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St George


Andrew

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Dragons live in one

 

 

Priceless !

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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So what would be the procedure if you had to stop in a hurry? How would you cope with the water sloshing about in the boiler?

Edited by corydoras

The problem isn't what people don't know, it's what they know that just ain't so.
Vaut mieux ne rien dire et passer pour un con que de parler et prouver que t'en est un!
Mi, ch’fais toudis à m’mote

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e3782.gif from St George to the usual insults, and then to steam engines, par for the course for topic hyjacking. e3782.gif

Edited by Andrew

"La conclusión es que los insultos sólo perjudican cuando vienen de alguien que respeto". e5006689.gif

“Vescere bracis meis”

 

 

 

 

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e3782.gif from St George to the usual insults, and then to steam engines, par for the course for topic hyjacking. e3782.gif

Indeed it is, but topics go where they will, and you did better than most in getting nearly two pages on topic first.

Have an ice cream. :icecream::offtopic:

 

Have another :icecream::offtopic:

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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(Corydoras) So what would be the procedure if you had to stop in a hurry? How would you cope with the water sloshing about in the boiler?

 

You would just stop in a hurry

 

Water sloshing about in the boiler not a problem - firebox crown only uncovered for a second or two.

Baffles prevent the sloshing from entering the steam pipe.

Small amounts of water reaching the cylinders would go out through exhaust valve. If "slightly more than small" then cylinder drain cocks can be opened from cab (steam and water shoots out from the front then - alternately on each side - you may have seen it if you have watched a loco start its journey - the drain cocks are opened to clear water condensed in the cylinder whilst loco is standing - after a few seconds the water is cleared, and the drain cocks are then closed) Only if more water (than can be coped with by this means) enters the cylinders are you in trouble.

Edited by Vagabond

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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Indeed it is, but topics go where they will, and you did better than most in getting nearly two pages on topic first.

Have an ice cream. :icecream::offtopic:

 

Have another :icecream::offtopic:

 

 

Oh perleeeeeeeeeeeeze e5002882.gif go have a cuppa and chill.

"La conclusión es que los insultos sólo perjudican cuando vienen de alguien que respeto". e5006689.gif

“Vescere bracis meis”

 

 

 

 

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One should probably also avoid glossing over the slaying of non-existent beasts.

Dragons were real enough to the Medieval world - and you don't have to invoke exotic monitor lizards either.

 

Just down the road from us there is a disused sandstone quarry.

In Tunbridge Wells museum there is a slab from that quarry bearing the footprint of an iguanodon - a huge dinosaur. Similar evidence could be easily passed off as "dragon footprints" to a gullible tenth century serf.

 

Imagine a local scribe being aware of these large footprints, and duly making a note on the local map "here be dragons"

 

But in addition to footprints you need evidence of sharp teeth. There are enough fossil remains of carnivorous dinosaurs in southern England alone, to give credence to stories of dragons.

 

I can imagine "St George" coming across some fossil teeth in his travels, adding them to his saddle bag, and advancing his street cred by bringing them out in the local tavern in support of a good story. Might get him a free tankard of sack, and boost his chances with the landlord's daughter

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RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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I'd like to poke a couple of holes in your hypothesis though Dave. First of all St George never set foot on English soil. He was born in Lydda in Roman Palestine sometime between 275-281 AD and died in Nicomedia, Turkey in 303 AD.

 

Legend has it that he killed the lake-dwelling dragon in the city of "Silene". If there is any truth in that part of the legend I suspect it was a Nile monitor or perhaps a crocodile.

 

The phrase "here be dragons" was not recorded on paper maps or ostrich shell globes until 900 years after his death.

 

I suspect that George never had so much as a sip of Tio Pepe, never mind a tankard of sack. ;)

The problem isn't what people don't know, it's what they know that just ain't so.
Vaut mieux ne rien dire et passer pour un con que de parler et prouver que t'en est un!
Mi, ch’fais toudis à m’mote

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1. St George never set foot on English soil.

 

2. The phrase "here be dragons" was not recorded on paper maps or ostrich shell globes until 900 years after his death.

 

 

1. That's why "St George" is in inverted commas in my post. No doubt there were plenty of wannabes

2. As you say, George died in the first century. 900 years later brings us to the "tenth century serf" I mentioned, and the beginnings of cartography soon after.

 

It was a tongue-in-cheek hypothesis, anyway, but you have shown it as consistent with the "facts" you have unearthed !

 

 

I am not too concerned re George, I am more interested in how stories of dragons arose in England, and the remains of carnivorous dinosaurs coupled with a superstitious populace sounds pretty plausible to me.

Edited by Vagabond

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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What no dragons !!! Suppose I should untie the wife from the linen line post when I get home after fishing.

Smile they said life could get worse, I did and it was

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