episode 497 EYWOOD GARDENS SURVIVE THE DEMOLITION

EPSPDE 497    EYWOOD GARDENS SURVIVE THE DEMOLITION


alan skeoch
Dec. 29,2021

EYWOOD GARDN GREENHOUSE CIRCA 1965…SURPRISINGLY INTACT


What remained of Eywood after the demolition?  Over many visits to Eywood I was able to 
capture many pictures of the Estate as it still stands to this day.   While the grand mansion was
demolished and its’ carcase remains as a downer to anyone visiting Eywood….while this is true,
so much of the Estate remains intact which is remarkable and likely not true for the hundreds of
similar Country Estate mansions demolished ine 20th century.

I have no pictures of the mansion interior except for the picture below which gives a clear
indication of the fine living conditions of Lord and Lady Oxford and subsequent owners of
Eywood.

Just for fun see how many things you would want in your house and make an imaginary bid.
On one of our visits to Eywood, Cyril Griffiths took us to a nearby farm owned by the Edwards
who were loosely connected to our family.  Inside their home were very grand pieces of furniture
bought at auction from Eywood.  Particularly I remember a huge dining room table that would
take four people to lift and sideboard cupboard to match.  Memory could be wrong though.

“What am i bid for these fireplace ANDIRONS?”
“What am I bid for this FINE ANTLERED DEER HEAD?”
“What am i bid for this SIDE BOARD CUPBOURD AND CONTENTS OF FINE CHINA?”
“What am I bid for these PERIOD SIDE CHAIRS?”
“What am I bid for THE STAIR RAILINGS?
“What am I bid for these TWO DECORATIVE URNS?
“What am I bid for THE FINE CARVED FIREPLACE MANTLE?
“What am I bid for the HARDWOOD FLOOR BOARDS?


THE EYWOOD GARDENS

SURVIVING BUILDINGS STILL PRESENT ON THE EYWOOD ESTATE, THIS
EPISODE WILL FEATURE THE EYWOOD GARDENS WHICH ARE INTACT
TO THIS DAY.

It should come as no surprise to readers that our family were more interested
in the Eywood gardens that the ruin of the mansion.  These gardens were 
where granddad and his ten gardeners provided fresh food for the estate owners…
counted the two horses as gardeners also.

Granddad Edward Freeman could build anything.  Trained initially as a carpenter
he decided to change careers and became a landscape gardener. He  admired
and emulated Capability Brown who designed much of the landscapes associated
with grand Country Estates like Eywood Court.

Granddad was a smart man.  He built his own ‘pin hole camera’ and used it
to capture himself along with his 8 gardeners the youngest of which may
well be the future owner of the gardens.

The men are holding the tools of their trade and even included the garden work
horses.  Mom always said that granddad grew a beard to make himself look 
older as you can see in his picture below (full suit with watch chain and fob)
Another striking feature of this picture if how nicely dressed are the gardeners.
There is something intangible  in the picture….pride.




As head gardener granddad received this house which is described as the gardeners ‘cottage.  Really quite a grand home.
Mom, (Elsie Freeman) was born here in 1901.   The earlier pin hole photo seems to have been taken beside the cottage which was
surrounded by the high brick walls in the Victorian tradition of estate gardens.  Note my wife Marjorie at right bottom.


Large hand painted photograph of mom, Elsie Freeman, taken at Eywood using Granddad’s may have been taken with
pin hole camera.  Curly haired doll matches her curly hair.   Horse included.
 More about this photo at the end of this Episode.



Head Gardener Edward Freeman at Eywood around 1900 .  he seems to be laying out 
an ornamental hedge characteristuc of formal plantings beyond the brick walled garden proper.


There were many surprises for us at Eywood. Perhaps the biggest and most beautiful were the large rhotodendron plantings which Percy Mills
attributed to granddad.   These flowering shrubs are located so they could be seen from the estate mansion.  The small lake at Eywood is now
surrounded by these.   It was easy to believe granddad had started them but that may or may not be true.


THIS photo of Eywood Court was professionally done I assume.  Guessing 1920’s.   Note the plantings.   Today the ornamental 
pool is gone but the small lake remains a little distant from the house. The lake is hidden by masses of rhododendrons .
Grandad’s pin hole photo of Eywood is almost as good as this picture…taken from same angle.  So close is the photo
to the professional that I noticed Granddad’s has been used often over the century. 



The footpath and cart path from Eywood Court (mansion) to the Eyward Gardens (circa 1965)….path not used much in 1965 but in 1900
this path would have been used often by Edward Freeman and his gardeners.  And also by many of the household staff who were
good friends with Edward and Louisa Freeman.  So much so that their daughter Elsie Freeman had the Eywood cook, Mrs. Sears,  as her
godmother.




There is no longer a team of 8 gardeners to tend Eywood but Percy made a valiant effort to keep the flower garden in continuous bloom.
Garden home of Mom and family is top left.    It is possible to see the formal nature of this part of the gardens with paths leading to a formal
stone decorative piece as centre point.    In 1900 these flower plantings would have been weeded constantly and the pathways may well have
been brick lined.



North wall of Eywood gardens with Head gardener;s cottage and greenhouse for nectarines and peaches.


MY brother Eric admiring the nectarine trees planted by granddad around 1900 and still providing fruit in 1965….with
a wooden tag  saying “E. Freeman”/


Percy took Eric, Marjorie and I into this glassed greenhouse built so it would have southern exposure and therefore losts 
of sunshine.  Peaches and nectarines were still grown here on our 1965 visit.
“Look at this boys!”  Percy touched a little stick of flat wood.
“What is written here, boys?”
“Says kind of nectarines I guess.”
“Says more than the boys.”
“What?”
“Your grandfathers name.   He built this espaliered home for these nectarines which
normally cannot live in Herefordshire”

And sure enough his name was there.


Not all the greenhouses were in perfect condition as is obvious above.  Just to provide the hundreds of glass panes would bankrupt
a banker.   This ruin, however, made us feel we were stepping deep into the past.  And the rhotodendron softens the shards of broken glass.


A century of greenhouse moisture made this greenhouse untenable except for wild plants.    But it has its own mystique.


I would like to close this presentation of Eywood gardens and our grandfather Edward Freeman
with this photo of his daughter Else (Freeman) Skeoch.  Not just the photo however.
But look at the frame.  Granddad carved this frame from a piece of oak by first making a pattern
using brown paper and then working on the fine decorative touches as he sat beside the
wood stove in his Canadian farm hose on the Fifth Line, Erin Township, Wellington County, Ontario,
Canada.   This is the largest he carved but there were such carved frames containing photographic
images of many of his dear friends ‘in service’ at Eywood circa 1900.


alan skeoch
Dec. 30, 2021

POST SCRIPT



FREEMAN FAMILY OF LYONSHALL, HEREFORDSHIRE


This picture may be backwards.  Unsure which is Edward Freeman.  pic circa 1890 (guess)


EPISODE 496: TEMPORARY DOG HOUSE (caregivers to Failla and Norman…and our dog Woody) Dec. 2021

EPISODE 496   TEMPORARY DOG HOUSE 


alan skeoch
Dec. 29,2021

“Alan, let me take a picture of you and the dogs.” said Marjorie this morning.

I know my office is cluttered.  Now with added presence of three dogs.  If you want
something Spartan then there will be no stories.   This is Episode 496 which I find
hard to believe.  Flattered that some of you actually read the stories while others
just seem to enjoy the pictures.   And others must just press delete. 

A long time ago I read a book titled  ” While Memory Serves”,,,which is what I am
doing with these stories.  Some of the stories touch the memory of some of you
and that makes me feel good.   Some even believe I am writing a book which is
not true.  Writing books is a tough game with little spin off.  I think more people read
these short stories than would ever read a full book of them. 

Do not rush to judgment about my office.  When we were absent a year ago, the kids moved me up from
the basement where things were much worse.  Now I am close to the kitchen and
our games room (front room) where we play Scrabble twice a day. Currently we
are tied after playing hundreds of games.

alan





Sent from my iPhone


EPISODE 490 EYWOOD COURT compared to DOWNTON ABBEY..(one is real, the other is good historical fiction)

NOTE TO READERS: Over these Episodes i have made several references to Eywood Court;  Lately Marjorie and i have
been watching the Downton Abbey stories on Netflix and were struck with the similarities to Eywood Court where my 
grandfather was once the head gardener.  So here is the story in a little depth with comparisons to the Downton Abbey series.

EPISODE 490   EYWOOD COURT compared to DOWNTON ABBEY..(one is real, the other is good historical fiction)


alan skeoch
Dec. 23, 2091

EPISODE 56 EYWOOD PARST TWO: THE IMMIGRANT YEARS OF FREEMAN FAMILY 1905 TO  1914 – Alan Skeoch

THE RUINS OF EYWOOD COURT (demolished in 1954)


How do I start a story that has more twists and turns than a maze in a British Country House garden?
The story of Eywood is just that.  Twisted.  Confusing. Heart warming.  Profane.   Do I start in 1812 with Lord
Oxford going for long walks while Lord Byron is having sex with his wife  Lady Lamb…sex over and over for weeks on end…October
and November 1812.   Sex can be a big motivator.   

No. ” Keep it simple in the beginning Alan or you will lose your audience.”  Good advice given to me decades ago
by Doug Koupar who was my producer on CBC Radio.  “If you don’t get attention in first few words, you will never
get attention because for most people their attention span is 1 minute…60 seconds. 

Test: What got your attention in the first paragraph?

Unfortunately Lord Byron’s many love affairs with other men’s wives was unknown to me when I decided to search
for Eywood Court.   A picture of that grand English country house hung in the kitchen of my grandparents farm
in Erin Township, Wellington County, Ontario. 

By chance I was wrapping up a job in Ireland.  Wednesday September 7, 1960. just completed a
survey job on an ancient mine site on the south coast of Ireland.  No doubt my boss Dr. Paterson expected
me to fly back to Canada with our equipment straightaway.  I had other plans..  

Why would I do that when one of the great mysteries of our family was near at hand.  Could I find Eywood?

“Eywood? Did you say Eywood, Alan?”
“yes, Eywood…not Heywood or Haywood…but Eywood.”
“Odd name for an English Country Estate?”
‘“Very odd.  Even researchers get it confused.”
“Difficult.”
“Made even more difficult after the huge Eywood mansion had
been demolished….some say the last standing walls were blown
up after all the contents were sold at auction. Tragic.”

NOTE TO READERS: EYWOOD AND DOWNTON ABBEY HAD MANY THINGS IN
COMMON. 

 ON WED. SEPTEMBER 7, 1960, I DID NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT
THE TERM COUNTRY HOUSE MEANT.  ALL I KNEW WAS THAT EYWOOD COURT
EXISTED SOMEHWERE IN HEREFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND. AND I HAD A FEW DAYS
TO SEARCH FOR IT BEFORE FLYING BACK TO CANADA.  WAS THIS SEARCH 
A WILD GOOSE CHASE?  

Irish Diary, Dublin, Ireland, Wed. September 7, 1960

“Arose late and had hell of time to get to the Ferry on time.
Persuaded taxi to scream through the streets of Dublin to make 
connection with Irish Daily Mail boat.  Caught train to Herefordshire
…travelling blind.  May as well get off train in city of Hereford.
But what then.?  Where am I going?  The platform emptied and I just
stood there.   I did have one clue.   Polly Griffiths had written to grandma
all her life.  She lived with her son Cyril Griffiths on Lower Wooton Farm.
Big deal.  Where the hell is that Farm?  Then a kind of miracle happened.
One man wakling by noticed my confusion and asked:

 “Can I help?”
“Yes, I am looking for Lower Wooton Farm.”
“That would be Cyril Griffiths, I suspect?”
Yes, I know the family…I am their bank manager.?
“Where is the Farm?”
“Some distance from here near Almely and Kington, can
I give you a lift?”
(By pure chance I had found the needle in the haystack…the banker drove
me to Lower Wooton Farm which was hidden away on a country road
a long distance from Hereford.)



Left to right:  Unknown person, Cyril Griffiths, Nancy Griffiths, David Griffiths, with :”aunt Polly”  seated at front.  


LOWER WOOTON FARM  (A designated historical 16th century farm house where the Griffiths lived in 1960)


CYRIL AND NANCY GRIFFITHS…tenant farmers on Eywood at Oatcroft Farm



Cyril, Nancy, Polly Griffiths and their son David greeted me with
open arms.  They knew me from grandma’s letters.  David was 
a few years younger than me but we bonded immediately.  Nancy
bedded me down in a grand bed in their large 16th century farm
house…a heritage farm designated to be saved.

Thursday, September 8, 1960:  

I was first up.  What a beautiful sunshiny day? David took me around
the farm and then we helped his father Cyril de-beak turkeys so they
would not peck each other to death.  Then we drove to Eardisley a quaint
little 16th century village with ancient houses featuring frames of timbers
and then bricked in and painted white…called black and white village…hard
to describe.  Then drove on to an auction in Leominster.  Back to Lpwer
Wooton for country farm dinner.

Seemed like a full day but not so as Cyril drove me to Eywood Court
in the evening.  I should say the ruins of Eywood Court because the mansion
house had been demolished in 1954 after anything saleable was sold at auction

All that remained standing was the Greek pillared entranceway.  Very
sad.  Demolitions were happening all over England in the 1950’s and 1960’s.  Most owners could not
afford the maintenance and the taxes.

The strangest thing about this visit was that all the other buildings on the
Estate remained untouched.  The heart had been removed but the
body remained.

This was underscored when we walked up a shaded laneway…unused
for a long time…to Eywood Garden where Granddad had been head
gardener sixty years ago.  Henry Mills bought the walled gardens at the
auction.   He had been a young boy working for granddad years back.
Remembered granddad well. “He planted these trees and espaliered the
nectarines in the north wall green house.”  We even toured the ‘cottage’
where mom (Elsie Freeman) was born.  Called a cottage but it was bigger
than the farm house in Canada.  many glass green houses most of which
were derelict.  Lots of broken windows.

There was something touching about the way Henry Mills remembered 
granddad and grandma…as if they were family.  He inferred the same about
Cyril and Nancy Griffiths who were tenant farmers on Eywood before
the auction sale.   Kindred spirits.  The Griffiths were tenants at Eywood while Granddad Edward
Freeman was an employee in charge of a crew of gardeners.  Part of the
large complicated humanity of an English country estate.  Exactly the same
as Downton Abbey with one difference.  Eywood Court was real.  Downton
Abbey is fiction…good, accurate historical fiction.

We have visited the tumbledown ruin of Eywood many times since my 1960 visit.
There is much more to the story.  I have struggled with this story.  Where should
I start?  Deep in the past when Eywood was created?  Perhaps a chronology of
the owners of Eywood?  Maybe I should extricate the personal connections and
use a third person voice…i.e. drop the use of “I” and replace it with a more dispassionate
voice?  

In the end, I felt most comfortable telling the story of Eywood as I experienced the
story.   Using the thread that is my personal journey in life to lead readers
deep into a very disturbing yet emancipating event that
had been happening all over England and Scotland from the end of World War I
to that Wednesday evening, September 7, 1960, when I stood among the 
bricks and rubble of what was once a grand country mansion.  Eywood Court.
The Demolition of a way of life.

This is Part One of that story, Episode 490.  

“Give me the numbers!” That demand was made years ago when I had a small role as
co-author with John Ricker and John Saywell creating a text book for Ontario
schools.  “Give me the numbers!”, Cut the crap.  Get to the kernel of the matter.

I got the numbers for Eywood.  Found the needle in the haystack.  Found a document
once held by a person at the Eywood auction.  A scribe who noted the price Eywood
sold for a public auction.

“Give me the numbers1”
“Eywood sold for 5,400 British pounds serling.”
“What does that number mean?”
“In 1954 the 60 acre centre of the Eywood Estate went to the highest bidder for 5,400 pounds.”
“How much is that in today’s terms”
“Today the British pound is worth #1.73 Canadian.”
“How much is a 1954 British point worth today?
“1 pound in 1954 is worth 33.45 pounds today.”
“Then how much did the Eywood Estate sell for in today’s figures?”
“Give me the numbers!”
“You could buy the estate for $356,400 Canadian dollars.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means the whole heart of the Eywood Estate sold for a pittance…the price of
one of the cheapest houses in Toronto…less than $400,000 dollars.

BUT WHAT DID BUYER GET?

EPISODE 56 EYWOOD PARST TWO: THE IMMIGRANT YEARS OF FREEMAN FAMILY 1905 TO  1914 – Alan Skeoch





WHAT THE BUYER GOT FOR $356,400 (value of his 5,400 pounds in today’s currency)
1) The huge manor house
2) All the interior fittings, much in mahogany
3) Gardener’ House
4) 3 staff cottages
5) Extensive farm buildings
6) 60 acres of land…the grand park
7) Woodlands
8) Rotodendron gardens
9) Two small lakes, the Titley and Garden Pools



NEXT EPISODE…SEE WHAT THE BUYER GOT FOR MUCH OF THE EYWOOD
ESTATE IS STILL STANDING.




EPISODE 493 TOMATO ASPIC

EPISODE 493    TOMATO ASPIC


alan skeoch
Dec. 26, 2021


“Today I am making tomato aspic”


Recipe seemed  simple enough..tomato juice, chopped onions, chopped celery,

bay leaf, 2 cloves, bit of Worcester sauce, some weird stuff called gelatin

But there were many problems

-finding room in kitchen
-some ingredients missing…actually most ingredients were missing..cloves, gelatin …perhaps  celery

-pot on stove with bay leaf, tomato juice and Worcester sauce
-onions cut up…tears on my glasses
-celery a little limp…and few stalks…will make do

problem..how to start the stove
problem…gelatin too old…like a decade or so
problem…marjorie interfering…thinks she
knows more about cooking than I do
problem…finding Marjorie’s purse with car keys

solution..just opened can of beer while Marjorie flees to store
for gelatin ,etc.

solution…let marjorie take over but do it grudgingly so she
thinks i want to make the tomato aspic…all I really want is to eat it.


alan

P.S. That stuff called gellatin is tricky like fast drying cement.
Tomato aspic bowl is a bit messy because I had to pour the
aspic from pot to bowl … and missed.   


Fwd: EPISODE 492 DOWNTON ABBY ….EYWOOD COURT AND MY GRANDFATHER



Begin forwarded message:


From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
Subject: EPISODE 492 DOWNTON ABBY ….EYWOOD COURT AND MY GRANDFATHER
Date: December 25, 2021 at 10:36:32 PM EST
To: John Wardle <jwardle@rogers.com>, Marjorie Skeoch <marjorieskeoch@gmail.com>, Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>


E[ISODE 492   DOWNTON ABBY —DEMOLITION OF EYWOOD COURT 1955

alan skeoch
Dec. 25, 2021

Eywood Court,  a country estate in Herefordshire , was demolished in 1955 along with dozens of
other grand estates.  Let me tell you the story.  Coming





Sorry, my stories are little slower in coming because of Christmas,

Covid 19 (friends now have the disease…getting closer), need
to research, few pictures so had to hun hard to get them.

DOWNTON ABBY…MARJORIE AND I HAVE BEEN WATCHING TWO EPISODES A DAY

Some readers will also be watching Downton Abby on Netflix.  I hope
everyone starts looking at the series on Netflix…much longer
and richer content.   We have a personal connection to the
ruthless demolition of English Country Estates in the 20th century.  My
grandfather, Edward Freeman, was head gardener at Eywood
Court, a huge country house estate much like Downton Abby.
Yes, granddad was ‘in service’ holding a very responsible job
managing two large high brick walled gardens.  Earlier he had
been a gardener at Windsor Castle so he was quite familiar with
the British class system.  He tipped his hat when necessary.
And our farm house in Canada was decorated with pictures of
Eywood Court and many of the service people who worked there.
Mom’s godmother was the cook at Eywood.  I hope she was similar
to Mrs. Patmore at Downton.  Granddad made no apologies…proud to be
head gardener … never indicated he resented Eywood.  I think it
was mom that mentioned the tipping of the hat indication of inferior status.
Not granddad.


My next effort will be to recreate in words and pictures Eywood Court before it
was demolished in 1955 along with dozens and dozens of other
country estates.   That will take some time…but will come soon.

If sex interest you, there is a wonderful story about Lord Byron
and the lady of Eywood whose husband walked around the
1500 acre estate while Lord Byron was ‘active’ with his 
wife.  All documented.

alan


EPISODE 492 DOWNTON ABBY ….EYWOOD COURT AND MY GRANDFATHER

E[ISODE 492   DOWNTON ABBY —DEMOLITION OF EYWOOD COURT 1955

alan skeoch
Dec. 25, 2021

Eywood Court,  a country estate in Herefordshire , was demolished in 1955 along with dozens of
other grand estates.  Let me tell you the story.  Coming





Sorry, my stories are little slower in coming because of Christmas,

Covid 19 (friends now have the disease…getting closer), need
to research, few pictures so had to hun hard to get them.

DOWNTON ABBY…MARJORIE AND I HAVE BEEN WATCHING TWO EPISODES A DAY

Some readers will also be watching Downton Abby on Netflix.  I hope
everyone starts looking at the series on Netflix…much longer
and richer content.   We have a personal connection to the
ruthless demolition of English Country Estates in the 20th century.  My
grandfather, Edward Freeman, was head gardener at Eywood
Court, a huge country house estate much like Downton Abby.
Yes, granddad was ‘in service’ holding a very responsible job
managing two large high brick walled gardens.  Earlier he had
been a gardener at Windsor Castle so he was quite familiar with
the British class system.  He tipped his hat when necessary.
And our farm house in Canada was decorated with pictures of
Eywood Court and many of the service people who worked there.
Mom’s godmother was the cook at Eywood.  I hope she was similar
to Mrs. Patmore at Downton.  Granddad made no apologies…proud to be
head gardener … never indicated he resented Eywood.  I think it
was mom that mentioned the tipping of the hat indication of inferior status.
Not granddad.


My next effort will be to recreate in words and pictures Eywood Court before it
was demolished in 1955 along with dozens and dozens of other
country estates.   That will take some time…but will come soon.

If sex interest you, there is a wonderful story about Lord Byron
and the lady of Eywood whose husband walked around the
1500 acre estate while Lord Byron was ‘active’ with his 
wife.  All documented.

alan

EPISODE 486 HARVEST EXCURSION 1927 AT RIVERHURST, SASKATCHEWAN (john skeoch threshing picture)

EPISODE 486   THRESHING WITH JOHN SKEOCH IN 1927 AT RIVERHURST, SASKATCHEWAN


alan skeoch
dec. 2021


DAD didn’t leave much when he died in 1977.  His estate was simple.  There was $21 in his pocket of which he owed my brother Eric $20.
In his sock drawer, however, there was a real treasure.  Rolled up like a biblical scroll was a long photograph taken
at Riverhurst Saskatchewan in 1927.   Standing proudly on his steam driven tractor is Dad’s oldest living brother John Skeoch.
My Uncle John.  The westerner.



FOUND IN DAD’S SOCK DRAWER: the JOHN SKEOCH HARVEST PANORAMA, RIVERHURST, SASKATCHEWAN, 1927

 
“Marjorie, here is Dad’s estate.  He did not need a will because all he left us was $21 of which he owed Eric $20.”
“Surely there was something more?”
“This scroll picture.”
“Who is  that on the steam tractor?”
“Dad’s brother John…oldest  brother after Jim was killed in 1918, last days of World War I. Mortar shell I believe”
“Uncle John?  We met him on our Saskatchewan trip in 1970.  Remember?”
“Hard to forget the farm house with garter snakes in the tea cups and the prairie wind blew down our tent and
took your pants and never gave them back.”
“Uncle John still had that threshing machine sitting in his implement graveyard near Keiller.”
“Look at those men on the wagons and holding the horses.  I bet most of them were Harvest excursionist.”

“Harvest Excursions? Sound like some kind of holiday”
“Rather use the word adventure.  Between 1890 and 1930 thousands of men and a few women paid $15 to the CPR and
wedged themselves into long lines of passenger cars heading fo the Prairies.”
“Why?”
“For the money they could earn helping to harvest grain.”
“Why Have I never heard of this?”
“Although several hundred thousand got on those trains, none seemed to take a camera…and
those that did likely had it stolen.  The harvest trains were no picnic.”
“In 1917, 40,000 Canadians headed west,  In 1923, 50,450 got aboard…n 1928, 52,225 were packed 60- to a passenger car.”
“Take a look at the date on the picture….says Riverhurst, 1927…the peak years of the harvest excursions. “
“How do you know your dad was one of the excursionists?”
“He only told us fragments…wish he had said more.  But he was on the train perhaps in 1920 or 1921.  He had little choice in
the matter.  His schooling was over when he was suspended from Fergus District High School on his Grade Nine year.”

“Why was he suspended?”
“For throwing a snowball…” (real story already told in earlier episode.  Suffice it to say the principal had good reason,)
“He never went back to high school.”:
“Never. he spent much of the year in hiding in the swamp for a day or so and then lived on
a neighbours farm I was told.   perhaps afraid of his father. He spent the springtime waiting for the annual Harvest Excursion trains
to Winnipeg and on to Saskatchewan.  I don’t know where he got the $15 passage money…perhaps
his sisters Greta, Elizabeth and Lena.”
“How old was he then?”
“Born 1904 so he was 15 in 1919 and 16 in 1920…maybe 16 or 17 when he joined the Harvesters.”
“How do you know for sure?”
“I don’t.”
“What do you know for sure?”
“Two things.  He lived in Saskatchewan for one winter.  A terrible winter really for he lived in a
barn with 16 horses.  Fed and watered them through a bitter western winter.  Slept with them.
Perhaps some of the same horses in the scrolled picture of the threshing.”
“He must have come to hate horses.”
“Quite the reverse.  He loved horses.  Spent the rest of his life to his dying day at racetracks.  Spent more
money on the horses than he did on his family which was OK with us.  Mom ran our family.  Dad became 
the third boy in a way.  We loved him.  He loved horses and he loved us although he would never use such
sissy kind of word.”

“What was the second fact about the Harvest Excursion?”
“He came back east on a harvest train … late train.  Perhaps the late fall of 1921 or 1922. By then
he was an adult…17 or 18…and was glad to get away from the west.”
“How do you know for sure?”
“Because he told us one story over and over again…used a lot of magnificent salty words each
time he told us.  The story became a kind of bedtime story when we were small.  Not a lovey lovey
story.
“And what was the story?”
“Seems dad fell asleep on the last leg of the trip coming south from North Bay
to Toronto.  When he woke up at Parkdale Station his boots were gone.
let me use his language.”

BEDTIME STORY

“Dad, tell us about your boots.”
“Harvest trains were rough.  Hope you kids never have to do that.”
“The boots, dad, tell us about the boots.”
“I fell asleep and some son of a bitch stole my goddamn boots. All I had
as profit from the bastardly Harvest Excursion.”
“Barefoot, dad?”
“No, I had socks.  I had to hotfoot it from the CPR station in Parkdale all
the way along Queen Street to Roncesvales where I got a flophouse room.
No goddamn boots.  If  I ever found the bastard I would give him a ‘what for’
like my brother Archie did so often in Saskatchewan.”
“Tell us again what Uncle Archie did?”
“Those were rough days.  My brothers put my brother Archie up as a fist fighter.  He was
skinny and looked weak.  But he was as wirey as a barbed wire fence.  We would bet on
him…others bet against him.  Archie made a few bucks as did his supporters.  Often the
fights were against French Canadians.  No prejudice meant.  They were the same as us.
Young and full of piss and vinegar.”

Post Script:  How do I know the story to be true?  I don’t really but Dad put in facts
like Parkdale Station…Queen Street…Roncesvales Ave…  Uncle Archie…facts that
make me believe him.  For all his tough demeanour Dad was just a kid .. a teen ager
suddenly living in a very adult and rough world.  A person tends to remember things.
   


HARVEST EXCRUSIONS PUT IN NARRATIVE FORM

Thousands of young men and a few young men boarded these cheap CPR excursion trains in the 1920’s.  All kinds of people some of them
were ‘roustabouts’ ready to smash up the train cars and the train stations when the trains stopped at sidings to let the main freight trains pass by.
Dad was not a ‘roustabout’ and must have seen things that shocked him.  Violence was common.  So bad that RCMP officers were placed aboard
the trains.  They were armed but no record indicates that guns were necessary.  In the 1920’s excursionists were frisked before boarding.  Guns were confiscated
occasionally but liquor was confiscated more often.  All the same alcohol did get on board and drunken behaviour followed.  Windows were smashed
and objects were thrown as harvest trains passed by railway stations.  Robbery was common as were fist fights. The trip took about five days from 
the gathering points at Toronto or Montreal.  Five days of sitting up discomfort.  Although some boys and men, girls and women, had the presence of
mind to bring enough food for the trip, it appears that many did not.  They had to buy food along the way and the result was exploitation on a grand 
scale.  Bad food sold at high prices created bitterness and violence.  Some excursion trains used old immigrant passenger cars with wooden seats
and a single toilet for as many as 60 people.  The smell must have been horrific which may have prompted the window being smashed on occasion.

Small towns along the route were generally afraid of excursionists.  Not so much that they refused to sell food to the men and women but oce sold
at rip off prices
the townspeople wanted nothing to do with the trains full of bitter young men and a few young women.  In one example, a store owner in a northern 
town fired rifle shots as a crowd of excursionists surged from the train siding to the town.  Dad must have seen all this.

Young women were on board but a distinct minority.  They must have been either tough or desperate.  Abuse did occur but the records are sketchy.
Most 20th century historic events were extensively photographed.  Surprisingly there are few pictures of life on these excursion trains.  A camera was a luxury.

Harvest trains ran west for 40 years, from 1890 to 1930.  The movement was no small affair.  In 1917, when dad was looking forward to a high school education therefore 40,000 
men on the Harvest Excursions.  Each train could handle put to 1,200, even 1,400 men jammed into as many as 20 railway cars.  And here were
women as well.  Not as many as the men.   During the war years, 1914 to 1918 it was difficult to recruit enough adult excursionists so many young men still in their teens 
 climbed aboard looking for adventure and ready to make the journey west memorable. Raising hell eased the boredom of the 5 day trip.

1923 was one of the peak yeas. There were 50, 450 harvesters rolling westward.  Then in 1928 the peak was reached with 52,225 men and women.

Uncle John Skeoch’s threshing picture was taken in 1927.  Many of the men in the picture must have been excursionists who were paid from
$4 to $7 a day  including room and board.  This was good money.  One careful harvester went back east with $300 which was a lot of
money in the 1920’s.  Getting west was cheap…$15 for the train ride.   A few men even came from England at 50 pounds return fare. A cheap 
chance for adventure and a chance to smash up a lot of railway property.  At Sioux lookout an innocent bystander was severely
injured by an object thrown from an excursion train.  In earlier years some railway cars were wrecked…must have been scrapped.

  Drunkenness,
boredom, lack of sleep, filth, strangers, the fires of spring in youthful veins… all these bred violence. 
 Word that some of the women on these trains were in danger of being assaulted prompted
the CPR to arrange RCMP presence on each train.   One RCMP officer and one recruit  patrolled
from railway car to railway car in their scarlet uniforms. That tended to calm things down.

*There are many gaps in my knowledge about this 1927 threshing picture.  Relatives who know will
add and perhaps correct my comments which will enrich the narrative no doubt. Dad said 
little about the women except for one comment about a run down hotel in which he lived
for a spell.  The women there were not harvesters…they were fleecers. Get the inference?
True or not?  Dad never said much about it.
 Dad, in spite of his tough exterior, was sensitive.  Never ever heard him use
the F word but he made up for that with a dictionary of other four letter words strung together
as if he was a dark version of Wordsworth


Arnold “Red” Skeoch was born in 1904, one of the middle children in the James Skeoch farm family of Nichol Township, Wellington County.
Pictures of him as a boy are uncertain.  My best early picture was taken in the late 1920’s I believe.   A picture of Red as member of
the bursting industrial working class.  A tire builder.  Cars and tractors were replacing horses.  Solid rubber tires were replaced by
pneumatic rubber tires,  

How did Dad make the transition from farmer’s son ( one of James Skeoch’s five sons (and four daughters) to slapping belts of rubber
on a rolling drum in factories driven by steam and electric engines?

Turning Point #1  THE SNOWBALL

His first step was to get thrown out of Grade Nine high school in Fergus.  Seemed like a good idea to throw snowballs through the
open trap door of the girls’ washroom just the moment some young lady sat down.  Outdoor back houses for boys and girls in 1918 or 1919.
“Go home Arnold and get your father”, said the principal.  Dad’s schooling was over.  He hid in a swamp near the farm for a while.  His sisters
looked after him.   There was tragedy in 1918 when his oldest brother James was killed in France just as World War I ended. then in 1919 his older
 sister Sarah, died of the Spanish Flu.  So dad’s predicament must have seemed rather an after thought. A snowball hitting the bum of a Grade Nine
girl was hardly the same as being blown apart by a mortar or suffering the agony of the Flu Epidemic.

The Skeoch home farm, Nichol Township, SW  of Fergus —barn demolished by Mennonites and stored, fieldstone house still there.

I am not too clear on what Dad did that winter and spring of 1920.  Maybe he went home for he could not live in a swamp.  I seem to remember
his sister Marguerite (Greta Metcalfe later) saying he lived with another farm family. The snowball incident An embarrassment.  Not nearly as funny as Dad and
his friend expected.  But it was a turning point in his life.

Turning Point #2  THE HARVEST EXCURSION


Nova Scotia stookers, Maxwell farm, 1924.
Grain cut and bound into sheaves by a horse drawn binder then had to be ’stooked’ to dry
before it could be threshed.  These men are stooking … likely excursionists from eastern Canada.



Poolroom, Wakaw, 1921.
Pool room in Saskatchewan, 1921 — I think this picture gives insight into the boys on those harvest
excursions…..diverse…., innocents and ‘roustabouts’


1923 was one of the peak yeas. There were 50, 450 harvesters rolling westward.  Then in 1928 the peak was reached with 52,225 men and women.

Hauling grain to the elevator at Norquay, June 1920.
Wagon mire in mud while hauling grain in 1920 to a grain elevator in Norquay, Saskatchewan.
Seems to have a share axle in the grain box.



Uncle John Skeoch’s threshing picture ws taken in 1927.  Many of the men in the picture must have been excursionists who were paid from
$4 to $7 a day  including room and board.  This was good money.  One careful harvester went back east with $300 which was a lot of
money in the 1920’s.  Getting west was cheap…$15 for the train ride.   A few men even came from England at 50 pounds return fare. A cheap 
chance for adventure and a chance to smash up a lot of railway property.  At Sioux lookout an innocent bystander was severely
injured by an object thrown from an excursion train.  In earlier years some railway cars were wrecked…must have been scrapped.

Most of the excursionists had no food with them and had to rely on the restaurant food at the whistle stops.  Prices for food were
atrocious.  Starving men formed into gangs that terrified many people living in the small towns along the route.  Terrified after
they had profiteered from the young men.  Alcohol was forbidden on the trains but the did not mean alcohol was absent.  Drunkenness,
boredom, lack of sleep, filth, strangers, the fires of spring in youthful veins… all these bred violence. 

 Word that some of the women on these trains were in danger of being assaulted prompted
the CPR to arrange RCMP presence on each train.   One RCMP officer and one recruit  patrolled
from railway car to railway car in their scarlet uniforms. That tended to calm things down.

I wish I had asked Dad to tell some stories about those Harvest excursions.  I did not.  But he told me
one story that must have been indicative of many similar stories.  Dad returned to Toronto on an excursion
train after spending tow years in Saskatchewan.  Let me put words in his mouth.

“Dad, what was it like to ride on a harvest excursion?”
“Bitch of a time. “
(Dad could make swear words seem like poetry)
“How did you sleep?”:
“Have you ever tried to sleep on a chair…goddamn hard. And to 
fall asleep was risky so most of the time I was awake.”
“Why risky to sleep?”
“There were bastards all around just waiting for someone to dose off.”
“Bastards?”
“I fell sleep…sound asleep…as the train headed from North Bay to Toronto.
“So?”
“When I awoke some son of a bitch had stollen my goddamn boots. I had 
to run from the Parkdale Station in West Toronto to Roncesvales where
I rented a room.  They were new boots.  About the only thing I brought back
from the west.”
“Did you consider going back west the next year?”
“Not on your goddamn life.  There were jobs in Toronto, good jobs in the rubber
industry.  I became a tire builder and never ever went west again even though my
brother lived there.”

TURNING POINT #3   BEDDED DOWN FOR THE WINTER WITH 16 HORSES

Dad did not return to Ontario immediately after the western harvest was piled in graineries
and grin elevators;  He was persuaded to stay for the winter of 1921 or 1922. (guesswork here
but close to accurate).

Uncle John with four of the 16 horses that dad may have lived with over one winter in 1921 or 1922




“Why did you stay near Riverhurst for two years.  Why didn’t you return with the other Harvesters?”
“I got a job for the winter.”
“Good job?”
“I spent the winter of 1922 looking after 16 horses in a barn near Riverhurst.”
“You lived in the barn?”
“I did.  I had my own horse stall.”
“All alone?”
“Yes, all alone.  Once in a while someone would show up but I spent most of
that bitch of a winter alone with the horses.”
“Cold?”
“Colder than a witch’s tit.”
“No farmhouse nearby?”
“Nothing but the endless flatness and the scouring wind.  A hell of a time.”
“My friend Russ Vanstone described the west as ‘flat as piss on a plate’”
“Well, he got that right..
“Did you like the horses?”
“Had to like something in that white hell.”

WINTER ENDED, SPRING CAME, 
“Stayed with my brother John…helped with the seeding and shot
a lot of billiards in Keiler…made and lost a few bucks.”
“Archie and Art came west that year.  We had some good times
fist fighting .”
“Fist fighting?”
“Archie was good with his fists.  He looked skinny but was tough as old leather.”
“We would place bets…put Archie up against a tough guy from another town.  Often
French Canadians against Archie.  Made a little bit of money that way.”


POST SCRPT


Circa 1965: left to right,  Norman Skeoch, Archie Skeoch, Marguerite Skeoch, Arthur Skeoch, Arnold ‘Red” Skeoch — on the Fergus home farm


Circa 1960’s: front left to right…Marguerite (Skeoch) Metcalfe, Lena (Skeoch) Tosh, Elizabeth (Skeoch) Townsend.  back row….John Skeoch (farm near Keiller, Saskatchewan
as large as 4200 acres), Norman Skeoch (youngest of the 5 boys, inherited the home farm), Arnold “Red “ Skeoch




There were many copies of this photo that Uncle John gave to his brothers and sisters when he came east on holiday



Some of these men, perhaps all of them, were Harvest Excursionists, Riverhurst, Saskatchewan 1927



Alan Skeoch and Arnold ‘Red “ Skeoch around 1965 at Freeman farm, Wellington County

There will be errors here since so much depends on memory but within it all is truth.  I have used
dialogue to give readers a feeling for the story.  Script writers do that so why the hell can’t I do it.”
(alan skeoch)

Fwd: EPISODE 22 APRIL 20, 2020 ARNOLD RED SKEOCH

NOTE: THIS EPISODE is a repeat of Episode 22,  written back on April 20, 2020.  Just when my episode project

began and when I expected the pandemic to end.  The reason I am sending it is that Marvi Ricker sent us an
ecard which featured an idyllic sleigh ride.  Warm and touching.  Dad…Arnold Red Skeoch’s sleigh ride was 
different.   Even included a ride on the old De Witt TTC cars.

alan

I am currently finishing an episode on Harvest Excursions in 1920 with lots of Dad’s salty language.


Begin forwarded message:


From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
Subject: EPISODE 22 APRIL 20, 2020 ARNOLD RED SKEOCH
Date: April 20, 2020 at 1:22:59 PM EDT
To: Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>


EPISODE 22


alan skeoch
april 22,2020

BROKEN RIBS AND BROKEN DREAMS

This is an earlier picture of Dad about 1940…looked much the
same by 1945 though.  
The  toboggan runs at High Park were a big attraction…sometimes ice covered
for speed.  Sleighs were not wise to be used on the  formal runs so sleighs
used the hills.  I do not remember which run dad used.   One thing sure, 
 200 pound  man on two steel runners  could go at quite a velocity.

ARNOLD RED SKEOCH: BROKEN RIBS AND BROKEN DREAMS

“Red, take the boys  out somewhere, they need the winter air.”
“They’re fine in the park.”
“Take them sleigh riding with that neW sleigh…they will love iT.”
“Where?”
“High Park…the big toboggan run down to Grenadier Pond.”
“Long  way.”
“It is  not…catch the College Street Car…goes right into High Park.”
“Hmmmm1”

We had been presented with a sleigh at Christmas…maybe new, maybe used.
It was s beauty with steel runners and  wooden hand hold that could steer it.  Room
for one person.






So the three of us  mounted the old  De Witt street car  then running on College
Street.  Big lumbering ancient things made of wood.  They even once had wood
or coal stoves mid way down to provide heat.  And they rattled a  lot when moving so
the ride itself was a  great adventure for us.

Eric and I jumped off at the High Park loop and dad carried the wonderful sleigh painted
red with varnished wood slashes.  It sparkled.  Dad may have even pulled the pair
of us across the park to the western side where the great expanse of Grenadier pond 
sparkled in the sunshine.  

The long hill down to the pond was  well peopled.  Lots of sleighs and toboggans
zooming down the long slope and out onto the ice covered pond.  Dad said there
were a bunch of dead soldiers at the bottom of the pond with their cannons.  Drowned
in some war long ago when fleeing an American invasion.  Could have been bull
shit but we believed him.  The story put icing on the cake. A little more danger.
What if we fell through the ice?   

That never happened.   As a matter of fact we never even got a chance to go down the
hill on the sleigh.

“ Stand side boys,  I will test the sleigh on the first run.”
“Aww…”
“Just to be sure it works right.”
(Now Dad was s big man…maybe 200 to 220 pounds of mostly muscle from building big tires)
“Dad, don’t break  the sleigh.”
“Shut up, here I go.”
(And  Dad soon disappeared in the crowd of people sleighing.  There was even a slight dusting of
snow falling.)
“Did  you see him, Eric?”
“At first…but not now.”
“When will he get back?”
“Soon.”
“How soon.”
“Cold up here…wish Dad would get back up the hill.”
“Crowd down there.”
“Where is Dad?”
(We waited and  waited.   Two cold little boys in high cut boots and home made breeches … made by mom who
made all our winter clothing out of old coats.  We waited.  Waited.  Dad never returned)
“Maybe he’s down with that crowd watching something.”
“Let’s walk down and see.”
“Careful…sleighs coming.”
“Dodge.”

We  found the crowd and weaselled our way to the front where we found Dad and the sleight.  Dad was
wrapped around a tree.  Hurt.  The sleigh was a  shambles…twisted into a piece of scrap.
Some men helped Dad to his feet.  He could stand but was in pain.  As we found out later
he had broken his ribs…not all  of them but some of them.  He hobbled up the long hill.

“What about the sleigh, Dad?”
“Leave the son of a bitch there.  It was no goddamned good.”
“But Dad, it’s our sleigh.”
“Did not steer … leave it.”
“Our sleigh…our sleigh…our sleigh…”we may have whimpered.
Then again we did know Dad was  hurt.  Not sure which pain was  worst the smashed sleigh
or knowledge that dad  was injured.   I think it was the sleigh.


Later, Dad  got some doctor to bind him up.  Great white bandaged
around his upper body.  Did he stay home?  Nope.  I think he went to
work that Monday as usual.

“Mom, Dad  smashed our sleigh…can we get another?”
“Wait and  see.”
(I don’t think we ever did get another sleigh until our teen age years.
But that long hill down to Grenadier Pond is  graven deep in my consciousness.
I suppose things  could have been worse had  Dad gone through the ice to
join the British Grenadiers.

alan skeoch
April  20,  2020

Postscript.   Long years later, after Dad was  gone, I was doing weekly radio stories
every Friday for CBC radio noon with Christopher Thomas.
“Let’s do a story about the Grenadier legend, Alan.”
“Great, we can get the boys to dive down deep, maybe find the nose of an old cannon or wheel.”
“What boys?”
“Kevin and  Andy…one  has a snorkel and the other a diving tank.”
“Need permission and a boat.”
“No problem…just do not overdo the diving angle.:”

This turned out to be a bad idea in one way but a good radio story.  Kevin and Andy loved it.
Christopher Thomas got all the CBC recording gear in the boat and away we paddled.
It was  a Beautiful sunny morning.  Not many people around.  Easy to imagine what
might found beneath the mirky waters.  The boys dove.
Kevin surfaced first because he only had a  snorkel.  Andy did not surface
for a while.  Then he appeared  with both arms as black as a length of stove pipe.

“Nothing down there Dad.”
“How do you know?”
“Mud  and  crap down there….I shoved  my hands deep as I could…nothing.”
“Story may  not be true…we will never know”

My mind was spinning.  This had not been a good idea.  Danger lurked down there.
I did not ask Andy to dig through the mud.  Should have told him not to do it.
We paddled  to shore.  In the end we got a good story. 

As I looked back up the Grenadier Hill I tried figure which tree did had  hit long 
ago.  

alan skeoch
april 20, 2020


EPISODE 489 CAN A SNOWFLAKE CAPTURE THE CORONA VIRUS? FACTS AND FICTION

EPISODE 489   CAN A SNOWFLAKE CAPTURE THE CORONA VIRUS?  (FACTS AND FICTION)


alan skeoch
dec. 18,2021


“Marjorie, this corona virus is starting to get to me.”
“How so?  Are you any different than others?”
“No.  But the goddamn virus is changing my life.  And not for the best.”
“Get your coat on.  Let’s take Woody for a walk and calm down.”
“The streets are empty.  Everybody is hived away.”
“Not everybody. There are tracks.”
“Thos are our tracks.”


“READERS will have trouble separating fact from fiction in this episode Marjorie”
“Not Surprised.”




TODAY our streets were bombarded by millions of large heavy snowflakes.
And at the same time parts of our neighbourhood harboured billions, perhaps hundreds
of billions of the corona virus.  Our streets are empty

Is it safe to go for a walk?  Unmasked?  Which got me to thinking.  The virus is
so small that it cannot be detected even by sophisticated microscopes. And the
virus is so light that it can float around in the air quite freely.   Which made me
think.


“What are viruses anyway?  Animal, vegetable or mineral?

Viruses are microscopic parasites, generally much smaller than bacteria. They lack the capacity to thrive and reproduce outside of a host body. 

Predominantly, viruses have a reputation for being the cause of contagion. Widespread events of disease and death have no doubt bolstered such a reputation. The 2014 outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, and the 2009 H1N1/swine flu pandemic (a widespread global outbreak) likely come to mind. 

“How long have the little bastards been around?

“Some scientists say they only appeared 8,000 BCE years ago.  Others say they are 55 million yeas old and co developed with bats.  
Quite a difference in opinion.”


“How big are the snowflakes?”
“Big enough to see them until they disappear.”
“Which makes me think.  The virus seems to be everywhere…even out here.”
“According to the experts, yes…everywhere…at least in spots all around he
earth.”
“Even out here on Glenburnie Road?”
“Now here’s an idea…Suppose one of these big wet snowflakes struck a tiny corona virus.  Wouldn’t the
snowflake capture the virus and take it to the ground.  Wouldn’t a million snowflakes
take a billion corona virus to the ground?    Cleanse our air?  “
“Sort of silly comments, alan”


“Now here is a mathematical problem.  The Question:
“How many corona virus can be caught by one fluffy snowflake?”
“Has anybody ever answered?
“Yes, the mathematician Christian Yates did…in a way that is similar…”
(See Conclusion…after the silly stuff)



“WHAT DOES A CORONAVIRUS LOOK LIKE?”

Seems to be quite attractive . At least according to the editors of Scientific American (July 2020)
who put this image on the front over of the magazine in 2020.  NOT THE REAL COLOURS I IMAGINE.

You may wonder what those yellow stems are…They are ‘grabbers’ that latch on to your lung cells
and then allow the Covid 19 Virus to squeeze into lung cells.  In other words those ‘grabbers’ are
not nice.  In many cases infected people do not even know the Covid Virus is in their lungs.

TWO QUESTIONS


 On October 16 ,2020  Australian study says the SARS COVID 2  virus can live for 28 days (Oct. 16, 2020)


2)  How much space would be needed if we gathered all the Corona Viruses in the world??”

“Suppose we gathered all the Corona Virus on the earth right now.  How much space would we
need to keep them?””

Below is the answer given by mathematician Chrisitan Yates

Picture Of Red Can Of Soft Drink




If you collected up every Sars-CoV-2 virus particle in the world, it would fit inside a soft drinks can, writes the mathematician Christian Yates.
W

When I was asked to calculate the total volume of Sars-CoV-2 in the world for the BBC Radio 4 show More or Less, I will admit I had no idea what the answer would be. My wife suggested it would be the size of an Olympic swimming pool. “Either that or a teaspoon,” she said. “It’s usually one or the other with these sorts of questions.”

So how to set about calculating an approximation of what the total volume really is?

Fortunately, I have some form with these sorts of large-scale back-of-the-envelope estimations, having carried out a number of them for my book The Maths of Life and Death. Before we embark on this particular numerical journey, though, I should be clear that this is an approximation based on the most reasonable assumptions, but I will happily admit there may be places where it can be improved.

You might also be interested in:

So where to start? We’d better first calculate how many Sars-CoV-2 particles there are in the world. To do that, we’ll need to know how many people are infected. (We’ll assume humans rather than animals are the most significant reservoir for the virus.)


The amount of virus that each of the people currently infected will carry around with them (their viral load) depends on how long ago they were infected. On average, viral loads are thought to rise and peak about six days after infection, after which they steadily decline.

Of all the people who are infected now, those who got infected yesterday will contribute a little to the total count. Those who were infected a couple of days ago will contribute a little more. Those infected three days ago a little more still. On average, people infected six days ago will have the highest viral load. This contribution will then decline for people who were infected seven or eight or nine days ago, and so on.

The final thing we need to know is the number of virus particles people harbour at any point during their infection. Since we know roughly how viral load changes over time, it’s enough to have an estimate of the peak viral load. An unpublished study took data on the number of virus particles per gram of a range of different tissues in infected monkeys and scaled up the size of tissue to be representative of humans. Their rough estimates for peak viral loads range from one billion to 100 billion virus particles.

Let’s work with a value in the middle of this range (the geometric mean) at 10 billion. When you add up all the contributions to the viral load of each of the 3 million people who became infected on each of the previous days (assuming this 3 million rate is roughly constant) then we find that there are roughly 200 quadrillion (2×10¹⁷ or two hundred million billion) virus particles in the world at any one time.

CONCLUSION
“SO, Alan, How many virus could we gather on our walk in the snow?
“Not enough to cover the head of a pin.?
“How do you know that?”
“I have no bloody idea.”
“Could we put all the virus particles in the world into our schoolhouse…bird house?”
“Apparently so.”
“Do you think any Covid 19 has been captured by these fluffy snowflakes?”
“You flatter my intelligence.  Just for fun count the snowlafes on the school house roof
and  multiply it by a billion billion or more…that’s the space needed for the Covid virus.
“Stick with the pop can image…makes more sense.


POST SCRIPT…NEXT DAY
“MARJORIE, I see the TTC has ordered all windows on busses to be open.”
“Why?”
“To blow as many of the Covid particles out the windows i imagine.”
“How did the Covid particles get in the busses anyway?”
“From the lungs of infected people.  A lot of people do not even know they are infected.”
“Well the open window trick won’t work today?”
“Why nor?”
“The sun is out…beautiful day.”
“What has that got to do with limiting the Covid viruses?”
“No falling snowflakes to catch the viruses and take them to the ground.”
“Sometimes you say stupid things, Alan.”
“Right … the snowflake caper would not help much anyway.”
“Why not?”
“Those Australian researchers said the Covid virus could live for 28 days on surfaces.”
“Really?”
“Means we could pick the virus up on our boots.”
“Now that is a really stupid answer.”
“Your job is to separate fact from fiction…now!”

FACTS
1) UP TO 28 DAY LIFE OF VIRUS
2) VIRUS REPRODUCED IN HUMAN LUNGS… AND EXPECCED
3) TTC BUSSES NOW HAVE OPEN WINDOWS
4) ALL COVID VIRUSES ON EARTH COULD BE PUT IN A POP CAN
5) VIRUSSES EMERGED SOMETIME BETWEEN 8,000 AND 55 MILLION YEARS AGO
6) THE LITTLE STALKS ON THE VIRUS ARE ‘GRABBERS’ THAT SEIZE LUNG CELLS
FICTION
1) SNOWFLAKES COULD CATCH VIRUSES 
2) VIRUSES ON OUR BOOTS
3) OPEN AIR IS AS DANGEROUS AS CROWDED BARROOM
4) STREETS ARE EMPTY…NOT SO BECAUSE LIFE GOES ON DESPITE COVID 19

TODAY…DECEMBER 19, 2021…THE SUN IS SHINING 

  

EPISODE 489 CAN A SNOWFLAKE CAPTURE THE CORONA VIRUS? FACTS AND FICTION

EPISODE 489   CAN A SNOWFLAKE CAPTURE THE CORONA VIRUS?  (FACTS AND FICTION)


alan skeoch
dec. 18,2021


“Marjorie, this corona virus is starting to get to me.”
“How so?  Are you any different than others?”
“No.  But the goddamn virus is changing my life.  And not for the best.”
“Get your coat on.  Let’s take Woody for a walk and calm down.”
“The streets are empty.  Everybody is hived away.”
“Not everybody. There are tracks.”
“Thos are our tracks.”


“READERS will have trouble separating fact from fiction in this episode Marjorie”
“Not Surprised.”




TODAY our streets were bombarded by millions of large heavy snowflakes.
And at the same time parts of our neighbourhood harboured billions, perhaps hundreds
of billions of the corona virus.  Our streets are empty

Is it safe to go for a walk?  Unmasked?  Which got me to thinking.  The virus is
so small that it cannot be detected even by sophisticated microscopes. And the
virus is so light that it can float around in the air quite freely.   Which made me
think.


“What are viruses anyway?  Animal, vegetable or mineral?

Viruses are microscopic parasites, generally much smaller than bacteria. They lack the capacity to thrive and reproduce outside of a host body. 

Predominantly, viruses have a reputation for being the cause of contagion. Widespread events of disease and death have no doubt bolstered such a reputation. The 2014 outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, and the 2009 H1N1/swine flu pandemic (a widespread global outbreak) likely come to mind. 

“How long have the little bastards been around?

“Some scientists say they only appeared 8,000 BCE years ago.  Others say they are 55 million yeas old and co developed with bats.  
Quite a difference in opinion.”


“How big are the snowflakes?”
“Big enough to see them until they disappear.”
“Which makes me think.  The virus seems to be everywhere…even out here.”
“According to the experts, yes…everywhere…at least in spots all around he
earth.”
“Even out here on Glenburnie Road?”
“Now here’s an idea…Suppose one of these big wet snowflakes struck a tiny corona virus.  Wouldn’t the
snowflake capture the virus and take it to the ground.  Wouldn’t a million snowflakes
take a billion corona virus to the ground?    Cleanse our air?  “
“Sort of silly comments, alan”


“Now here is a mathematical problem.  The Question:
“How many corona virus can be caught by one fluffy snowflake?”
“Has anybody ever answered?
“Yes, the mathematician Christian Yates did…in a way that is similar…”
(See Conclusion…after the silly stuff)



“WHAT DOES A CORONAVIRUS LOOK LIKE?”

Seems to be quite attractive . At least according to the editors of Scientific American (July 2020)
who put this image on the front over of the magazine in 2020.  NOT THE REAL COLOURS I IMAGINE.

You may wonder what those yellow stems are…They are ‘grabbers’ that latch on to your lung cells
and then allow the Covid 19 Virus to squeeze into lung cells.  In other words those ‘grabbers’ are
not nice.  In many cases infected people do not even know the Covid Virus is in their lungs.

TWO QUESTIONS


 On October 16 ,2020  Australian study says the SARS COVID 2  virus can live for 28 days (Oct. 16, 2020)


2)  How much space would be needed if we gathered all the Corona Viruses in the world??”

“Suppose we gathered all the Corona Virus on the earth right now.  How much space would we
need to keep them?””

Below is the answer given by mathematician Chrisitan Yates

Picture Of Red Can Of Soft Drink




If you collected up every Sars-CoV-2 virus particle in the world, it would fit inside a soft drinks can, writes the mathematician Christian Yates.
W

When I was asked to calculate the total volume of Sars-CoV-2 in the world for the BBC Radio 4 show More or Less, I will admit I had no idea what the answer would be. My wife suggested it would be the size of an Olympic swimming pool. “Either that or a teaspoon,” she said. “It’s usually one or the other with these sorts of questions.”

So how to set about calculating an approximation of what the total volume really is?

Fortunately, I have some form with these sorts of large-scale back-of-the-envelope estimations, having carried out a number of them for my book The Maths of Life and Death. Before we embark on this particular numerical journey, though, I should be clear that this is an approximation based on the most reasonable assumptions, but I will happily admit there may be places where it can be improved.

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So where to start? We’d better first calculate how many Sars-CoV-2 particles there are in the world. To do that, we’ll need to know how many people are infected. (We’ll assume humans rather than animals are the most significant reservoir for the virus.)


The amount of virus that each of the people currently infected will carry around with them (their viral load) depends on how long ago they were infected. On average, viral loads are thought to rise and peak about six days after infection, after which they steadily decline.

Of all the people who are infected now, those who got infected yesterday will contribute a little to the total count. Those who were infected a couple of days ago will contribute a little more. Those infected three days ago a little more still. On average, people infected six days ago will have the highest viral load. This contribution will then decline for people who were infected seven or eight or nine days ago, and so on.

The final thing we need to know is the number of virus particles people harbour at any point during their infection. Since we know roughly how viral load changes over time, it’s enough to have an estimate of the peak viral load. An unpublished study took data on the number of virus particles per gram of a range of different tissues in infected monkeys and scaled up the size of tissue to be representative of humans. Their rough estimates for peak viral loads range from one billion to 100 billion virus particles.

Let’s work with a value in the middle of this range (the geometric mean) at 10 billion. When you add up all the contributions to the viral load of each of the 3 million people who became infected on each of the previous days (assuming this 3 million rate is roughly constant) then we find that there are roughly 200 quadrillion (2×10¹⁷ or two hundred million billion) virus particles in the world at any one time.

CONCLUSION
“SO, Alan, How many virus could we gather on our walk in the snow?
“Not enough to cover the head of a pin.?
“How do you know that?”
“I have no bloody idea.”
“Could we put all the virus particles in the world into our schoolhouse…bird house?”
“Apparently so.”
“Do you think any Covid 19 has been captured by these fluffy snowflakes?”
“You flatter my intelligence.  Just for fun count the snowlafes on the school house roof
and  multiply it by a billion billion or more…that’s the space needed for the Covid virus.
“Stick with the pop can image…makes more sense.


POST SCRIPT…NEXT DAY
“MARJORIE, I see the TTC has ordered all windows on busses to be open.”
“Why?”
“To blow as many of the Covid particles out the windows i imagine.”
“How did the Covid particles get in the busses anyway?”
“From the lungs of infected people.  A lot of people do not even know they are infected.”
“Well the open window trick won’t work today?”
“Why nor?”
“The sun is out…beautiful day.”
“What has that got to do with limiting the Covid viruses?”
“No falling snowflakes to catch the viruses and take them to the ground.”
“Sometimes you say stupid things, Alan.”
“Right … the snowflake caper would not help much anyway.”
“Why not?”
“Those Australian researchers said the Covid virus could live for 28 days on surfaces.”
“Really?”
“Means we could pick the virus up on our boots.”
“Now that is a really stupid answer.”
“Your job is to separate fact from fiction…now!”

FACTS
1) UP TO 28 DAY LIFE OF VIRUS
2) VIRUS REPRODUCED IN HUMAN LUNGS… AND EXPECCED
3) TTC BUSSES NOW HAVE OPEN WINDOWS
4) ALL COVID VIRUSES ON EARTH COULD BE PUT IN A POP CAN
5) VIRUSSES EMERGED SOMETIME BETWEEN 8,000 AND 55 MILLION YEARS AGO
6) THE LITTLE STALKS ON THE VIRUS ARE ‘GRABBERS’ THAT SEIZE LUNG CELLS
FICTION
1) SNOWFLAKES COULD CATCH VIRUSES 
2) VIRUSES ON OUR BOOTS
3) OPEN AIR IS AS DANGEROUS AS CROWDED BARROOM
4) STREETS ARE EMPTY…NOT SO BECAUSE LIFE GOES ON DESPITE COVID 19

TODAY…DECEMBER 19, 2021…THE SUN IS SHINING