The Lesser-Spotted Snow Clanger

Yesterday afternoon, in the pub at Borough along with ms_cataclysm's R having a bit of a Pub Quiz Disaster, we noticed that there were flurries of snow outside. They continued sporadically, but by the time I took the No 48 bus from London Bridge up to Hackney to meet purplecthulhu, cthulie and T for games at the Pembury it had stopped. It soon started up again though, and before long we heard from cthulie that she and T had aborted their trip in.

Between games of Underground and Caribbean we admired snowfall that was well past the flurry stage and making good headway into the Actually Going To Settle In Some Depth stage. Mindful of the likely impact on buses, I headed off at 10; fortunately the D6 was still running, and in fact made the fastest trip to Westferry I've ever known thanks to empty roads and a distinct lack of people waiting at bus stops. I was relieved to see on checking LJ that purplecthulhu, last seen doing Titus Oates impressions on the way out of the pub, had not in fact been found frozen in the middle of London Fields.

This morning: deep, crisp and even right here in Docklands. The DLR is supposedly still running (as I was saying in the pub last night to someone amazed at the anticipated impact of winter weather on the capital, it was invented after snow was discovered, which the underground clearly wasn't) but I have doubts about the Central line. Oh well, it will be an interesting walk from Bank to High Holborn. I think I'll be digging out my old combat boots first, though.

Spell Check is not always the sub-editor's friend, nor is the serial comma

A fascinating BBC news item on the discovery of the wreck of the 1737 HMS Victory (the predecessor of Nelson's flagship). However, I was slightly perplexed by some of its claims:

Mr Stemm said the wreck was identified as HMS Victory when he raised two extremely rare bronze canons, measuring 12ft (3.6m) and weighing four tonnes,

Canons are normally associated with cathedrals rather than warships, surely? And since when have they been 12ft tall and made of brass?

Part of a skeleton, including a skull, a wooden rudder, remains of the ship's hull, an iron ballast, two anchors, a copper kettle and rigging have been spotted on the sea bed.

It sounds like Jolly Jack Tar had some pretty odd anatomical features back in the early 18th Century!