Skip to main content

Two Questions in a Castle

R0010743 (Medium) ^ Guy's Tower of Warwick Castle through a battlement

The visit to Warwick Castle was an enlightening one.  I have a penchant for old buildings and history.  For that matter, I have read books about fortresses and Roman bath, etcetera.  So I literally ran around the castle with great gusto, clicking and clicking my camera.

R0010656 (Medium)

R0010658 (Medium)And there I went around by what was left of the moat, taking glimpses of the fortification the castle afforded the Earl's soldiers in guiding the building.  The weather was misty which just helped fan my imagination.  I went into different positions to assume how I could storm the castle from its weakest point if I had been the commander leading the invading army.

Soon afterwards I was on the other bank of the river flowing between two meadows which visitors were forbidden entry.  But there I was, enthusiastically taking pictures in the drizzling rain.

Of course I climbed up the towers.  And here comes the first question.

R0010660 (Medium)

If you've ever climbed up a tower of similar measure and architecture, you know that the steps leading up the towers are narrowly cascaded.  When you go up, it is in the clockwise fashion.  Why?

R0010662 (Medium)^I would be later on venturing into the opposite bank closed to visitors.  Here I was having flown a long way to UK, with the camera on hand, facing a beautiful scenery, with no one around.  So I had no choice but to do as my freewill dictated.

The answer to the first question is that when the invasion army went up the tower, it would become harder for them to fight right-handedly.  On contrary, it would be easier for the garrison soldiers to chop the invaders' arms and heads off going down the castle in an anti-clockwise fashion.   Also, it would be difficult to see when going up the narrow stairs and keeping on turning right. R0010687 (Medium)^The garden down below the chambers of the masters and mistresses in the high-rising medieval stone building within the castle.

The second question is, why do we call a wardrobe wardrobe?   Yes, it originates from the French word Garderobe.  But why?
 R0010708 (Medium)

The answer can be found here.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New Low Prices

The window shopping some hours ago has almost provoked my AgIDS illness.  Just in case you’re in Hong Kong or are coming here, and have the money to burn (All in HK$/ body only): GX200 = $3,280 GRD2 = $3,380 LX3 = $3,180 G10 = $3,280 Prices are available form a gear shop on the 1st floor of the Mongkok Computer Centre.   Besides these new low prices, I found that Wing Shing Photo (55-57Sai Yeung Choi St., MK Tel: 2396 6886/ 91-95 Fa Yuen St., MK  Tel: 2396 6885) is offering a Sony A700 + Carl Zeiss Lens package for HK$9,980 (hopefully, a bargain will make it some hundreds cheaper).

Ricoh Camera Giveaways and the New GRD Bet

The recent months have seen Ricoh’s heavy-handed promotional efforts.  Apart from the photo contest in collaboration with Greenpeace concluded some weeks ago in Hong Kong, there are three more chances for aspiring photographers to get free Ricoh cameras.  There are lots of Ricoh's cameras to be given away. (A poster about the photo contest co-organised by Ricoh, Greenpeace and Jurlique for Hong Kong only, which was concluded in May.  Winners are to be awarded with airtickets plus hotel accommodation, several fully-geared GX200 and CX1 cameras) Ninth Ricoh Photo Contest The first one is open to contestants from around the world, namely, the Ninth Ricoh Photo Contest to close on 21 August 2009.  The theme of the contest is easy on the surface, but actually requires some effort to ponder on and express in the final image. The prizes are: Main Award: GR DIGITAL II + optional lenses and accessories (one person) Special Award: GR DIGITAL II (5 person...

Eye Contact

(Leica D-lux 5) The digital era may make it easier to end up with fave shots. Even lousy photos may be turned likable after a few clicks in the post-processing workflow. But if digital advancement or amendments have any bearing on the cultivation of personal style, no photographers will need to discover his or her own photographer’s eye. Undoutedly, this is out of the question. Only with a trained photographer’s eye can we give a thinking gaze and capture an eternal moment, in our unique style. Style is the soul of a great photo. A few posts have been written in GXG to touch on the topic of photographer’s eye. Instead of finding an answer, which would require academic discussions, the posts are intended to give my general reflections and spark interests in moving towards further exploration of the topic.  The posts can be viewed after the links: 1) Photographer's Eye: Storytelling 2) Photographer's Eye: Little Show of Observing 3) Photographer's Eye: Sight-Worthy 4...