Imagining a day in the garden
There is no more cheering sight in springtime than the racks filled with packets of garden seeds that appear in shops. The seedsmen know the value of colour and the seed packets are a bright display amongst much that is mundane in hardware shops. Vegetable pictures are as attractive as those of flowers. Packets for artichokes are as striking as … [continue reading …]
A man buried alone
Yesterday, it was the 106th anniversary of the Battle of Messines. Together with the former Irish army officer with whom I am tourin the Western Front, I went to the grave of Major Willie Redmond. Since the centenary years of the Great War have passed, it seems to have become a lonely spot. There was no evidence yesterday of recent … [continue reading …]
A good place to die
My exploration of the pages of the Ancestry website reveal the family tree to be more a hedgerow than a tree, cousins of varying degree intermarrying so that relationships can be stated in various ways. Uncle Jack, a man who joined the army at the age of sixteen and survived appalling privations as a prisoner of war, appears not only … [continue reading …]
Heathercombe Brake School Photographs
There are 679 (or thereabouts) photographs here. Some of them are duplicates and some of them are in random order. Paul Pope sent me a zip file in 2014 and I have been meaning to sort and upload them ever since. To have digitized these from prints to computer files must have taken many, many hours. They are nearly all … [continue reading …]
The old scams seem to work
There can be few people with email addresses who have not received at least an occasional email that seeks details that would allow the sender to defraud them. The “Spanish Hostage” scam is the oldest approach used (thus named because when it began two centuries ago people wrote letters claiming to be held hostage in Spain and promising abundant reward … [continue reading …]
Holding back the waters
BBC Somerset carried pictures of flash flooding in the county. Turning to the Flood Information Service, the area threatened seemed extensive. From Yeovil, which lies on the border with Dorset, to Steart, where the River Parrett reaches the Bristol Channel. Flooding is possible – be prepared Flood alert for Rivers Yeo and Parrett, downstream of Yeovil to Steart Updated 12:12am … [continue reading …]
A Sermon for Trinity Sunday, 4th June 2023
‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.’ During my years of ministry in the church, today, Trinity Sunday, was the Sunday in the year when preaching a sermon was always a challenge. There seemed no words adequate to the task, and the words there were could leave people as much confused as they were enlightened. It is good, therefore, … [continue reading …]
Dostoevsky’s anticipation of the world of TikTok
In his 1872 novel Devils Fyodor Dostoevsky describes the gathering of a group of intellectual and affluent potential revolutionaries for an evening of discussion. The meeting takes place in the salon of a large house in a provincial town far from Saint Petersburg. There is an atmosphere of risk, but also of excitement. Some of those in the room are devout, some … [continue reading …]
Wondrous stories
I reckon it must be more than forty-five years, the autumn of 1977 if my memory is correct. Perhaps early 1978, but no later than that. The song was from a genre described as ‘progressive rock,’ although the term seems so broad as to be virtually meaningless. An online search for ‘progressive rock reveals a list of bands it would … [continue reading …]
See Emily Play
The nurse changed the date. “Today is 1st May.” “Good morning, Emily. How are you this morning?” 1st May? Oh no, it would be so boring. Standing outside for hours and then a dinner where there would be very long speeches. All those old men and all those toasts. “Daddy, do I have to go today?” “Of course, we must … [continue reading …]