No longer a race for space
‘US Moon Mission runs into technical hitch’ says a BBC headline this evening. To be honest, the entire space exploration enterprise seems to have hit the buffers fifty years ago. My boyhood self would have been very disappointed, space intrigued me. It was maybe 1967; much earlier, and the moment would have been beyond memory; much later, and the occasion … [continue reading …]
A loss of dignity
It was dipping my arms into the sink of hot water that recalled the memories. We were a blue collar family. We lived in a semi-detached council house with an outside toilet. There was no central heating in my younger years, we kept warm with a coal fire in the living room and a paraffin heater as required elsewhere. The … [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 Saint Patrick’s Day, 17th March 2024
‘Look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.’ John 4:35 Three words beginning with “f” can help us in our thoughts about Patrick and what his ministry might teach us about being followers of Christ in our own time, the words are food, four and fruit. The disciples are concerned that Jesus should attend to his … [continue reading …]
The lesser of two evils
It used to be said that one could judge a man by the company he kept. If that is so then the Prime Minister of Israel is possibly delusional for there is no doubt that the extreme religious parties who support his government are definitely delusional. But no matter how much of a fruitcake he may be, there is one … [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 …]