In the back of a drawer, which I am tidying, I come across the wind-up Seiko watch, which I have had for at least 40 years. A year of so ago, it seemed to have stopped working for good , despite several attempts at resuscitation, and I had banished it to the drawer rather than pay the £90 quoted to have it repaired. Now, to my surprise and pleasure, it has come back to life on its own, and has been telling the time and date accurately for the last 24 hours.
It surprises and interests me that the French word palais means both palace and palate. A palace for the senses, or at least one of them?
A memory of our recent holiday is the orange and blue bird of paradise flower in bloom at one end of the swimming pool. Its botanical name, strelitzia, strangely enough links this native of South Africa, to northern Germany. It is named in honour of Queen Charlotte Sophia (1744 - 1818), a daughter of the Duke of Mecklenberg-Strelitz, mother of 15 children and wife of King George III.
1 comment:
We used to suspend our old Timex watches over paraffin when they stopped, to give them a new lease of life.
'Palatine' and 'palatinate' also relate; off to look it up.
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