Thursday, November 22, 2012

Found: Medieval Well


Colin Steer and his wife Vanessa.
Photo: SWNS, Source.
Going through my (very long) backlog of news articles and online ephemera earlier today (Happy Thanksgiving! We're celebrating tomorrow because I'm exhausted and why not!), I found this delightful article about a man in Plymouth, Devon, UK who found an old well under his living room while doing some home improvement chores one day. He's dug down 17 feet so far (all in the past year -- this is what he's doing with his retirement); found a crude, peasant's sword; and installed lights and trap door (see above).

According to living room adventurer and hobby historian Colin Steer's research, the land on which his home was built was woodland until the late 19th century, and archival plans date the well to at least the 16th century. He now wants to hire a professional to see if he can date it even further back in time.

Steer states:
I love the well and think it's fascinating. I'd love to find out who was here before us. I've got a piece of Plymouth's history in my front room. 
 Colin's wife, Vanessa, is less than enthused (just look at that glare on her face in the photo above), and says:
I hate the well. 
I just think this story's great.

Perhaps this will become a (relatively) regular sub-feature: Medieval Found Objects? Refer to my previous Found entry on Medieval Underwears, here.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Señor Babándose Mogollón...

Source: El Hematocrítico de Arte
When all else fails, laughing at the fake titles for works of art on the El Hematocrítico de Arte tumblr page really takes the edge off of an evening (or very early morning) of grading essays. 

Did you notice the new blog design? I lost my mind a couple of weeks ago, and redesigning the blog was one of the weird things I did to NOT DEAL WITH IT. A bit much? I don't know, I kind of like it's ultra femininity; it's certainly a far cry from the previous serial killer green. 

I'm still working out some of the new blog design stuff (new pages under construction, for example), but I'm getting anxious to get back into blogging about the ridiculous. Thanksgiving break is quickly approaching, and I look forward to a break from the grading insanity. Is a new Procrastination Investigation in the cards? I do hope so!