"I've got three wonderful random facts for you," I said to Mr SDS as I came into the kitchen after a long day working in my Shedio.
"Did you know about the word quark?" I began...
"I know it's something to do with atoms and particles..."
"Yes, but do you know where the name actually comes from?"
He didn't. Nor did I until earlier that day. Because every time I'm really busy with work which I have been lately, I also have the pleasure of picking up on a load of varied and unexpected facts through my choice of listening - BBC Radio 4.
Music is great, but I often need to feel more connected to the outside world too - to hear voices, discussions, facts and fiction. So Radio 4 it is, the station for grown ups!
It's a joy to be educated on surprising topics without even trying - like recently when I learned that there are scientific reasons why tea tastes better with milk added last and gleaned a wealth of info on earwax; I even gave 'The Archers' a listen although I don't have a clue who's who.
Anyway, where was I? Quark. Something to do with particles and atoms and my non-scientific brain didn't understand much more but what I did pick up on was far more interesting, I thought.
So I explained about the name quark - it's just a word from James Joyce's 'Finnegan's Wake' (specifically the line "Three quarks for Muster Mark!") and the bloke - the physicist, I mean (Murray Gell-Mann) - who assigned it here just thought it sounded right. He had in mind to call this particle-atom-thing something like "kwork" and then remembered that word and spelling in the book, one he'd leafed through as a child.
I also couldn't then help thinking of Hawkwind's 1977 'Quark, Strangeness and Charm'. I recall the album's cover and hearing it in my record shop days, when it still sounded really quite contemporary. I must revisit...
Yes! Still good!
"Ok, random fact number two... well, maybe not a fact as such but, anyway, there was a woman on Gardener's Question Time who said that if you talk to nettles before you pull them up they won't sting you"
"What?!"
I know! It sounds mad. Plus not many people are willing to try and prove it. But I don't mind, I talk to inanimate objects all the time anyway. And beetles and ants and stuff too. I decided to give it a go.
So I went out to the nettle patch at the end of the garden and had a little chat. You don't need to know what I said, that's between me and the nettles. Then I grasped one of the leaves tightly between thumb and forefinger and steeled myself for the sting. But - nothing! Could it be true? Apparently plants can respond to sounds through the vibrations they cause, and can transmit information to one another to warn of potential pest attacks (this also gleaned from the same GQT episode) so maybe there was something in it? It "sensed" my voice? I tried it again - same. I felt gloriously immune. Had I tapped into something mysterious?
To be more prosaic, it's most likely due to the way I grasped it - a firm touch can press down the tiny hairs which cause the sting and in grabbing it so deliberately I probably did just that. It's when you brush against them lightly that you get caught. Still, either way, I've learned something. Always handle nettles with a firm, assertive hold but, just to be on the safe side, why not have a few gentle words beforehand too, it's only polite. Or wear gloves.
Arctic Monkeys: Nettles
Ready for another?
"Last one! I just listened to this great programme on the Suffragettes and it was all about how it became a popular thing for women to practise martial arts - especially Jujitsu - as a form of self-defence in the early 1900s. Against the police, mainly, ha! - and even abusive husbands. It really took off in the Edwardian era, they ran classes and so on. Look, there are pictures..."
I'd had to check it out further after the programme, it was so interesting.
And there you have it, three random facts; I hope they've enriched your world (if they're new to you too) as much as they have mine. Even if not, I shall keep listening to Radio 4 and at least I'll always have something new to tell the nettles.
This song immediately sprang to mind on that last one too.
