RHDR Centenary

 A few days ago, on the 26th May, was the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Light Railway.

From the supporters association:

100 years ago - 26th May 1926, the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway was granted a Light Railway Order by the Ministry of Transport.

As the proposed route of the railway would cross public roads and create a need to purchase land from multiple landowners, a Light Railway Order was required - this was applied for in November 1925.

Once granted, this incorporated the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Light Railway Company as a statutory public utility undertaking, gave it powers to construct and work the proposed railway and also included compulsory purchase powers over the land required (which ultimately had to be used to acquire six plots of land on the proposed route).

Below are photographs of construction during 1926/27 with No. 4 The Bug operating Permanent Way duties.

And also, nowadays:

30,000 Redux

 Well, we think we solved it all...

30,000

 So, today's Cryptic Crossword in the Guardian was number 30,000.  

For which the paper prepared a real challenge.

Note:  There are many spoilers below!

...

....

Crossword No 30,000 was by Arachne (aka the Spider Woman).  Having solved it, the answers at top and bottom point the solver to the perimeter of the Quick Crossword.


...

Which is a Nina, presenting a cryptic clue.

...

Solving which points you to today's Editorial (The Guardian View).  Which is a lovely piece, worth reading, about the Guardian Cryptic Crosswords in particular, with lots of links (eg to an old interview with Arachne).

But that isn't all...

...

One of the answers to Cryptic 30,000 is "Acrostic".  And the first letters of each paragraph of the Editorial form an Acrostic.

Which reads:

...

LAST THIRTY FIVE PRIMES.

...

And then (this from a post by "Askival" to the estimable Fifteensquared Website):

 If you look at the bottom row of the cryptics whose numbers are the 35 primes before 30,000 (going all the way back to 2/1/2025!) you get:

29581 WELL DONE
29587 BRAVO
29599 HERE
29611 IN CONCLUSION
29629 IS OUR F
29633 INAL CH
29641 ALLENG
29663 E ARE YOU
29669 KEEPING UP GREAT
29671 THERE WI
29683 LL BE A WON
29717 DERF
29723 UL PRIZ
29741 E BUT FIR
29753 ST YOU M
29759 UST ENT
29761 ER A RAC
29789 E NOT A N
29803 ACTUAL ATHLETIC
29819 RACE OF C
29833 OURSE TH
29837 AT WOULD
29851 BE WEIRD
29863 NOT THAT
29867 IT’S A CER
29873 EBRAL RA
29879 CE IN THE
29881 FORM OF A
29917 CROSSWORD PUZZLE
29921 IT’S A GEN
29927 IUS PUBL
29947 ISHED AT
29959 NOON BST
29983 TOMORROW
29989 GODSPEED

So this has been planned for well over a year, and continues with a GENIUS puzzle tomorrow.
They are notoriously hard...

Arcadia

 Arcadia at the Old Vic was very good. 

In many ways a companion piece to Stoppard's Indian Ink, with its parallel stories of modern-day literary researchers and the lived lives in the past (which they misunderstand).  

But whereas the earlier play used art and literature as its ostensible subject, in Arcadia there is a rich discussion of mathematics and chaos theory.

We enjoyed this muchly.  A strong production, with a lot to untangle (and some good jokes).