Typo

A couple of years ago, I visited the Warstone Cemetery in Birmingham's Jewellery District. The name derives from a glacial erratic rock - the 'War Stone' - that pre-dates the cemetery. The stone is still there, with a plaque explaining that 'war' here means 'old', nothing to do with fighting. It is an ancient boundary stone and was therefore much revered. 'War' is a corruption of 'hoar'; we still use 'hoar' in this sense when we speak of 'hoary tales'. More specifically, the word was applied particularly to an old man having white hair and a beard, earning him, perhaps, a little respect. I haven't found a picture to upload as my profile yet; if I had, you might get a clue why I remembered all this.

It was suddenly clear why a frost that bedecks the hedgerows with rime is a 'hoar frost'. We have had several, but this is the first time I have spotted anything extreme enough to be worth a picture. The conditions above the surface of the frozen pond must have been just right. As an aside, this is the first winter we have had a garden pond; pond plants like this one that stay green all winter must have to be pretty tough!

The Warstone Cemetery is the last resting place of John Baskerville, entrepreneur, innovator, businessman and one of the notable successes of Birmingham's industrial explosion in the 18th century. A confirmed atheist, he explicitly instructed that he should be buried in unconsecrated ground, but his wishes were eventually over-ridden; I hope he haunts the place on hoary winter nights. Among other things, he was a printer, and the inventor of the Baskerville typeface, which does not look dated even today. Blip does not let us set our typeface, which is probably a good thing, but just today it would have been nice