Personal Blogs

Our neighbour(the kind jolly man) has passed away yesterday. He suffered from his lungs and heart(a smoker) Not that we have had close contact, except to just say 'Hello'  over the garden fence, but we get on well with him and his wife. He often brought us produce from his allotment.

After saying hello to him the same morning, he just dropped down dead a few hours later in the street!
We saw the ambulance arrive to take him away. I am still in shock! Another friend up the road is ill with bronchitis. There seems to be a lot of lung problems in our street at the present time.

Apart from all that I am still trying to study whenever I can!
Every day. I read the news in french, watch france24 in french, and I am reading a collection of short stories in french. It seems I am now at last enjoying the fruits of my labours of three years study of French! lol!

Now I can read French books and watch interesting french films not bad huh? Thanks OU ! 👍

Slowly starting to gear up for October, when I will be starting studying a 30 credit course in the English language.  I have enjoyed studying English and liked very much the module  "Creativity in language." As I like english writing. I have really learned a lot on this course!

The latest book I am reading in English is...."The Bible Hunter"  by Jurgen Gottschlich.
The Codex Sinaiticus is one of the oldest surviving books in the world, and the earliest copy of the New Testament in existence. The Bible Hunter is the fascinating account of the manuscript’s journey from the fourth century to its present home in the British Library.

In 1844, academic and fundamentalist christian,  Constantin Tischendorf, who was driven by his obsession with the origins of the Bible to a remote monastery in the middle of the Sinai Desert, discovered the manuscript in a basket of paper said to have been discarded by the monks. Later, Tischendorf managed to remove several sheets from the monks’ protective guard. and, with the backing of Tsar Alexander II, organised the loan of the documents to the Imperial Library in St Petersburg, where they remained until 1933.

Part travelogue, part historical study and part critique, The Bible Hunter tells of the author’s trip to Sinai, the history of the Bible and early Church and the lives and liturgies of the monks of St Catherine’s Monastery. A compelling and accessible study, The Bible Hunter raises important questions about the nature of scholarship, and about the complex issues of how – and in particular where – the treasures of Antiquity are best displayed.

JÜRGEN GOTTSCHLICH was born in 1954. He studied philosophy and journalism in Berlin, and went on to co-found the daily newspaper taz in 1979, working there as a journalist – and latterly as Deputy Editor – until 1993. From 1980 onwards he made regular trips to Turkey and the Near East. He became Editor-in-Chief of the Wochenpost in 1994 and has worked as the Istanbul-based correspondent of various newspapers since 1998; He has also written two books on Modern Turkey and its relationship to Europe.

* Refrences-  Haus Publishing

* Translated byJohn Brownjohn

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.hauspublishing.com/product/the-bible-hunter/&ved=2ahUKEwjkmuCPz4-EAxWsT0EAHdCMD3sQFnoECBEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3viKdfdK0Wk3XoL2hp-aPn

Frosty and cold with a little pale sunshine.

This was my first ever country walk since catching Covid 19, lasting from month ending November- December until January.

Today, I wrapped up warmly 3 layers of clothing, fur hat, 2 pair of socks, scarf and thick coat. Husband laughed at me saying I look like a babushka! 

Set off down my road, through the little short cut at the end of the street, I headed straight for the large park,  just past the wooded area, where here is the rear entrance to the park.

There was a  lot of birdsong up in the trees surrounding the park. I saw a lot of back gardens on this side of park, with bird tables and feeding stations in the gardens, so the birds here are well fed and never far away, sitting up in the tree tops, bordering on the park.

I go at a very slow snails pace, (my muscles hurt a lot) I think to myself,  just as long as I can make it around the park at least! After a while I began to warm up a bit and I was able to pass the tennis courts at a moderate walking speed.

Around the park there were lots of frozen puddles along the way. It has  only a grass footpath, so it is not paved at all, just a basic mud pathway. I had to dodge the obstacles of the partly frozen puddles.

Before long I had soon reached the small woodland at the far side of the park. This smelt damp and earthy, I could hear some water trickling. The paths here were completely impassable at this point, due to  the woodland footpaths being flooded.  It looked strange, like the trees were growing up out of a swamp!

Fortunately,  I was  on the upper inside park footpath so not too wet. However,  I still had to go around the puddles from the overspill from the woodlands to the park, to carry on walking through the park. It was  either that or turn back completely. I decided to carry on!

After passing the childrens empty playground area, of the swings, roundabouts and slide, I carried on walking as far as the main park entrance gate.

To extend my walk I walked even a little further on, to the far end of the village, and part way along the country lane , this passes the water way.

 There, just ahead of me,  I suddenly caught sight of  a white flash rising up - then another one. As I stopped I stood still to watch, focusing ny eyes,  as up from the banks of the dyke there arose a pair of big beautiful white heron birds.What a wonderful sight!

I wished I'd brought my camera with me!
🕊🕊

Over the Christmas break,  I have been watching The BBC television adaptation(1976)  of "The Signalman", a film based on 1866 short story by "Charles Dickens"  The production was directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark and filmed on the Severn Valley Railway. The two main characters in the story are the traveller(who is the narrator) and the signalman. 

The traveller was  staying at the nearby local Inn, he is out walking one late afternoon, when he comes across a railway line, with a signal mans box beside the rail track. The signal man is standing on the track deep in thought. The traveller calls down, he waves to the signalman "Halloa! Below there!"  The signalman standing on the railway below he does not look up, as the narrator thinks he will but instead he turns about and looks ahead into the railway tunnel. Eventually after calling out a few times the traveller finally gets the signalmans attention. The traveller asks if there is a way to come down to the track. At first the signal man says nothing, and then he simply points his finger to a footpath further along that leads down to the rail track.

The signalman appears rather wary, even afraid of the traveller for some reason. Saying he thinks he has seen the traveller somewhere  before, that his face seems somehow familiar, but the traveller reassures him that he means him no harm, that he just wants to talk, as he is curious to know how the signalman passes his day there. After being invited up to the signalman's cabin, he stays a while and watches the signalman, as he goes about his mundane duties of anwering bells, from other signal men, giving telephone instructions and pushing and pulling the levers.
On his occasional breaks in between the traveller listens, as the signalman talks about his life, that he missed out on having  a good education due to poverty and that he reads books to try to self educate. He goes on to talk about his responsibilities as a signalman, but then suddenly he stops, he seems afraid even of his own thoughts. He keeps looking at the bell and sweating, as if the bell was about to ring even though it does n't.  "What is it that troubles you?" asks the traveller.

The signalman said he will tell the traveller more about  the visions he is having, when next the traveller returns to visit. On leaving he especially tells the taveller not to call out next time, but to just come down the footpath path without speaking. The traveller is a bit puzzled at first but agrees to his request.

Upon the travellers next visit, the signalman speaks about the sight of a ghostly figure of a man of shabby appearance, waving his arm vigourously and saying the very same words the traveller had spoken when he first met with the signalman."Halloa! Below there! "
The first vision of the ghostly figure was followed by a terrible train crash inside the tunnel. This did indeed happen some years ago, nobody knew the cause. The second vision was of the spectre saying the very same words, "Helloa below there" that was succeed by another train crash near to the tunnel , in which a young lady was mysteriously killed. The last apparition and the most fearful of all, was of the ghostly man who was standing next to the tunnel and yelling "Below there! Look out! For God’s sake, clear the way!" The ghost was waving his arm about frantically and then covered up his face with his arm.
The signalman is clearly disturbed by what he has lately witnessed. He feels he is unable to prevent a looming disaster, but he asks for the travellers opinion on what he has just explained, about the visions.

The traveller who is an educated man of reason, and who is sceptical about the supernatural, tells the signalman straight forwardly his opinion, that  he was probably over tired, his imagination was a little overactive and that he should see a doctor, and explain it to him, perhaps  he may be able to help him give him some pills and cure him to these ghostly fearful sightings. As long as he is doing his job correctly, directing the trains, then he need not worry but to just ignore the ghostly warnings and carry on doing his job, saying that in any case, the visions do not actually try to prevent any of these disasters from happening. Accidents do happen, but as long as the signalman is doing his very best job that he can do,  then he is not to blame for whatever happens. Reassured the signalman agrees and they decide to meet up again the next day.

However, the next day when the traveller arrives at the railway line, there is no sign of the signalman at all. Instead he sees a man, one of a group of officials who are investigating an incident on the line.

 He is told the signalman is dead, that the driver said he saw the signalman standing on the railtrack lost in thought, looking at the tunnel and the signal man seemed oblivious to the oncoming train. The driver tried to warn him by yelling "Below there! Look out! For God’s sake, clear the way!" As he waved his arm frantically about, then he covered up his face with his arm.

(1) So had the signalman been given a premonition of his own death?

(2) Was it his conscience?

(3)Was the traveller a bad or good angel?

(4) Or was it fate?

It is the audience who are left to decide, based on what they have seen and heard in the film.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens

Enjoyed the Christmas Carols from Kings and we ate mince pies. It felt cosy indoors with lots of candles on in the house.
Watched some DVDs and did some reading when I was able to feel a bit stronger.
Still watching  the french Detective 'Maigret'  films on Talking pictures, in french on TV. I prefer the french version because it helps me to remember the french language skills I have acquired over the last couple of years with the OU. I am hoping to buy the box set of Maigret this year when I can manage to save up!
My book collection is growing as I managed to pick up some books from the secound hand book shop in the city, well before christmas, for just a couple of pounds.
The weather has been too wet for walking lately in the country, it is full of potholes everywhere and muddy puddles. My walks have had to be confined only to the village, around the outskirts through the housing estates, by the pavements and along the established public footpaths. However, I am  tired and short of breath  by the time I return home. Hopefully this year it will be better. A Happy Healthy New Year to Everyone!
🏡
🌄🌧🌫🌥

On Christmas day it was so heart warming to hear King Charles speech,  about how we should protect the natural environment.

It was good to hear  King Charles 3rd speech, how he praised community volunteers. He spoke about community volunteers, those who work tirelessly for so little recognition or reward, I completely agree for I have seen their very valuable work, that they do in their communities and in my community to help the poor and needy. 

They are doing it because they care, they believe in giving their fellow man a helping hand,  whether it be in foodbanks packing bags, donating food and handing out food to families that need that little bit of extra food to help them survive through until payday. (And may I just add both the poor and also the  middle class,  who are affected by Brexit, the pandemic and cost of living crisis, so the emergence of foodbanks is quite a recent widespread event.)

There are also the volunteers who are concerned about the environment, they work in my community too they help maintain the natural habitats for the birds, insects and animals. 

They want their communities to be well maintained, eco- friendly, tidy and clean. A place where people can sit and enjoy nature and be proud of their community, where they live and can feel better improving their physical and mental well being in parks,  green spaces and in woodlands.

Then there are those volunteers who are helping the various charities, in hospitals and in shops. They give up their time to support others by helping to run the shops that raise much needed funds for organisations, so that they can continue to help the sick, the elderly and children in need.

I applaud King Charles for pointing out that we need to look after one another and protect each other. We have more in common than we know and must think of our shared beliefs not any divisions. Therefore doing  no harm to others, but to respect others so fulfilling the command- "do unto others as you wish them to do unto you"  as As the Lord has taught to his followers and to the world.

God save the King!

Christmas was always a wonderful time for me as a child, even though we were quite poor. I was born on Christmas day, so for a long time I thought I shared my birthday with Jesus. Of course there is no absolute accuracy  about historical dates and all that , but anyway, Christmas as a  child always felt like it was a magical time to me.

Mam used to bake a lot of mince pies and cakes with ingredients that were not too expensive. She made everything early, around about a month in advance.

At Christmas, we often used to go to church on the Christmas eve and come home to have hot mulled wine with mince pies!

Christmas day was a traditional christmas dinner with Roast Turkey and we felt close together as a family. As we were both girls, we helped mam prep the vegetables and started getting things ready for the table. 

Dad did his bit and  put up all the  lights, the tree and the decorations, also the Christmas Nativity scene which he had made himself. This was placed nearby the christmas table with the Holy family jesus and shpherds. Dad put the Christmas Carols on the record player to create a lovely christmassy atmosphere. 

Later we played Christmas carols on piano,  recorders and in song all together.
When we were young, us 2 girls woke up very early to open our christmas presents under the tree. We always wrote a letter to ask father Christmas what we would like for a gift and we promised to be well behaved and help mother. 

 One year we received a dolly, the next year I got all 'Arty' with a Spirograph Set and I made endless designs and patterns to give to all the family! another year we got a bicycle. These were the good years, when my mam would take a little job around christmas time,  to help make an extra income. Grandparents helped out a bit. 

Later mam couldn't do much anymore when she became ill and dad didn't earn a lot in the local shipyard. Things were not the same, it was much harder for us especially when dad was made redundant for quite a while.

 However, we always felt surrounded by love as children by our lovely grandparents and parents. We helped our parents until we both got married, then we tried to bring a Happy Christmas to our own young families. ❤

Do you have happy memories of past Chrstmas times ? Funny or sad?

We are literally living in one room (trying to save on electricity).  It is the warmest room in the house,  fortunately, it stays warm for most of the day, this could be because it has a south facing window and has a  low ceiling. 

We live here most of  the time, it is the master bedroom so quite large. It has now become the bedroom, the study room, the TV room,music room and the dinning room. 

At night when it is much colder we still have to put on the fan heater for an hour or so. This is just to keep the temperature to a comfortable 16° and a hot wster bottle is a must.

 However, to make the meal,  I still have to go down into the kitchen which is like an ice box without any heating on! Seriously thinking of bringing up the microwave oven to cook here.

The rest of the house is also very cold. My husband is unwell and is waiting for an operation, but otherwise we are still just about coping.

Pylon in the mist

Forget these club-foot underpinnings. My mind is somewhere higher. Can you follow

me up to where I strip down to geometry?
To where the proof of a theorem must be true

because elegant. Not a nut or bolt for show, but each pleat and dart of the stress field

traced on the mist in rust- painted steel, like an intellectual necessity. Essential

me, out in all weathers wearing nothing but my purpose - an ascetic, ideal

and myself as a bare tree in winter. Possessed by a certain charisma - can you hear it,

power,  everywhere and nowhere, its dry crackling in the cloud around my head?
      **************
Reference;
I Spy Pinhole Eye
Poems by Philip Gross, Photography by Simon Denison.

Some good news! Renewable energy projects are rising in number worldwide

According to estimates by the International Energy Agency, more than 1.6 trillion euros is going to fund renewable energy (solar and wind) and electric vehicle projects this year, a 24% jump compared to 2021.

By Adrien Pécout
Published on May 28, 2023, (Paris) le Monde

The bad news is this, unfortunately too much Fossil fuels are still in production!

For more news on the climate lemonde.fr

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.lemonde.fr/&ved=2ahUKEwiw84LL5d-CAxUdXUEAHT5QDR4QFnoECAYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1mI-cPIQr3docEINuU9JU2

(Saccades: rapid tracking movements of the human eye, unnoticed by the brain, between one fixed image and the next)

         Saccadia

The people of Saccadia

are backroom boys.
See them crouched

to their exposures in the darkroom plotting a map, or a plot for an invasion, motionless

as Cortes, at each moment on the brink
Of breakthrough to another world of which their one-frame stories tell

like a whole new dimension.
Oh, to be in - no-  to be the movies...

Ref;

I Spy Pinhole Eye- Poems Philip Gross, photography by Simon Denison

Cinnamon Press

                ❤

Matthew 12:30-32:

God said  "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

"Love Thy Neighbour"

Do no harm to your neighbour who dwells beside you in peace.

1 Corrinthians chapter 13 is best understood as a way of life, lived in imitation of Jesus Christ, that is focused not on oneself but on the “other”.

I find this is a difficult commandment to live by as not everyone is lovable! but it is one commandment, that in the end, brings about peace. We need a lot of help from the Holy Spirit to achieve this. It is all about respect and acceptance for others. 🙂