26.06.2025
Escape to Innisfree? (please click here for poems by WB Yeates)
It is human nature to try to avoid, as far as possible, difficulties we come across either as individuals or in groups. But when such difficulties arise there will usually come a point when they can no longer be avoided or ignored and they have to be confronted. If they are extremely unpleasant, or arise as a result of bad or evil actions by other people, it is even more important they are confronted even when we are reluctant to do so.
In a small way I hope I may have confronted some of the bad and evil in the world by thinking and writing about such difficulties – Covid, and Ukraine particularly – and some of my health issues.
But just as we shouldn’t ignore these issues nor should we allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by them. There is plenty of humour to be found in the world and it is good to have a laugh with other people and to laugh at oneself every so often - laugh by oneself at oneself. I recently noticed it was the 50th anniversary of the Good Life which made me smile, as did recalling other sitcom classics like “Some Mothers Do Have ‘Em”, “Only Fools and Horses” and “Frazier”. The latter lifted my spirits on a Friday night at 10.30 during my stay in the oncology hospital in Bristol.
A few weeks ago I went through a phase of trying to make up some doctor, doctor jokes and knock, knock jokes to help me get off to sleep. Here’s one: Knock, knock. Who’s there? Neil. Neil who? Neil down when I come in please.
I have allowed myself to escape into the BBC series Springwatch and have seen some wonderful and amazing features of our natural world: the swift flying thousands of miles to return to the same nesting site each year; a Pied Flycatcher feeding her chicks; an adder gobbling a chick in a nest; the mating ritual of snails, the behaviour of fox and badger cubs; or the ingenious way the cuckoo-pint imprisons insects overnight in order for them to be dusted with pollen.
The photography in the series is incredible especially when cameras have been set up right next to where the action is.
I can escape into the world of sport too, although not for long these days. For me it’s rugby and a little bit of football in winter, with athletics, cricket and occasionally some tennis in summer. I briefly escaped to Headingley the other day and listened to some of the Test Match Special coverage of the final day’s test match against India.
And personally I get a lot of pleasure from my garden – its lawns and borders, its trees, shrubs and flowers, and its fruit and veg. I have had a few strawberries this year, the onions look good and the potatoes are flowering well. Out in the yard I have tomato plants in pots, courgettes, runner beans and some nasturtiums and I can see how they are coming on through the kitchen window.
I guess there are times when many of us would like to get away from it all and go to Innisfree as the poet Yeats yearns to do: I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree … And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow.
I hope, though, I can carry on confronting but also carry on escaping, not perhaps by yearning or dreaming but by doing some of the things I enjoy.
13.06.2025
Remembering William Butler Yeats (W.B. Yeats) on this day. An Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature.
Born on13th June 1865 and died in 1939
1/5/25
May Day - which happens to be local election day in some areas. No doubt there will be the usual very low turnout and no doubt politicians from the main parties will see the results as a reflection of their popularity or otherwise. I'm hoping that independent candidates will do well as I can't see that party politics in the council chamber is going to be relevant to many local issues. I'm also beginning to think we should have a completely new model of how society organises itself at a local level - perhaps something along the lines of community enterprises.
27/4/25
The Pope would have approved of the crosses on Brent Knoll and I would have approved of his approval. He was a good man who truly believed in the power of love – the central message of Christianity. Could he have been more outspoken about Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the horrific war in Gaza? Yes, he could have been and I hope he phoned Putin and Netanyahu to tell them what they were doing was evil and against all the precepts of Christianity and Judaism.
20/4/25 Easter Sunday
Let's hope the crosses on top of Brent Knoll in Somerset inspire some people to reflect on the central message of Easter. See below for Good Friday comment and Palm Sunday link.
18/4/25 Good Friday
Great to see the 3 crosses on Brent Knoll again. Seeing them as you drive along the M5 or A38 might just remind people of the origins of the Easter holiday and may even bring about some reflection on the central message that Easter conveys: GOODNESS AND LOVE WILL TRIUMPH OVER EVIL AND HATE.
17/4/25
Maundy Thursday today which marks the beginning of Easter. I've never been too sure about the meaning of Easter but I still strongly believe in the central Christian message that Jesus gave to his disciples on the first Maundy Thursday: LOVE ONE ANOTHER
See below for the link
13/4/25
A short piece on the subject of Palm Sunday, today, and Easter which is still relevant today
www.quercuspublications.co.uk/hosanna
10/4/25
I’ve nothing against theme parks but it is something of a modern allegory that the one proposed for Bedfordshire is on the site of an old brick works. A leisure park replacing an industrial site is symbolic of the changes in society that have brought us more leisure time, reduced our time at work, and moved a lot of this work away from manufacturing. We seem to be doing more playing and less working but haven’t yet reached the point of all play and no work!
5/4/25
Beautiful and eloquent "Thought for the Day" on Radio 4 today. Speaker urged everyone to stand close to a flowering cherry and just listen to the sound coming from it.
1/4/25
My white flowering cherry is full of sweet scented blossom. It is just about on time as this is when it should be fully flowering. It's a wonderful sign of spring in the garden - along with the daffodils, primroses and celandines.
I think I understand why Eliot wrote “April is the cruellest month” but I prefer Robert Browning’s “Oh to be in England/Now
that April’s here”.
I really hope that the changes to our benefits system do not inflict any cruelty on anyone. If they do then Starmer must rethink these changes rapidly.
March 2025
20/3/25
Spring Equinox and some warm sunshine at last. So treat yourself to "Here Comes the Sun", a great, uplifting song written by George Harrison.
19/3/25
Bitterns are booming! Their numbers are increasing it seems and if you get down to Ham Wall on the Somerset Levels you might be able to see one.
16/3/25
Tremendous rugby from England yesterday as they overwhelmed Wales in their final game of the Six Nations. Final score was 68-14.
13/3/25
Today marks the 5th anniversary of my first Covid comment, a tweet to Evan Davies on Radio 4:
13/3/20
If he (Patrick Valance) wants 60% of the population to get the virus in order to develop herd immunity and if the mortality rate is 1% simple maths tells us that 400, 000 people are going to die of it. This is INSANE.
Your thoughts please Evan.
FOR MORE COVID REFLECTIONS VISIT: link to THOUGHTS
9/3/25
DIY acronyms and abbreviations
A NEW ACRONYM: HAND
It's friendly and useful; Have A Nice Day!
Here's another one: KAI - Keep At It
And another: ADA - Avoidance Distraction Absorption
An ABBREVIATION I've used is: BVC - Behaviour Values Character
I haven't given much thought to this aspect of language until now but it's a fascinating exercise to identify the huge number of acronyms and abbreviations we use in our daily lives. I hadn't realised they were so all pervasive. I've put some of them up on our puzzles page if anyone wants to test their knowledge. Please click on link PUZZLES
8/3/25
Agree with Ben Wallace. We must keep supporting Ukraine. Trump is right to say that wars are stupid because of the suffering they bring. He is right to want to get rid of nuclear weapons because if used they will destroy us all. It's good to hear a world leader say these things. BUT HE IS COMPLETELY WRONG TO TRY TO MAKE A DEAL WITH PUTIN whose brutal aggression continues to bring horrific suffering to the people of Ukraine.