Saturday, December 30, 2017

STORM DYLAN MAY HAVE BRIGG ON ITS RADAR



Windy weather is on its way to Brigg, forecasters suggest.
During the 1960s, Bob Dylan famously sang about things Blowin' in the Wind.
And now Storm Dylan is on its way to the UK.
The Met Office has kindly sent Brigg Blog details of its latest in-depth forecast.
View what's in store through this link...
We were taught about weather forecasting by geography master Geoff 'Shoddy' Jarvis at Brigg Grammar School in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Reading weather charts to give forecasts then formed part of the O-Level exam.
These days, of course, you can get forecasts on an App or delivered straight to your phone, PC or tablet.
Why BGS's long-serving geography master was called Shoddy we have no idea.
Perhaps he had some connection with a Yorkshire town specialising in turning scraps of woollen rags into cloth, which they call shoddy.
It was used to make army uniforms and blankets.

Geoff was a fine teacher but  we recall helping ourselves to some easy runs off his bowling during the annual cricket match between Pupils and Staff at Brigg Grammar in the early 1970s.
However, he must have been in his late 50s or early 60s by then.

1 comment:

Ken Harrison said...

Wot about Dylan, the rabbit in Magic Roundabout?
For info, compiling a synopsis weather chart is/was part of the assessment to become a Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Yachtmaster...Candidates were given the task to listen to the 5-minute Shipping Forecast then to draw a chart showing high and low pressure areas; wind speed and direction.
Before the age of computers, sailors often used shorthand symbols and a tape recorder to check the finer details...
Anyway, back to the Magic Roundabout- the original 1960's version was intended as a children's programme shown at 5.30pm...but when it was brought forward to an earlier viewing time, thousands of grown-up complained to the BBC as they couldn't watch it.....it had very quickly become a cult programme...and I was one of grown-ups (technically, I wasn't an adult, as one had to be 21 in those days) to rush in and watch MR on the telly...no-one was allowed to talk, or make a noise while it was on...it was all very serious....
Shoddy was an early form (C19th)of recycling...initiated in American to make uniforms during the American Civil War...
My old Granny Turner, when I was about 5, use to reclaim the wool from old jumpers- once she knitted me a pair of woollen swimming trucks...ok until they got wet and then the gusset dropped to the floor, which made me walk funny...