And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East….
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Weather disruption…
When storms disrupt the celebrated ‘bread and circus’…
Culture, music, stories, entertainment, adventure, wonder…
Over the holiday season it is not just food & drink that can be found in
abundance. Multifarious ‘circus’ is also omnipresent and plentiful.
The mystery of the season is enhanced with musical extravaganza, from reworked classic chestnuts to new compositions and anthemic winter-beating tunes.
Our TV & radio list tantalising new offerings for the coming year… *green button* “book it” don’t miss out!
Our tablets, phones etc offer visual delights and compulsive interaction that enchants (and beeps!). Our interaction? with ‘friends’ via our technology is neo-vibrant.
Our bedsides or ebooks are stocked with new mysteries and worlds where anything is possible, where shall we adventure away?
We can chose wisely from a feast of culture to colour and filter our world. It might enhance our outlook, it might illuminate new discovery, it may numb pain, it might amplify possibilities. We can celebrate achievements and advances that do indeed glorify life as we know it.
Yet where does this leave us when nature overcomes our constructions.
When storms disrupt travel. When illness inhibits our enjoyment. When loss clouds our vision. When greed kills our senses. When emptiness floods our
relationships. When human nature fails humanity…
The broken tool, the empty Smartie tube, the end of the book, the final episode, the end of a song, the dismissible ‘status’, the deletable email, the last Rolo, the broken person?…
Juvenal suggested to give us Quality Street and American pancakes, offer us Dancing on Ice and smart-phones, offer us Christmas and a new year, offer the best a man can get, because you’re worth it…
I recall “All this I will give you… if you will bow down…”
When nature
overcomes our bread and circus…
I’m
off to read a chapter of Wilbur’s Vicious
Circle, with a small Grouse and a slice of Christmas
cake as Mr Wesseltoft lightens the mood. But I will try to be
mindful that “Man shall not live on…”
bread and circus alone.
Happy New Year!
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Sans Day Carol
The Sans Day Carol or St Day Carol is a traditional Cornish carol from the village of St Day in the mining area near Redruth.
I’m a Camborne boy but as many Camborne boys did (those that didn’t aim as high as Truro) spent a deal of teenaged time in the Redruth area. Ah… happy daze. Never did a Christmas pass without hearing this tune, among other Cornish chestnuts, being sung somewhere.
Not that I know much about it, but the original Cornish words for this song fell from use. A renewed interest in the Cornish language has seen the cornish words somewhat revived.
Rather like the Holly ‘something’ lives on…
Going through the annual stages of the berry’s colours? Birth “white as the milk”, energetically vibrantly “green as the grass”, humanly physically “blood-red” and deeply deadly “black as the coal”…
What is ‘it’ I wonder, much more than a jingly crimbly festive cheer…
Long live the holly!
Now the holly bears a berry as white as the milk, And Mary bore Jesus all wrapped up in silk.
And Mary bore Jesus, a saviour for to be, And the first tree in the greenwood it was the holly
Holly, holly, And the first tree in the greenwood it was the holly
Now the holly bears a berry as green as the grass, And Mary she bore Jesus who died on a cross.
Now the holly bears a berry as blood it is red, And Mary bore Jesus who rose? from the dead.
Now the holly bears a berry as black as the coal, And Mary bore Jesus who died for us all.
Cornish chorus: forgive my ignorance but it’s sumt’ like this
Ha Mam o an Maghteth, Marya Mam Dew, Ha gwedhen an gwella, an gelynen yu
Kelyn, Kelyn, Ha gwedhen an gwella an gelynen yu.
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Advent of…
Once upon a time…
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Advent week 3…
The smallest steps, the most ordinary steps, the dusty steps…
Stop twice, look thrice, over death… random raw life is alive.
Stop twice, look thrice, over death… random raw life is alive.
Be still and know, a comforting labyrinthine path, listen…
When all around us is distracting, there is something eternal going on.
When all around us is distracting, there is something eternal going on.
Waking from sleep we might hear a small voice,
with fresher eyes we might see child-like wonder.
with fresher eyes we might see child-like wonder.
Wait, be still… divine warmth might not glitter but,
the briefest moments can lead to magnificent strides.
the briefest moments can lead to magnificent strides.
–––
My third week following some Advent reflections from Brian Draper. I have to say again I can heartily recommend it if you so feel inclined!
Week 1, Week 2.
Week 1, Week 2.
It seems a long time since Monday when I took a trip around the block.
...I'll go with Brian, but I fear it's another distraction from the void that is all around us. As I say, I'll go with it today Brian, I will go out around the block at lunch-break, into the rough urban industrial Leicester, something I have not done for many months. I will follow the reflection... I will suspend disbelief...... ...Not a 'pleasant' walk but perhaps that's not the point. Yes, I will keep going - not much of an option there. I have become (re)acquainted with Psalm 23. Much of the terminology is lost on me I'm afraid (perhaps I'll google it in due-course). But I did find some words briefly comforting... Alas, the harsh wind, the dusty streets, the raw lives, the sad failed industry that I passed was more haunting than the verse. Curiously the encounter that caused me look thrice and stop twice was the open doors of a funeral services. Though the industrial doors stood the usual polished black vehicles but more strikingly also stood rows and layers of wood look coffins perhaps 50 plus... this stood out for me amongst the random raw life that passed around me, Asian languages, cigarettes, white vans, dusty roads, personal business, wheeling and dealing, city streets and rows of coffins. I will allow it to rest in my mind...
Brian’s posts also introduced me to this…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS7gEykFMD8
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It’s Mini Meat Pie time!! again!
Oh yus!! It’s Granny Annie’s Mini Meat Pies!
A bit of a tradition on the days leading up to Christmas – It seems every Christmas I remember from Cornwall included these mini marvels! But take my word for it they don’t hang around, soooooo morish – ansome me lover! From what I recall, this is me mum’s recipe with a few twists.
Here’s the recipe from other years: Mini Meat Pies!
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Advent week 2…
A Joy and Wonder that flows from our own sense of release,
a startling revelation of ancient beauty…
An infectious smile at the heart of life that changes everything,
might slip through our fingers like mist…
Embrace it “the Joy of true life is your strength”,
it flows through us and from us…
Recognise that you are part of the beauty you see…
but look, what joy! Why now, Why me?
With a view of spring, accept and appreciate your wintering…
It’s natural, it’s physical… it’s wondrous…
———
This is the second Advent post, as I follow this year’s seasonal musings of Brian Draper. I can heartily recommend sharing his reflections if you so feel inclined!
It’s probably different for you but for me, Advent is not a nice “happy daze”, “everything will be alright” jam! For me Advent might be about waiting for stuff, pausing before, refocusing, stirring the sediment, brushing away the tarnish…
Yes we all recognise fleeting glimpses of beauty in our lives, we try to capture it in photos, stories, and other creations. I usually fail to hold onto it, share it and feed off it. I struggle to hang onto beauty in our world…
I thought [tweeted] this week that “even the most rotten in nature has a beauty to it, I struggle to find beauty in the rot in humanity…”
and “as my human rot is recognised, I aim to nurture the sprites of joy and wonder that shoot and grow towards light…”
Suspend disbelief might be a way forward.
Never would I have imagined as a child in the 1970’s, as I absorbed questionable traditional Carols (with a Cornish Methodist twang) that I would be singing them to children in Sainsbury’s in Melton Mowbray and turning with a tear in my eye as they wished me a Happy Christmas with smiles that would light up the darkest of hearts!
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Advent week 1…
‘the Word became flesh’ and walked the earth…
Walking, respond physically to ancient ground beneath our feet…
From my head to my fleshly heart…
Gratefully “Like a craftsman, planing wood, to the glory of God…”
Each step like a candle burning in the night…
Sharing grace… sharing gratitude…
Learning to walk again, easier than you might think…
Love came down at Christmas…?
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On yer bike!
I try and keep cycling posts to a minimum, ‘cos riding a bike is just a way of getting from a to b and should be normal but…
A friend of mine asks… How many drivers pass too close to people on pedal cycles?
I do not use major city roads so am not ideally placed to comment but in my subjective experience about 1 in 5 do pass too close when passing people on bikes. 1 in 10 pass very dangerously close. I film all the 7miles x 2 commutes I do ever weekday – I’ll check when I have time! But 1 in 10 is too many! Fine for fit, strong, attentive ‘cyclists’ but for the average person in the street that could pop to the shops on their bike, the traffic is not acceptable. Forget getting the kids cycling!
Some academic research is interesting if you’re that way inclined.
When you are on a bike and are experiencing dangerous driving, occasionally it takes superhuman discipline to not get very angry!
I agree with the below, on any ride into town:
- some drivers will pass dangerously close.
- some drivers will overtake prematurely.
- some drivers will cut in too soon.
- some drivers will follow too close behind cyclists.
- some will drive at inappropriate speeds.
- some will use phones or hair brushes etc while driving.
- there are also the instances where drivers deliberately menace, bully, or antagonise other road users.
It takes significant concerted tolerance, concentration, and both physical and mental strength to stay safe cycling regularly on Britain’s roads.
That’s why I believe separating hard-fast motor vehicles from mortal vulnerable people on bikes is what’s needed if the healthier* option of cycling is to be encouraged.
One might ask… Why do we not care about other people’s wellbeing? Why do we only think of ourselves? Why is illusory personal gain so celebrated?
Yes there are laws and new ones can be created or perhaps existing laws might be actually enforced. There will always be bullies, there will always be the uneducated, there will always be ignorance – we need laws and education to help with this. But also we will always be ‘people’. We are faulty, but we can aim to be healthier people.
On our roads, all I ask is for a little consideration…
- consideration of ourselves.
- consideration of what we are doing
- consideration for others (might naturally follow).
All I ask is for a little consideration, but perhaps I ask for too much.
*healthier: much has been written on the benefits of increased cycle use, on personal, community & economic levels – google it – cycling is good….
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Advent… what are you waiting for?
OK we all do the calendar thing – well those with kids in the house probably do.
But what can ‘Advent’ do for us? …and I don’t mean the Religious, candley, purpley rituals – although they have their uses.
Waiting at the lights, waiting in line in Alidil, waiting… I have to admit it, I am working on it but, I am not very good at really waiting… finding extra patience and tolerance… and over the coming month it’s likely that we’ll be waiting in a Christmas-infested queue, a seasonally longer queue at the pumps or tills, or just waiting for it all to be over!
The period Advent is about waiting… from Latin adventus, arrival. Waiting for the arrival of something…
Entertaining the experience of waiting for something. Finding a chance to slow, stop, and consider our place, can be a gift! Stop all the clocks…
Perhaps we might use the experience of waiting this December as an Advent reminder.
Back in the day, the Jews were waiting for a Messiah.
What are you waiting for?
PS: Have you eaten all of the chocolates behind the doors? …and it’s not started yet!!
Jules P Richards 