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@Blademonkey - thanks P. for a full and comprehensive answer! Grockles is a good word - I think I'll make it my word of the week. I note what you say about the shift in economy in Cornwall - it's the same in the Highlands. The housing issues are identical. Personally I draw a distinction between people who have holiday homes used twice a year - not helpful and those that live full-time in communities after selling up down south - typically - that's fine. We're short of people in all but the Central Belt of Scotland. I noted with interest that you describe the Cornish as insular - I think it depends on which way you are facing - back towards Britain certainly yes, but the other way to the European coast not so - not historically anyway. I once studied a text written in the 4th B.C.E by a Greek navigator called Pytheas of Massalia (modern day Marseilles) which describes his circumnavigation of Britain and exploration further North in around the year 325 B.C.E. Regrettably the original is lost but it's quoted by other surviving texts so you can kind of piece it back together. Unfortunately it's most quoted by Strabo the Roman geographer - who thought that Pytheas - much like Marco Polo - was at it and basically never left the house. He treats it almost entirely negatively. Strabo was wrong Pytheas was right - it's now generally accepted. He is the first to accurately describe polar ice, the midnight sun and amber amongst other things. Also, his use of the name 'Brettannike' - Greek - for the UK is the oldest surviving example in print of what is recognisably common to the 'Britain' we still use. He mentions Cornwall - he called it 'Belerion' - and the tin trade. He was already familiar with it and knew where to find it. Probably this reflects the fact that the Phoenicians and then Carthaginians had been trading there for centuries. Pytheas describes the mining operation, the refining and smelting of the ingots for shipment. They were taken at low tide to an island he calls 'Ictis.' Where this was is a little hazy - the normal candidates are St Michael's Mount or Looe Island. The later commentator Diodorus refers to the Cornish as - well - cosmopolitan. Noting their civility and hospitality which he credits to long dealings with foreign merchants. So there you go - the ancient Greeks didn't think them insular but they were Grockles - what would they know? Sorry to everyone else for being wildly off topic. Cheers - I
 
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Yes, absoloutely, insular as far as the rest of Britain was concerned but as you quite rightly say the Cornish traded well with the Europeans and indeed further afield. One of the reasons why saffron is used in Cornish foods, it was traded along with many other goods for tin and copper.
 
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Pic of the day from the archive - warning contains graphic content - look away now if that bothers you.




@Helveticum Kabul - Karte-seh hospital. Trauma ward. This woman was caught in the cross-fire of an internecine fire-fight among the Mujaheddin factions controlling the city at that point. There were five or six groups - front lines shifted over-night. The Muj were so busy targeting each other that they didn't see the Taliban coming. Until it was too late. This picture haunts me - if for no other reason than the trauma stretchers are cruciform. I went back the next day to see her - apart from a huge chunk missing out her leg - she was as good as could be expected. She lived. I wonder what happened to her ultimately. I
 
Real life for some, strainge stretcher though , although I can see the point of that shape, makes sense.
 
Not sure why the skate boarders are still permitted at the MACBA. I lived in Barcelona for years and found myself going to the MACBA less and less because of the disconcerting noise and chaos the skateboarder created around the museums entrance. Some have totally quit going. Certainly not the traditional experience one expects with a trip to a museum. Also, as an architect I wonder how much more abuse the surface material can handle.