Was it was the extra 15 minutes that the 7.15 a.m. start allowed us that did the trick? Maybe so, but for once we had a full house, all fourteen active APAPS adherents, bright-eyed and ready to go, at Mira Rio. But first of all, there had a discreet little ceremony at break of dawn, with only a few onlookers, when Yves presented Janet with a very special pair of shoes with which, we are confident. she will grace the Lagos boulevards for years to come. `Nuff said.
The Starters: Jill, Myriam, Terry, Ingrid, Paul, Janet, Dina, Maria, Rod, Hazel, Antje, Chris, Yves, and JohnH: plus a close shaven Sascha and a carefully hidden Java.
The Track
The Statistics
Total distance: 7.48 kms. Total time: 2 hours 16 mins.
Moving time: 1 hour 45 mins. Average moving speed: 4.2 kph.
Total ascent: 238 metres.
This walk had been advertised as a variation on an old familiar theme, that is, a stroll round the Ilha do Rosario. And so it was. One wonders how many different ways there are of doing the canal circuit. On this occasion, we ignored Ingrid´s favourite hill, the old Maurice climb to the electricity pylon. We also ingored JohnH´s usual tortuous ascent to the uplands and stuck firmly to the low road, at least for the first half hour. This was just as well for Yves´s sake because he was lugging his heavy artillery, 10 foot lens and all.
His intention was to take some test telephoto shots of Silves castle, not the easiest trick to pull off when aiming straight into the early morning sun. His idea was then to go back in the evening to try again. Maybe by the time this blog is ready for publication, the results of his evening efforts will be available. But what he had not allowed for was the inescapable law of physics (Ferrer´s Principle or Sod´s Law) that an SLR camera doubles in weight with every 10 metres of ascent.
“To climb or not to climb?”
And sure enough, all good things come to an end, the leader insisting on a hill scramble. Cognoscenti such as Paul, Rod, Myriam and Janet were well prepared in long trousers. Those who preferred to show off their tanned legs by wearing shorts bore the full onslaught of the prickly stuff.
Deep in it. Once that ascent had been accomplished, it was but a gentle amble along the paths towards the Campismo. Good to see that the squatters´ shacks and run-down caravans that used to disfigure the slopes above the camp site were no longer there.
We did not stop at the Clube Nautico – little point in doing so, the bar is never open –but pressed on along the canal banks at some speed.
For once, the tide was in and the Arade was full.
Nature-photographer Hazel was hoping to catch sight again of the snake she saw in the canal last time, but all she got was a conglomeration of minute black water insects and some drought resistant thistles.
Back at Mira Rio in good time, we sat down to the usual very promptly served breakfast – woe betide us if we are ever late at this venue - with Maria as always doing a great job bringing the plates out, specially attentive to Paul´s needs, making sure that he was served first and had an adquate supply of coffee. How does he do it?
Then Myriam risked life and limb to take an aerial photo of the group. No artistic close-ups of the food this time but rest assured, it was up to the usual standard. Plus figs from Horta Terry.
A little puppy attracted some attention.
What was noticeable about this walk was that the participants had clearly taken to heart the warnings against unneccesssary levity that had been issued at the start of the season. Today. conversation was restrained, both during the walk and at the breakfast afterwards. Topics covered included the comparative sagacity of Rod´s donkeys and horse; the Bible; the emergence of flesh-eating bacteria (Necrotizing Fasciitis) in British hospitals; Tilley hats (of course); and the BBC´s latest TV thriller “Bodyguard”, apparently its biggest hit of the decade.
Your blogger has to admit to being unconvinced by the basic premise of this show, which is that of a female British Home Secretary who, having responsibilty for the performance of all British security services and in order to assess the state of readiness of the whole lot, decides to do a spot check and to bonk just one of them (who happens to be her personal bodyguard).
This surely is a classic illustration of one of the two Fallacies of Illicit Transference as adumbrated by Aristotle (the original Aristotle, that is, not the APAPS facsimile Aristurtle) in his Sophistical Refutations. In this work, as is well known, Aristotle demolishes a total of 13 argumentative fallacies. The second of these two Fallacies of Illicit Transference is the Fallacy of Composition in which the proponent illogically argues that what is true of the part is necessarily true of the whole. This false logic is also known as “arguing from the particular to the general.” In truth, this one bodyguard may be up to it, but the rest of the security forces may fall down asleep on the job.
In addition to her logical fallability, this Home Secretary is always complaining of having a lot of late night paper work but she doesn´t seem to have very much of it to do. There were more parliamentary red boxes on view in Jim Hacker´s “Yes Minister “ than in this show, ineffective though he was. No, this lady wouldn´t get my vote.
Myriam ponders a Confusian response to the Aristotlean dogma
2 comments:
"...the Fallacy of Composition in which the proponent illogically argues that what is true of the part is necessarily true of the whole. This false logic is also known as “arguing from the particular to the general.”
How true! Anyone who has ever argued with the present Mrs. Aristipple will testify to that…
That said, lugging heavy imaging clobber was made easier during this outing thanks to the carefully selected flat profile: merci M. le Leader! Lack of technical know-how prevents the publication of one relatively successful view os Silves, to the relief of the group...
From Latin to Greek. These blogs have no bounds. A fine exposition of the Fallacy of composition, which in some senses can be true. But I have in my library, pictures of sculptures of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. They all have beards; ergo All Greek Philosophers have beards! This in fact is true.
A Fallacy I admire is the relativist fallacy. For example if I say that the coords of Mira Rio are N37 11.226 and W008 29.267 then you could not refute that by saying "It may be true for you but not for me!" which is a fallacy whether you use a different format or not. However were I to say, " Mira Rio has the best Full English in the Algarve " It would not be a fallacy for you to say, "It may be for you, but I prefer the breakfast served at Retiro dos Pescadores" You see at the end of the day, it all comes down to breakfast!
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