Get It Done!

Did you ever go to your favorite department store with a long list of things to pick up, only to find that almost every department was under construction? Perhaps the entire front of the store and half the garage was included in the make-over so that you had to park several blocks away and make your way down a fenced serpentine walk-way to a tiny entry on the side. Once you got inside, you were still confined to fenced-in paths, just like everybody else. Maybe the escalators and all but one elevator were fenced off. And it turned out the only departments that were open were Ladies Socks, Pickles & Relish, and Toys for Children 100+. I suppose that would be fine if all you needed were socks, pickles and a birthday present for Great-Grandma. But would it be fun...?

Okay, I exaggerated a little, but that disappointed, claustrophobic feeling is what I’ve been feeling this past year whenever we go to DisneyWorld for the day. First, large swatches of Hollywood Studios were blocked off as they built Toy Story Land and Galaxy’s Edge... and rebuilt the security measures at the front gate. That meant a long walk from the greatly expanded parking lot around all the fenced off area to get passed through security so you could line up like sardines in a tin to go through the gate. They still don’t have the Chinese Theater open again.

Now they are working on TomorrowLand in Epcot. ALL of the central section of TomorrowLand is under construction. The rides around the edges are... supposedly... open, but when we went there the other day, ALL the attractions in The Land Pavilion had ‘technical difficulties’ until 9:45. When we got out of there, there was no way to walk across the central section to get to the rides on the other side. (You had to walk around the edges of the ‘donut hole’, either back to the front gate and up the other side, or around the lagoon side and down the other side.) Happily, it was 11:00, so we walked around the lagoon so we could say we had at least walked a mile that day.

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but when I want to go someplace fun, a major construction zone is NOT the first place I think of. Why can’t they do one building at a time, get it done, and then move on to the next piece of the project?

And what’s up with the Guardians of the Galaxy ride? It’s been under construction for what, 2 years now? And still another year to go? Sheesh!

Man Made Islands

If you think man has only recently decided to build their own islands, think again. In Scotland, Wales and Ireland, they started doing it nearly 6,000 years ago. They are called crannogs and while some of them are partially natural,  quite a few were entirely artificial, built in lakes and estuarine waters. Crannogs are not like the prehistoric pile dwellings of the Alps, which were built on the shores and became inundated later. Crannogs were actually built in the water, forming artificial islands.

These new islands were used as dwellings for over five millennia, possibly to the early 18th century. Some were free-standing wooden structures, although they more commonly existed as brush, stone or timber mounds. However, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, timber was unavailable, so their crannogs consisted of stone, with drystone architecture sitting atop the base stones. Today, crannogs typically appear as small, circular islets, 30 to 100 feet in diameter, covered in dense vegetation because they are inaccessible to grazing livestock.

Crannogs are wide-spread in Ireland, but are frequently undercounted in Scotland, as they can be called various things, depending on who you talk to. Mainland Scotland and the Scottish isles also refer to them in various ways. Previously unknown crannogs are still being found, as underwater surveys find completely submerged examples.

Crannogs were built with whatever material was most available in the immediate area. Several feet above the water’s surface, an ‘Atlantic roundhouse’ was built on the new island, connected to the shore by a causeway. At the time, most communication and travel was achieved by waterways. They may have served as simple farmsteads or as boltholes in times of danger. Their limited access may have served as a status symbol, and their inherited location would have implied legitimacy towards ownership of the surrounding landscape.

The earliest known crannog in Scotland appears to date from 3650 BC. It is interesting to note that crannogs were often reused after a period of non-use. Defense does not appear to be the major reason for building and living on a crannog, as there is little evidence of weapons or of destruction in the excavation of prehistoric crannogs.

I have to admit, I was unaware of any such method of building a home until I googled this word for information. My first thought is that it would be a wonderful home for a water spirit or for a child of a water spirit.

My second thought was that it could be useful as a toll bridge across a river, with a causeway or bridge going from the home to both banks. Why break your back every day for the rest of your life to ferry people from one side of the river to the other when you can work hard as a youngster to build a home and 2 causeways, and still collect tolls as you totter into old age?

The article also mentioned kings and lords living on crannogs, of crannog islets being enlarged repeatedly and therefore being home to an extended family. What about a city growing up on an ever-enlarging crannog? Lots of ideas from this one word.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crannog