Young Hands Club

The original article is merely a fragment; the following is a work in progress – to be integrated into the former when complete. I’m still learning to do things properly, which is to say deeply/fully/completely – not superficially/minimally-acceptably/lazily. I’ve begun to go through, review and summarise stuff from the lessons/homework that I’d forgotten/not fully grokked so far. I left this til too late and tired, which doesn’t result in quality work. I need to think more about what does lead to quality; so far, not rushing/leaving to last minute; writing from my perspective (ie. primarily how things are interesting/useful to me) come to mind.

Session 1 – First Steps

• The command line interface ditches the GUI in favour of textual input
• Commands follow the syntax
  • <command>[SPACE]<options>[SPACE]<parameters>ENTER
  • parameters are usually filenames; can include the path to a file/wildcards
• Path separator: /
  • / by itself means the root directory; denotes absolute filepaths. All other filepaths are relative (starting from the working directory)
• man -k [keyword] can be used to search for manual pages containing the keyword
• use the -i option to avoid mistakes with cp, mv, rm etc.
• Vim commands
  • :q! – exit without(!) saving
  • :wq – exit with saving
  • x – delete highlighted character
  • i – enter insert mode
  • A – append text (to end of line)
  • dw – delete word
  • d$ – delete to end of line
  • dd – delete entire line
  • 0 – move to start of line
  • $ – move to end of line
  • u – undo
  • U – undo all changes on line
  • CTRL-R – redo

Session 2 – Virtues of Text

• Plain text refers to a sequence of characters (usually one per byte), conforming to various conventions
  • Character encoding: ASCII
  • Encoding is the mapping of numbers to symbolic value – usually a 7-bit code (=128 characters); 8th bit used for parity
• Unicode is another standard; keeps inflating with more characters
• Plain text is simple; allows manipulation with standard tools, eg. reading (cat/less), writing (vim), comparing (diff), searching (grep) etc. WYSIWYG
• Binary blobs are complex; require proprietary software/tools. Hidden content/opaque
• Metacharacters
  • * – inclusive wildcard; matches any group of characters of any length
  • ? – matches any single character
  • [..] – matches a set/range of characters, eg. [a-c]* for all files starting a or b or c; [ab]* for all files starting a or b
  • ; – separates sequence of commands on same line
• Shell is command interpreter; receives commands as inputs and searches for the specified program to run

3 Sep 2019

Shrysr is more interested in optimising his hypothetical workflow efficiency than actually working. His missed deadline prompts Diana Coman to note the importance of keeping a margin of error when allotting time for projects. Moreover, there’s only time for things one *makes* the time for. Heroic all-at-the-last-minute efforts are best avoided. [Note to self: stop leaving stuff to the last minute; specifically allocate blocks of time for tasks; play comes AFTER work!]

According to Diana, the silently-give-up mode of failure is never an option; failure being defined not so much by the problems/deficiencies one faces; rather as not confronting the problems/giving up/inaction. Rather than worrying about his inadequacies, Diana encourages Shrysr to concentrate on doing the best job he can. When he does fail, he ought to address/review the failure; make changes to ensure there’s no repeat.

Diana diagnoses Shrysr’s trilemma as being a case of acting towards purposes rather than from causes. [I don’t yet fully grok this distinction, despite having read the alluded-to Trilema piece several times. My current understanding is the difference lies in that whereas causes are concrete, existent/established in the past/present – and therefore finite; purposes are teleological, unrealised, future-tense – thus infinite. Only the former set is a manageable, not to mention sane, basis for action.] Thus, his focus on getting to his three goals, rather than working from where he currently finds himself, is misplaced.

On the topic of savings, Diana notes that BTC is the only way to save; the various fiats certainly won’t help – competing as they are as to which can inflate fastest.

4 Sep 2019

Shrysr’s servile experience ‘dancing’ for bad bosses leads Diana to point out the crucial importance of serving the right master – the tricky part is figuring out who’s worth following.

Shrysr regrets leaving his old job, since his lifestyle was far better. Diana thinks it a classic example of ‘too much money too soon’ – not so much an issue of absolute wealth; rather, he wasn’t able to properly evaluate the value of what he had. [I’m reminded of poker players/shitcoin enthusiasts who went on a hotstreak, increased their expenses tenfold, then promptly went broke.]

Diana notes the importance of listening to people with track records of knowing what they’re talking about.

A discussion on student/mentor reciprocity has Diana bring up the idea of students being ‘fertile soil’: doing what their mentor says as payback for their investment. Distilled down to a single word, *submission* is the key to learning. She proceeds in breaking down the manner in which students demonstrate their receptivity:

1. Opening up fully; being unreservedly vulnerable towards their mentor

2. Going deep with regard to new/surprising/unexpected ideas

3. Doing what they’re told (really; wholeheartedly; sincerely)

Of course, the above is predicated on submitting to the right *people* – orcs make for bad mentors!

5 Sep 2019

A discussion on needs and wants has Diana suggest Shrysr figure out what he wants by working backward from a particular solution – in his case, his self-reported need to make 100K/year. She suggests that his root desire is probably something like self-sufficiency, as opposed to the money per se; adding that identifying these deeper wants – as close to the root as possible – takes time. [I need to do this – perhaps starting with what I don’t want, and going from there.]

Within a discussion on salt mines vs TMSR work, Diana links to a #trilema log thread in which Mircea Popescu explains that one is less a man to the extent that he works for idiots/on non-Republican stuff (after all, one is what one does). [I need to stop wasting time on idiotic shit; devote full attention to stuff here. Say, 40hrs/week to start…]

Furthering the discussion on Shrysr’s alleged salary requirements, Diana urges him to consider the tradeoffs/opportunity costs: a 100k/year saltmine might leave no time/energy for TMSR work.[Likewise, if I go back to looking at cards and hoping they’re good, I’ll have much less time/energy for stuff here!]

Diana points out the dangers of conflating pleasurable with correct; wants with needs: it takes a long time to align them!

Diana encourages Shrysr, when he discovers himself to have erred, to take the time to examine and change his faulty thought process, so as not to repeat the mistake [Do I even have a thought process for this? Where’ve I been repeating mistakes? In continuing to do the bare minimum work required of me; not prioritising/loving work over inane leisure etc.]. She adds a great-grandmotherly post-thrashing commentary: whilst the first mistake is unfortunate; the second is asking for it, the third is pure idiocy.

Talk of inclement Canadian commutes has Diana explain that toughness is a quality of the man, not the environment he’s in. Moreover, it’s increased by facing his fears. [What scares me? Diana ‘abandoning’ me – perversely, the fear hasn’t driven me to work harder; just stifled the work that I have done (‘aaaah I need to churn this out last minute or it’s all over!’ Never mind that *I’m* the one doing the abandoning – of work, deadlines, dedication to my mentor. As per yesterday’s log, I’ve hardly been the most fertile soil.]

PS:

Parsing Shrysr’s bloviation is hard going. Signal:noise is absurdly low. Makes my head ache. His writing is uncanny: it makes just enough sense to convince there’s something being said, whilst simultaneously being as confounding/confusing/frustrating as possible to extract any meaning. His output is mostly interesting only insofar as it prompts/colours Diana’s feedback. Despite all this, he’s really quite likeable – maybe because he comes off so earnest, energetic, alive. For all the noise, there’s at least the impression of (frantic) activity. Diana has the patience of a saint (and not just with Shrysr!)

I’ve made an effort to primarily note things that are interesting/useful/relevant *to me* – whilst secondarily recording things I think are important for others (these are MY summaries, after all). I’ve bracketed my thoughts/comments after the stuff summarised. As always, writing it down – rather than keeping it all in my head – helps me think deeper, clearer, better.

A few sessions into JWRD, it occurs to me that I’ve never really understood what I’m doing when it comes to computers. I don’t mean the more obvious case of ‘smart’ phones – even proper desktop computing has been GUI-based my entire life (excepting C:\Windows to get into 3.1, pre-Win95). Pointing and clicking; clicking and clucking; herping and derping. Windows Updates, .exes, plug-n-play and who even knows what else? Everything’s abstracted – it ‘just works’™; no need to understand what – let alone how – things are operating behind the shiny buttons and slick graphical interfaces.

What’s more, the GUI has the peculiar property of not requiring much *thought* as to what one is doing (and this by deliberate design – ‘everyone should be able to use computers!’; ‘So simple grandma can use it!’ Never mind the deleterious effects lowering the bar to entry has on quality). By substituting visual for verbal, the GUI devolves the user into a kind of pre-language ape – spared the tricky work of writing down (ie. thinking about) what he’s doing.

The command line interface, on the other hand, is essentially writing; writing IS thinking. This ties in with the virtues of plain text as the universal interface: with plain text files, things really do just work; what you see is what you get – the content is directly and clearly grokkable; nothing’s hidden/abstracted. Of course, this format requires more thinking, but it actually hasn’t felt like more work (possibly because it’s so much more efficient than the GUI I’m transitioning from).

On the topic of thinking, a few sessions in things are already getting deep – with lots of opportunities for further study in areas such as graph/set-theory. I’ve been making note of possible sidetracks, but am avoiding the rabbit holes for now. I’ve also been learning to use – not abuse – tools, and while the handling of new instruments is not without accidents (having managed to quit vim without saving the first draft of this article), I’m beginning to see their power once properly learned. Again, I’m struck by how much return there is in going deeper with stuff – in this case, taking the time to learn the options/arguments/modes for ls, grep, cat, vim…

Certainly, at least parts of this first module could’ve been learned alone, but I want to build relationships with actual people; not waste time learning idiotic stuff from idiots. Jacob and Dorion have been great so far – problems/issues have been quickly rectified, and they’ve been radically transparent – owning up to and correcting unnoticed mistakes that they could’ve gotten away with/silently failed to put right.

Bath’s great. Having said that, I’ll be moving on soon, so need to document the place before I leave. I didn’t do that at my last digs (not that anyone would ever WANT to remember a place like Croydon – except perhaps as a reminder that things could always be worse…), despite living there almost two years. So, let’s take a turn about town! We start off in a room with a view – that’d be my bedroom, up in the Mansard roof of a Georgian townhouse. Bath’s bowl-shaped; we’re setting off from the Northern hillside.

Down on street level, the trees are starting to turn. I’ve never bothered to actually go inside the garden, despite how ideal it is for spending time in the company of a young lady (though I suppose there aren’t many places that aren’t good for that). At any rate, I’ll have to tick that box before leaving!

They’re really milking the heritage thing here: guy spends a week in town (notice the wording: ‘dwelt’ – these normally read ‘lived’); gets a plaque. I hadn’t really lived here either, for the first couple of months. Dwelt, existed, sure; it’s not really living absent work. Here’s to living – irrespective of dwelling place!

Love the ironwork, though the cantilvered supports don’t look too sturdy…

Arriving at the Royal Crescent – check out those columns!

Muzzled and clucking outside the hotel:

In the distance – St Stephen’s church, offering great views over the city (though, as with most things in Bath, be ready to climb!)

There’s embellishment everywhere:

I’ve always thought obelisks’d make great spots for human sacrifice/pagan ritual; of course, Bath’s far too civil for any of that

The upmarket retail street. Looming dark clouds are fitting: not pictured – a halfdozen recently-shuttered shops that’ve been repurposed as shrines to the NHS (boarded up with brightly-coloured signs exclaiming ‘Heroes!’, ‘thank you NHS workers!’, ‘Wash your hands!’). My tailor at the end of the road says he’s running at a third of pre-plague business; the manager of a large coffee shop round the corner, half. Better fire up those printing presses!

The facade could use some of that water

Speaking of water, they’ve established some modern spas downtown – though I’ve never seen or heard of anyone patronising them:

The original Roman Baths are strictly no-bathing (something to do with people catching weird diseases – seems the waters aren’t all that salutary). The exterior is shown below (muzzles-only inside):

Notwithstanding pathogens, the inscription below roughly means ‘water is best’ (apparently the phrase is untranslatable into English, on account of its idiomatic use of antithesis. It’d literally render something like ‘on the other hand, water’.

Behind the baths, a wild abbey appears:

It was cattle-only inside, but I managed to get a shot of the fan-vaulted ceilings and stained glass through the one-way cattle herding exit:

More lovely masonry below. In other lovelies, a cutie walking by smiled at me as I framed the shot – I’m annoyed I focused more on the camera, and didn’t say hi. Bath’s packed with tall, healthy blondes – maybe there’s something in the water, after all. Note to self: well-built women trump well-built structures.

Around the corner, there’s the Empire hotel, neighbouring the Palladian bridge and weir – the latter of which can be seen grouchily grumbling out last night’s rainfall:

Various red-bearded locals can be spotted as we loop back toward home:

Distantly, you can make out the Albert Memorial obelisk.

In other reminders, I’ll have this article as a plaque to my time here.

Here Dwelt Lived

Daniel Godwin

2020

2 Sep 2019

Diana Coman suggests Shrysr publish his private essay; he thinks it unethical to publicly speak ill of his employer. Diana replies that the point isn’t to speak ill of his employer; rather to tell the truth for and about himself – if his employers are at fault, that’s so whether he publicises it or not. Diana’s detailed feedback, on the other hand, is only suited to publicly stated subjects – otherwise she has to repeat herself every time a new guy has the same issue. Exemplifying something that she didn’t want – but needed – to write, she links to her Messenger Shoots Back article, detailing how the BitBet controversy was neither technical, nor about the 17BTC loss per se, but rather over Mircea Popescu’s painful means of bringing the problem to light; his ruthless, unyielding eradication of rot. The expose/eradicate/fix versus make-do/cope with/workaround dilemma defines the dispute; we readers must also choose whether to beat around the bush, coping with broken stuff as best we can, or expose and eliminate problems – fixing the issues head-on.

Shrysr isn’t free to publish whatever he’d like, but the perfect needn’t be the enemy of the good: he’ll get feedback on things he does post. Despite plenty of talk about it, Diana notes how little freedom there actually seems to be going around. As soon as a writer has to consider what his readers will think, he’s no longer free; worse – he’s also distracted from what he’s writing about!

When figuring out what one wants, it’s helpful to state clearly – and in as much detail possible – the things most important to oneself. Rather than listing all the things one doesn’t like about one’s current situation, the negatives should instead be focused on the things one cannot tolerate; this is arguably even more significant than the things one wants. Of course, the exercise is rather moot if one doesn’t want the right things.

A discussion on saltmines prompts Diana to warn of the dangers of trying to balance secular commitments with Republican work: senior people have tried and failed to do so. The saltmine represents the past; the Republic is the future. Besides, secular jobs can’t match the level of interest, growth and stimulation found in TMSR – if they could, they’d join the Republic! Shrysr should find a subsistence job that takes up as little of his time/energy as possible, so that he can devote as many resources as feasible to what really matters.

Shrysr is commended for de-weeding his noggin, and exhorted to say more (!) when it comes to status updates/acknowledging feedback.

I’ve had a look through Diana’s #trilema log summaries, to compare and contrast with my own. They’re markedly different; I’m surprised at the extent of pruning: many interesting topics aren’t covered at all, and I can’t spot a consistent rule for which subjects get excluded. Republican work, on the other hand, gets consistently included – including blog posts (the latter usually in some detail). The extent of coverage scales with the depth/complexity of the subject – ranging from single sentences to lengthy paragraphs.

I’ve somehow managed to get this backward: giving too few words to complex subjects, and too many to trivial ones. To be fair, the Signal:Noise in #t is markedly different from the #o dialogues I’ve summarised between Diana and the somewhat manic Shrysr (all the more need for pruning; not getting lost in the weeds).

Diana also editorialises (including irony/humour), which makes her summaries a pleasure to read. I’d assumed summaries ought to be a kind of sterile, matter-of-fact court record type of thing: X happened, and it means Y – Next Topic. No wonder my summaries come across so dry/joyless/droning.

Oh, and I added a million things to my reading list.

3^rd December

No mention of vaccination discussion; lobbes’ technical strace issue; Eliza/fetlife users failing Turing test

Esthlos’ absence is editorialised

Highly technical part (Spyked’s V-regrinds) gets a lengthier treatment

Diana gives a broad overview of the general ideas, rather than trying to summarise each line/subthought individually [as I’ve been trying – and often getting lost in the weeds while doing so]

4^th December

No mention of Royal Society scans, fetus papyraceus; how MP met chet and hanbot; alf’s attempt to decruft chromebook; vtrons; alf’s proposed vintage iron tinkering, textile trials anecdote [perhaps Diana is only summarising topics strictly concerned with TMSR’s workings, rather than general discussion?]

Lengthy treatment of technical matter (postgres vs mysql; chaotic forking of V-trees) [I’ve been over-simplifying/shortening summaries of complex/technical matters – “lowering the word count is the most important thing!”]

5^th December

No mention of symbolics, MacIvory; mysql, postgres; mechanical vs software; Romanians’ reality-follows-head mental model discussions

6^th December

Single-sentence treatment of simple topics

Humour included in mats narrative [summaries don’t have to be dry/clinical]

No mention of bail bondsmen; domestic livestock discussions

7^th December

No mention of killing-LARPing-cops-until-they-LARP-no-more as only means of achieving revolution discussion

Contents of Qntra articles are not summarised

8^th December

No mention of boi vs girl idiocy discussion

Thorough summary of MP’s article [I’ve been giving only a terse overview of articles]

9^th December

Slavery discussion summarised [Why? Doesn’t seem to be directly related to Republican workings, like many topics excluded above. Maybe it’s just a case of “These are the things I think worth summarising”?]

How can I get the most of these summaries? How can I thoroughly understand the content, before summarising? How can I get to the bottom of things, rather than superficially skimming?

• AT LEAST read the log thrice, links within twice, links within links once.
• Write down thoughts/questions arising as I read the log/links within; add layers deeper than the above three plies to reading list.
• Briefly summarise the linked content separately, so I’m sure I understand it.

And, it turns out the above 3/2/1 reading scheme is a DEEP ocean: fewer than 20 lines in (to the first of at least three readings), and I’m reading this (first of at least two readings), which leads to all sorts of intrigue (that will take WAY more than the at-least-once reading to grok!)! Look at that – exclamation nestled within exclamation!(!)

I don’t yet understand the argument MP makes for miner collusion (and (how) did this get resolved?!), nor why Diana didn’t want to write the Messenger Shoots Back article. Speaking of the latter, I was struck by its conclusion:

At the end of the day, I see this as a clash of two approaches that are indeed irreconcilable: either expose rot as early and clearly as possible, at all costs and settling for nothing less than full eradication or otherwise mend and make do, working around the issues as best one can, minimising costs. I must say that I don’t really condemn either – people afford what they afford and make their choices accordingly.

I want however to make it as clear as I can that this is the choice being made, the choice that killed BitBet, the choice that split tmsr. Your choice to make at every turn, too.

It seems all my dealings with Diana have involved her resolutely taking the former stance, with me bumbling about the latter.

Posted below is the corrected, completed version of Ossasepia Log Notes 6. I’d neglected to read the Collection of Pearls article prior to publishing, which resulted in the original summary humorously being as wrong as possible with regard to its content. The article itself was spot on in describing my recently called-out derping:

There, the great discovery of this year’s lazy bums just as lazy as last year’s lazy asses: don’t do today what you can postpone indefinitely! And if it’s on a todo list, then it doesn’t need to actually be done! If I write that I’ll do it then it’s just as good as if I did it and way less work so it’s win-win-me, isn’t it?

Nothing new under the sun…

31 Aug 2019

Shrysr asks the definition of a public toilet computer – does it apply to all online machines? Diana Coman says it’s a matter of what’s running on the machine and how open it is to the network; definitions vary. Shrysr asks for Diana’s definition – is she strict in only doing certain activities on public toilet computers? Shrysr wants to improve his data security – he’s put sensitive data on Evernote for convenience, and wonders if he should store his private keys and mail server on Linode VPS.

BingoBoingo cautions against running one’s own mail server: keeping up with standards can be time consuming, and big inbox providers can distrust one’s mailings. He says no to valuable private keys on Linode: people have lost Bitcoin for doing so. Diana echoes – storing private keys on someone else’s machine is particularly bad.

Diana emphasises that one’s private key is one’s identity in #o; anything done with that key is done by oneself; losing one’s key is the death of one’s identity – one will have to start over anew with a fresh key/identity.

Conversely, Diana points out that government data has nothing to do with security (notwithstanding pretense to the contrary) – handled as it is over insecure channels and methods. She considers all government/school/civil admin data public; therefore fit for public toilet PC use.

Diana explains that “private” means default-closed/“no”, with exceptions; whereas public is the opposite. Thus, a public toilet computer will allow most things, whereas a private computer will mostly forbid.

1 Sep 2019

Linking to Diana’s Open Sores article, Shrysr wonders why open-source code is such a shitshow – despite the voluntary nature and developer turnover, aren’t there best practices/guidelines to maintain codebases? Is CI/CD just another Docker – ie. an ineffective scam? Linking to Diana’s Brave New Code article, he wonders if it’s possible to lower barriers to entry, whilst maintaining quality. Diana explains CI/CD is a nebulous term; insofar as it means code signed by a trusted person, it’s fine. The barriers are the shit-blockers; charitably, one might say the problem is lowering the wrong barriers, but this wrongness is itself caused by bad incentives; isn’t the root cause of the shit influx.

Pondering bad incentives, Shrysr asks if quantity of GitHub contributions being used as a stand-in for competence is a case. After linking to her Collection of Pearls article exemplifying the dire state of open-source code, Diana agrees, noting two core problems: no ownership of code, and the “more lines added = better” (rather than worse) mindset. Shrysr can’t see the sense in the current codebase situation, noting the similarly baffling job environments he’s worked. As example, he mentions interacting with senior CAD engineers unable to identify basic product differences. Beginning to see the shit surrounding him, he understands the anger BingoBoingo feels toward the software industry; maybe he’s feeling it, too.

31 Aug 2019

Shrysr asks the definition of a public toilet computer – does it apply to all online machines? Diana Coman says it’s a matter of what’s running on the machine and how open it is to the network; definitions vary. Shrysr asks for Diana’s definition – is she strict in only doing certain activities on public toilet computers? Shrysr wants to improve his data security – he’s put sensitive data on Evernote for convenience, and wonders if he should store his private keys and mail server on Linode VPS.

BingoBoingo cautions against running one’s own mail server: keeping up with standards can be time consuming, and big inbox providers can distrust one’s mailings. He says no to valuable private keys on Linode: people have lost Bitcoin for doing so. Diana echoes – storing private keys on someone else’s machine is particularly bad.

Diana emphasises that one’s private key is one’s identity in #o; anything done with that key is done by oneself; losing one’s key is the death of one’s identity – one will have to start over anew with a fresh key/identity.

Conversely, Diana points out that government data has nothing to do with security (notwithstanding pretense to the contrary) – handled as it is over insecure channels and methods. She considers all government/school/civil admin data public; therefore fit for public toilet PC use.

Diana explains that “private” means default-closed/“no”, with exceptions; whereas public is the opposite. Thus, a public toilet computer will allow most things, whereas a private computer will mostly forbid.

1 Sep 2019

Linking to Diana’s Open Sores article, Shrysr wonders why open source code is such a shitshow – despite the voluntary nature and developer turnover, aren’t there best practices/guidelines to maintain codebases? Is CI/CD just another Docker – ie. an ineffective scam? Linking to Diana’s Brave New Code article, he wonders if it’s possible to lower barriers to entry, whilst maintaining quality. Diana explains CI/CD is a nebulous term; insofar as it means code signed by a trusted person, it’s fine. The barriers are the shit-blockers; charitably, one might say the problem is lowering the wrong barriers, but this wrongness is itself caused by bad incentives; isn’t the root cause of the shit influx.

Pondering bad incentives, Shrysr asks if quantity of GitHub contributions being used as a stand-in for competence is a case. After linking to examples of good code, Diana agrees, noting two core problems: no ownership of code, and the “more lines added = better” (rather than worse) mindset. Shrysr can’t see the sense in the current codebase situation, noting the similarly baffling job environments he’s worked. As example, he mentions interacting with senior CAD engineers unable to identify basic product differences. Beginning to see the shit surrounding him, he understands the anger BingoBoingo feels toward the software industry; maybe he’s feeling it, too.

I’d heard tales and seen pictures of a place nearby – proud, ancient, beautiful – built long before civilisation declined (certainly not later than WW1, though I’ve heard the French Revolution is the real precipice). Old friends call for old backdrops – what better scene to potter about and catch up?

The drive from Bath took us down country roads, past rolling hills abutted by low, cobbled walls; dotted by grazing sheep and cattle. The sky was somehow intensely grey; despite the utter obfuscation of the sun – bright enough to make me regret not bringing sunglasses.

On arrival, we muddled about trying to park (medieval town planning being what it is), and eagerly sought out caffeination. It’d just started to rain, so we settled on the closest cafe that happened to be busy (the best heuristic I know for finding decent coffee), and proceeded to perk up. The cafe turned out incredibly tacky – light-wood-veener Ikea-style furniture, and infuriatingly inane slogans plastered all over the walls – “Live, Laugh, Love”… or was it “Eat, Pray, Love”? At least the espresso was ok.

Suitably energised, we made our way to the town square, where a reasonably busy food market had set up:

I’m not a huge fan of booze or sugary drinks (they reliably produce in me a general dull malaise), but have taken a liking to the local medium/dry Somerset ciders since moving down here. Of course, everything has to be “craft”/artisanal/unique (perhaps the thinking goes that this imbues some sort of personality or meaning to the product?):

Behind the bazaar, birds soar semi-ominously over the gatehouse entrance to the cathedral grounds:

Passing through, we’re greeted by a verdant moat surrounding ancient fortifications – presumably to keep pesky semi-centennial dragons out:

Upon further ambling, it became clear that the aforementioned battlements had also done an excellent job in keeping us out, and that we were circling around the bishop’s palace; not towards the Cathedral: 

Still, it was a scenic diversion, lined with old cottages tastefully embellished:

Our loop brought us to Vicar’s Close, an ancient street adjoining the Cathedral school. We could hear music lessons going on – my musically-inclined companion picked out the buzzing bassoon and sultry saxophone; though disappointingly, the lascivious pleasing of a lute was lacking:

Adjacent to the Close, schoolboys hurried inside to make it to recital on time. I peered through the windows from afar, but didn’t get any pics of the performance:

By now, we’d managed to stumble across the Cathedral, a clock upon which caught my eye:

I’d no idea at the time (…), but this thing is OLD – apparently dating to the 14^th Century; the two guys atop do a jingle every quarter-hour, which reminds me of the Prague Orloj. DadTranslate is telling me the inscription, NEQUID PEREAT, translates: “Let nothing perish”. Google suggests this is a reference to John’s Gospel; I’m guessing specifically [6:39] (KJV) –

“And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”

Though I’m currently more concerned with vivification before death!

We admired the stonework on the facade, though I must apologise for the lack of a decent wide angle shot of the whole building. What one assumes is the front door turned out to be locked, and on attempting to enter via the side, a corpulent creature sternly rebuked from behind a perspex screen: in the year of our lord, 2020, no man may enter God’s house unmuzzled!

I’ll not delve more deeply into the absurdity of such policy, for I do not wish to spend one more moment pondering the hysterical nonsense. Besides, by this time, we were starving; having been cast out of the temple, we returned to the market and enjoyed some deliciously greasy Thai springrolls and potato curry – if there’s no bread of life to be had at the church, we’ll at least get a bellyful at the bazaar! Again, I trust you’ll forgive the lack of photographic record: the food was far too messy, and we were far too hungry.