↓
 

For the fainthearted . . .

  • Home
  • Comments Policy
  • Ian Poulton
  • This blog . . .

Monthly Archives: August 2009

Post navigation

← Older posts
Newer posts →

Grave thoughts

For the fainthearted . . .

Wilde Grave

Living amongst Ulster Unionists for a third of my life, there was always a nagging feeling of guilt concerning Oscar Wilde.  It was the Ulster Unionist icon Edward Carson who destroyed Wilde.

Accused of sodomy by the Marquess of Queensberry, Wilde had no choice other than to take a libel action if he was not to leave himself open to prosecution.  The court case was to prove his undoing, Wilde’s wit was no match for the relentless argument of Carson, a King’s Counsel at both English and Irish bars.  The …

Payphones and Cellphones

For the fainthearted . . .

There was a French short film back in the 1970s about a man in a telephone box.  Maybe it was subtitled in English, probably not, there was no dialogue important to the plot.

The man steps into one of the phone boxes that were new at the time – hexagonal, six glass panel walls were held in place by uprights that stretched from a steel floor to a steel ceiling;  the telephone was mounted on the wall opposite the panel that opened as the door.  He makes a telephone call …

Looking for a starry night

For the fainthearted . . .

Van Gogh Grave

Van Gogh was one of those names learned at primary school that did not sound as a primary class usually read it; our best efforts usually sounded like the English name “Gough”, we never quite mustered Dutch gutturals. It is odd that he remained in the memory, long after kings and queens and inventors and explorers and soldiers and missionaries have faded beyond recall, this Dutch painter clings on.

Perhaps it was the striking colours of his pictures that impressed his name on a young mind, wouldn’t our class teacher …

Not listening anymore

For the fainthearted . . .

The church door had not been opened for months, perhaps in years. The steps were covered in pigeon droppings and cobwebs hung from the hinges. Even in these fields of the Somme, where for four years life and death had intermingled in some horrifying embrace, the old stories no longer commanded authority. A fading sheet of paper in a weary polythene cover advised of Mass times in the area; there seemed to be one Sunday Mass which rotated around a succession of churches: the church of the spiders and the …

In memoriam: Frank Ledwidge

For the fainthearted . . .

Ledwidge

It was a marvellous summer’s afternoon at Messines; bright sunshine and a gentle breeze across the fields of Flanders. A group of Belgian workmen had just finished grass cutting and were loading equipment into their van as we pulled up at the entrance to the Island of Ireland Peace Park. The park is a place of simplicity, a round tower with inscribed standing stones and slabs. Along with the memorials recording in stark terms the suffering of the three Irish Divisions, there are recorded selections of words from those present.…

Did I say that?

For the fainthearted . . .

The following appears in today’s “Irish Times” (being read online from a Campanile Motel between the French city of Lille and the Belgian border)

Reverends Ian and Katharine Poulton have combined parenthood with running two parishes in Dublin. writes SHEILA WAYMAN .

IF HAVING one clerical parent can be a burden, spare a thought for the children who have two. This has been possible within the Church of Ireland since 1987, when the ordination of women as deacons started, with the full priesthood becoming possible three years later.…

Post navigation

← Older posts
Newer posts →

Recent Comments

  • Anthony Crouch on Wallander’s half-finished heaven
  • Musana Ronald on Sermon for Saint Peter’s Day 2014
  • Beth Siders on An A-Z of Hymnwriters: Thomas Kelly
  • Harvey Davies on Heathercombe Brake School Photographs
  • Paul Pope on Young people have become boring
  • Susan Wilson on An A-Z of Hymnwriters: Katharina von Schlegel
  • TERENCE TURNER on An A-Z of Hymnwriters: Katharina von Schlegel
  • Paul Pope on Heathercombe Brake School Photographs
  • Vince on Not cancelling
  • Robert Andrew on Heathercombe Brake School Photographs

Blogroll

  • A Rambling Rector (Retired) The blog of Dr Stanley Monkhouse
  • A Somerset Lad – my other blog: part memoir, part diary, part whimsy
  • Head Rambles Ireland’s most cantankerous auld fella
  • Joakim's God Talk
  • Mixed Messages
  • Póló

Categories

Archives

©2025 - For the fainthearted . . . - Weaver Xtreme Theme
↑