Went to cafe Church this morning, and whilst there restocked the book stall, with books we'd been recently given. Talked to Robert about the books I'd taken in. After retiring as a teacher, Robert became a bookseller, and advises on values of books contributed to the stall. Lovely, sunny day today, after a miserably overcast, and rainy day yesterday, so took the opportunity of having lunch in the garden, when Ann took the above snapshot.
A coouple of months ago or so, when godson/nephew Ed and his wife Jo weekended with us, they gave Ann the above pot of plants. It contains a dark blue lobelia, a red and white fuchsia, and a yellow flowered plant, and has been a real joy all summer; so I've taken the above photo to show Ed and Jo that it's much appreciated. By the way, Ed, we wish you many happy returns of tomorrow.
Yesterday had a drive round the area in the afternoon and took photos of churches. Had intended to do longish blog on them, but owing to a thoroughly awkward (in the sense of difficult to complete) game of scrabble that took up more of this evening than we'd intended, have run out of time, so will probably do another blog ack emma (in the morning Lori). I wish you all a very Good night.
10 comments:
The development of telephonic and radio communications (and the accompanying electronic interference, buzzes, bleeps and wheebles) gave rise to some interesting phonetic alphabets Mike. Is the one containing ack emma (a.m.) of restricted local usage such as by a county police force, or was it used in a wider (military?) arena?
Does it run to a full alphabet or are there limited code-groups for specific info transmission?
Hello Crowbard. I think it's from one of the earlier phonetic alphabets. Obviously it means a.m. (ante meridian), and, as far as I know it's the only part of that alphabet that's survived in common usage. I think it's probably pre-war, and if any of my readers knows more than that about the term, I'd be pleased to hear from them.
Just checked the invaluable Google, which gives it as being from the First World War Signallers' phonetic alphabet.
Sounds likely.
ack emma! OK. Great portrait of you Mike! I love it when you translate for me.
What a very fine panama.
Ack emma - WW1, certainly. Now I shall spend all day wondering if there are other relics. Ack-ack for anti-aircraft survived into WW2, by which time Able Baker Charlie Dog must have replaced the earlier alphabet. Something tells me that Toc H might be connected with the Ack Emma, but I'm probably wrong.
Thank you, Lori. Always a pleasure to translate. It's surprising how far apart our language sometimes gets with the passing of the centuries.
Christopher - Thank you re the titfer (tit for tat, Lori - rhyming slang - hat). I've had it a good many years and it's getting a bit tatty round the edges - happens to the best of us. Also thanks for ack-ack, anti aircraft guns. Hadn't thought of that one.
Just gathered this from the interwebthingy
First recorded in 1904 the system at first differentiated only the most frequently misunderstood letters:
Ack
Beer or Bar
C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L
Emma
N, O
Pip
Q, R
Esses
Toc
U
Vic
W, X, Y, Z.
This alphabet was the origin of phrases such as "ack-ack" A.A. for anti-aircraft, "pip-emma" for pm and Toc H for Talbot House which was used by the British Army in World War I. A soldiers' rest and recreation centre founded in December 1915 at Poperinghe, Belgium. It aimed to promote Christianity and was named in memory of Gilbert Talbot, son of Edward Talbot, then Bishop of Winchester, who had been killed at Hooge in July 1915. The founders were Gilbert's elder brother Neville Talbot, then a senior army chaplain, and Reverend Philip Thomas Byard (Tubby) Clayton. Talbot House was styled as an "Every Man's Club", where all soldiers were welcome, regardless of rank. It was "an alternative for the 'debauched' recreational life of the town".
Christopher. Reading Crowbard's previous comment, I find that you were right about Toc H being part of the same phonetic alphabet. I'm rather a believer in the 'something tells me' type of vague feeling - usually there's something in it.
I just wanted to say I liked the portrait Annie took of you in the garden, but now I've learnt a lot too. Thanks boys!
I think we all did daughter.
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