Category Archives: Wendy Welch

Jeeves – The Floor – – –

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Jack originally wrote this post yesterday then pressed the wrong button and lost it all, so this has been completely re-written from memory and with help from Wendy – sigh – – –

We have a new pet called Whiskers. Ever since he arrived he’s been nosing around all the corners of the house. He roams about bumping into things before continuing in and out and roundabout. Our cats and the dawg don’t know quite what to make of him as he hums to himself and swirls his whiskers.

He is a robot vacuum cleaner we inherited from friends David and Susan, who upgraded. So Whiskers came to live with us.

I originally thought he was a she – a kind of house maid, but whiskers on a house maid didn’t seem appropriate so I soon realized that he’s a Butler. He does talk to us when he needs things in an oddly feminine voice but I suppose he got the housemaid to record the messages. I wasn’t sure to start with what he should be fed, but it turned out to be small portions of electricity which he obtains from his quaintly named ‘charging port’. When he needs to be fed he tells us and I place him in front of the charging port, whereupon he positions himself and parallel parks.

Wendy says I murmur to him like a cat when carrying him to the charger.

I love just watching him roaming around, bumping into things, changing direction, avoiding my feet and the other pets! He’s very conscientious, doing the corners twice, always returning to straight line, not missing even an inch.

I recently read, on the BBC website, that one of his English relatives escaped out the door of a hotel and vacuumed the parking lot before ending up being rescued from a hedge. I’m sure that after appropriate re-education he now knows where he belongs. And we keep the doors closed so Whiskers doesn’t get out.

Being a Presbyterian Scot turned Quaker I, of course, don’t believe in these kinds of modern technology. I only ever ‘inherit’ them against my will. As I often say to friends – “the dishwasher was already here”. But Whiskers doesn’t really feel so much like tech as like an agreeable housemate who’s good at floors.

A Carrying Streamlet – –

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Jack jumps in to rescue the Monday book post – –

The Folk River – Fraser Bruce

I should start by saying this is yet another book to which I had some input.

It started with a lengthy series of discussions instigated by Fraser Bruce on FaceBook where he challenged some of the accepted ‘myths’ surrounding the Scottish folk scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s. This led him to do some serious research, including interviewing those folk still around from these days, as well as previous publications – books and magazines.

He then set out on the mammoth task of pulling it all together and then enlisting our mutual friend Pete Heywood to proof, type set and insert lots of pictures.

Most other books covering this subject that I’ve seen tend to be written by observers rather than practitioners so this one is different and wherever Bruce’s experiences overlap mine I can attest that they are accurate. I can be reasonably sure, then, that where he overlaps with other folks’ experiences they are likely accurate as well.

Being married to a writer and published author I have some idea of the work that has gone into this and commend Bruce for taking on this formidable task.

Of course it will be of most interest to the diminishing band of like-minded folk who were around then, but I hope, like Bruce, that it might add to the existing small number of more academic publications about this fascinating time.

Finally – even if I hadn’t been involved I would still recommend this as an excellent window to a time that both mirrored and connected with the similar American folk revival.