Cave secrets

 Here is a few new files for you and a review of sorts. 

The secret of the caves is the thirteenth book in the Hardy boys series, at least in the UK. It has both an original text and a revised version that has about half the old text in it with a new story tacked on. Its not an entirely original story like Flickering Torch which I'm reading now, nor is it an extended edit like The Hooded Hawk Mystery, its somewhere halfway in between.

The revised story goes something like this. 

Chet Morton has a new hobby as a metal detectorist, after finding Joe's old toy Fire Engine in the front yard, he wants to go to Honeycomb caves because of some treasure about buried treasure. A girl called Mary Todd shows up and asks them to find her professor brother, Todham, as he has vanished, presumed kidnapped.

She stays with the Mortons and they head down the coast to check out the caves and find a suspicious French diner cum antique shop is the focus of much of the trouble and that there is a strange old man living down on the sea shore in a cave who could be crazy. There is also a technology angle as a telescope up on the coast is the subject of sabotage by a foreign power.

All in all its not a bad story, just typical for most of the revised output.

The original story on the other hand is much more interesting...

The basic outlines are the same except it has ties in with The Shore Road mystery, as the earliest books were considered as part of a series, with the boys growing up and graduating from high school. This time it's one of the car thieves that has escaped from jail.

The boys rescue an old lady called Evangeline Todd who asks them to look for her brother, Todham. Which leads them down to Honeycomb caves, and a strange old man called Captain Royal. Its a much more interesting story and quite modern as it deals with mental health issues and amnesiacs. I won't spoil it too much, but I found it to be quite the better story for this. Chet, as per the usual original text doesn't get any hobbies which, having read a few stories, seem to be entirely for the remakes.

Also on a final note, no one could really spell coconut back then. Its listed as cocoanut, in the text and such and have seen various variations in this from older stories and posters and the like.

You can read the remake and originals here, and here.

Kew Japan Month

 So this is a thing, Kew has its own Momijigari trail along with a Japan festival for the whole of October, so if you want to explore the garden and have an interest in Japanese culture then this will probably do it. 

A warning though, book online, its a good £2 cheaper and they do not take cash at the main gates, card only sadly. Also I only got to see some of the permanent things there, including the gravel garden and Chokushi mon gate, as there was a massive queue to get in to the main event in the temperate house.

On the other hand though, those events are strictly optional and included in your entry fee. In fact over half term 16 - 31st Oct there's a Gruffalo event as well, which is worth mentioning for families.

What did  I actually see then?

Mostly quite a bit of the lower garden, including the Palm House, Princess of Wales Glasshouse and the Chokushi Gate and Yoshino Cherry pathway. Mental note, come back in spring time to see if they are in full bloom for sakura season.

Palm house is the main tropical house, holding palms and cycads but also many tropical trees such as Tamarind and a Banana in flower when I was there. Holds the oldest pot plant a massive cycad; the last of its kind.

Princess of Wales Greenhouse is not named after Princess Di but Princess Augusta although it was opened by her in 1987 and she has a memorial Maple in the garden which I also saw. making this the only Momiji of the trip.

They have a reasonable selection of cacti as it's my prime interest might actually be there for mesemb season. Caught a few conos in flower along with one of two Lithops. There were a few Opuntia in flower also. Mostly though a few odd species were in flower including a Plectranthus, an Elephant's foot yam and a Stoeberia, which can get to about 8ft making it the worlds biggest mesemb species.

Outside I saw a Jay as well as the usual crows and Magpie common to London. The chestnuts were in fruit and I saw the Gingko as well. Topped it off with a walk around the gate before going home.

Banana Flower

Dioscorea Elephantipes Flower

Stoeberia Frutescens bloom.

Paulownia Crests on the Chokushi gate.

Unknown Hoya in the Orchid section

Flickering torches

 A weird one this. This looks to be one of those three way splits that they did from time to time, a la Melted Coins.

I can't remember the original Flickering Torch Mystery though reading the blurb on the back of my original copy it has something to do with silkworms. If you hadn't guessed we got a revised edition of the original text here in the UK.

Currently 3 chapters in so far and its not good. The boys are starting a folk rock band complete with electric guitars and Tony Prito on Drums and Phil Cohen on Organ. There is some subplot about a radioactive plane engine and the boys losing time on their watches. But so far its all about the folk.

I can't really remember them playing guitars before, a few bits about them listening to the radio and news bulletins whilst driving and for some reason going to a play back in the Hidden Harbour mystery as part of the plot. Nothing screams out that they are into playing any sort of instruments.

 The upshot is this knowing nothing of the original story except that its a Les Macfarlane story, means I get to dig it out of the cupboard and read through the condensed version after I read this.

Finally I saw this on Instaspam, Yeah I'm mainly there for the shitposters and such, but it's an overlap and seeing as I've just come off editing up the original *cabin island and such thought it would make a good point to end it here.

*except its American numbering and its Phantom Freighter instead.

Mexican Weekend

 This weekend is Lullingstone's Mexican Weekend, a two day event covering all things cactus and succulent. 

It's ten quid to get in, (half price for BCSS members) and that gets you a look around the world garden as well. I've been to a few events there, and its always been good. But never really on my own.

The first thing was working out how to get there without a car, I don't drive, and if Lullingstone has a station or bus service (both answers are no and no although there is a viaduct that passes over near the grounds if trains are your thing.)

The good news is that there is a station close by, Eynsford, from which you can walk. Looking on the online map, it definitely seemed doable, and while I'm not the fittest, I will walk most places if in range.

The next easiest bit was the bus connections, seeing as its my bootsale route and that we would be going on a Saturday, they should be more frequent than the Sunday service. Plus 2 trips in an hour means its a flat £1.55 fare, each way. 

The train was the tricky bit, looking on South Eastern's network map it seemed we needed the Sevenoaks train, and that it ran from Blackfriars via Swanley. Want to know why we don't travel by train much, an off peak return fare is £4.10 and that is one stop from Swanley to Eynsford. 

Main trip planned out, it all went swimmingly, I managed to get both connections and failed only on the train front as it was in the station as I arrived and had 30 minute wait for the next train. Pro tip get there on the hour or half hour and you'll only wait a few minutes.

The next step was the walk down to Lullingstone, which was not so harsh as its right in the middle of where I wanted to go. Tried the route I'd plotted online the find the gate closed, so retraced my steps and went the other route which passed through the infamous ford there and along by the Roman ruins and the eagle centre.

Paid my way inside, and had a look at the stalls, the Haworthia society were selling bare rooted Haworthias for £10 upwards. Our secretary had a stall selling plants from our late treasurer. Alongside him, John Pilbeam had his stall selling his books. Hadn't seen him in ages, so it was nice to catch up.

New branch Rother valley had a bunch of good things for sale, including some seedlings and such so got a bunch of stuff including a Haageocereus and a few Mesembs.

There was a massive Begonia for sale which was cool and by the time I had finished the Auction was getting going so decided to look around the world garden. 

There was  a small kid in there picking up stone which reminded me as a kid. (Used to do that.) Had a look around the main garden and the most incredible scent was there. Do not know were it came from, my guess its the Salvia's as they were in full bloom. They had a Colletia which smelt of butterscotch, though as its a spiky boi, the challenge was getting close enough to tell, and a there was a mint which had a liquorice scent to it.

Had a look in the hot and spikey house, there was an Opuntia in bloom along with a few other nice things. Another Begonia, a Kleinia and a few other things such a Clerodendron from Kenya.

By that time I decided enough was enough and went home, this time via the country park and found the road I should have taken the first time. It's about a kilometer in distance to the station from Lullingstone castle that way and seems the shorter route.

Plectranthus

Not the Begonia for sale but still nice.

Horse.

Europa statue.

Opuntia possibly Engelmanni.

Six of one.

Or why this is America's 5/11.

This is a brief bit about the capital riots that happened back in January. Where a bunch of Qanon types did a guided tour of the capitols finest sites before nicking a lectern and AOC's shoes.

Of course some people died in this and such, which is bad, but no more than those that died in the George Floyd riots last summer, and with a lot less looting and burning. My main one take away from this is the little old lady standing there and the people in queues lining up.

The more I think about it, the more I get a whole Guy Fawkes vibe from it all. For those not British, Guy Fawkes was a Catholic who plotted to blow up parliament, but was caught and as of the order of the day executed. A holiday was set up where you would construct a bonfire, and set off fireworks. 

This morphed into a month long firework fest through the whole of October with a Guy made of old rags and you would ask money from passers by (i.e. a penny for the guy) before it got put on the bonfire to burn. No child has done this since the mid 90's sadly as Halloween has risen in importance since then.

If you think about it, it was a failed coup in the same vein, but with out the hanging and drawing as such. Maybe we could encourage Americans to embrace it the next year by going on guided tours and nicking lecterns.

Plane crash Holiday.

 Where were you when the planes hit the twin towers? It's twenty years ago that the planes hit and not that any one really wanted to know, I'll tell you exactly where I was, when I first heard.

It was about 3pm when I heard via work radio, that the twin towers had been hit. We had two way radios to keep in touch with and with a 3pm tea break, as we worked longer hours then, we were sitting down to a cuppa and some banter, the kind when you get a bunch of blokes together when we got a call through.

I've just heard the tail end of the news, a jet plane has just gone into the world trade center.

We of course switch on the radio and its a full bulletin of how a bunch of terrorists had committed a mass atrocity in the name of their fruity little religion.

Haunted Forts

 Another Hardy Boys book upload for you to enjoy. It's the UK version of The Haunted Fort, in which our chums head out Chet's uncle's place in Cedartown, in order to track down the legendary treasure of Fort Senandaga, a revolutionary war era fort on the lake.

It's not a bad tale either, Chet's uncle runs an art school and of course, Chet's hobby, this time is painting, which he has some flair for. There is a vague supernatural element as there is a lake monster (fake though) in the lake set up as an elaborate prank to harass local art critic Chanucey Gilman (rendered as Oilman in the file I had). 

The other players in this are an old English hermit living on one of the lake islands who claims that the redcoats are the last to leave the fort, whereas a Frenchman, Rene Follette claims that the French forces were the last to leave the fort. Add in Mr. Davenport, eccentric owner of the fort and art thief Alan Copler (rendered as copier in the text file I have.) and you have quite the good story.

The story itself centers around a clue in a picture painted by the mysterious prisoner painter, interred in the fort around the time of the revolutionary war of 1776. There is a clue to a fabulous treasure in one of the paintings, one of which is housed in the Bayport museum and is of course stolen by Copler, in the course of the adventure. 

You can read more here.