Friday, July 18, 2008

More ducklings

It had to happen. One duck has slipped through the next discovery sweeps. This morning four duckings -- three brown, one bright yellow appeared with their proud mother on the back lawn. (Picture will be forthcoming)
This is a far smaller brood than I would have expected, so goodness knows if she has lost a few already or simply is a poor sitter. We are not doing anything special to keep the ducklings safe, but if we happen to notice they are in trouble, Operation Duckling will be put into action. My eldest was not keen on the fact that he has already had to rescue the yellow duckling twice.

The East India Company continues to fascinate. Most will not appear in any book, but I was intrigued to learn more about General Havelock. The local restaurant/pub is the General Havelock. When he died in 1857, General Havelock was one of the most famous men in England. A statue to him stands in Trafalgar Square. He was responsible for putting down the Indian Mutiny. I am not sure his actions merited the public adulation and suspect that it was more of a case of General Havelock dying so soon after being proclaimed a hero by the media. However, I wish that he reached Cawnpore before the massacre rather than in the immediate aftermath. So much blood. So many wasted lives.

Work on my wip continues.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Michelle.
Re: The East India Company.
By a strange case of serendipity I have just been reading a Town Trail for my home town of Basingstoke.
A certain Sir James Lancaster, who apparently helped create the East India Company, left money for a local Petty School in his will of 1618. The church and buildings are still standing in the center of the town.
The early history of the company does seem to be fascinating.


http://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/9956C1FE-38D1-4809-B0AE-61BAB6279CE0/0/9860TownTrailscreen.pdf