Tag: Jane Austen

Super Hot, Hot, Hot Weather

Blogs Weather

What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance.
– Jane Austen

Yes Jane, I am beyond perspiring myself; I am actually sweating. 😉

It was so hot today. According to news bulletin, it was 36.7 degrees centigrade at Heathrow.

It was 34 degrees centigrade in our garden. Our dog would not go into the garden; he was quite happy to lie down flat in all paws in the cool wooden floor in our living room.

Apparently, the tennis watching public at Wimbledon suffered the heat. This warm weather was unprecedented; it is a usual occurrence for Wimbledon matches to be interrupted by torrential rain not by super-hot weather.

BBC’s The One Show at tonight’s edition had these 5 top tips on how to keep cool during hot weather condition.

1. Ice-cubes – get some ice-cubes to put next to your face and inhale. It has a very calming and cooling effect. I just tried this, it does work.

2. Flannels – freeze first and use the flannel to wipe your face and to put on top of your head.

3. Cup of hot tea. Drinking hot tea – including fruit teas, has cooling and calming effect. It makes you sweat and of course sweat cools the body down.

4. Suntan Lotion – keep and store the suntan lotion in the fridge. When you apply to the heated skin, it will not only protect it, it will also cool it down.

5. Spicy food. Keep a chilli or two in your handbag. Eh?!!! The hot chilli will make your eyes water, your mouth tingling and your sweat glands active.

As you perspire more during warm weathers, keep yourself hydrated. Have a bottle of water with you especially when you are out and about..

Be safe!

Wanted British Buyer for Jane Austen Ring

People

The talented Kelly Clarkson bought the ring at an auction last year. The ring of the very British Jane Austen, of the Pride and Prejudice, among many others.

It seems that it was only now that the British Government to realise the historical value of the jewelry for it to leave the country.

So a British buyer is sought to buy the ring, otherwise, the Culture council will hav not choice but grant a export licence to the American, Kelly Clarkson.

I must say I would have gladly step in and bought the ring but my shares and stocks with the National Lottery cannot be liquidated to provide the funding. I supposed it would have helped if I actually bought a ticket! LOL

JXXX
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Kelly Clarkson bid to take Jane Austen ring out of UK

 

The singer has been seen wearing what is believed to be a replica of the ring in the US, including at President Obama’s inauguration. Nik Gowing reports;

The British government is trying to stop US singer Kelly Clarkson taking a rare turquoise and gold ring once owned by Jane Austen out of the country.

The 2002 winner of the American Idol TV show bought the jewellery at auction last year for more than £150,000.

But Culture minister Ed Vaizey has put a temporary export bar on it and has appealed for UK buyers to come forward.

The ring is one of only three pieces of jewellery known to have belonged to the Pride and Prejudice author.

Mr Vaizey said he wanted the “national treasure” to be “saved for the nation”.

Buyers have until 30 September to match the £152,450 price tag.

‘Extremely rare’

The ring comes with papers documenting its history within the family of Jane Austen (1775 – 1817) who lived most of her life in Hampshire and is one of English literature’s most celebrated authors.

Ring owned by Jane Austen
The £152,450 ring is one of only three items of jewellery known to have belonged to Jane Austen

The ring passed first to her sister Cassandra, who then gave it to her sister-in-law Eleanor Austen on her engagement to Jane and Cassandra’s brother, the Reverend Henry Thomas Austen.

It had remained in the family until Clarkson, who grew up in Texas, bought it at auction.

If a UK institution or private buyer does not come forward by the deadline then the export licence for the ring will be granted.

But the deadline can be extended to 30 December if proof emerges of “a serious intention to raise funds” to match the six-figure price tag.

Mr Vaizey said: “Jane Austen’s modest lifestyle and her early death mean that objects associated with her of any kind are extremely rare, so I hope that a UK buyer comes forward so this simple but elegant ring can be saved for the nation.”

The ring is one of four “national treasures” recently to have had temporary export bars put on them by the government,

Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin’s famous Bentley Blower super-charged racing car could be exported if no UK buyer comes forward to match an offer of more than £5m made by an overseas buyer.

The other items are an archive of letters from General Wolfe and a collection of material that documents the Gregory Expedition to Northern Australia in the mid-1850s.

Language of the Fan

Blogs Customs and Traditions Etiquette Nostalgia

We went to see the Jane Austen Museum in Bath last summer.  It was a pretty interesting and an informative visit.

regency-ballIt was very interactive.  Aside from touring the museum, there were also talks, shows and also we were encouraged to try some of the costumes during Jane Austen’s time,  the Regency Period.  It was the nearest thing to using a time travel machine! 🙂

The Regency Period seemed like it was completely from another world where women, especially the unmarried ones have to behave in certain ways.  |They have to ensure that they don’t appear hoyden.  (I like that word) 😉  If their refutations have been besmirched, they would be deemed unmarriageable or they can’t have the pick of the society anymore.  They were  lucky if they can marry a widower two/three times their age.

Many unmarried women became governesses.

They have to be innocent, pure as the driven snow. And any impropriety or any scandal would cause them to suffer from the vapours! (becoming faint.  Prettiness takes precedence over intellect.

But sometimes a girl has to do what a girl has to do.  When she needed to communicate something they have to use cunning and subtlety.

Enter the fan.  An every lady’s accessory in Jane’s time.  It was the mobile/cell phone equivalent of its time.  It had acquired its own language.

It was absolutely interesting.  When you think of the fan now, you will tend to associate it with a recent holiday to Spain when you tried dancing the flamenco under the influence of a few pitchers of Sangria. 🙂

Au contraire you can impart so much just by using a fan during the Regency era.  You can unfriend someone ;), you can make them come to you, you can tell them it was over between you, that you are not interested, that you are taken, you wanted to be kissed, etc.  It was a social instrument in its own right!

Here were some of the message you can relay to suitors by just using a fan  

 

Some examples:

  1. The fan placed near the heart: “You have won my love”
  2. A closed fan touching the right eye: “When may I be allowed to see you?”
  3. The number of sticks shown answered the question: “At what hour?”
  4. Threatening movements with a fan closed: “Do not be so imprudent”
  5. Half-opened fan pressed to the lips: “You may kiss me”
  6. Hands clasped together holding an open fan: “Forgive me”
  7. Covering the left ear with an open fan: “Do not betray our secret”
  8. Hiding the eyes behind an open fan: “I love you”
  9. Shutting a fully opened fan slowly: “I promise to marry you”
  10. Drawing the fan across the eyes: “I am sorry”
  11. Touching the finger to the tip of the fan: “I wish to speak with you”
  12. Letting the fan rest on the right cheek: “Yes”
  13. Letting the fan rest on the left cheek: “No”
  14. Opening and closing the fan several times: “You are cruel”
  15. Dropping the fan: “We will be friends”
  16. Fanning slowly: “I am married”
  17. Fanning quickly: “I am engaged”
  18. Putting the fan handle to the lips: “Kiss me”
  19. Opening a fan wide: “Wait for me”
  20. Placing the fan behind the head: “Do not forget me”
  21. Placing the fan behind the head with finger extended: “Goodbye”
  22. Fan in right hand in front of face: “Follow me”
  23. Fan in left hand in front of face: “I am desirous of your acquaintance”
  24. Fan held over left ear: “I wish to get rid of you”
  25. Drawing the fan across the forehead: “You have changed”
  26. Twirling the fan in the left hand: “We are being watched”
  27. Twirling the fan I the right hand: “I love another”
  28. Carrying the open fan in the right hand: “You are too willing”
  29. Carrying the open fan in the left hand: “Come and talk to me”
  30. Drawing the fan through the hand: “I hate you!”
  31. Drawing the fan across the cheek: “I love you!”
  32. Presenting the fan shut: “Do you love me?”
  33. Hitting any object: “I’m impatient.”

Source:  fanprinter.com

Quoting Jane Austen

GLOBAL LIBRARY

Jane Austen

Jane Austen in silhouette

Quoting Jane Austen

A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.

– Jane Austen

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Angry people are not always wise.
– Jane Austen

Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.

– Jane Austen

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Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.

– Jane Austen

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I am glad the new cook begins so well.  Good apple pies are a considerable part or our domestic happiness.

– Jane Austen

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I cannot think well of a man who sports with any woman’s feelings and there many often be a great deal more sufferted than a stander-by can judge of.

– Jane Austen

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I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them.

– Jane Austen

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One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.

– Jane Austen

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One cannot fix one’s eyes on the commonest natural production without finding food for a rambling fancy.

– Jane Austen

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There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.

~Jane Austen

~ o ~

Those who do not complain are never pitied.

– Jane Austen

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We all have a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.

– Jane Austen

…
Why not seize the pleasure at once, how often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparations.
~Jane Austen

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