Anemos'n'Measure

Anemos'n'Measure

Dream of K.

Context: morning, 15/04/22, Bidston Observatory, collective kitchen, looking through east window, 9.23am

Dream: I'm in my room at work; people are coming to ask me for things; disturbing me; there are more and more people in my room - the yellow room = 1.11 - I'm working there and I don't want to be annoyed, but they keep coming in and asking me for more and more attention, help, care.

I shout; I want them to leave; but they keep coming into the yellow room and asking for affection, touching me.

I seized into a fit of madness; I'm in a crisis and I lose track of everything; I go to the cabin on top of the observatory to stop it all.

Without knowing which way, without knowing how or what, the seizure makes me fall from the roof and I die.

Witness

Yesterday we were celebrating M.'s birthday around the campfire. We talked about death. How do you deal with the death of a friend who chooses to die and asks you to accompany him? Should we, like Dame Marjorie "Maude" Chardin, adopt a carefree attitude to death?

When we left we let the fire burn out. After the authorities were notified that our evening was over, the fire was still smouldering. S., who was separating the fresh red logs with his foot, said that the fire could not be dangerous any more. And everyone went back to their rooms. The next day, and until the end of it, the fire gave off clouds of suspended particles, some of which were volutes, others thicker and more misty.

This morning, as I was writing these lines, a fire engine approached the site with its siren wailing: it left after a few minutes.

- Joyce? Was there always a threat of fire on Bidston Hill?

=> Bidston weather record for the 23rd April show that the minimum temperature overnight was 42.4°F. There was no rain. So we can rule out the possibility of John Hartnup slipping on an icy or wet surface. The wind was fresh and from a westerly direction between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m., so a gust may have contributed to the fall, but the suggestion of an attack of dizziness seems the most likely explanation for his fall

=> That tragic fate of the late Mr. Hartnup has created profound sympathy in all directions.

Mr H. endeared with all with whom he came in contact.

A chat with him on the working and benefits of the Observatory under his charge was a rare treat to a non-scientific man. He was always ready to answer questions, and had the power of making scientific explanations intelligible to ordinary work-a-day folk

p.124

=> the report does not tell which of the 3 doors was opened

=> it is not possible to know on which side of the building the Director fell

=> the courtyard is the nearest one to the living accommodation, so it may be that he fell into the courtyard

=> Lately he had been subjected to severe attacks of dizziness; He became dazed; A man who arrived at the deceased’s time of life had not considered it a part of his duty to make a representation of the danger

20 inches high; 20-inch wall; On the previous day; When; When; In the shortest possible time; p.123

It seems that it was part of Mr. Hartnup’s duty to inspect from time to time, day and night, the anemometers which are placed on the flat roof of the building, and which register automatically the force and direction of the wind. The driving portions of these instruments are a set of fan wheels and a set of cups, so arranged as to catch the wind; and in the lower rooms the motions are registered by pencils upon drums of prepared paper. In order to ensure accuracy in the calculations it is absolutely necessary that this fan wheels and cups are continually moving; and accordingly Mr. Hartnup went up to the roof between six and seven o’clock on Thursday morning to examine them as he was accustomed to do

Meantime; Every minute; Waiting; Immediately; While; Arrival p.122

Doctor’s opinion

=> Mr. Hardnup had been looking up towards the instruments, and that in stepping backwards to obtain a better view

=> being seized

=> over-balanced himself

A depth of 31 feet; Walking against the coping stone (which is comparatively low) Same evening; When; When; 50 years of age; life to be extinct; from time to time, day and night; Met with a fearful and untimely death at an early hour in the morning

p.121

……………………………………………………………………………………………………

The funeral took place on Monday afternoon, April 25th at the Bidston churchyard […] A distance of about half a mile, over rough ground, particularly as the weather report tells us that there was a strong W’ly or WNW’ly wind blowing that afternoon.