APAPS 21.9: Back to Aristotle

 

You may remember that, in last week´s Blog, we discussed the memory recall capabilities and the sex life of cuttlefish. The first recorded research into cuttlefish was by the philosopher Aristotle (no stranger to these pages). So how was it that a philosopher came to study cuttlefish? Well, Aristotle had been the star pupil at Plato´s Academy in Athens and, when Plato died in 347 BC, he had hopes of becoming head of the Academy in Plato´s stead: But the top job was given to Plato´s nephew so, in a huff, Aristotle gave up philosophising and went off to the island of Lesbos where he spent three years studying the biology, zoology and botany of the island. He was the first to categorize animals etc into species.

A lot of his research was done in a sea lagoon which cuts deep into the island of Lesbos, and there is a very interesting BBC series (which you can find on YouTube) called "Aristotle´s Lagoon" which is very well worth watching.

I don´t know how the Ancient Greeks kept track of time in those days – they certainly did not have clocks or smartphones – but one presumes that they had some way of turning up on time for a meeting or whatever. It is a pity that their secrets in this respect have not been passed down to our very own Aristotle who surprised us all this past Wednesday in not only not being the first on the scene, but the last. 

Never mind - a timely reminder that the mornings are getting darker and that we should start later.

It was in fact quite a gloomy morning as we assembled at Para e Fica and took our coffees and the Starter photo.

We began the walk with a scramble up a steep wooded hillside.

It´s a depressing thought, but that was about the only unspoilt bit of wooded scenery we were to come across all morning. From the various viewpoints on the ridge that we traversed after that, all we could see were bare terraced hills. 

We tried to amuse ourselves with balancing walking poles on marker stones

with practising Chinese calligraphy in the very thick powdery dust

and, inevitably, with balancing stones upon stones.

But in the end it was all too depressing. After all the logging the Aquas Belas valley will be a desolate scene for at least three or four years to come. There is little point in even taking photographs of what Rod aptly describes as like an opencast mine.

So, without any more of this gloom, it was back to Par e Fica where the five walkers were met by the five non-walkers, in alphabetical order, Andy, Antje, Chris, Hazel and Paul, all ready for breakfast at ten, and where things were a lot more cheery.

Senhora Eva served up the usual ample quantities of bacon eggs and buttered toast. Coffees seemed to present something of a problem, I don´t know why. Is it because Brazilian coffee terminology differs a little bit from Algarvean? But Paul got what he wanted eventually.

Last week, at Mira Rio, Yves had missed his bacon. Here he got full recompense - extra bacon plus !

The Track and the Statistics

I was surprised at the distance – I had estimated that it would be only 6 kms.

And now to last weeks quiz.

Correct answers from Myriam and Paul. Quite what blood groups have to do with NATO, I do not know.

and now this week´s quiz. What is the connection between these four words?

Dead simple – this one.

Finally two bits of video: One  a request by Paul for a dissertation on tobacco

and secondly, a return performance by Ray Jessel whose song about his girl friend´s extra bit of equipment Hazel found so amusing two weeks ago. This one is more polite.