Left: Hollyhock blooms. Right: Gladiolus blooms. Photo: Left: Mark Pilbeam / flickr CC. Right: kator29 / flickr CC
Eye - 24 August 2012
From flora to fiction
Friendly flora
Thank you to budding botanist Malcolm Edmunds, of Preston Meeting, who wrote in to help us widen our familiarity with flora: ‘The caption to the attractive cover of the Friend (10 August) says it is a Gladiolus, but it is actually a very different plant belonging to the Mallow family, almost certainly a hollyhock.’
Quakers in fiction
A Friend has written, following our search for Friends in literature.
He cites Janet Hitchman’s Meeting for Burial, published in 1968, as an excellent read that provides a ‘superb warts and all portrait of a fictional Friend who was active in many of the key British Quaker enterprises of the twentieth century.’
The Friend achieves great things but at a cost to the lives of some Friends close to her. One review concludes: ‘The story, which spans a century, has a score of major characters and a background – the life of the Quaker community in and around Norwich – that is rich and full of colour.’
Clearly a cast of characters living adventurously…
Clues
Cryptic crossword fans found one of the main tenets of Quakerism making an appearance in the Guardian (30 July) as the answer to 14 down:
‘Friends are like this in novel, not otherwise (3-7)’
Neil Buick wrote in to say: ‘Good to know that puzzlers are expected to know that “Friends” are “nonviolent” (anagram of “in novel not”).’
Olympic efforts
Quaker spotting continues as Eye learns that Frances Touch, clerk of South London Area Meeting, took part in both the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympic Games… and will be appearing in the opening and closing ceremonies for the Paralympic Games as well! Good luck Frances!
Botheration
Friends may have noticed some interesting wording in the births column (3 August) when newborn Ben Aseervatham was announced as ‘A bother for Anna and a son for Victoria and Chris’.
Several Eye readers immediately trotted to their keyboards to reassure the new big sister. Judith Eversley, of West Wiltshire & East Somerset Area Meeting, offers some words of comfort: ‘Don’t worry, Anna. I know it is hard to believe right now, but if you are as lucky as I am, your brother – and any sisters that come along – will be no bother at all. Quite the opposite.’
Whilst Anthony Gimpel, of Leicester Meeting, pondered that ‘it might have been a typo but then again it might not have been…
You bet it’s a bother for Anna
She used to be top of the pile
But now she’s stuck with a brother
And its clearly cramping her style!’
Alternatives
Neil Johnson, of Friends House Meeting, sent the following suggestion:
- Speaking truth to power:My electricity meter reading is 47683 and not 48011 as estimated on my recent bill.
