Elizabeth Stour!

Who chose this name?

Parents? Elizabeth?

One way to choose this name would be to start with the name of the current monarch of England, that as a first name. Then look at a map of the country and hit on the name of a minor river. Look for the Stour. The river next door is the Orwell. George was the name of an earlier monarch. That is one story, perhaps more interesting than many of the possible stories.

Elizabeth stopped now for a coffee.

Inhalation is a major function.

Housework is hard work.

Housework means inhaling spray polish fumes, dust, stuff for cleaning baths and sinks. Breathe all in deeply. Then bring a cup of instant coffee, biscuits in addition. Tea feels more healthy than coffee, it probably isn't really but is more of a fuss made?

Anyway, you sit somewhere with a mug of coffee and stop cleaning. Elizabeth doesn't feels as if she was relaxing. Just doing something different for a few minutes.

If you don't accept that this was the way the name was chosen, even constructed, in other words accepting the algorithm for name choosing, you still don't get an answer to the question; who chose the name Elizabeth? Who might have chosen this name? If the parents chose it you might wonder at their choice of algorithm. Pick a name from the bible is more common. You might wonder at their use of an algorithm. Knew the footsteps they followed. The previous user of the algorithm with almost the same co-ordinates is just another coincidence.

Just another coincidence?

In which case, are the images the name conjures accident or irrelevant?

  • Tough lass from the northern hills. Sees through the south like an x-ray through flesh. No nonsense prose about lives real as a Weardale shipyard. Events bolted to the earth like the Gateshead Metro Centre. The North starts somewhere around the Humber. Leeds, Bradford, York, Manchester are all scattered around the North Midlands. She doesn't hate the South. Just feels sorry for the poor sods who have to live there.
  • Ageing writer of historical romances. Accurate. Up market. Lives in a smart suburb. Soft spoken, generous, hardworking. Not poor, not broke, but nearly so. Now has books in every room to keep her husbands memory alive. He had that ambition. Writes in an old wooden desk in the front bedroom window every morning. Pencil in old cheap notebooks.
  • Young serious, committed graduate. Writes and researches social issues. Very specific on lifestyle. Lifestyle as political statement. Goes to a lot of meetings and always speaks, loud and usually to the point. Is known for opinions on almost anything or rather can usually produce an opinion for everything she doesn't already have an opinion for.

If the choice were Elizabeth's then one of the possibilities has nothing to do with coincidence. Read some letters and journalism of a famous writer, discover this, his, name construction algorithm and reapply in the present. The monarch is now Elizabeth. The river is the Stour. It shares the same estuary.

Suppose Elizabeth constructed the name herself having discovered the algorithm in a book of letters and journalism? Work out some implications.

Elizabeth Stour is not her real name!

Is Elizabeth an admirer of or influenced by the person who first used the algorithm? Does she wish to emulate this person? Is she aware of the work of this person or perhaps just the name construction algorithm. She might be that person transposed into the current situation. Might be a reincarnation. Might be the same person in another possible world doing all this for the first time.

No more than ten minutes for coffee.

Carry on with the cleaning. Leave mopping the kitchen floor till last. Perhaps iron a few shirts. Always start with the collar. Cleaning stairs is best wit6h a small hand brush, finishing at the bottom. Little routines within other routines. Start from the points of the collar and work in. Routines within routines without knowing it as a general rule. Part of the culture of all work. Most work? Algorithms of the workplace. This workplace.

If Elizabeth Stour is a pen name or nickname then Elizabeth might not be a woman. We just call him/her Elizabeth and say she because we know of no other choice or construction of name. Of course she includes he so this is no clue or choice. Perhaps there will be more to find out later.

Finished! This often means being in the basement kitchen. Putting away a few things. Making sure not to leave footprints on the black and white chequered floor.

Making sure to leave on time.

So often it is a black and white chequered tiled floor.

One way out is to assume Elizabeth Stour is some kind of alias or pen name.

Elizabeth is perhaps new to the city and, to support herself, she works such menial situations for an agency.

Or ...

Elizabeth is a journalist or investigator of some sort researching a particular social issue or trying to see the lives particular people from the inside of their view of the city. Gathering material for a piece on the exploitation of migrant workers. Exploitation of recent arrivals from the provinces and elsewhere.

This was not her house.

That is certain.

Assuming she is a housewife was groundless.

She is ...