Footnotes to a Conversation, November 27, 2023
“Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.” – André Malraux
Greetings from the Malvern Hills where the fog and drizzle surround me in a thick, grey blanket. My apologies for two quotes in a row that refer to “men.” It always bothers me. Do the writers assume that only men matter, or do they assume that the term covers all humans? I shall hope it’s the latter as I enjoyed this week’s quote and found it thought-provoking.
Breaking the Norms
She travelled around Nepal, India, Peru, Madagascar, and Cameroon with her daughter and, years later, took her 3 granddaughters to Cuba where they slept on the beach and had days without food. Dervla Murphy broke a great many societal norms while visiting 30 countries over 7 decades. She is surely the greatest travel writer of her generation, and if her books encourage you to undertake a travel adventure, so much the better! [JSTOR Daily]
Shoes – Folklore & Legend
The Newarke Houses Museum in Leicester had a shoe exhibit as Leicester was once a major centre for shoe production. Here are just a few items of local folklore:
If your shoes squeak, it’s a sign that you haven’t paid the shoemaker.
It is bad luck to put new shoes on a table causing a quarrel in the household or at worst a death.
You should put your right shoe on first. If you accidentally put the wrong shoe on, you must take it off, go outside, and have someone throw the shoe at you.
Norfolk girls would put a cloverleaf in their shoes in the belief they would marry the next single man they met.
A girl can find out who they’ll marry on Midsummer Eve if they place their shoes by the bed and chant: Point your shoes toward the street, leave your garters on your feet, put your stocking on your head, and you’ll dream of the man you’re going to wed.
The Lancashire custom of ‘smickling’ was performed by a woman wishing to conceive. She would try on the shoes of a friend who had recently given birth. [Newarke Houses]
A Spanish Breakfast
Dipping a hot churro into a cup of thick chocolate – if you’re a chocaholic like me, it’s the perfect breakfast – or at least the perfectly decadent breakfast, and it brings back happy memories of my trips to Spain. It wasn’t until the late 19th century that the Spanish started combining churros and chocolate, and the practice may have originated in China. “To this day, the Chinese enjoy deep-fried youtiao for breakfast with rice congee or soy milk.” [The Making of Madrid]
Cockles (no mussels)
For some reason, the expression “warm the cockles of your heart” popped into my head the other day and it led me to wondering what on earth it meant. Among its many meanings, ‘cockle’ refers to the 4 atria and ventricles of the heart.
“The heart has always been associated with emotions, especially love, excitement and fear, probably because when we feel a strong emotion we feel our heart thumping and beating faster. So when something ‘warms the cockles of our heart’, it is a reference to something pleasant that makes our heart beat faster and makes us feel good. It is probably also the origin of the saying that something gives us that ‘warm and fuzzy feeling’.” [The Sydney Morning Herald]
Footnotes to a Conversation is a weekly Monday feature covering an assortment of topics that I’ve come across in the preceding week – books, art, travel, food, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I also post occasional articles on other dates, including frequent book reviews and travel tales.
If you share my love of nature, check out EcoFriendly West, an online publication encouraging environmental initiatives in Western Canada, and Nature Companion, a free nature app for Canada’s four western provinces.