Looks like the earliest I’ll be leaving is tomorrow when more ships come to port, most the bars have already scooped up the latest shipment of rum for the coming warm season. Speaking of the warm season, I’ve decided to review a local treat this Werewolf Wednesday.
Portsmouth being as far south as it is has a rather warm climate, folks around here have taken to making chilled snacks to help pass the time in the hottest parts of the day. Snow cones are the most popular so I decided to review this local cuisine.
Should you give a Hoot ? Overall: Yes, I’m sure there’s a flavor out there for everyone. Hands down my favorite was purple somberry. A lovely dark color with that dull sweet flavor the berries are so well known for. Of note is that the berries are crushed whole daily!
You can tell because the snow cone actually numbs your tongue a little by the end, you’d only get that if the seeds were damaged and their essence hasn’t had time to break down. The sky-lily nectar flavor also stood out to me.
It really doesn’t visually stand out since the nectar is colorless, and neither does the flavor. That’s the best part though, your palate can never grow tired of the subtle flavor and you can really enjoy the experience, it’s almost meditative.
…I’ll need to try the other flavors before I leave town.
Alright y’all I’m a little shook this Werewolf Wednesday. So I decided to follow up on where that butt-bird scurried off to. As suspected it turned out to be the outlet of a large storm drain, luckily it’s the dry season so it was pretty safe and easy to traverse.
When I got close to the mouth of the tunnel I saw a few scraps of cloth, nothing to unusual to see washed out to a place like this. However once I started down the tunnel I began finding more and more discarded articles of clothing.
At first just a few, but they gradually started to cover the bottom of the tunnel. I was a little worried I might run into someone or possibly a small community of people living in the tunnels beneath the town. Had the new Happy Salmon Co. displaced some of the residents and forced them into a life of poverty?
Had the new Happy Salmon Co. displaced some of the residents and forced them into a life of poverty? I thought, perhaps there was someone calling the butt-birds to do their bidding, some sort of butt-bird shaman?? Could it be so simple as clothing washed out and collected here from the storm drains in the city? My thoughts were wandering quite wildly.
I caught a glimpse of light ahead of me and the smell of a butt-bird nest grew stronger so I snuck closer to a larger chamber where some sunlight was making it down through a roadside drain… a glint of light blinded me for a moment, there was a mirror down there of all things.
When my vision readjusted I couldn’t believe my eyes. Clothes were lining the floor with small piles about the room. There it was… a butt-bird with a top hat on in front of the mirror, and a small group surrounding it, bobbing their heads and clapping their wings in… approval?
Tbh, I’m unnerved that these little guys may be smarter than they look… I think I’m gonna stick to fish for a while Maybe I should ‘review’ some of the bars here to take my mind off of the butt-birds and think of what to do next.
Howdy y’all, ya boi Klah has just made it to the beach at Portsmouth for Werewolf Wednesday. Even cresting the hill above the bay I could tell things have really changed here. There were some fancy new fishing boats departing the docks.
Business is really booming here, looks like a new company has moved in and built a big building in the center of town. Some group called the “Happy Salmon Co.” I was checking around and it looked like my old hole in the wall I used to go was torn down.
While taking in the new layout and searching for a new place to stay I spotted something curious near the water under the pier. There was a lil Butt-bird poking around the rocks. Normally they prefer to hide near marsh grass so it seemed unusual to find one here.
When I tried to get closer to investigate it spotted me and scurried off into a big pipe that seems to connect to the sewers or something. Maybe it’s time for more tunnel spelunking? I’m sure new Butt-bird behavior like this is worth documenting!
Coming 27th November 2015, Brief Encounter will be celebrating its 70th birthday with a screening at @no6cinema. Be sure to come along and see this iconic and wonderful film on the big screen! #Portsmouth #BriefEncounter #Pompey #film #movies #ClassicFilm #ClassicMovie #BritishFilm #BritishMovie #cinema #CeliaJohnson #TrevorHoward
Hannah Snell (1723-1792) was a famous British soldier in the 18th century.
Born in Worcester in England, Snell is said to have had a fascination with soldiers even as a child. When she was a young woman she moved to London and in 1744 married a man named James Summs. The couple had a daughter, but the child died only one year old and Summs disappeared. Hearing a rumour that Summs had been pressed into military service, Snell borrowed the clothes of her brother-in-law, James Gray, and assumed his identity to join the British army and locate Summs.
Although she later discovered that Summs had been convicted and executed for murder, this did not prevent Snell from pursuing an adventurous military career disguised as James Gray. According to her own account she became a soldier in the 6th Regiment of Foot, where she was stationed in Carlisle during the Jacobite rebellion in Scotland. During this time she was trained in military drill and the use of firearms. However after she prevented a sergeant from raping a local girl she was sentenced to 600 lashes of the whip for ‘neglect of duty’. As she endured the first 500 lashes without making a sound her commanding officer ordered that she be spared the final 100 lashes.
Snell left the regiment after this and instead decided to travel to Portsmouth where she joined the British Royal Marines and set sail to India on the Swallow. In 1748 Snell fought in the naval Battle of Pondicherry where the British attempted to capture a French colony. She reportedly killed several Frenchmen before being wounded herself. She is also known to have fought in a battle at Devicotta and was wounded a total of 12 times during her naval service, including suffering a musket shot to the groin. She operated on herself to remove the musket ball so that she wouldn’t be identified as a woman by the ship’s surgeon.
In 1750 Snell returned to Britain and decided to finally reveal her true identity to the other members of her unit. With the encouragement of her shipmates she petitioned the head of the British army, the Duke of Cumberland, to grant her a military pension. Remarkably, the pension was granted and she was honourably discharged from the army. Snell’s exploits became popular gossip around London and she eventually sold her story to a London publisher under the title ’The Female Soldier’.
Snell retired to Wapping where she opened a pub named ’The Female Warrior’. She lived for another 40 years, married twice more and raised 2 sons. In her old age Snell began to suffer from dementia and in 1791 she was admitted to the Bedlam asylum where she died 6 months later.
