Subjecting our beliefs and convictions to a critical review is a task we should undertake on a daily basis, rather than on the last day of the year, when, through a drunken haze, we address our many personal failings with resolutions that will probably be forgotten even before the hangover subsides.
Licenced today: my pix of the topiary gardens at Levens Hall are regular sellers...
There’ll be celebrations tomorrow at the pub in the next village, Barmby on the Marsh: a “New Years Eve 80s-90s fancy dress karaoke party”. I can’t think of another string of nine words (except, maybe, “come along and emasculate yourself with a rusty machete”) less likely to persuade me to venture out tomorrow night.
Licenced today: a new housing development - Centurion Fields - in Adel, Leeds…
Enjoyed this short article on the Guardian website today, about the wisdom of embracing uncertainty - especially during a global pandemic - and the need to foster resilience. Too often we write a script - for a project, event, etc - and judge the success of the venture by how closely it sticks to our script. Yet, according to a saying, attributed variously to Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur and others, “No plan survives first contact with the enemy”. If plan A doesn’t work out, we move seamlessly on to B, C, D or E. Instead of fretting about what might have been, we can perhaps be grateful for what is.
Licenced today: the floor-to-ceiling frescos, featuring biblical scenes from the creation to the last judgement, in the Church of St Michael & All Angels, Garton on the Wolds, East Yorkshire...
Hindus and Christians are coming to blows in India. Though the details of particular religious conflicts may change, one aspect stays the same. When the members of any religious tradition claim to know the mind of God, and believe that, therefore, members of other faiths are misguided, then violence is bound to follow.
Licenced today: a busy morning at a Post Office in Wetherby...
Licenced last week: the main hall in Blackwell, the 'arts and crafts' house near Bowness…
In a Christmas video, while urging the public to get their booster jab, Boris Johnson recruited Jesus Christ to the cause. Boris celebrated those who were “getting jabbed not just for themselves, for ourselves, but for friends and family and everyone we meet. That, after all, is the teaching of Jesus Christ, whose birth is at the heart of this enormous festival: that we should love our neighbours as we love ourselves”.
Two thousand years ago most diseases were assumed to be punishments imposed by an angry God on sinful humans (with mental ill-health assumed to be demonic possession). I’m not too sure how the ministry of Jesus relates to the Covid vaccination programme. I’m just happy to acknowledge the ‘true meaning’ of Christmas: the birth of Santa Claus.
In the first two Ashes tests, England have been on the wrong end of a drubbing. They’re two games down, with three to play, and the next test is on Boxing Day at the MCG. “We’ve got to believe we can turn this round," Mark Wood, England’s fastest bowler, said. That’s an interesting choice of words. Not “we believe”, but “we’ve got to believe”. Belief - in sport as in religion - can be a slippery concept.
Licenced today: St Mary's Church, in the village of Church Fenton, North Yorkshire…
Goole is one of 39 towns hoping to be awarded city status, as part of the Queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations next year. If this effort proves unsuccessful, plan B is to raze Goole to the ground and rebuild it somewhere more agreeable. Maybe a different name as well…
Licenced today: the statue of George Vancouver in Kings Lynn, Norfolk…
Just read a timely article on the Guardian website about life in Afghanistan under the despotic rule of the Taliban. We should remember that it is the Taliban who, in their distaste for gays, women, democracy and human rights, are following most closely the Islamic precepts as set down in the Quran. These guys know their theology... almost as well as they handle an AK47.
Licenced this pic of a BT Openreach van parked in a Lakeland village. It’s sold a few times - presumably to illustrate the idea of ‘rural broadband’…
According to Chris Whitty, speaking at Wednesday’s Downing Street briefing about the Omicron variant, “There are lots of things we don’t know, but all the things we do know are bad”. I’m more inclined to accept Professors Whitty’s version of events than anything a baffled and beleagured Boris might say. If a lockdown comes, say the experts, it will be two weeks too late: after Christmas rather than before. But millions of people are already making their own decisions: cancelling parties and social gatherings. Thankfully, some traditions won’t change. There will still be racist banter in the public bar of the Black Swan; the village will enjoy a “white Christmas”, whatever the weather.
Licenced today: a road sign pointing to Wrynose Pass (which, along with Hardknott, is the only mountain pass in the Lake District I have never tackled in the Romahome)…
I have treated myself to a one-month subscription to BT Sport, so I can lose sleep by watching the cricket live from Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Hobart. So far it’s been a dispiriting experience, from the very first ball of the first test match when Rory Burns had his leg stump uprooted. The England team look shell-shocked, with bowlers toiling away in the heat and batsmen getting out too easily. When teams are mismatched, playing a five-day game must feel like torture. After the Ashes, half the England team may never play international cricket again. On the other hand, any England batsman who can conjure up a double century, when his team needs it most (ie right now) will be hailed as a hero. I’ll set the alarm for 4am tomorrow, probably to watch England get skittled out cheaply again.
Licenced today: a street preacher in Leicester…
The Omicron variant is spreading rapidly: doubling in size every two days. Even someone as innumerate as me (I failed Elementary Maths O-level four times, or maybe five) can grasp the exponential implications. According to a famous mathematical puzzle, if a chess-board were to have grains of wheat placed upon each square - with one grain on the first square, two on the second, four on the third, and so on, doubling the number of grains on each subsequent square - how many grains of wheat would be on the chessboard at the finish? The total number of grains is huge, representing the annual world production of wheat multiplied by 2,000.
Licenced today: steamer 'Swan' passing Ferry House, Lake Windermere…
The new Omicron variant seems to be gaining hold with great rapidity. If Christmas wasn’t looming, I imagine we would now be contemplating some kind of lockdown. After all the boozy parties and family get-togethers over the holiday, I wonder if there will be any spare hospital beds by the end of January.
Licenced today: new houses in Kendal, with pre-installed solar panels…
Licenced last week: sign for Westward Ho! (not so much a name as a stage direction, and the only place in England whose name includes an exclamation mark!)…
A Roman Catholic diocese in Sicily has publicly apologised to outraged parents after its bishop told a group of children that Santa Claus doesn’t exist. Recent popes have become quite adept at apologising, usually without addressing the systemic problems in the church which made the apologies necessary.
In 1992, the pope apologised for deeming Galileo a heretic in 1633. In 1993, for the church’s role in the African slave trade. In 1995, for the oppression of women. In 1998, for the church’s silence and inaction during the Holocaust. In 2000, for the crusaders’ attack on Constantinople in 1204. In 2001, for the sexual abuse of children, the “stolen generation” of Australian aboriginal children, and missionary conduct in China. In 2010, a second apology for sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. In 2014, for the repression of Pentecostals under Italian fascism. 2015, to the indigenous people of the Americas for the church’s role in colonialism. 2015, a third time, for the clerical abuse of children. In 2016, to refugees for some Catholics’ indifference and closed-mindedness, and for the church’s persecution of gay people.
Pic licenced yesterday...
Can’t say I’m bothered by the hoo-ha about parties at number 10 last Christmas. “Do as I say, not as I do” has been the message coming out of Downing Street for years, not months. MPs hypocritical? Tell me something new! The behaviour of our elected representatives isn’t going to affect the way I behave.
The parties that concern me are the ones which will happen over the next three weeks. Despite having had my booster jab, I’ll continue to avoid crowds and to wear my mask in shops. The new covid variant is increasing at an alarming rate, and I’m bracing myself for more bad bad news over the winter month.
Licenced today: another shot of Tan Hill in winter (after three days and nights snowed-in at the pub I heard, from a reliable source, that the members of the Oasis tribute band had split into a Noel Gallagher tribute band and a Liam Gallagher tribute band)...
Asselby’s Christmas tree is up, and houses are draped in lights. I didn’t want to miss out on all the festive fun, but nor did I want decorations - or any goodwill - in my lovely home. So where the tree ought to be, in the corner of the room, I’ve installed another unsightly fire-hazard instead: a pile of oily rags.
Licenced today: the road to Wetwang...
What a disappointment! The first match of the Ashes started at midnight, and I wanted to listen to the commentary from the very first ball. I must have dozed off, but not for long. Though I only missed six overs, England were already struggling at 11 for 3.
Licenced today: the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Shipley, West Yorkshire…
Having been an MP for almost 40 years, Labour’s Harriet Harman has announced that she will be standing down at the next election. When she first entered the House of Commons, in 1982, women represented just 3% of parliamenary seats; now, in 2021, that number has risen to 34%. Women MPs, she says, have now reached a "critical mass".
Licenced today: Drax power station...
Smiles all round as Republican congressman Thomas Massie and family get into the Christmas spirit. This is the Christmas card they chose to send, to family, friends and political colleagues... just four days after the latest school shooting…
It’s exactly 100 years since the Football Association banned women from playing, because “the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged”. The FA disallowed women's football games from taking place on the grounds used by its member clubs: a ban which remained in force until 1971. The FA apologised for the ban, though only in 2008 (a mere 87 years too late).
Licenced today: the Church of St Michael & All Angels, Lambourn, in Berkshire…
Licenced today: the Bell, Stilton, Cambridgeshire - a rather splendid old coaching inn - and the Green Dragon in the village of Welton, East Yorkshire…
Having travelled to the Tan Hill Inn to see an Oasis tribute band, 61 ‘music’ lovers have spent three nights holed up in the snow-bound pub. Apparently there was enough food and drink to go round. I’m very jealous. Being snowed in at Tan Hill is one of my fantasies! My pic is from five years ago, and the date was the last day of April…
Another less-than-stellar pic, earning me a sum which would barely buy a bag of Turkey Twizzlers...
It’s ‘Black Friday’ - a day that now seems to last a week - and I’ve so far refrained from spending any money. But after another day spent writing, I may head over to the Black Swan for a couple of beers. An hour of racist banter? I’m tempted.
Licensed today...
Just found a slim book, in a jacket pocket: a freebie I must have picked up from somewhere. It’s called Try Praying. On the first page I read that “God knows what you think and is aware of all you do. You can talk to him about anything”. That’s got to be a rather strange and one-sided conversation, even if there really is someone ‘up there’, since you can’t tell God anything he doesn’t already know, and he already knows the contents of your thoughts. Is God really going to listen to your gripes? Since he already knows what you’re going to say, will he be tempted to finish your sentences for you?
All four gospel writers are in agreement about prayer (though not much else). Prayer works! Whatever you ask for, in Jesus’s name, you get! It sounds too good to be true - and of course it is - though you have to read the small print in the Terms & Conditions of the divine enterprise before you see that the offer is entirely conditional on you becoming your most abject and submissive self. Oh, and if prayer doesn't seem to work, you can be sure that the fault is yours.
Licenced today: Furness Abbey, near Barrow-in-Furness, South Lakeland…
My electricity supplier, Bulb, the seventh largest energy company in the country, has just gone bust. It’s been expected for a few weeks. According to a spokesman, “The most important thing for consumers to know is that their energy supply will continue to run as it always has done, and any credit balances will be protected”. I’ve built up a bit of credit with Bulb, so that’s one thing I don’t need to worry about…
According to an article in today’s Guardian, by a respiratory doctor who prefers to remain anonymous, “in hospital Covid-19 has largely become a disease of the unvaccinated”. He (or she) cites people who reckoned they were too healthy to catch covid, or who wanted more evidence of the vaccine’s efficacy, or who hadn’t yet got round to making an appointment, plus one or two who believed the more outrageous conspiracy theories. These are the people who are now in the intensive care units.
The doctor admits to feeling frustrated. “I am now beaten back, exhausted, worn down by the continuous stream of people that we battle to treat when they have consciously passed up the opportunity to save themselves”. The best way for the rest of us to help ourselves, the people around us, and the over-burdened NHS, is just to get the jab.
Licenced today: a detail of the Anglo-Saxon cross in Ruthwell Kirk, Dumfries & Galloway…
This image, from yesterday's Guardian, is one of the saddest photographs I’ve ever seen. Sally Clark was sentenced to life in prison, in 1999, for murdering her two baby boys and blaming it on cot death. According to the damning testimony of Professor Sir Roy Meadow, the self-styled expert on child-abuse, the chances of having two cot deaths was “73 million to one”. She also lost the right to be a mother to her surviving child.
The flawed research of Professor Meadows having been discredited, Sally Clark’s conviction was ruled unsafe. She was freed in 2003 - when this photo was taken - but the damage had already been done. She died four years later. We can see in the photo the thousand-yard stare of a woman, badly let down by the justice system, who finally had no more tears left to cry…
Sad news today. Cedric Robinson, Guide to the Sands for more than half a century, has died aged 88. The role was created in 1548, during the dissolution of the monasteries, when the reigning monarch inherited an obligation to appoint guides for travellers over the sands of Morecambe Bay. For a salary of £15 a year (plus rent-free accommodation in Guides Farm in Kents Bank) Cedric steered hundreds of thousands of people away from the quicksands and fast-filling channels of the ever-changing bay. The pic is of the River Kent at Arnside: the starting point of many cross-bay walks…
Wobbled into Howden on my bike today, to get my Pfizer booster jab. Everything at Howden Medical Centre was organised, as usual, with unhurried efficiency. After the jab, we all had to sit for 15 minutes in a room. To avoid anyone sneaking away too soon, each of us was issued with a wind-up kitchen timer, pre-set to 15 minutes. When my alarm went off, I could leave. It was like one of Monty Python's longer. more baffling and less funny sketches…
Licenced today: the Village Pinfold, an artwork by artist Andy Goldsworthy, in the village of Bolton, Cumbria…
According to an article in today’s Guardian, the Nazis based their elite schools - set up to groom future leaders of the Third Reich - on British public schools such as Eton and Harrow. Apparently the Nazis wanted to learn from the “character-forming” example of the British school system. They also saw the largely independent role of the school headmaster as an embodiment of the “Führer-principle”. Now why does that not surprise me?...
A rare weekend sale: Cawfield Quarry, on Hadrian's Wall near Haltwhistle, Northumberland National Park…
This quote from Krishnamurti, which arrived in my in-tray this morning, really ‘spoke' to me…
Am I aware of you if I am prejudiced against you? My prejudice projects itself and prevents me from looking, and therefore I am not aware of you. To be aware, I must be aware of my prejudices, of my likes and dislikes, aware of my conditioning, that I am a Dutchman, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Muslim. Whatever I am, I must be aware of it. And to be aware of it, I must not deny it. I mustn’t deny what I see in myself; I must look at it.
I must be aware without choice, saying, ‘I’ll keep this, I won’t keep that.’ So awareness means to be aware without choice so that I can look. I can look into myself without any choice. I won’t say, ‘This is good, this is bad, this is beautiful, I’ll keep it, that is ugly, I won’t keep,’ but I will look. I will see but not judge. Can I see without judging? Can I see violence in me without judging it? This means without the censor, without the entity that judges, that says violence is wrong. Can I look at it? I can only look if there is no opposite.
If I don’t have the ideal of non-violence, I can look at violence. I have been conditioned to accept the ideal, and I see that prevents me from looking at violence. So can I look at it without any ideal? And if I can look at it without an ideal, I have broken down the conditioning. Therefore the mind can look freely. So I have learnt something: the mind can be free and not be a slave to environment…
The English language is wonderfully nuanced, with some words having a very narrow and specific meaning. ‘Scrumping’ isn’t just stealing fruit; it’s stealing apples. ‘Punnet’ is a container, but only for soft fruit. We have a word - ‘defenstration’ - to describe falling, or being pushed, out of a window. ‘Tines’ have one meaning only: the prongs of a fork. ‘Genuflection’ is kneeling. An ‘embrasure’ is a refuge for pedestrians on a bridge.
We also have some odd gaps in the language, as exemplified by a DIY testing kit for bowel cancer, which arrived by post yesterday. According to the instructions, you take the little stick and drag it across the… well, what? We have ‘faeces’, ‘shit’, ’turd’, ‘stool’ and ‘excrement’… but the writer of the instruction booklet has settled on ‘poo’. Does anyone really say ‘poo’… unless they’re talking to, or about, a toddler?
Two pix licenced today: taken on the same day, and within 50 metres of each other, at River Head in Driffield...
