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My cunning plan to go to the gym this morning was foiled by my lack of a bus pass for May. To remedy the situation, as well as to justify my lazy existence, I walked to the Voyager terminal, which is apparently the only place in Hull you can recharge your card. I walked down Brewery Creek and followed it instead of Montcalm (which is a big, ugly thing) and was surprised at how pleasant it was. I can't in all honesty call it pretty, because without much greenery yet, it's rather bleak, but it has that charm that slightly worn concrete and muddy water exude.
The annoying fungal infection that comes and goes on my arms has left me with a set of pale, round scars. They didn't show up too much in the winter, but with the sun starting to darken me, their excessive pinkness makes the skin around them look dirty instead of tanned.
Herodotus is really a joy to read: on one hand, he'll come to some very logical conclusions, discarding this myth or that version of events because they make no sense, such as a race of one-eyed men said to live in the northern reaches of Europe. On the other hand, he comes out with stuff like this, while speaking of the fauna of far-off Arabia, such as flying snakes and ants, the size of large dogs, who produce gold:
A lioness, on the contrary, the most bold and powerful of beasts, produces but a single cub, once in her life -- for she expels from her body not only the cub, but her womb as well -- or what is left of it. The reason for this is that when the unborn cub begins to stir, he scratches at the walls of the womb with his claws, which are sharper than any other animal's, and as he grows bigger, scrabbles his way further and further through them until, by the time he is about to be born, the womb is almost wholly destroyed.
It's interesting to try and guess what he's talking about at times. Obviously, the Indian plant that produces wool softer than a lamb's is cotton, but what about those flying snakes? Also, he claims that beyond India, there is but uninhabited desert (wasn't there trade between China and India at the time? Chinese civilization was quite advanced in 400 B.C.) and is inclined to disbelieve the reports of a North Sea, beyond Europe. He even questions the veracity of reports of the Tin Islands!
The annoying fungal infection that comes and goes on my arms has left me with a set of pale, round scars. They didn't show up too much in the winter, but with the sun starting to darken me, their excessive pinkness makes the skin around them look dirty instead of tanned.
Herodotus is really a joy to read: on one hand, he'll come to some very logical conclusions, discarding this myth or that version of events because they make no sense, such as a race of one-eyed men said to live in the northern reaches of Europe. On the other hand, he comes out with stuff like this, while speaking of the fauna of far-off Arabia, such as flying snakes and ants, the size of large dogs, who produce gold:
A lioness, on the contrary, the most bold and powerful of beasts, produces but a single cub, once in her life -- for she expels from her body not only the cub, but her womb as well -- or what is left of it. The reason for this is that when the unborn cub begins to stir, he scratches at the walls of the womb with his claws, which are sharper than any other animal's, and as he grows bigger, scrabbles his way further and further through them until, by the time he is about to be born, the womb is almost wholly destroyed.
It's interesting to try and guess what he's talking about at times. Obviously, the Indian plant that produces wool softer than a lamb's is cotton, but what about those flying snakes? Also, he claims that beyond India, there is but uninhabited desert (wasn't there trade between China and India at the time? Chinese civilization was quite advanced in 400 B.C.) and is inclined to disbelieve the reports of a North Sea, beyond Europe. He even questions the veracity of reports of the Tin Islands!
