A real head scratcher...
QUESTION Scientifically, how does scratching your head help your thought process when solving a problem?
HEAD scratching is thought to be a displacement activity that brings comfort. The familiarity of a routine behaviour and the comfort of physical touch can help calm you in a stressed situation.
A 2017 study at Portsmouth University suggests head scratching might be an outward manifestation of an animal’s emotional state and, as such, might provide a social function.
They found that macaques scratch their heads when stressed, which acts as a signal that makes other macaques less likely to attack or harass them.
Head scratching might act as a warning to keep away when we’re deep in thought.
Sally Walker, Oxford.
QUESTION Are there any abandoned railways in Britain with the rails still in place?
THERE are several railway lines, some up to several miles long, which are not in use, but still have the rails in place.
Usually, lines closed before and during the Beeching cuts had their rails taken up quickly. This was ostensibly done for the scrap value of the rails and resale value of the land, but many believe it was also done to remove any chance of reinstatement.
There followed a lot of building and road development on many sites, making it unlikely the rail routes could be restored. British Rail and its successors were less keen to take up the track. Freight services continued on many lines for decades after passenger services were axed, and now some of these have been mothballed with the track left in place.
Notable examples include Gaerwen to Amlwch, Gobowen to Oswestry, Blaenau Ffestiniog to Trawsfynydd, Leek to Stoke, March to Wisbech, and Thornton to Leven, which are subject to proposals for reopening as part of the national network or heritage lines.
Other lines with their track left in situ are officially abandoned. An example in Surrey is the line from Woodside to Sanderstead, which was closed in 1983.
The northern section was reinstated in 2000 as part of Croydon Tramlink, but the southernmost mile has been left to nature.
Bob Bell, Croydon, Surrey. THE line from West Kirby to Hooton was a victim of the Beeching cuts and has become the Wirral Way for walkers, cyclists and horse riders.
However, the track has been retained at Willasaton station for the length of the platform. The station has been renovated to its 1950s heyday and is worth a visit.
Richard Barlow, Wirral. THE track survives that once took travellers along New Holland Pier to connect with the ferries to Hull before the opening of the Humber Bridge in 1981.
On the other side of the Humber, you can see rails embedded in the tarmac from the narrow gauge Spurn Head Railway, which featured in Andrew Martin’s novel, The Somme Stations.
Tim Mickleburgh, Grimsby.
A SECTION of the former Wye Valley Railway, which closed in stages from 1959 to 1992, had almost two miles of rails surviving until recently, including through the 1,086-metre Tidenham tunnel.
The trackbed has been converted to the Wye Valley Greenway foot and cyclepath, with only 600 metres of overgrown rails near Sedbury. Rails remain through the disused 2.4km Victoria tunnel in Liverpool, the former North Staffordshire Railway between Silverdale and Keele and at the long disused Llanthony Swing Bridge in Gloucester.
Mike Anderson, Worcester.
QUESTION How did British Olympic sailing and show jumping competitors get their boats and horses to Tokyo?
THIS was a major logistical challenge. As well as 12 horses, sailing boats, canoes and rowing shells (as they are known), Team GB had 13 rigid inflatable boats (RIBS) with outboard motors to
provide support on the water. As well as all the sporting equipment for the other events, the team took 13,000 rounds of ammunition, 132 sofas, 40,000 tea bags, 28 deckchairs and a red telephone box. For the horses alone there were eight tonnes of haylage (a replacement for hay) and six tonnes of feed, plus their favourite treat – 450 tubes of Polo mints.
Very few of the competitors carried anything other than their personal clothing in their luggage. Everything else was air or sea freighted, including team uniforms. Thirty shipping containers were used.
The horses were transported in a freight Boeing 747 fitted with stalls to prevent the animals from moving about and harming themselves or placing the aircraft at risk. Stable staff and a vet travelled with them.
Before departing, the horses went through a mandatory oneweek quarantine, but didn’t have to isolate on arrival. They travelled by road to Liege, Belgium, before flying to Japan with horses from other competing nations.
Sailing boats and all the other sporting paraphernalia were shipped in containers for a fiveweek journey. Masts were removed while in transit and some were broken down into shorter sections for easier handling. Except the equestrians, competitors had reserve equipment in Britain so they could continue training until their departure for Tokyo.
The person responsible for getting all the horses for Team GB to Tokyo and back again was the Chef d’Equipe (chief of equipment) Di Lampard MBE. Mark England, chef de mission for Team GB, was responsible for the overall logistics.
Robert Sutherland, Northampton.
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