Six Things, Volume 31

Moss | Space | Tattoo | Parky | Bike | Names

Thing 1 – Moss

We, as a species, don’t spend much time thinking about moss. Google the word and two of the first three results lead you to formal menswear and classic car parts. (Incidentally, have you ever Googled the word ‘dog’? Do so, and then click the paw. Seconds, minutes, even hours – depending on your attention span – of harmless fun).

Anyway, moss. The third Google result leads you to the Wikipedia page for the word. We ignore the disambiguation – there may well be much to be said for and about Welsh valleys, Derbyshire brooks, Colorado mountains, Martian craters named after Norwegian towns, doom metal bands, albums by people I’ve never heard of, Korean films, PlayStation games and invented languages, not to mention the many people who have the word as a name, either given or sur, but now is not the time for those things.

No, today our attention turns to the ‘small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta’. Because, as I say, we don’t spend much time thinking about them, and we should.

Neither flashy nor insistent for our attention, like some other life forms we could mention (looking at you, megafauna), they are an advertisement for the merits of just quietly getting on with existing without fanfare or fuss.

And what an existence it is. They’ve been around for 400 million years or so, and have survived everything the planet has thrown at them in that time. They are remarkably resilient, making their homes out of nothing – a bit of bark, a denuded patch of soil, bare stone, the cracks in the pavement – and able to survive even if deprived of the humidity upon which their lives are based. Their water absorption capabilities – up to 20 times their own weight – put Spontex to shame. Their chemical composition includes a kind of antifreeze to keep them going in winter, and unpalatable compounds to deter pests and protect them from disease. They absorb pollution and provide habitat for small insects. Humble organisms, they require little and give much. And take yourself to their level, examine them closely, and you enter a world of intricate and beguiling beauty.

Do we like a moss-covered stone wall?

We do.

And even as the gardeners among you are bemoaning their effect on that much over-rated commodity, the perfectly tended lawn, I point you towards the wisdom of the Japanese, for whom mosses have been a symbol of harmony and tradition, as well as an essential element of gardens, across centuries.

Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Gathering Moss has only just made it onto my reading pile, and no doubt once I’ve read it I’ll have much more to say on the subject, but for now here’s an interview with Kimmerer and a short film to be going on with.

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Thing 2 – Sounds of Space

Ever wondered what space sounds like? Wonder no more.

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Thing 3 – Tattoo

I can think of very few things that would induce me to get even a temporary tattoo. (This is less of a comment on tattoos than a comment on myself, by the way.)

But if anything’s going to do it, it’s going to be Lowly Worm in his Apple Car.

(If you preferred Huckle or Bananas Gorilla, then you’re catered for too.)

Oh OK then, perhaps I could also be persuaded to sport an Oliver Jeffers penguin.

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Thing 4 – Parky

Michael Parkinson died and I’ve had the theme tune to his chat show going around in my head for the last couple of days. Thank you, Harry Stoneham.

Many who knew Parkinson have testified to his brilliance and humanity (he was, I discover, one of the original financial backers of the Anti-Nazi League), and countless clips have been shared, many of them inevitably featuring Billy Connolly (and quite right too).

Here are just two: the time when Peter Ustinov and Dudley Moore improvised an opera, and David Bowie’s homage to his Yorkshire roots.

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Thing 5 – Wee day out

From time to time I’m reminded that a good way to improve my mood is to spend a few minutes watching Danny MacAskill being brilliant on a bicycle. Throw in The Divine Comedy and the task is complete.

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Thing 6 – Names

It won’t surprise you to learn that this fun resource (shared by the excellent @GlennyRodge on Twitter – thanks, Glenny), which maps the prevalence of surnames across Britain, threw up ‘no data available’ when confronted with my really not very British at all surname (I confess slight disappointment that it didn’t acknowledge a small pocket in south London).

Your experience may differ. Do share.

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Extra things

A few weeks ago I spent a happy while chatting to Xavier Bonilla for his Converging Dialogues podcast. The subject, inevitably, was flight.

Talking of which, on September 5th I’ll be giving a talk at the Royal Institution. Yes, THE Royal Institution. Yes, ME. It would be brilliant to have a crowd.

You can keep up with all my activities here. And if you’re one of the distressingly large cohort yet to buy Taking Flight, that link (which I repeat here just to labour the point) will also help you take remedial action for that sorry state of affairs.

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