Devonshire Feb 16

FASHION & BEAUTY
But here’s the thing...
pylons are being done away with all together
and power lines buried under ground. First
beauty spot in Devon to benefit from the
work will be part of the Tamar Valley near
Weir Quay.
Burying cables in Devon
IT’S ALL ABOUT REDUCING VISUAL
IMPACT on the environment and it’s the
start of a £500-million initiative being led
by the National Grid.
Artist’s impression of the new pylons: NATIONAL GRID
New design electricity pylons will, over time,
replace the old ones because they are also a
third shorter, cheaper to build and can be
erected in one day by a team of five people.
In some parts of the country, specifically in
areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONB)
on Highgate Hill ) the first Iceland shop was
able to come into being, in Oswestry in 1970,
since when the business has never looked
back – except perhaps to that cold day in
1626 when it all began. “It’s an ill wind” as
the proverb has it.
Signs of the time
The name “pylon” dates back to 1928 and the
original latticework design by one Robert
Blomfeld. It was a reference to the gateways
of ancient Egyptian temples, through which
the energy of the human spirit was thought
to pass into the afterlife.
It must have seemed a good idea at the time
but it prompted an outcry from a hundred
worthies, including Rudyard Kipling and
John Maynard Keynes who signed a letter
of indignation to the Times about Blomfeld’s
intrusive erections.
Just the ticket
FAREWELL THEN finally – not to parking
tickets, alas - but to old time Traffic Wardens,
55 years after they were first empowered to
issue £2 fines for parking offences “and help
the public find parking spaces” and 53 years
after the Beatles’ Lovely Rita Meter Maid.
Unpaid police volunteers are replacing them,
empowered to issue fixed penalty notices and
even detain suspects for up to 30 minutes
while a uniformed constable arrives. Details
of Devon’s Police Volunteer Programme (PVP)
can be found at www.devon-cornwall.police.
uk.
EVEN THE YOUNGEST of Devon’s Hippies
are now in their 70s and don’t just live in and
around Totnes anymore. They have spread
out over the decades and can now be found
drawing their pensions in almost any part of
the 2,509 square miles of Devon’s hinterland.
Frozen in thyme
WHERE WOULD ICELAND BE without Sir
Francis Bacon? Iceland the frozen food people
that is – who are about to open two new stores
in Devon shortly to add to their existing 855.
For it was 390 years ago this April that the
16th century philosopher died of pneumonia
brought on whilst stuffing a chicken with
snow – the earliest known experiments in
refrigeration.
Thanks to Bacon’s pioneering work in this
field (it was actually a snow-covered field
Those who frequent the saloon bar of The
Weary Badger (somewhere in Devon) have
remained cool during the county’s recent
severe floodings even as they went about
reminding fellow inmates that these watery
occurrences were prophesised in the lyrics
of the 1968 pop musical, Hair.
Annoyingly they then break into, “When
the moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter
aligns with Mars, then peace will guide the
planets and love will steer the stars – this
is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius…”
and so on.
When questioned further they admit that the
actual start of the Age of the Water Carrier
remains in contention amongst them and
at the time of going to press our call to the
Environment Agency asking for clarification
on the subject drew a blank.
JOHN FISHER
mydevonevents 47