In 1954, my mother married my stepfather Septimus Charlton. He wanted to give a present to his new father-in-law, Vincent Ward, from whom I get my name. Impressed by the coat of arms, he used the design to make a 3d model in Perspex sheets, using available colours. My sister keeps it as an heirloom.
as photographed in my sister’s house. The crest is a hand catching a spear before it hits anyone in the big house, as an illustration of “Ward”, meaning guard or protectmotto restored amateurishly using a pen, also sharpening the fleurs de lis
using CorelDraw, I was able to restore the broken spearhead and also put on the Latin motto meaning “faithful even unto death”my son William, using a magic app on his phone, converted the picture and got this. The spearhead points the wrong way. Such is that know-it-all AI, but it gave me an idea…… I asked him to change the spear to a pen-nib. We put the motto into Latin—the pen is mightier than the sword. I now have a personal coat of arms……then he speedily generated a coat of arms for Karleen, who comes from Jamaica, land of hummingbirds, mangoes, breadfruit, sugar cane and rum. Her career in England was based in hospitals. And what is this mysterious loaf, with Ubuntu on a scroll? I think of the interconnectedness of all things.*
which puts me in mind of Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently:
“Let’s think the unthinkable, let’s do the undoable. Let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.”
“There is no point in using the word ‘impossible’ to describe something that has clearly happened.”
“Sherlock Holmes observed that once you have eliminated the impossible then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.”
a wayfarer’s notes 