The Saturday briefing
Is there anything you’re yearning to know? Send your questions, on any subject, to the contacts given below, and we will do our best to answer them...
QRecently I have been watching programmes about British canals and it got me wondering about the unwritten rules of canal navigation. For instance, when a barge approaches a tunnel from either end, who has right of way?
AThere is some general etiquette you need to follow to avoid canal rage.The speed limit on canals is 4mph, so if your boat is creating a wash, slow down. Boats pass left side to left side, the opposite of cars on roads. But if there are no boats coming towards your way, you can stay in the middle, where the water tends to be deeper. Overtaking is not encouraged.
Canal boat holidays have seen a surge in demand in the pandemic, with bookings up 150 per cent since July 4.And there has been a surge in flotilla bookings, which suggests extended families want to holiday in floating bubbles.
QDoes the French Foreign Legion still exist? What conditions are required to join?
AYes, the French Foreign Legion is still recruiting, although the process has been disrupted due to the pandemic.
Normally, they only recruit on French soil and you have to go to one of the recruiting centres, which are open every day. Applicants should be male and aged between 17 and 39.
In 2019, this branch of the French army recruited 1,245 people out of
12,000 applicants
THE SLOW LANE: Canal etiquette calls for boats to pass on their left side, along with a 4mph speed limit
from all over the world. So only 10 per cent will get in and to stand a chance you need to be able to do seven pull-ups, run 2,700 metres in 12 minutes and swim 25 metres.
There are also logic and personality tests and an interview to assess your levels of motivation.You don’t need to speak French but you do need to be able to read and write in your native tongue.You must also have healthy teeth.The selection process takes between two and five weeks.
The Legion was created in 1831 with an eye on gathering up foreign deserters and criminals who had drifted to France after the NapoleonicWars and could become cheap soldiers. Volunteers are still drawn by the chance of a new life and a clean slate. The selection board accepts deserters from other armies and petty criminals. More than 40,000 have been killed in action worldwide since it was formed.
QIn Yorkshire when it was raining heavily we would say “it’s siling down”. Does this have anything to do with sailing?
ASile comes from the Scandinavian word sil, meaning sieve or strain, suggesting it is pouring down. It is still used in Yorkshire and other parts of the north of England.
Other regions have their own take on the rain, including “luttering down” and “plottering down”. In Cornwall, when it is chucking it down, it is “henting”, while the slower variety of rain in Shropshire is “dibble”.
And in Scotland, there is the word “dreich”, meaning wet, cold and miserable, with the option of “roarie-bummlers”, meaning fast-moving storm clouds.
QI have a British atlas published in 1840 by Pigot and Co where the seas off the counties of Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex are called the German Ocean. When did it change to the North Sea?
AThe classic name Oceanus Germanicus, has been around since the second century AD and was notably used by celebrated geographer Ptolemy. The Hanseatic League of German cities were all-powerful in the 14th and 15th centuries, which would have helped it stick.
The German Ocean became the North Sea just before the outbreak of the FirstWorldWar, amid the same anti-German sentiment that saw the Royal Family shake off their historic Saxe-Coburg-Gotha title to become the EnglishWindsors.
Even food got a rebrand, with jammy shortbread German biscuits replaced by Empire biscuits.After the war, in the 1920s, German cartographers accepted defeat with “Nordsee” appearing on maps.Although you will find the Danes call it Vesterhavet – theWest Sea.
PLEASE SEND US YOUR INTRIGUING QUESTIONS ON ANY SUBJECT: By email:
● put “questions” in the subject line and send to kay.harrison@reachplc.com
● to Any Questions, Daily Express, One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5AP
●
Unfortunately we cannot reply individually, but we will feature the best questions on this page.
Leo Towers, Morton Morrow and Don Pelosi (1936)
When the poppies bloom again
I’ll remember you There beside the River Seine Where we kissed anew.
When you told me not to cry Kissed me tenderly But that kiss was our goodbye
You were gone from me.
My lonely footsteps stray Where you must ever stay I place a sweet bouquet My token of love.
Darling till we meet again I’ll be ever true When the poppies bloom again
I’ll remember you.
If you can’t remember the words to a favourite verse or song from yesteryear, send us a snippet and we’ll do our best to find all the wonderful words.