes, there might have been a tiny fraction of genetic connection, but unlikely to be significant.

In the National Museum of Scotland there’s a bronze-age skeleton curled up in a recreation of the person’s grave, surrounded by their grave goods. While I was stood looking at it, a woman was explaining to her granddaughter that the skeleton had been found in Shetland, where she herself was from. The girl turned to her and said, “Was he a friend of yours, granny?” We all laughed, but I think we all had the same uncomfortable thought - this wasn’t just dry bones, it was a person. What if it was a friend of granny’s? What amount of time makes it ok?

Looking at this body in the British Museum was even worse: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28589151

Big pass on a one-way ticket. I’d quite like to see a dinosaur though…

I was in West Berlin in 1981, we had a picnic by the wall and rode the metro through the ghost stations. Which were a bit meh to be honest. You had to change a certain amount of currency to visit the east and we couldn’t afford it, so we just stayed in the train and went back again.

We hitched to Berlin, and the freakiest part was driving through the corridor that linked West Berlin to West Germany.

“The proof is in the pudding.” It makes zero sense! The actual adage is, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” It means that a dessert can look perfect and enticing, but if the cook used salt instead of sugar it will taste disgusting.

I don’t know what people even think they’re saying with “the proof is in the pudding”.

I once had a passenger criticise me for indicating a turn when there were no others cars around. She said it showed I was driving without thinking, automatically signalling when it wasn’t needed. I think I said something like “fuck you” or maybe “I’ll drop you off here then if you don’t like my driving”. I’m signalling my intentions to the universe! Behold my blinking lights, for I am voyaging leftwards!

Hardly anyone in the UK can say “sixth”. They pronounce it “sick”. Some people can’t even say “six”, that becomes “sick” as well. I judge them for it - lazy!

There was a bit of tech around at the time - telegraph. The flare sparked fires in telegraph offices and shocked some operators. As in electric shock, not a big fright, though no doubt also that. Some operators disconnected their batteries and were able to communicate by the auroral current alone.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event

The descriptions of the aurora are wild.

Your immune system gives some protection against botulinum, but it doesn’t fully develop until about six months to a year old. This is why you should never ever feed honey to an infant. Bees will occasionally end up on the ground, picking up botulinum. There’s a very small chance of a trace of the bug ending up in honey. It’s not enough to harm an older child or adult, but even thst tiny amount can kill a baby.

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/botulism

I regularly shop at a supermarket built on a site where people were burned as witches in the 17th century.

A ship’s captain was away at sea and died after his ship was wrecked in a storm. Back home, his housemaid was accused of having created the storm and was burned at the stake. And there I am buying lemons and ice cream and toothpaste. It blows my mind.