Carriage lights
Having a ticket for a rugby match between Leinster and Ulster tomorrow and one for the FAI Cup Final between Saint Patrick’s Athletic and Bohemians on Sunday, I foolishly decided to walk to a match this evening. There was a promotion/relegation play off between University College, Dublin and Waterford FC, being played at Saint Patrick’s ground as a neutral venue. … [continue reading …]
Knowing the place for the first time
It was a fine, fresh afternoon, a day perfect for the first day of the season of Advent. Rather than risk the vagaries of the No 18 bus, which might arrive at some time after the scheduled time or might not arrive at all, I decided to walk. Google Maps told me it was four and a half miles to … [continue reading …]
Blake’s England
An invitation came to attend the celebration on 28th November of the birth of the poet and painter William Blake. Were it not taking place in a distant city on another island, I should have liked to attend. Blake was one of the poets we studied at A-Level. His collection Songs of Innocence and Experience seemed an accurate apprehension of his … [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 …]
Classic!
The school religious education syllabus next year is going to include a unit on classical philosophy. It will be an interesting prospect, to ask questions rather than repeat propositions. It will strengthen the skills of oracy, argument and reason, it will allow students to learn in a way they might have done at our Somerset primary school in the 1960s. … [continue reading …]
A Sermon for Sunday, 28th November 2021
“Be alert.” Luke 21:36 “Be alert”, says Jesus and “alert” is a word that might be used as an acrostic to think about today’s Gospel reading, A-L-E-R-T standing for, “Advent”, “Look”, “Earth”, “Raise” and “Trap.” Advent: In the overwhelming commercialism of this time of year, it is easy to forget that the season of Advent that begins today is not … [continue reading …]
Netflix nonsense
Making a cup of tea, a flatmate was watching Netflix. The dialogue caught my attention. Rather, a monologue caught my attention, one that immediately prompted a Google search. A soldier is in what appears to be a maximum security cell and someone in authority comes in the cell to speak to him. The search term “only 15% of British soldiers … [continue reading …]
Laughing to change the world
Both of us arrived early to prepare for the day ahead, and wasted much of the time discussing music. Or perhaps it was not a waste of time, perhaps music is much more serious than any lesson on a school syllabus. Why Syd Barrett’s name cropped up, I do not remember, but I tapped the keyboard to find my favourite … [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 …]