Friday, 10 July 2015

Sorry . . . you live where?

This morning we idly noticed our ancient cat wandering in and out of the kitchen on his one mission: to pathetically ask for food, lick it a bit and walk away, only to return three minutes later and find the runty dog has snaffled it.
    "He needs a new brain," said Mark, "think he must have some sort of cat dementia."
    I smirked, remembering seeing something in the A to Z of the British Isles years ago.
    "Perhaps a trip to Catbrain, then . . . must be where they make them."
    "Catbrain?"

Yes there really is a place called Catbrain, even though google spell check keeps replacing it with Cambrian, whatever that is . . . Actually this is what it is (and I did A. level geography, and I got an E.)

The Cambrian (/ˈkæmbriən/ or /ˈkeɪmbriən/) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, lasting from 541.0 ± 1.0 to 485.4 ± 1.9 million years ago

Also is a hotel in the Swiss Alps.

So where is Catbrain, why is it there and is it known for the fabrication of replacement cat parts. Seemingly not.
It is, in fact, a small village near Bristol on a road noted for many car dealerships (imagine your dealer's number plate  badge - Catbrain rather than Northampton or Hackney) and has a new housing estate . . . whoopee! there must be something else there? A gothic church? A blue name plaque on a house celebrating a famous author/painter/vet? A pub called the Cat's Head?

A few other favourites:

Birdlip: Just such a wonderfully absurd name image wise. (Cotswolds)

Spital-in-the-street: (Lincolnshire) Spital being an old word for hospital.

Upholland (best said with a Liverpool accent)

And one that my son found the other day - 'Nothing', in Arizona.

Ashby-de-la-Zouch, (Leicestershire) - elegantly rolls off the tongue










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