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A Bit Of A Ramble
Nov. 25th, 2024 08:01 am Getting to be time to put up the Christmas tree, says Ailz.
Yes, I suppose it is. I've said it before but I'll say it again: this back part of the year seems to be flying past.
Did you see what I did there? I used a colon. I like colons. I like semi-colons too. I don't see why we should junk them. These funny little puncutaion marks- and all the others in the writerly arsenal- exist to render our written meaning more precise. If Cormac McCarthy doesn't/didn't want to use them that's his business and nobody else's.
I haven't read McCarthy, by the way. I don't like ulltra-violence, so I don't suppose I ever will. Oddly enough I don't mind it in the movies where the red stuff is clearly fake- and there's a balletic beauty to people or bits of people flying through the air; I adore Sam Peckinpah- and am quite partial to bit of Tarentino. But violence on the page is more real, more offensive because you have to supply the visuals yourself and what you can see in your head is always going to be nastier- and more personal- than anything in a filmmaker's bag of tricks....
Yes, I suppose it is. I've said it before but I'll say it again: this back part of the year seems to be flying past.
Did you see what I did there? I used a colon. I like colons. I like semi-colons too. I don't see why we should junk them. These funny little puncutaion marks- and all the others in the writerly arsenal- exist to render our written meaning more precise. If Cormac McCarthy doesn't/didn't want to use them that's his business and nobody else's.
I haven't read McCarthy, by the way. I don't like ulltra-violence, so I don't suppose I ever will. Oddly enough I don't mind it in the movies where the red stuff is clearly fake- and there's a balletic beauty to people or bits of people flying through the air; I adore Sam Peckinpah- and am quite partial to bit of Tarentino. But violence on the page is more real, more offensive because you have to supply the visuals yourself and what you can see in your head is always going to be nastier- and more personal- than anything in a filmmaker's bag of tricks....
Storm Bert
Nov. 24th, 2024 07:36 am Comical proles in patronising mid-century British comedy sketches are called Bert. If you want to be cool you spell in with a "U". But was Burt Reynolds ever cool? I think that's up for debate.
I guess Burt Lancaster was. Just about. Though it's not the first adjective that comes to mind.....
But anyway, it's a silly name for a storm.
I look out the window and everything moveable is fluttering and waving as the invisible waves come powering in. And then there's that noise, rising and falling- something between a moan and a whistle that (as I've written before) is best represented by the French word "siffle".
I guess Burt Lancaster was. Just about. Though it's not the first adjective that comes to mind.....
But anyway, it's a silly name for a storm.
I look out the window and everything moveable is fluttering and waving as the invisible waves come powering in. And then there's that noise, rising and falling- something between a moan and a whistle that (as I've written before) is best represented by the French word "siffle".
Be Like Foch
Nov. 23rd, 2024 09:09 amI watched a chap being eeyorish about the state of the world.
Soft voice, sad eyes, grieving....
We are in decline, we will be in decline for generations.
Wrap up warm, here's some medicine....
I know he's borrowed the word medicine from the Native Americans but even so I've been brought up to think of medecine as nasty stuff.....
I prefer another style.
Scarlet and gold not grey.
Dancing, snapping fingers, singinging tunelessly
The attitude of Marshall Foch at the battle of the Marne.
"My centre gives way, my right recoils, Situation excellent, I attack."
Soft voice, sad eyes, grieving....
We are in decline, we will be in decline for generations.
Wrap up warm, here's some medicine....
I know he's borrowed the word medicine from the Native Americans but even so I've been brought up to think of medecine as nasty stuff.....
I prefer another style.
Scarlet and gold not grey.
Dancing, snapping fingers, singinging tunelessly
The attitude of Marshall Foch at the battle of the Marne.
"My centre gives way, my right recoils, Situation excellent, I attack."
Snows Of Yesteryear
Nov. 22nd, 2024 09:49 am| I thought I'd dig around in the archive and find some pics to remind me that I've lived in colder places than the one I live in now These were all taken in Oldham about 20 years ago. The first one shows a street scene I can't place exactly.  The Live and Let Live was notoriously a haunt of far right terror groups and got trashed in the Oldham riots. It later re-opened as an Asian dress shop. Ha!  This shows the carriage house (as was) across the road from our house in Hathershaw. I always thought it was visually interesting.  This one is taken on a long lens looking towards the Pennine moors. Today we live in the lee of the South Downs- which are comparatively friendly. The Pennines aren't friendly at all  And here's a taxi with a sunny message at rest by the railings of Alexandra Park  | |
All The Difference
Nov. 21st, 2024 08:00 am What's the time?
Twenty to eight.
And the window cleaners have just rung to say they're are already at the Meeting House and could we let them in. Wow but they're keen!
And we've only just got through telling one another that we didn't need to be setting off to town for another forty minutes or so.
Half eight we were expecting them....
But now we have a car Ailz can be with them in just a few minutes: it makes all the difference.
And then she'll pop back and pick me up, with all the other stuff we need to take down there on a Thursday.....
Another thing that makes all the difference is my new pair of knee warmers. I've never worn them before, but my "mediaeval knees" (copyright William Butler Yeats) feel the cold something dreadful and right now the temperatures are hovering around zero. They're made of cashmere I think.....
Twenty to eight.
And the window cleaners have just rung to say they're are already at the Meeting House and could we let them in. Wow but they're keen!
And we've only just got through telling one another that we didn't need to be setting off to town for another forty minutes or so.
Half eight we were expecting them....
But now we have a car Ailz can be with them in just a few minutes: it makes all the difference.
And then she'll pop back and pick me up, with all the other stuff we need to take down there on a Thursday.....
Another thing that makes all the difference is my new pair of knee warmers. I've never worn them before, but my "mediaeval knees" (copyright William Butler Yeats) feel the cold something dreadful and right now the temperatures are hovering around zero. They're made of cashmere I think.....
Picture Diary 71
Nov. 20th, 2024 06:12 pm Picture Diary 71
1. Saucy Jack
2. Cutting Loose
3. Dorian
4, The Shape of Things to Come
5. Master of the Skies
6. Speeding
1. Saucy Jack
2. Cutting Loose
3. Dorian
4, The Shape of Things to Come
5. Master of the Skies
6. Speeding
Doctor And Patient
Nov. 20th, 2024 07:48 am I was at the hospital yesterday- not on my own account but to provide moral support for a friend who suffers from white coat anxiety.
In my youth (said the sage as he shook his grey locks) doctors were figures of authority- and dressed the part- which meant wearing a kind of Edwardian fancy dress. One of my indelible memories is of a fatherly GP who tried to hypnotise me (I've no idea why) by swinging his pocket watch in front of my eyes. Incidentally it didn't work- something about which I remain smug. These days doctors have only there first names printed on their badges- and agree sympathetically with everything the patient says. My friend doesn't want to undergo a particular procedure and the doctor didn't attempt to argue. They are shopworkers and we are customers and always right- a relationship I prefer to the previous one. My friend is a very nervous guy and the doctor was a shaven-headed bull of a man but my friend got his own way on every point.
In my youth (said the sage as he shook his grey locks) doctors were figures of authority- and dressed the part- which meant wearing a kind of Edwardian fancy dress. One of my indelible memories is of a fatherly GP who tried to hypnotise me (I've no idea why) by swinging his pocket watch in front of my eyes. Incidentally it didn't work- something about which I remain smug. These days doctors have only there first names printed on their badges- and agree sympathetically with everything the patient says. My friend doesn't want to undergo a particular procedure and the doctor didn't attempt to argue. They are shopworkers and we are customers and always right- a relationship I prefer to the previous one. My friend is a very nervous guy and the doctor was a shaven-headed bull of a man but my friend got his own way on every point.
Cuddly Plush Dinosaurs
Nov. 19th, 2024 09:05 am Scrolling through the Natural History Museum's online gift shop looking for Christmas presents for kids.
Adorable soft toys.
Representing Species still extant and species long gone....
How about a cuddly plush spinosaurus?
When I was a kid and going through the Natural History Museums shop looking for a dinosaur-related gift for myself the best thing I could come up with was a paperback book entitled "Fossil Amphibians and Reptiles". It had a few black and white illustrations and sat on my bookself- unread- for decades. It was a scholarly treatise. Dry, dry dry. Dry as old bones- plus footnotes. Museums in the 1950s were for serious people not kids.
If I remember correctly the big thing in the main exhibition hall was a mock up of a Blue Whale. Later it was replaced by the skeleton of a huge herbivore. Now, assuming I'm up to date, the whale is back- only in skeleton form.
Oh look, a cuddly plush Dodo. My heart gives a little leap. My love for dodos is infused with regret.
And guilt
We can't be blamed for the dinosaurs going extinct but the dodo is a different matter....
Adorable soft toys.
Representing Species still extant and species long gone....
How about a cuddly plush spinosaurus?
When I was a kid and going through the Natural History Museums shop looking for a dinosaur-related gift for myself the best thing I could come up with was a paperback book entitled "Fossil Amphibians and Reptiles". It had a few black and white illustrations and sat on my bookself- unread- for decades. It was a scholarly treatise. Dry, dry dry. Dry as old bones- plus footnotes. Museums in the 1950s were for serious people not kids.
If I remember correctly the big thing in the main exhibition hall was a mock up of a Blue Whale. Later it was replaced by the skeleton of a huge herbivore. Now, assuming I'm up to date, the whale is back- only in skeleton form.
Oh look, a cuddly plush Dodo. My heart gives a little leap. My love for dodos is infused with regret.
And guilt
We can't be blamed for the dinosaurs going extinct but the dodo is a different matter....
Yes, I say, these are unsettling times, but it's not just the politics. Have you noticed that Congress is currently holding an enquiry into UAPS etc- with responsible chaps stepping forward and going, "The phenomenon is real"? And what about the Diddy thing- and it's relation to the Epstein thing? The politics are playing out in front of the curtain while behind the curtain the scenery is being moved around "with a movement of darkness on darkness".
Incidentally, I really like the phrase "the phenomenon". For one thing it doesn't commit the speaker to any particular theory and for another it embraces everything- from skinwalkers to alien spaceships- that we find strange but well attested. Are all these things related? Oh, yes....
Oh, dear me, yes!
Incidentally, I really like the phrase "the phenomenon". For one thing it doesn't commit the speaker to any particular theory and for another it embraces everything- from skinwalkers to alien spaceships- that we find strange but well attested. Are all these things related? Oh, yes....
Oh, dear me, yes!
Traditional Wisdom
Nov. 18th, 2024 08:56 am It rained in the night- and I find myself thinking, "Well, it's good for the garden" and then "It's good for the farmers"- snippets of traditional wisdom that have been handed down from generation to generation and which everyone says or nods at without ever pausing to think whether they're actually true....
Points Of Procedure
Nov. 17th, 2024 08:33 am In winter the Sussex East Area Meeting convenes by Zoom, which isn't as jolly as us all being together in one particular place. I make a point of trying to enjoy Business Meetings and not complain about them afterwards but II'll concede that there aren't too many laffs,
Stiill, people-watching is a kind of low-level fun. One can learn things about human nature and how societies work. There are those of us that have a passion for correct procedure- and niggle relentlessly and at length when they think things are not being done entirely by the book. "Barrack room lawyers", I mutter to Ailz in the security of knowing that we're muted, but "tribunes of the people" would be a kinder, more respectful epithet. They keep us honest- and curb the instinct towards high-handedness in those of us of the officer class.
Another thing that is fun is watching other peoples' cats walk in front of their cameras and wave their elegant tails about. No respect for procedure, there....
Stiill, people-watching is a kind of low-level fun. One can learn things about human nature and how societies work. There are those of us that have a passion for correct procedure- and niggle relentlessly and at length when they think things are not being done entirely by the book. "Barrack room lawyers", I mutter to Ailz in the security of knowing that we're muted, but "tribunes of the people" would be a kinder, more respectful epithet. They keep us honest- and curb the instinct towards high-handedness in those of us of the officer class.
Another thing that is fun is watching other peoples' cats walk in front of their cameras and wave their elegant tails about. No respect for procedure, there....
A Little Run Out
Nov. 16th, 2024 07:39 am We took the car up and over the hill to the Birling Gap, where a lone fisherman was tending his lines and a trickle of tourists came down the ladder to the beach then went up again. The sea was very calm. As I was climbing the ladder myself a woman rushed out into the water and shreiked a lot while her male partner- bundled up in heavy coat- sat on the beach and watched
Birling Gap belongs to the National Trust. There's a very good cafe, with very good coffee and cakes.
After taking refreshment we circled back home through the hills, by way of Friston, Litlington and Wilmington- pausing to take a look at The Long Man, East Sussex's genuinely ancient and utterly mysterious hill figure.
Sheep were wandering over him- which is something I've not seen before.
Who carved Him? No idea,
When did they carve Him? No idea
Why did they carve Him? No idea.
Is he holding two staves, or opening a door into the hill?
No idea.
Birling Gap belongs to the National Trust. There's a very good cafe, with very good coffee and cakes.
After taking refreshment we circled back home through the hills, by way of Friston, Litlington and Wilmington- pausing to take a look at The Long Man, East Sussex's genuinely ancient and utterly mysterious hill figure.
Sheep were wandering over him- which is something I've not seen before.
Who carved Him? No idea,
When did they carve Him? No idea
Why did they carve Him? No idea.
Is he holding two staves, or opening a door into the hill?
No idea.
Various Things
Nov. 15th, 2024 09:14 am I walked down to the Meeting House- as I like to do when the weather isn't too unfriendly- and left myself plenty of time so I could take the slightly longer route along the prom. At the corner by the Eastbourne Redoubt was a great hill of sand and stone with a caterpillar-tracked excavator perched on top- and all that part of the beach is cordoned off. The tides keep reshaping the coastline, moving material from south-east to north-west, and we keep having to put it back the way it was. If we didn't the town would flood....
The Meeting House is now a scheduled collection point for the Eastbourne Food Bank. The men come by once a fortnight. Yesterday they dropped off one of their big wire baskets for putting the donations in (I think "basket" is the term they use) - so we're not only in business but look as if we are.
Ailz stayed at home because she was waiting for OUR NEW CAR to be delivered. It was coming all the way from Blackburn, Lancashire- where the holes are. She gave up driving a couple of years back, but since them she's had her eyes and ears attended to, her senses are sharp again- and she has reclaimed her licence. The car is a Kia Niro.
(Niro is a contraction of Near Zero- meaning the car- being a hybrid- isn't putting out much in the way of nasty emissions. It has nothing to do, more's the pity, with the sublime poet and musician who also happened to be Emperor of Rome.....}
It was important to us that the car should be a nice bright colour so we can spread joy. It's red. We're calling her "Ruby". Cars like boats ought to have names.
So we're mobile again. The plan this morning is to take her up to The Birling Gap.....
The Meeting House is now a scheduled collection point for the Eastbourne Food Bank. The men come by once a fortnight. Yesterday they dropped off one of their big wire baskets for putting the donations in (I think "basket" is the term they use) - so we're not only in business but look as if we are.
Ailz stayed at home because she was waiting for OUR NEW CAR to be delivered. It was coming all the way from Blackburn, Lancashire- where the holes are. She gave up driving a couple of years back, but since them she's had her eyes and ears attended to, her senses are sharp again- and she has reclaimed her licence. The car is a Kia Niro.
(Niro is a contraction of Near Zero- meaning the car- being a hybrid- isn't putting out much in the way of nasty emissions. It has nothing to do, more's the pity, with the sublime poet and musician who also happened to be Emperor of Rome.....}
It was important to us that the car should be a nice bright colour so we can spread joy. It's red. We're calling her "Ruby". Cars like boats ought to have names.
So we're mobile again. The plan this morning is to take her up to The Birling Gap.....
This is just to make it clear I'm not presuming to judge Archbishop Welby.
Had I been in his shoes (perish the thought!) I would have done no better- and probably far worse. I wrote the last post in something approaching the style of a newspaper editorial- detached, dispassionate, impersonal. It has its uses and virtues but is liable to convey the impression that the writer is possessed of far greater wisdom and tougher moral fibre than they actually are....
Had I been in his shoes (perish the thought!) I would have done no better- and probably far worse. I wrote the last post in something approaching the style of a newspaper editorial- detached, dispassionate, impersonal. It has its uses and virtues but is liable to convey the impression that the writer is possessed of far greater wisdom and tougher moral fibre than they actually are....
When a person in high office states that they have no intention of resigning you can be pretty sure they're already half way out the door.
With their dear friends holding it open for them and suggesting that they'd feel much better for a breath of fresh air.
A version of this little drama has just played out in the case of the Archbishop of Canterbury- the executive head of an organisation in which I take an interest for historical reasons- and which has recently been shown to have closed ranks round a prolific abuser, covering up his doings and allowing him to slip away to continue his abusing in another country.
The extent to which the Archbishop was personally responsible for this particular wickedness is unclear. I reckon he behaved as people embedded in organisations almost always behave- which is to put the reputation of the organisation above all other considerations.
And as always the organisation has suffered more from the cover-up than it would have done if the rottenness had been exposed and excised at once.
Earlier Archbishops of Canterbury have been cut down at the altar, murdered by mobs, judicially decapitated and burned at the stake for heresy- but this may be the first time one has resigned because of his mismanagement of scandal. Archbishop Welby has done the honourable thing. Other, lesser, bishops- some more deeply implicated in the mess than he was- are being urged to follow.
With their dear friends holding it open for them and suggesting that they'd feel much better for a breath of fresh air.
A version of this little drama has just played out in the case of the Archbishop of Canterbury- the executive head of an organisation in which I take an interest for historical reasons- and which has recently been shown to have closed ranks round a prolific abuser, covering up his doings and allowing him to slip away to continue his abusing in another country.
The extent to which the Archbishop was personally responsible for this particular wickedness is unclear. I reckon he behaved as people embedded in organisations almost always behave- which is to put the reputation of the organisation above all other considerations.
And as always the organisation has suffered more from the cover-up than it would have done if the rottenness had been exposed and excised at once.
Earlier Archbishops of Canterbury have been cut down at the altar, murdered by mobs, judicially decapitated and burned at the stake for heresy- but this may be the first time one has resigned because of his mismanagement of scandal. Archbishop Welby has done the honourable thing. Other, lesser, bishops- some more deeply implicated in the mess than he was- are being urged to follow.
Planting Bulbs
Nov. 13th, 2024 12:27 pm My sister says our mother's idea for planting bulbs was to take a handful, throw them underarm and then plant them where they fell. That way you get a natural looking drift.
I'm being more systematic because I want a mass of flowers not a scatter, but I like her method- and if I had a larger garden to play with I might have adopted it.
I forget how many bulbs we ordered this last time but I think it was around 150. I'm getting through them gradually.
When I get to the depth I want them buried at I hit a layer of rubble. There's bits of brick and tile and glass as well of the pebbles that were probably once the topping for a rough roadway. This was a brown field site and I'm uncovering its 19th and early 20th century past. Nothing particularly interesting has come up yet, but you never know....
I'm being more systematic because I want a mass of flowers not a scatter, but I like her method- and if I had a larger garden to play with I might have adopted it.
I forget how many bulbs we ordered this last time but I think it was around 150. I'm getting through them gradually.
When I get to the depth I want them buried at I hit a layer of rubble. There's bits of brick and tile and glass as well of the pebbles that were probably once the topping for a rough roadway. This was a brown field site and I'm uncovering its 19th and early 20th century past. Nothing particularly interesting has come up yet, but you never know....
A Meeting Of Poets
Nov. 13th, 2024 07:35 am I dreamed we were meeting up with the family of a high-flying lawyer. He was completely bald with freckles and when my mother approached him he acted like he didn't know her. I was about 20 so I was hanging out with his kids. The daughter was called Rosamund and she wrote poems. She read me one about 911. I wasn't impressed but pretended I was because she was very beautiful. "Ah, Rosamund" I thought, "Rosa Mundi, Rose of the world, the most beautiful name in existence," but didn't say it because her younger brother had already told me "Our Rosamund doesn't flirt." She was a very serious young lady. We were walking down a muddy lane and came to a wall we had to climb. "I write poems too" I said. "I'm not a poetical person," she replied, "The poems just come." "I write poems because I'm a poet," I said, as I hauled myself up to the top of the wall....
Good Timing
Nov. 12th, 2024 04:32 pm My parents worked to a routine, with mealtimes precisely timed: breakfast at eight, lunch at one, afternoon tea at four, supper at five- as in a hotel- so I do too.
Ailz, whose parents didn't- so she doesn't either- finds it mildly amusing.
I say, "But having a fixed routine relieves one from having to sweat the small stuff...."
Ailz, whose parents didn't- so she doesn't either- finds it mildly amusing.
I say, "But having a fixed routine relieves one from having to sweat the small stuff...."
