Jane

Jane Townsend, aged 23 years old was at sea doing vital nursing and indeed helping in any way she could during the whole of the Battle of Trafalgar.
After the Battle was over a great many people were decorated for bravery:  Jane's Captain put her name forward to the Admiralty for a medal but had no reply.   Much later when everyone present during the Battle was award a Service Medal Jane did not get one, so her Captain requested one for her.   A letter of explanation from the Admiralty to her Captain stated that they would have to refuse recognition of Jane's courage as it would cause great offence and shock to the populace of the country to discover that women were actually there at the scene of battle!

Brrrrrr....

Temperatures 6 below zero tonight and threatening to get lower later in the week.   There is something so paralyzing about the intense cold - I can hardly function; all my energy comes rushing in when the sun warms me.
Yet Scott and his team went to the Antartic badly clothed by today's standards as did the early climbers on Everest yet they had both energy and enthusiasm for the task in hand.   I have to wonder whether they would have been the same intrepid men in a warm environment or would they perhaps have lost energy there- we'll never know.

I Like this by Max Erhmann

   Do not distress yourself with imaginings.
Many fears are born out of fatigue and loneliness.
Be gentle with yourself, you are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars:   You have a right to be here.
Have no doubts the universe is unfolding just as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him/Her to be;
and in the noisy confusions of life keep peace with your soul.
With all the shams, drudgery and broken dreams -
THIS IS STILL A MOST BEAUTIFUL WORLD.
Strive to be happy in it.

a day in the country

We woke to a layer of snow this morning and a leaden sky which warned of more to come.
Should we continue with our plans to have lunch with friends at a country house?   Yes!
with our son and his 4x4 on standby we set off  into Mendip country which look so beautiful
in the snow I almost cried for my camera which I had left behind at home.
The house looked as though it had hardly changed since Jane Austen's day snuggled into
the white, crispy fields and the deer looked far too well fed and happy to feel sorry for them
as they chased each other across the grounds.   The food was excellent, the company loving
and the conversation interesting so who could ask for anything more?

a cold and frosty evening

Well the snow has stopped but even worse now it is solid with frost and ice.  Our little girl went off to Guide Camp this evening packed up as though she was going on expedition with 'Scott of the Antartic'.
Thankfully it seems the days of camping in tents in the open air are long over for the Guides and Scouts of  today:
Blow up mattresses are the order of the day all lined up neatly in a long, warm wooden cabin, so as she slips into her sleeping bag with long socks, pyjamas, woolly caftan, and maybe gloves and hat she should be warm enough to survive 'til Sunday.   I am missing her already.

God speed Astro Wheels

For the past 6 months I have been following the tweets of Colonel Douglas Wheelock as he circled the earth in the space station ISS Cupola.  He constanly sent pictures back to earth of our beautiful planet from space and sometimes even his thoughts as he saw the sights of earth.  Today he, along with his Russian counterpart and a female astro have been strapped into the space shuttle and are hurtling through space and back home for Christmas.   These
are the words he posted before his departure -
'Be strong enough to know when you are weak...brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid
never substitute words for actions.
Learn to stand up in a storm but have compassion on those who fall.
Always have a heart that is clean, and a goal that is high.....learn to laugh but never forget how to weep......
until we meet again'
He also said 'leave a light on I'm coming home'    We will, God's speed Doug and thank you.

Weather

The vagaries of our weather is fascinating and worthy of the acres of print and hours of discussion it evokes.
I am quite jealous hearing about the beautiful days in Oz whilst the commentators talk endlessly about the start of the first Ashes game - how wonderful I think to be sitting there in the sunshine waiting for the English batsmen to come out - but it's just a lovely dream.   Meanwhile a friend's daughter is preparing a small hotel in the French Alps ready for the start of the ski season  only to find their small village already covered in snow and all the children being taken out of school to have their PE lessons on the slopes.   My sister in law in South Africa Skyped a few days ago and with great glee told me they had had 10 mm of rain which was good as they are in their rainy season!  We in the South West had more than100 mm that very same night - but let's face it we are in a constant rainy season.   When we lived in Spain we used to look forward to the high winds in Spring which knocked down the acres of almond blossom and generally signaled the start of the settled summer temperatures which would them climb constantly to reach their peak in August; by then though we also waited for the 'gotta fria' at the beginning of October: a series of heavy storms which knocked the temperatures down towards their winter readings.   I love the seasons with everything they bring us

Bad news for Spain

Today a close friend in Spain sent an email bewailing the fate of his adopted nation (as it was ours for some 5 years) as it sinks rapidly into debt and might have to be rescued by the European Commission as did Greece not so long ago.  Many newly built houses and hotels remain empty and many of the established restaurants around their home have closed not expecting to reopen in the near future.   We are all worried about our home nations and have no idea what to do.
An article in the newspaper today gave us some hope when it said 'there is no way of maintaining the economy without consumption, it is a leisure activity and a social experience in our country.  We should not stop shopping
but just change how we shop.'
Good news for all the people milling around in the department stores this week - on Monday morning I thought it was the January sales and for a moment and I might have missed Christmas!

Swing Low Sweet Chariot

I was surprised to find that this song was written  by Wallace Willis, the same man who wrote 'Steal away to Jesus' and a freedman of Chowtaw descent.  Very much in the usual spiritual story style; this is about Elijah being taken up into Heaven in a chariot.  It was first recorded in1909 and has been covered by many famous singers over the years including Elvis.   It has been a rugby song in this country for many decades since
a black player ran in four tries to enable England to trounce the Irish team after many years of being beaten.
It was sung at Twickenham in 1988 to encourage the National side and has been sung at every national game since then.   A strange choice of a song to sing the team to victory but hey, if it works who cares?    

The Mission

BBC showed that wonderful film 'The Mission' this week about the Jesuits in South America.  It was especially poignant for us as a friend had a bit part and although he died some time ago there he was on the screen looking like the last time we saw him.
Tony, our friend was Father General of the 'Society of Jesus' in England when he was asked to advise the makers of the film on Jesuit priests, how they would speak and act with each other so that the actors Jeremy Irons and Robert de Nero would at least appear genuine to anyone who had known a Jesuit.  He was so critical they eventually changed the script, got him an Equity card and he went off to Columbia for three months with the cast and as well as advising,  played a tiny part of the Father Provincial, just played himself in fact.
He would be so sad if he were still with us to hear nothing much has changed for the Indians in that area, they are still cheated of their land and hounded into other areas.   He did his best to help the film makers  not to stray too far from the truth of the work of the brothers in his order was too precious for him to allow Hollywood to make mock.   It's a fine film.   RIP Tony.

A grand day out (apologies to Wallace and Grommit)

A child's eye account of a visit to Twickenham to watch England v Samoa accompanied our supper tonight.
Every moment from getting on the bus at school to alighting at the ground and finding a loo.   The singing of the National Anthems impressed him greatly - couldn't believe how silent everyone became.  He loved doing the Mexican wave and singing the England song of  'Swing Low Sweet Chariot' - the whole family have set ourselves a quest for tomorrow to try and find out how an old negro spiritual became the war song of the National Team.
Perhaps the fact that England ended the game victorious made this the perfect day for this young man.
Yeh!  as he would say.

Children in Need

A long and very boring television evening tonight in aid of Children in Need - I gave it up in about half an hour
simply because I don't know half the 'stars' in the sketches and the sketches are always, always abysmal.
All that said it raises vast sums for this excellent charity and long may it reign.
A banging at the door before 8.00am this morning turned out to be British Gas to check the heating boiler -' it's getting old' said the man about an hour later and then 'it's fine but doesn't work as hard as it used to do a few years ago'........he could so easily have been talking about me.
Whilst he was engaging me in conversation I was trying to get number 1 off to catch the school bus whilst endeavouring to instill a sense or urgency into his sister who was still selecting her outfit for the day.   Because of 'Children in Need' they were excused school uniform and had to take some money for the priviledge which went to Children in Need.   Her outfit had to be in blue and look COOL.   When I brought my own two boys up many years ago they would have gone to school in a plastic bag but she makes life difficult as she actually cares what she wears - Oh! how will we cope when she's 16?   Help!

old photographs

I decided to clear out my wardrobe today and sent some things to the cleaners and/or the charity shop but I found it a bit depressing that many of my favourite things did not have a lot of room in them - to be truthful
they didn't fit as well as they used to ie., I have become fat!   Well!  enough of that, I quickly became side tracked by a big box of old photographs from the days when we did not have digital cameras.  In those days we managed to keep everything for years and years; whereas now Picaso or its equivalent manages to eat up great stacks of them which we don't notice until it is too late to retrieve them.   I love having a digital camera which produces everything immediately but there is always a down side.
However today I found a picture of my mother (who died some years ago) which was taken in the 1920's so that my father could send it home to his parents to show them the girl he had decided to marry.   Our mother
always appears to have been oldish as we have no memory of ourselves as babies or her as a young mother but in this picture my mum looks so beautiful; and this was in the days when cameras were not so sophisticated, hairdressers for someone of my mothers class were unheard of and only those with 'a reputation' wore any kind of make up or lipstick.  So there she is completely unadorned and simply dressed and looking like a million dollars.   Even my teenage grandchildren and my ancient husband agreed.

A Royal Wedding

Great news about a Royal Wedding in the Spring.  It is just what the country needs before the Olympic Games
to bring in lots of dollars and euros as all flock to London to looksee.   Only an old cynic could possibly think that someone in high places might have whispered in their ears that this would be a good time to tie the knot.  I am so happy that my grandaughter will see her first Royal Wedding, she will be sooooo interested in the fashions. She would like to be a bridesmaid but I had to tell her that as she isn't a close relative she doesn't stand much of a chance.  I will have to wrestle her daddy to the floor for permission to watch it on their cinema size screen with HD and whatever  - short only of a lady selling popcorn!   If all else fails she will have to watch with the oldies on their rather old fashioned set.   Bets are being places as to the venue and surely it must be Westminster Abbey but they might just go for St George's Windsor which would look pretty spectacular as pictures are flashed around the world.

This is your life!

Someone sent me this today and I like it though the advice is a bit late for me with 40plus years of happy marriage behind me - some of it is good stuff though for the wingers of this world.

THIS IS YOUR LIFE- do what you love and do it often.
THIS IS YOUR LIFE - if you don't like something change it.
If you don't like your job, quit it.
If you don't have enough time -  stop watching television.
I f you are looking for the love of your life - STOP IT.
They will be waiting for you WHEN you start doing all the things you love.

New House

I have had an interesting time recently looking at houses in Australia!  Not in person.   Just over 12 years ago when I got my first PC I agreed to write to a lady my own age who lived in New South Wales via email.  We exchanged greetings
and family news and found our notes becoming more frequent as we discovered more about each others lives, family and countries.  About three years ago after attending a language school in Italy (she now writes to an Italian lady in Italian!) her flight back to Oz had a stop over of 1 night in London so my dear one and I went down to meet up with her.   We recognised each other immediately and were in each others company for about 8 hours or so and never once stopped talking.   However I digress.   This year she decided to sell her small house on the coast and help her son and his wife buy a bigger property with a granny flat for her; so I have spent a long time on the computer looking at the houses they were looking at and enthused when the sale was going well and comforted her when they were beaten at the post.   However, this week it looks as though a sale is going through on a wonderful house with pool in Hornsby Heights, on the outskirts of Sydney.   I feel so thrilled you might think I had bought the house and was about to move but sadly half a million pounds is beyond my pocket and Oz is a very long way for an Anglophile.

Reverend Mother

Some years ago I was intending to write some items about interesting events in the lives of my friends - nothing much came of my intentions but today I found some old notes and here is an amusing extract from the story of a very dear friend - a Sister of Mercy.
      Quote:-   After 6 years away from my convent, studying, I went back home to await my next posting.
      At my first Council Meeting I found we were to try and appoint a Superior for the Mother House and we
       were told the Sisters had especially asked for someone who was not too well organised - in other words             they did not want to be too regimented.   By 11 o'clock that night after many votes I found myself to
       be the new Superior - after 6 years absence I was in a very powerful position.   I can still remember
       all the laughter and jokes directed at me and my shocked face.   My first act as the Superior was to go
       down into the store and bring back a bottle of brandy and all the sisters toasted me - I felt I needed it!

        A lovely story from a lovely lady.

another birthday

It's a week of celebrations in our house with three birthdays in the same week.   You can have enough of cakes, candles, cards, presents, phone calls........no not really, it's been an amazing week with a lot of love and caring surrounding we birthday people.   I opened my first gift and immediately spotted the famous letters YSL on the box...enough -  I'm happy.
Watched the rugby this afternoon with the dear one but BBC covered the Wales v South Africa match (not complaining) as we refuse to put money into the pocket of Mr Murdoch for SKY so we get what we pay for.
We can catch up with the England game later.

Mount Merapi

I have just looked at some pictures on the internet of the aftermath of the erruptions of Mount Merapi in Indonesia which began on October 25th.   Many people have lost their homes, hundreds are injured and 140 dead, yet with all the fuss about student protests, sport incidents and the X Factor we have heard very little of the trauma in this country -  are we losing our caring gene?   I hope the rest of the International community haven't lost theirs!

Remembrance Day - Lest we forget.

Cold, very wet with fierce winds attacking you as you walk - must have been like this for the men in the trenches as everytime you look at a picture or see a newsreel....it's always wet and muddy.   I went to visit the war graves
 a few years ago and it was a very moving experience.   Ypres, Arras and Albert - all famous names.   The mighty Thiepval Memorial arch inscribed with more than a million names of British soldiers whose bodies are still missing in the mud of Pachendale and the Somme.   Very moving and something every youngster should strive to see before they begin to think war might be the answer to any disagreement between nations instead of talk, talk.

                   'In Flanders fields the poppies grow
                   between the crosses, row on row.
                   That mark our place, and in the sky
                   the larks still bravely singing, fly.
                   scarce heard, amid the guns below.'

                                 RIP.............thank you

Quiet please!

I went into Bath today which it must be said is a pretty wonderful place to shop for almost anything you might possibly want.   I lived there for a while and have never got over it.   Shops are already decorated for Christmas and by the looks of the crowds in them today, doing well.   I quickly tired of the Christmas music(?) in the very first shop I went into, so after a while came out without buying and went further down the street and into another department store ....only to hear the very same tune as I had walked out on.  Max Erhmann said a long time ago - 'Go placidly amid the noise and haste of the city but remember what peace there may be in silence.'
I remember but sadly none of the commercial centres do.

A strange day.

We were all up and about early celebrating Georgi's birthday before everyone went their separate ways.
My way was to go for a swim (which I did) then come home and do a really good clean of the house (long overdue).  Came home after swim and coffee to find a bag full of filthy rugger clothes and a note saying they were needed again this evening - panic - but some time later they made it into the dryer.   Gas man appeared
(3 HOURS EARLY) to check out the heating boiler closely followed by the man from EON to read the metres; which meant more removal of furniture to get to the said metres.   It does not matter how many times we tell EON we will take our own readings and post them on line; they always agree and then send the metre man!  By now it has been a long morning and I haven't got around to doing any cleaning so a quick mop of the kitchen floor and forget the rest.

Birthday carried on this evening with cake, candles,  more cards and gifts and a visit to the theatre to see 'The Sound of Music' - it has been declared 'the best birthday ever'....she's only had 11.   What will we do next year? 

The church in Crisis!

Is the church in crisis?   Well if you read todays press - Yes, big time.   If you are an everyday member of the church then I think  - No, would likely be your answer.   So, four Bishops in the Anglican church are about to move over to Rome, well three actually as one is already retired.   They are also reported to be taking large numbers of laity with them - the last time this happened and it has happened about ten years ago almost everyone came back within a year.   It is very sad; but  it is quite normal that when people disagree they choose act by either fighting the situation from where they are ie., inside.....or they decide to leave and 'never darken the doors again'
What we must do as members of the church is fight for their right to do whatever they wish and not condemn them for their actions.   The church always grows when put under pressure so who knows they might be doing us a favour.  God Bless them all in their decisions.

A Clear Day!

Got up early and begin a thorough search of the study for my glasses and eventually whilst lying flat out on the floor I found they had dropped down behind the back of the desk and firmly wedged between skirting board and desk.   With perseverence and patience they were extracted without damage and after a wash and shine my life became easier as I sat down to read the Sunday newspaper.   Perhaps it isn't such a good idea after all to be able to read all the doom and gloom of the front page.  
 

A rainy day

Not an easy day as I have lost my reading glasses - just a temporary thing hopefully.   It's just because I am getting old and I can't remember where I put them.  
Had a lovely swim this morning in an empty pool, followed by meditation in the steam room - able to enjoy this morning as no half wit had come on duty and seen their duty was to switch on music to everywhere in the kingdom - there is nothing worse than going in for an early swim and having to endure someone else's choice of music (?).   What is wrong with silence in the UK?
Our dear friends are back today from a visit to their daughter in Brazil and I am looking forward to hearing about it - especially as they were visiting during the election campaign which according to the media was 'lively' as like the Spanish they are quick to take to the streets in their thousands.   We don't seem to be able to do that without fighting the Police and each other.   Off to bed now with a magnifying glass for my late night read!
I refuse to get any older as it is difficult enough now.

Fireworks Day!

It is just  like a war zone around our house - one would think that when money is short fireworks would be the last thing on the list but not around here where hundreds of pounds worth have gone up in smoke since about 5 o'clock this evening.   Not from me as I am still feeling a little fragile after a bad dose of swine flu - OK not swine flu, just a cold but the rest of the family took off to a bonfire party and had their share of hot chocolate and toffee apples etc.,   They all came home soaked to the skin so the dear old washing machine had to snap to attention at 10.30pm:  jeans, tops, socks and hats are now festooned around the kitchen.
Cold or not I am going for a swim in the morning - my mother always used to tell us to move around a lot when we had a cold as  the exercise was good for it and it has taken me all these years to realise that she just did not want us all decorating the sofas feeling sorry for ourselves.

I'm almost ill!

Woke up this morning with a bass/baritone voice and a bunged up nose - oh no, a cold.   Dosed myself up to the eyes and went to do a tour this afternoon.   I was doing quite well until my voice suddenly and completely disappeared causing a great deal of giggling from the pupils, struggled on as it was almost the end of the tour and then to my embarrassment my mobile began to trill from inside my pocket.   'You can't answer it can you Miss, you've lost your voice?' came from one little smart alec.   Kids are so sweet.   However the tour came to an end and the children politely thanked me and went off back to school.   Except for a small number, most of the children I meet from day to day are very well behaved and a credit to their teachers.

Shopping

Just remembered we will have 4 birthdays before Christmas so off I set today to find some ideas.
Nope!   I did not sort it all out and come home laden with gifts, in fact after researching a few ideas
the alarm bells attacked our ears and via a disembodied voice we were asked to leave the mall as quickly as possible and like good Brits everyone made their way calmly to the nearest exits.   As soon as my 'dear one' felt the fresh air on his face he made a beeline for the car saying in a relieved tone of voice it could be hours before the problem was sorted!
Well!  I couldn't argue with that so we came home.   Looking back and pondering as you do, I suddenly realised most of the things were in Christmas wrapping or presentation boxes anyway, it might have to be hard cash in an envelope - it always appears to be well received.
We had a letter from British Gas this morning: to tell us our gas boiler was ready for inspection urgently and we should 'phone as soon as possible (if not before!)    Called to them later to be told as we are not having trouble they would come and inspect it in a couple of weeks!    Obviously 'urgently' has changed it's meaning.

Moustaches!!

Oh! no, my son is growing a mustache for the November awareness of men's health.   A very worthy cause and I salute him but who can miss the great oportunities of taking the p... during the next four weeks.
I have 'googled' dozens of pictures of strange looking men with their mos from Adolf to Salvador Dali and aim to send him just a few - to encourage him you understand!
It's been a good day overall.    Went for a swim this morning and managed 25+ lengths before I was forced to stagger out of the pool claiming shortage of breath because of my cold.   Cold didn't stop me shopping for a ton of things on the way home - is there going to be a siege?   If so we have plenty of stuff.
Started making some Christmas Cards this afternoon which was relaxing and creative.   Good eh?
It is very peaceful in our house this evening.   One at football, one at rugby training, one acting chauffeur
so just my dear one and I for supper and an hour of TV before they all rush home again.

It's Monday again!

Isn't Stephen Fry a stupid man?    You know the one who knows how to keep his name in the news but then bleets about being misquoted.    Now aparently he knows all about women and sex - well some homeosexual men do but you are not one of them Stephen.
His latest offering to the world is his sadness that we don't hang around smellie lavatories and woods with all the rest of the saddos who have to rely on total strangers for gratification.
Unlike you Stephen, we can have sex from any man at any time in the comfort of a warm bed or anywhere else we care to choose.   I feel better having gotten rid of that rant.
It is a really beautiful day where I live.   I took myself off to the local Garden Centre this morning to buy food for orchids, garlick to plant for next year and various other things like bulbs etc., but here the whole place was decorated up for Christmas, complete with flashing lights and music and dates when you can expect to see Santa there.  Oh dear!   I know we like to get ready for major festivals early but it is only 'All Saints' Day' and two full months before the feast.   I had better stop -  I obviously got out of bed at the wrong side this morning.