There is much talk about the British royal family but it is the same as all the others. The shoe-horning of people into unnatural positions and deifying them for centuries does not breed any normality. Being bowed to from your first days does not give you a sense of commonality. It isn’t designed to. But…
Frost and Chill
After a very mild November in which the grass continued to grow (not something we are used to) it has become a frost December. The fields are white in the mornings and the birds hungry. I have, as yet, not closed the window in the kitchen because fresh air-flow keeps the bugs at bay but…
Once Again
Yesterday after months of watching and infiltration German security forces arrested a cadre of men and women who were plotting to try to bring down the government and install the monarchy. Naturally the papers call this an attempted putsch which has come at the wrong time – you need a pool of disaffected working class…
A Little Education
Because of the choices we had to make at school I dropped Geography and Biology and joked for years that I didn’t know what I was or where I was. But the idea that there are things we have to learn in order to be employable has always jarred with my sense of freedom and…
A Winter of Strikes
The UK, entering what may be a decade of economic hardship, is facing a winter of strikes. Some quite unexpected. Nurses, coffin makers and ambulance staff are among the groups with train workers finding that government doesn’t care about them. If you have a group of workers whom you consider so vital they should not…
Devolve
We are restarting the argument here in the UK for greater powers outside of London for the local population to govern more for itself. It sounds lovely and important but for political connivance and human criminality. Down here in Cornwall the local government has been among the most criminal in the country with self-service and…
Beggar to Beggar Cried
‘Time to put off the world and go somewhere And find my health again in the sea air,’ Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck, ‘And make my soul before my pate is bare.- ‘And get a comfortable wife and house To rid me of the devil in my shoes,’ Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck,…
Jokes I Enjoyed
You can’t believe everything you hear—but you can repeat it. “We used to play spin the bottle when I was a kid. A girl would spin the bottle, and if the bottle pointed to you when it stopped, the girl could either kiss you or give you a nickel. By the time I was…
Spellbound
Spellbound The night is darkening round me, The wild winds coldly blow; But a tyrant spell has bound me And I cannot, cannot go. The giant trees are bending Their bare boughs weighed with snow. And the storm is fast descending, And yet I cannot go. Clouds beyond clouds above me, Wastes beyond wastes below;…
Old Lists
I just found some old lists from the 90s for flowers and seeds my mother wanted for the garden – nemesia, marigolds, honesty and many others. She loved flowers, especially her roses which I have kept about ten in the new garden despite the fact I am not really a flower person. I always preferred…