The face of Vincent
Sitting on a bench in the park at Auvers-sur-Oise yesterday, I pondered the face of the statue of Vincent van Gogh. Walking through Giverny this afternoon, there was a sense of how different were Vincent and Monet. There is an episode of the Eleventh Doctor Who when the Doctor, with his companion Amy, encounter Vincent. In a moving moment, the … [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 Sunday, 24th September 2023
‘Are you envious because I am generous?’ Matthew 20:15 ‘Call the labourers and give them their pay’, says the landowner in Saint Matthew Chapter 20 Verse 8, and each of them received identical pay. Had the landowner been a businessman, he would not have lasted very long in business. The next day he would have gone to the market place … [continue reading …]
Ledwidge and Evans
Visiting Ypres last month, the list of places to be visited included Artillery Wood cemetery. It is a location that blends into the agricultural land around. Down a side road, it is a place of tranquility. There is nothing to disturb the wandering among the lines of white headstones. Ledwidge and Evans lie near each other: Francis Ledwidge, a labourer … [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 …]