For a couple of weeks I have not felt ready to engage with the other Friends at my local meeting, which is definitely challenging, but not necesssarily a bad thing or something to be ashamed of. It is almost a commonplace thing for Quakers to complain of the company they seem bound to keep, at least amongst those Friends whom I tend to respect and socialise with. So attending a couple of Meetings outside my local area has, perhaps, been good for me spiritually. …more
Parental Responsibility – supporting statement (Father's) I am writing with regard to the enclosed application form, £200 fee, and supporting letter (Mother's). …more
It was not so long ago I posted pictures with some excitement of the new tandem, acquired at the start of the summer holidays. It took a little while to get everything sorted out for active and regular riding, because the logistics are more than twice that of two bicycles really and you feel as though everything is really very new, even to an experienced rider. Perhaps in large part that is because my riding partner (called the "stoker" in tandem parlance!) is returning to cycling after a gap of many years. …more
I am still slightly reeling emotionally after sending an email copied to all the members of the reading group I can remember (or have addresses for) talking about Christmas and next year's reading list possibilities (hoping for J.P.Donleavy). Then I heard from a fellow member that one of the most lovely members of the library staff died in August. She had been ill for a little while apparently beforehand and although this must have overlapped with, maybe, some of the time she was there I had no inkling. Nor had I heard anything of it from anyone else at the library or at the reading group... But none of that matters really, it feels like nervous chatter. …more
Believe it or not I found a song about making a website accessible. …more
My darling daughter was told of the engagement yesterday morning (the first to know!). She has been a wonderful bag of excitement ever since and on top form. As some might notice I think she has great potential as a creative person and (who knows) maybe even poetry. Her first effort was very impressive to me, even though I am her Dad others have said as much. Well when we went to our favourite restaurant last night …more
It is not too often the personal intrudes on this blog (I hope!) But today I would like to indulge myself a little. Anyone who has been here before will perhaps notice that there are a couple of new categories creeping in here. One is cycling - and the tandem features (Now enhanced with lights and super bell and ready to roll!). The other is marriage - and this is because I am now engaged to be wed, I have plighted my troth! It will be a long engagement, but if any matters come up which I think I can talk about here (or even if I read anything which seems connected) then I may post to this category. On which subject my fiancee thinks this blog would reach a much wider audience and I can see what she means (though am uncertain I really want the world and it's brother to be reading this - my hosting could not cope for a start!). BUT I have decided to see if I can register the domain "eclectic.me" as a possible alternative. UNLESS anyone has any better ideas for the…
and the reason is that this morning on BBC World Service I learned that [[David Fanshaw]] died recently at the age of 68.... It may not have been my favourite piece to perform, but [[African Sanctus]] was memorable for the fact that the composer, Mr Fanshaw, personally supervised our performance at the dress rehearsal and when he conducted and at the actual performance when he controlled the mixing desk. He may have been an outspoken eccentric, I may not have loved the music he made, but even then he sang well enough and carried the piece of music with such enthusiasm it was irresistable. He even told us of his student days in the area when he would hitch lifts to the coast. And his wife was in charge of CD sales and many years his junior, so I really feel for her surviving him... Sad day indeed - they played "Lord's Prayer" from the Sanctus dedicated to the composer and it was a lovely memory with which to pray for him... Amen
I have filed this post in the category of Poetry, though whether the verse below deserves that accolade is a little debatable. It's the entire lyrics to "Bicycle Built For Two (Daisy Daisy)" written by [[Harry Dacre]] (Copyright Unknown) and I remember it fondly from the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" when HAL is being unplugged it seems to be one of his last memories to go, which is sad but necessary. Something not at all sad is that by some miraculous turn of luck I yesterday became the proud owner of a tandem!Pictures posted above also, I couldn't resist! Who knows, perhaps I need a new category to add to the blog now, cycling? But for the time being I shall content myself with this posting and perhaps with a future one with a literary theme of cycling. I have read "[[The Third Policeman]]" by Flan O'Brien (which definitely has a cult following) and the Autobiography of [[Henry Miller]], both of which feature bicycles prominently (though I cannot find the Millar work on…
Bubble theatre were putting this on in th park - they came to a reading group and I really wanted to go but could not tell anyone (my responsibility) but I'd like to reread the book and post on the subject anyway
and intellectual snobbery and here cf An attic full of promising books I assume some form of regret attends every round of Booker judging, even if you feel very happy with the list you produce. But a regret unique to the first round of judging is the disappearance of promising books by first-time authors. It isn't that you think any of these books have been unjustly excluded... and there's nothing dishonourable in their not having made it against such strong competition. It's only that established authors who miss out can fall back on a support system they won't always have. More than once I had the judges equivalent of that dream in which you discover an unused room in your house which solves all your storage problems. I fantasised about an imaginary Booker attic which was reserved solely for the accommodation of promising talent. If we had been able to award a Don't Stop Now special prize I would have been making a case for The Breaking of Eggs by Jim Powell, The…
I am not sure if these are really funny, particularly as the first is something of an "in" joke, but being aware of the absence of any June posts and being the last day of July I wanted to make another. Also I wanted to broaden from the literary theme of the blog a little and am even thinking maybe there should be a humourous category, except that it makes me want to add a "serious" one to balance things out! I well remember this post from the past (2008 in fact, which amazes me when it feels really quite recent) where I made some longer jokes and wondered which would inform me best if someone were likely to be spiritually along similar lines to myself. I have now come up with one of my own - if you can call it a joke when it is a bit self-referential Anyway - the jokes, if they can be called that:- q. How many Quakers does it take to change a lightbulb? a1. They're very discerning, and all have to stand in the light.... but any one can do it a2. "God Knows!" And I…
conceptual - crate at comm-tech - call it memories acrylic on canvas at centre yin yang with eyes in around that colour wheel around that rays of the words for colours some of these read some black and some struck through to varying degrees For annie - try to involve yellow sausages!
Just a test - honest guv spotify:track:52bjUs6pnb8N1RlasHHANi
So last weekend we went to see "Polar Bear" by [[Mark Haddon]] and I was really looking forward to it. I had been quite disappointed to hear initially that we could not get seats, which also surprised me because I had it on good authority that the reviews were quite mixed. So all the more exciting to be going and even taking a friend along and dinner to follow after the matinee. Sadly our friend's partner was called away to Mexico City, and I think he missed out on something he may very well have enjoyed a great deal. There is no interval and the performance is an hour and a half, but after seeing it I can quite see how no break is a necessary part to the entire piece. The narrative is not chronological and as a result a break could add to any confusion. I loved the set and the way it worked, it was not quite "in the round" but it had that feeling to it. No one actor "upstaged" any other, though [[Celia Imrie]]'s performance was masterful, if you…
Well - I have always found wordplay to be exciting, but I am not sure I can anymore after coming across this phenomenon.... I'm not going to say I find it corrupting or exploitative (I don't) - but I do find it disturbing and cannot put my finger on what it is about it that bothers me - it bears further pondering before I post this blog to the world at large.....
Ah well - it was a nice break but I never did get to visit New Quay and only saw a little of Llanggrog let alone immerse myself in "Under Milk Wood". It seems like this is a work of literature which is destined to take it's place alongside Ulysses, The Wasteland, and Proust as one which I admore and always intend to get around to fully enjoying but am "saving up" as a treat rather like a child who will not eat the favoured item on the plate until the rest has been consumed. On occassion I worry that this means I shall never enjoy these, but hopefully that is not the case, because it would be a shame if it were. Perhaps at least in blogging I have a gentle reminder to myself to get around to it one day (I am sure in making the initial post I was trying to give myself an incentive and motivation for this one. Perhaps part of the problem is that I "save them up" for a holiday and the fact is that they are more serious works of literature and not "holiday reading" as…
this is a placeholder - [[Quakers]] to remind me I could write a rant about the lack of feedback and then see if there is any here? With regard to [[Forest Hill Quaker Meeting]] and then make a wiki page for that also!
Today I heard about this man on the World Service in the wee small hours of the morning, all the more interesting to me once I googled him and discovered he is actually a local artist! …more