Where are you, nordmann? If you have decided that we are beyond help and have abandoned this place, your creation, in disgust or just boredom then fine, that is your right, but I would like reassurance that your absence is not due to something more serious and worrying. Without your presence I feel like a squatter in someone's home, taking advantage, so if you do read this,could you please acknowledge that you are OK?
If you don't reply then we will all be genuinely and deeply concerned.

It is summer though, possibly Nordmann is just away on holidays?

Deleted. My post appeared twice for some reason.

You're probably right but I hate it when when people just drop out of sight for no obvious reason, it unsettles me.Maybe I'm just controlling or an inherent pessimist.
I miss the grouchy old bugger!

He's probably strolling round some ancient site in Greece or Turkey or somewhere, dazzling all the other tourists with his historical knowledge. Hope so, even if we meanwhile are bereft.

But then again, I do hope we haven't all seriously p*ssed him off with some of our comments on the Ley Lines thread. I know he was understandably extremely annoyed with me there - something I very much regret.

I also wish I hadn't said he was like Sir Humphrey Appleby now; but that was actually a compliment (I'm just jealous of his very impressive command of English).

I wonder if I go into full belief-bubble-of-glowiness-mode on my Losing Weight Easily the Too-Much-On-Your-Plato Way thread, and start rambling on about spiritual food (plus giving loads and loads of appropriate biblical references) he'll be so furious he'll be goaded into responding? Probably not - and the rest of you would no doubt all disappear.

I remember a few years back when nord went off on his peregrinations over the summer he returned to find I'd got you all discussing your favourite hymns here. I think we even had YouTubes of Praise To the Holiness In the Height and Now Thank We All Our God. He's never forgiven me for that.


But please come back soon, sir! We all miss you dreadfully, Humphrey - honestly!


Bernard Woolley: Well, I wondered if there was anything the Res His posters don't know?
Sir Humphrey Appleby: Well, I hardly know where to begin, Bernard.

... and while we are on the subject of absent friends, where's Gil? He hasn't made an appearance for some time, and he was usually a fairly regular contributor. And Normanhurst hasn't popped up for quite some time too.

Perhaps it is just the holiday/busy season ... but like Ferval I worry when people just disappear.

ferval wrote:

Where are you, nordmann? If you have decided that we are beyond help and have abandoned this place, your creation, in disgust or just boredom then fine, that is your right, but I would like reassurance that your absence is not due to something more serious and worrying. Without your presence I feel like a squatter in someone's home, taking advantage, so if you do read this,could you please acknowledge that you are OK?  
If you don't reply then we will all be genuinely and deeply concerned.

Ferval,

"If you have decided that we are beyond help and have abandoned this place, your creation, in disgust or just boredom then fine, that is your right, but I would like reassurance that your absence is not due to something more serious and worrying."

I couldn't agree more.

In the first case:
If you are lurking to us or abandonned the site completely without warning us, then I am deeply disgusted.
In the second case:
If you are seriously ill could you please acknowlegde us about your situation or by interference of a friend.
I hope seriously that it is even not the worst...

About the first case:
I have contacted Triceratops on Historum about his preposition to move to his ex-beeb site. I just saved all the threads over here were I contributed to. What's the opinion of the contributors?

PS: Temperance, yesterday to a 50 year wedding anniversary and busy the day before too, see you this evening. And have now to leave immediately again...

Kind regards to all the contributors, who I consider all as my friends.

Is that YOUR 50th wedding anniversary, PR? If so, congratulations to you and your wife.

Perhaps if I went away, chaps........ at this point you break into a chorus of "Marta...." etc but that might work. But I think he is bigger than that - or used to be anyway. We can only hope that it is not a serious situation that is no business of ours that keeps him away. Perhaps he just does not want to play here anymore which is very sad but happens - and like ferv, yes, one does have a sense of trespass using the site now And the games are not quite the same, are they?

LadyinRetirement wrote:

Is that YOUR 50th wedding anniversary, PR?  If so, congratulations to you and your wife.

my message is "verswunden" say the Germans
"no post modified" when I pushed the "preview"
I start again


Lady in retirement,

no, no...we..."respectably together" (as they call it overhere) for some 34 years, both married before...that are perhaps the new times...
the couple of the 50th anniversary (married along the old methods) have a son married to a son in law (not before the church but for the law, what happened if they had lived in Poland?) and they have now an adopted child from three months and the son was present yesterday evening...that are perhaps the newest times...

Kind regards from your friend Paul.

[quote="PaulRyckier"]

ferval wrote:

About the first case:
I have contacted Triceratops on Historum about his preposition to move to his ex-beeb site. I just saved all the threads over here were I contributed to. What's the opinion of the contributors?

I saw your message Paul.
The Exbeeb site is available to everyone who is a) a member of Historum and b) received an invitation to join Exbeeb. This will apply to most of the members here but not all. For anyone who wants to join, the process is easy enough.

I would suggest we only use Exbeeb as a last resort. While Res is functioning, I don't see we need to change anything.
I have been busy with other things and have not spent much time either here or on Historum, a situation which will carry on for a little while yet.

Do you know what I think? I think nord's sold us. I can just imagine some bespectacled young computer nerd in an Oslo bar showing an interest in a quaint old site like Res His, and nord offering to swap us for three pints of Guinness, two Bushmills chasers and a packet of pork scratchings. Not quite a mess of pottage, but nearly.

I do hope not - maybe the truth is that the poor lad is poorly. Hope that's not the case either but, like ferval and MM, I just wish he'd let us know what's going on.

Having a thread devoted to oneself is very impressive. Ferval should have called this Nordmann Thread 1 - we could have had it up there along with Moggy Thread 3.

PS We have a new member who joined our happy band last month: wallet255. What an interesting name - welcome, wallet.

Is there a market in secondhand message boards? BCE-bay, We Buy Any Old Meanderings.com, Autohist? How might it be described? "In fair mechanical order but some components may be wearing out and need replacing soon"? "Used daily but bodywork not what it was?" "Would trade in for a newer model"?

I'm third row up, second from the right. Can you spot yourself, ferval and MM and Priscilla?

That's quite an artistic photo really - Scrapped and Cubed History Site Posters Assorted. Perhaps I should put it on your What Is Art? thread.

Seriously, people do flog websites, even small ones like this.

https://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/266/how-to-sell-a-website-how-much-is-your-website-worth/

I have no real idea about this sort of thing, but the statistics nord has given us elsewhere show there is a fair amount of interest/traffic around Res Historica, and we do have a lot of those "banner" adverts* displayed every day. Do they make money?

All fair enough, but it would be nice to know if a sale or a transfer has indeed been effected. I have no objection whatsoever to contributing to a site that makes money for nord - he has put so much time and effort into this place that has, after all, proved immensely enjoyable and rewarding for us all - but not so sure I want to be involved in an enterprise run by a complete stranger who never takes part in the discussions. Then again, this could well be wild speculation and utter nonsense on my part. Probably is.


EDIT: That Kickers advert is driving me mad - the last 48 hours of their 20% off everything sale has been going on for days and days now,...

Temperance wrote:

Seriously, people do flog websites, even small ones like this.

https://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/266/how-to-sell-a-website-how-much-is-your-website-worth/

I have no real idea about this sort of thing, but the statistics nord has given us elsewhere show there is a fair amount of interest/traffic around Res Historica, and we do have a lot of those "banner" adverts* displayed every day. Do they make money?

All fair enough, but it would be nice to know if a sale or a transfer has indeed been effected. I have no objection whatsoever to contributing to a site that makes money for nord - he has put so much time and effort into this place that has, after all, proved immensely enjoyable and rewarding for us all - but not so sure I want to be involved in an enterprise run by a complete stranger who never takes part in the discussions. Then again, this could well be wild speculation and utter nonsense on my part. Probably is.


EDIT: That Kickers advert is driving me mad - the last 48 hours of their 20% off everything sale has been going on for days and days now,...

Temperance,

I have no such advertisements, but when I want to add for instance a youtube it doesn't work. And then appears a text beneath "there is only save content represented" Then I have to ask I think for unsafe content and then it is possible to enter the youtube. Than it says "again" and then a second time appears the youtube again in the "preview". But I think if you put "send" it is again "save" and no advertisements anymore...I think to see all the youtubes in the several threads that you have to go on "unsave"?

Kind regards from Paul.

Paul, I am not conversant with the ins and outs of YouTube but a few years back when I was practising British Sign Language I found I was better at doing fingerspelling myself than reading it when done by other people. I found a player that would enable one to play YouTube videos at a reduced speed but some of the fingerspelling videos wouldn't function in the slow player. I tried to work out why that was and I think some YouTube content creators put in something that prevents their video from being played in another medium, so maybe that goes for posting it in another medium also. That is only me surmising.

But that's only me surmising.

Oh dear, I'm afraid nordmann must make nothing from me, I run adblock on all my devices so am spared all those tempting offers wherever I click. Perhaps I should pause it on this site and generate a few fractions of a penny when I log in but doesn't that just go to the hosting company rather than the 'owner' of the forum anyway?

Seriously though, I'm getting more and more concerned about his absence, it's nearly two months since he showed face here. Has anyone tried pm-ing him or visited anywhere else where he contributes?

ferval wrote:

Oh dear, I'm afraid nordmann must make nothing from me, I run adblock on all my devices so am spared all those tempting offers wherever I click. Perhaps I should pause it on this site and generate a few fractions of a penny when I log in but doesn't that just go to the hosting company rather than the 'owner' of the forum anyway?

Well, I did say my speculations about money and us having been put on the transfer market were probably nonsense, didn't I?

ferval wrote:

Seriously though, I'm getting more and more concerned about his absence, it's nearly two months since he showed face here. Has anyone tried pm-ing him or visited anywhere else where he contributes?

Paul seems to think that nordmann may have gone to meet his Maker. Not a matter for joking, I know, but surely most unlikely as someone is maintaining the site. But I do hope most sincerely he is not ill.

If, however, nordmann is maintaining the site from beyond the grave, and now knows if there is something up (or down) there, I should be most grateful if he would let us - me in particular - know.

If I have been right all along about this, I promise not to gloat and say I told you so.

Oh dear, I suppose these are tasteless and inappropriate comments, but nothing like an attempt at black humour when you're worried about someone.

OK, I have taken it upon myself to email him asking if he could reassure us that he is still extant - not in those words of course. I'll see if there is any response.

Isn't it strange to think that, long after we are all dead, these ramblings will still linger on for as long as as the internet endures. A strange kind of immortality.

Best of luck, Ferval. We'll see what happens.

Not quite a message in a bottle:

Toy ship sails to Norway

ferval wrote:

OK, I have taken it upon myself to email him asking if he could reassure us that he is still extant - not in those words of course. I'll see if there is any response.

Oh, well done, you. He could actually be working away somewhere remote - in the arctic wilds or something, of course, with no internet.

ferval wrote:

Isn't it strange to think that, long after we are all dead, these ramblings will still linger on for as long as as the internet endures. A strange kind of immortality.

Ah - the metaphorical interpretation of resurrection and eternal life - see my fave bishop, old Spongy...  

I do so long for a good row with nordmann about religion, even if I always do get well squashed. Ah, those were the days...

He might be doing a Viking re-enactment in North-East England ...

Nordmanni - Viking, Saxon & Celtic Living History

Or p'raps we should all threaten to wear these unless he consents to come back?

We could have a "Release Nordmann" silent vigil somewhere - you know, wearing our I Love Nord sweatshirts (as shown above) and bringing balloons and teddy bears and tea-lights, plus messages scrawled in felt-tip referring to our desperate sadness without him.

Then we could all hold hands and sing mournful ditties - all the while looking brave and determined to Carry On Stoically until he is returned to us.

EDIT: If you are able to read this, sir, please understand it really is all friendly teasing because we are worried about you.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

Paul, I am not conversant with the ins and outs of YouTube but a few years back when I was practising British Sign Language I found I was better at doing fingerspelling myself than reading it when done by other people.  I found a player that would enable one to play YouTube videos at a reduced speed but some of the fingerspelling videos wouldn't function in the slow player.  I tried to work out why that was and I think some YouTube content creators put in something that prevents their video from being played in another medium, so maybe that goes for posting it in another medium also.  That is only me surmising.

But that's only me surmising.

Lady in retirement, thank you for your surmising.

Kind regards from your friend Paul.

ferval wrote:

OK, I have taken it upon myself to email him asking if he could reassure us that he is still extant - not in those words of course. I'll see if there is any response.

Isn't it strange to think that, long after we are all dead, these ramblings will still linger on for as long as as the internet endures. A strange kind of immortality.

 Have you his E-mail Ferval? I tried without result on the private messages...

Kind regards from your friend Paul.

Temperance wrote:

"Paul seems to think that nordmann may have gone to meet his Maker. Not a matter for joking, I know, but surely most unlikely as someone is maintaining the site. But I do hope most sincerely he is not ill."

Ill or worser? If you remember Nordmann was absent for a (forthnight?) and when he was back he said something like: I am so glad to be among the living a round for everyone or something like that. No time to all seek it in the forum...The difficulty with Nordmann is that he is always so "ironic". You never know if he is serious or if he is making a joke...
From the other end: in the discussion with Priscilla if she would stay or not in the Quo vadis thread about the forum, I have a vague rememberance that he let understand that he would leave instead of Priscilla? Again no time to seek it in the forum. I lost already a lot of time on Priscilla's slogan thread, that I have still to implement.

"Have gone to meet his Maker"

Dear Temperance, perhaps I am a bit superstitious (it is so difficult to be free from old time beliefs, in which one was embedded ), but the last three years I have seen pass away that many people, even on the fora. On Jiglu Erik Lindsay from the old BBC, on the forum Passion Histoire a certain Alain G. that I had learned during the years to estimate, on the forum Tribune Histoire a Pétainist that I mentioned in the thread Case Yellow/Case Red. But I have never met the occasion of an owner of a forum...
And during the year at the kidney dialysis also three (agreed they had all something else than a kidney deficiency, but nevertheless) two women and a man. The first (after one week at dialysis) the bed next to me, she sat on the edge of her bed and said to me: I am easier when I sit like that, and next day she was dead. A man and a woman with whom we spoke waiting as a group before entering the dialysis room at 7 AM.  On a certain morning not that long after each other, they weren't there. Afterwards we heard...

Kind regards from Paul, who "got a thing (expression?) for Temperance" (we, in our language, say someone having "a little bean" for someone else) (getting a "thing for someone is so prosaic )...
not so much for the person, but more for her personality...

So I left for ages but he still stayed away so I came back.You suggest I leave, Paul? Ten green bottles, style..... I assume there is a similar Belgian countdown song.

This is all getting a tad silly now.

Nord knows we hope he is OK and - if he is indeed not well - that we all wish him a speedy recovery. He'll be in touch when and if he is ready. Perhaps we should leave it at that. "Never explain; never complain" is a maxim adhered to by many wise people.


My last word is from Willie Wobbleweapon:


If we shadows have offended,

 Think but this, and all is mended—

 That you have but slumbered here

 While these visions did appear.

 And this weak and idle theme,

 No more yielding but a dream,

 Gentles, do not reprehend.

 If you pardon, we will mend.

 And, as I am an honest Puck,

 If we have unearnèd luck

 Now to ’scape the serpent’s tongue,

 We will make amends ere long.

 Else the Puck a liar call.

 So good night unto you all.

 Give me your hands if we be friends,

 And Robin shall restore amends.

Paul, I used the 'contact by email' option on his profile. I used to have an email address from the time he started this site but I can't find it anymore, it was on hotmail and that has been changed and upgraded since. There's been no response anyway.
ID, did he not email you around that time, when he was looking for moderators?


I disagree Temp, I wouldn't let a real life friend just disappear without trying to re-establish contact in case there was something seriously amiss so I can't see that this is so very different. I don't believe that nordmann is just like some sulky teenager who would just walk out, slamming the door behind him, and never let us know that he was just pissed off with us. I fear the worst and it makes me feel very sad and quite bereft, particularly since our last contacts were less than entirely positive.

Yes he did contact me ferval at the same time but I can't remember if it was by pm here or private email. And we've had a couple of computer and/or programme changes since then so have lost the address, if I ever had it. 

I'm seriously concerned too, I don't believe Nordmann is the type to flounce off without a word. 

Nielsen was the one who had private contact with Nordmann, and had met him on occasion.  Possibly he could try?

All I can say is that we met a couple of times some four years ago, and have occasionally pm'ed.

About a month ago I sent him a pm through RH and later to an old mail adress of his - with no responce.

Later I've done a google search and found a possible adress and a phone number, which I've called some times - still with no result. 
As the phone number isn't to cell phone, AFAIK, I may attempt calling his last acknowledged place of work, but am somewhat reluctant to do so.

Any ideas?

ferval wrote:

I disagree Temp, I wouldn't let a real life friend just disappear without trying to re-establish contact in case there was something seriously amiss so I can't see that this is so very different. I don't believe that nordmann is just like some sulky teenager who would just walk out, slamming the door behind him, and never let us know that he was just pissed off with us. I fear the worst and it makes me feel very sad and quite bereft, particularly since our last contacts were less than entirely positive.

I am as concerned as anyone, ferval, but I think Nielsen is wise when he expresses reluctance to try to contact a place of work. That's a dodgy thing to do.

You and others have emailed him: we can do no more. I too have an email address, but have not sent any communication and do not intend to. If he wants to contact us, he will. He could simply be - especially if recuperating from a bout of serious illness - somewhere without internet access - or have switched everything off for peace and quiet. Or he could simply be very, very busy with work etc. Further speculation is useless.

That said, someone is maintaining the site - we have not been overrun with those Bot things and we do not have about 25,395 guests online - it's either nord quietly working in the background as usual, or someone else who must know something about what is going on.

Perhaps we should just pretend nothing is amiss, keep posting stuff vaguely connected with history and hope for the best.

Perhaps he will just stroll in one day like a moggy that's been missing for several weeks, look in his bowl, then mieow plaintively a few times as if to express genuine astonishment that any of us should think anything was amiss.

Hope so.

Deleted.

I deleted my post yesterday because the time for flippancy is perhaps now past. Then again, nothing wrong with a bit of flippancy now and again.

ferval wrote:

 I don't believe that nordmann is just like some sulky teenager who would just walk out, slamming the door behind him, and never let us know that he was just pissed off with us. I fear the worst and it makes me feel very sad and quite bereft, particularly since our last contacts were less than entirely positive.

We seem to have been going through the Five Stages of Grief on this thread: Denial, Bargaining, Anger, Depression, Acceptance.


Can we believe we've been unceremoniously dumped? No way - he must be ill, dead or on holiday. (Denial)
If we promised to behave ourselves in future, would he return? (Bargaining)
Bloody ungrateful sulky sod - after all we've done to keep this site going. (Anger)
This place just isn't the same without Nord. (Depression)
Oh well, people and things change - perhaps it was just time for him to move on. It was great while it lasted - and thanks to nord for that. (Acceptance)


But it is a bit sad for us all, isn't it?

Fully agree with all what you said Temperance.

And BTW I didn't expect a less good formulation from you. (I know you already for some years now).

Kind regards from an approving Paul.

I'm fully in agreement with those who think we should not put pressure on Nordmann. I did try googling his "real" name recently and only found either people who obviously weren't him and something from a few years ago about an interactive museum experience (or it might have been a paper for the same - not sure). This has probably been tried before but if anyone is aware of the name of the institution at which Nordmann works, could they google the website of that organisation (I'm not suggesting contacting it directly) and see if there is any pertinent information about Nordmann on that site? I'm sorry I don't know where he works myself and I've never asked because there is a reason we keep things vague and use aliases here. But if there is anyone who has known Nordmann a very long time?

It gives me great pleasure to announce that I've received a message from Nordmann.

He has indeed been de-commissioned for a while, but is now on the mend. I quote,

"... Tell the wild speculators that their speculations will be resolved rather unspectacular through special spectacles and thankfully not speculums, but not for a while yet. In the meantime let the usual crew know that their contributions to the site, and indeed their concerns, are gratefully and humbly noted. ..."

That is good news!

Good to know you are alright, Nordmann, get well soon.

You've been stuck in that cat-flap again, haven't you - and you're too embarrassed to tell us?





Seriously, sir, hope you'll be back soon. Do take good care of yourself


EDIT: For those members of Res His who were not at the BBC - there was an earlier incident involving Nord and a cat-flap.

That's the best news I've heard for quite some time and now I eagerly look forward to our contributions being excoriated and pilloried again.

Get well soon, sir, we need you.

Temperance wrote:

You've been stuck in that cat-flap again, haven't you - and you're too embarrassed to tell us?

Although actually I always think of Nordmann as a, slightly grizzly, bear ... but they too are not immune to getting embarrassingly stuck:

Triceratops wrote:

Actually I think our exhortation: "Nordmann, come forth!" has done the trick.

I wish I'd found this picture before - great one for the Captions thread, I think. Might just nip over there with it.





PS Yes, he's definitely more bear than moggy. Poor bear - hope they got that bucket thing off his head.

Temperance wrote:

You've been stuck in that cat-flap again, haven't you - and you're too embarrassed to tell us?





Seriously, sir, hope you'll be back soon. Do take good care of yourself


EDIT: For those members of Res His who were not at the BBC - there was an earlier incident involving Nord and a cat-flap.

Temperance,

For your edification, I have no knowledge whatsoever if the following story is true or not, but in order to lighten the mood,

We've all had trouble with our pets from time to time, but I don't think anyone can top this one: 

Calling in sick to work makes me uncomfortable. No matter how legitimate my excuse, I always get the feeling that my boss thinks I'm lying. 

On one recent occasion, I had a valid reason but lied anyway, because the truth was just too darned humiliating. I simply mentioned that I had sustained a head injury, and I hoped I would feel up to coming in the next day. By then, I reasoned, I could think up a doozy to explain the bandage on the top of my head. The accident occurred mainly because I had given in to my wife's wishes to adopt a cute sweet little kitty. 

Then one morning, I was taking my shower after breakfast when I heard my wife, Deb, call out to me from the kitchen. 

'Honey! The garbage disposal is dead again. Please come reset it.' 

'You know where the button is,' I protested through the shower pitter-patter and steam. 'Reset it yourself!' 

'But I'm scared!' she persisted. 'What if it starts going and sucks me in?'

There was a meaningful pause and then she yelled back, 'C'mon, it'll only take you a second.' 

So out I came, dripping wet and butt naked, hoping that my silent outraged nudity would make a statement about how I perceived her behaviour as extremely cowardly. 

Sighing loudly, I squatted down and stuck my head under the sink to find the button. It is the last action I remember performing. 

It struck without warning, and without any respect to my circumstances. No, it wasn't the disposal, drawing me into its gnashing metal teeth. It was our new kitty, who discovered the fascinating dangling objects she spied hanging between my legs. She had been poised around the corner and stalked me as I reached under the sink. And, at the precise moment when I was most vulnerable, she leaped at the toys I unwittingly offered and snagged them with her needle-like claws. I lost all rational thought to control orderly bodily movements, blindly rising at a violent rate of speed, with the full weight of a kitten hanging from my masculine region. 

Wild animals are sometimes faced with a 'fight or flight' syndrome. Men, in this predicament, choose only the 'flight' option. I know this from experience. I was fleeing straight up into the air when the sink and cabinet bluntly and forcefully stopped my ascent. 

The impact knocked me out cold!  When I awoke, my wife and the paramedics stood over me.  Now there are not many things in this life worse than finding oneself lying on the kitchen floor butt naked in front of a group of people. 

Even worse, having been fully briefed by my wife, the paramedics were all snorting loudly as they tried to conduct their work, all the while trying to suppress their hysterical laughter......and not succeeding. 

Somehow I lived through it all. A few days later I finally made it back in to the office, where colleagues tried to coax an explanation out of me about my head injury. I kept silent, claiming it was too painful to talk about, which it was. 

'What's the matter?' They all asked, 'Cat got your tongue?' 
If they only knew!

Very amusing (for us anyway) Nielsen but perhaps not as embarrassing as a friend who had to call out the maintenance men because he had carelessly got a spoon stuck in his Tweeny.

Nielsen wrote:

'But I'm scared!' she persisted. 'What if it starts going and sucks me in?'

There was a meaningful pause...  

Alas, so much is revealed about the state of the marriage in those few words (my italics).

Nielsen wrote:

It gives me great pleasure to announce that I've received a message from Nordmann.

He has indeed been de-commissioned for a while, but is now on the mend. I quote,

"... Tell the wild speculators that their speculations will be resolved rather unspectacular through special spectacles and thankfully not speculums, but not for a while yet. In the meantime let the usual crew know that their contributions to the site, and indeed their concerns, are gratefully and humbly noted. ..."

Per,

that news makes me happy...
Hope Nordmann that you will soon be the old one again, although referring to your spectacular sentence you are already the old one again, at least the mind (see the body/mind discussion from Temperence and me)...

"speculum" I didn't find it in my Collins paperback dictionary, but on internet one finds it nearly all (the subject "all", I want not to expand)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculum_(medical)

Kind regards to Nielsen and Nordmann.

Oh dear! Is it the devil in me or what that urges me to write here that prayers have been answered and God willing we hope for a speedy return. Perhaps I ought opt out for a term or so. Repies only on a stamp, please.