With Great Pleasure

This morning's 'With Great Pleasure' featured a reading from Roz Savage's book, 'Stop Drifting; Start Rowing'.
Roz concludes from her long trip across the Atlantic that there is no point to life, but she felt there was value in searching for meaning.  The panel all sagely agreed.  Joanna said that's like doing one of those maths questions that can't actually be resolved, but you can get marks for showing your working out.

I recall the account of Joe Simpson's remarkable survival in the story 'Touching the Void'.
Simpson says that after falling 46 meters into an ice crevasse, he called out to God to say if you are real, come to me, and help me.  Absolutely nothing happened.  Simpson then managed to crawl with broken legs into a deep dark crevasse that did lead out of the glacier and then a mile down to a camp where his life was saved.  Mountaineers report "Simpson's survival is regarded by mountaineers as amongst the most remarkable instances of survival against the odds"


How about the working out being important, and also the result?  Far more satisfying.

Andrew's Christmas Quiz

1) What proportion of the worlds countries have reliable falls of yearly snow?     A: 30%     B: 10%    C: 5%
Clue:  There are 195 counties in the world.


2) Where do you find 'County' in the City?
A: Derby   B: Coventry   C: Nottingham
Clue:  And 'The City Ground' is in the county!

3) When traveling from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean through the Panama Canal, are you traveling A: East-West, or B: West-East? 
Clue:  Think of a toilet.

4) The Shetland and Orkney Islands recently adopted new flags based on what?  A: Food   B: Folklore  C: Scandinavia
Clue: Not British.

5) Three national flags feature a prominent flower.  Which one of these countries does not?
A) Iran    B)  Rwanda   C) Hong Kong  D) Maccu

6) Pair these flags by similarly.
A) Montenegro B) Italy  C) Chad   D) Albania   E) Kosovo F) Cyprus   G) Romania   H) Mexico

7) What is the only land border that can clearly be seen from space?
A) Latvia - Estonia  B)  Malaysia- Indonesia  C) Israel- Gaza

8) Ruthenia is in which European Country?  A) Romania  B) Ukraine C) Serbia

9) Which English county hall is not even in the county it serves (and presumable pays rates to it's neighbour!)
A) East Sussex   B) Surrey    C) Berkshire

10) Name the two missing countries- Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, North Korea.   A) South Korea  B) Iran  C) Norway D) China






answers 1)a, 2)c, 3)a,4)c, 5)b,6) a-d b-h c-g e-f, 7)c 8)b 9)b 10)c & d.

Interesting facts
1) There is reliable snow in Iran (Mt Damavand), Indonesia (Irian Jaya) and Greece (has ski resorts).
What about countries that have never seen snow?  44 countries- Bangladesh – Benin – Botswana – Burkina Faso – Cambodia – Cameroon – Central African Republic – Chad – Congo – Costa Rica – Cote d’Ivoire – Cuba – Equatorial Guinea – El Salvador – French Guiana – Gabon – Gambia – Ghana – Guinea – Guyana – Honduras – Jamaica – Laos – Liberia – Malaysia – Mali – Mauritania – Mozambique – Nicaragua – Niger – Nigeria – Panama – Paraguay – Philippines – Senegal – Sierra Leone – Somalia – Sudan – Suriname – Thailand – Togo – Uruguay – Zambia – Zimbabwe. (so 77% of countries have access to snow.)
2) Notts County FC is situated in the City of Nottingham, and Nottingham Forrest is in the county/ Rushcliffe (either side of the River Trent.)
3) The journey through the canal is twice the length  'as the crow flies'. (Think toilet 'u' bend.)
4) Shetland and the Orkneys look to their early history for inspiration.
5) Tulips are an important poetic motif in Iran. Rwanda has recently chosen a new flag and ditched the flag with a giant 'R'. Both Maccu and Hong Kong feature flowers, but are they national flags?
6) The Mexican flag is older than the Italian Flag.
7) The contrast between rich and poor is very marked. Haiti and Dominican Republic's border is visible in parts due to deforestation.
8) Ruthenia was once part of Czechoslovakia.
9) Surrey's County Hall is in Kingston on Thames.
10) The country is Russia.  It has a 120 mile border with Norway and a 2600 mile border with China.  The border with North Korea is 9 miles.

Ulysses - You What?

Deshil Holles Eamus.
Deshil Holles Eamus.
Deshil Holles Eamus.
Send us bright one, light one, Horhorn, quickening and wombfruit.
Send us bright one, light one, Horhorn, quickening and wombfruit.
Send us bright one, light one, Horhorn, quickening and wombfruit.
Hoopsa boyaboy hoopsa!
Hoopsa boyaboy hoopsa!
Hoopsa boyaboy hoopsa!

 This was it what all that company that sat there at commons in Manse of Mothers the most lusted after and if they met with this whore Bird-in-the-Hand (which was within all foul plagues, monsters and a wicked devil) they would strain the last but they would make at her and know her. For regarding Believe-on-Me they said it was nought else but notion and they could conceive no thought of it for, first, Two-in-the-Bush whither she ticed them was the very goodliest grot and in it were four Ulysses 726 of 1305 pillows on which were four tickets with these words printed on them, Pickaback and Topsyturvy and Shameface and Cheek by Jowl and, second, for that foul plague Allpox and the monsters they cared not for them for Preservative had given them a stout shield of oxengut and, third, that they might take no hurt neither from Offspring that was that wicked devil by virtue of this same shield which was named Killchild.

Old Testament? Prayer book? Edward Lear? Shipping Forecast? Paradise Lost?

Titbits from Ulysses

"The playwright [God] who wrote the folio of this world and wrote it badly (He gave us light first and the sun two days later) [criticism of the creation story], the lord of things as they are whom the most Roman of catholics call dio boia, hangman god, is doubtless all in all in all of us, ostler and butcher, and would be bawd and cuckold too but that in the economy of heaven, foretold by Hamlet, there are no more marriages, glorified man, an androgynous angel, being a wife unto himself."

"But he believes his theory. I believe, O Lord, help my unbelief. That is, help me to believe or help me to unbelieve? Who helps to believe? Egomen. Who to unbelieve? Other chap." [A pray for unbelief.]

They believe in rod, the scourger almighty, creator of hell upon earth, and in Jacky Tar, the son of a gun, who was conceived of unholy boast, born of the fighting navy, suffered under rump and dozen, was scarified, flayed and curried, yelled like bloody hell, the third day he arose again from the bed, steered into haven, sitteth on his beamend till further orders whence he shall come to drudge for a living and be paid.

Bag of corpsegas sopping in foul brine. A quiver of minnows, fat of a spongy titbit, flash through the slits of his buttoned trouserfly. God becomes man becomes fish becomes barnacle goose becomes featherbed mountain. Dead breaths I living breathe, tread dead dust, devour a urinous offal [kidney] from all dead. Hauled stark over the gunwale he breathes upward the stench of his green grave, his leprous nosehole snoring to the sun. 

Written in 1922, Joyce reflects on Japan's triumph over Russian and it's ramification for all small suppressed countries.

The Sixteenth Day of Advent

How do you know you are loved?  Do you know God loves you?

All the words that come next will be descriptions of faith...and doubt.

A Theology of Now

I dreamt this up on my walk into Church today stimulated by Will Self quoting Franz Kafka in this morning's A Point of View' on Radio 4.

"There is an infinite amount of hope in the universe -just not for us." (Quoted in Fanz Brod's book, Franz Kafka, eine Biographie (1937))

Other great quotes are If the book we are reading does not wake us, as with a fist hammering on our skulls, then why do we read it? 

The Theology of Now is if it isn't important now, it isn't important.  Now is the only moment that exist, everything else is probabilities.

Reality, sensation, beliefs, desires and impulses, are experience in the present, and therefore are real.

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/07/26/just-for-today/

Just for today I will -

1. Just for Today, I will try to live through this day only, and not tackle my whole life-problem at once. I can do some things for twelve hours that would appall me if I felt I had to keep them up for a lifetime.

2. Just for Today, I will be Happy. This assumes that what Abraham Lincoln said is true, that “most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Happiness is from Within; it is not a matter of Externals.

3. Just for Today, I will Adjust myself to what Is, and not try to Adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my family, my business, and my luck as they come, and fit myself to them.

4. Just for Today, I will take care of my Body. I will exercise it, care for it, and nourish it, and not abuse it nor neglect it; so that it will be a perfect machine for my will.

5. Just for Today, I will try to strengthen my mind, I will study. I will learn something useful, I will not be a mental loafer all day. I will read something that requires effort, though and concentration.

6. Just for Today, I will exercise my Soul. In three ways, to wit:

(a) I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. If anybody knows of it, it will not count.

(b) I will do at least two things I don’t want to do, as William James suggests just for exercise.

(c) I will not show any one that my feelings are hurt. They may be hurt, but Today I will not show it.

7. Just for To-day, I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress as becomingly as possible,  talk low,  act courteously, be liberal with flattery, criticize not one bit  nor find fault with anything, and not try to regulate nor improve anybody.

8. Just for Today, I will have a Programme. I will write down just what I expect to do every hour. I may not follow it exactly, but I’ll have it. It will save me from the two pests Hurry and Indecision.

9. Just for Today, I will have a quiet half hour, all by myself, and relax. During this half hour, some time, I will think of God, so as to get a little more perspective to my life.

10. Just for Today, I will be Unafraid. Especially I will not be afraid to be Happy, to enjoy what is Beautiful, to love and to believe that those I love love me.

(Copyright, 1921 by Frank Crane)

Fifteenth Day of Advent

In prison, John was deliberating with his friends, 'is Jushua the one we are waiting for?'
A friend went to Jesus and asked him straight, "Are you the one we are waiting for, or should we expect another?"
Jushua said,
"Look around, what do you see?  Remember the indicator?  Do they fit?

And my friend Judyanto informs me that his Israeli friend has been given accommodation and now has a safe place to sleep.  They are both coming round for a meal next week.

What I learnt about the Korean War.

I watched the BBC documentary on the Korean war.  Lots to think about here.

I have heard it said that D Day was not about the small matter of defeating the Nazis. It was also about conquering the world.  Churchill noted that Stalin's USSR was going to be the next big enemy.  He contemplated a war against USSR but Roosevelt checked him.  USA had control over the nuclear weapons, as they still do.  In 1945 progress to claim as much territory as possible before USSR did was hampered by simple exhaustion and war fatigue.  

The same was true in Japan.  USA took control of Japan. But what to do with Korea? The USSR had seen action in Korea.  Apparently two aides in the Pentagon suggested the 82 parallel. Stalin liked it.  It was settled on as the line of control between the Soviet and American sectors, similar to Austria and Germany. The problem came when the soviet puppet president did better than the America puppet.  The north became cocky.  Stalin gave the nod for a northern pusht.  He had misread the American's message about their security priorities.  He assumed that the American would not react.  The north invaded the south.  In a matter of days their army had reached the foot of the peninsula. President Truman used the UN to enable and American attack on the north.  His congress would not have sanctioned this.  The security council approved a military effort to re-balance Korea.  The Americans, British, Canadians, Australians, Thai, etc... (a coalition of 44 countries) dug in in the far south west, with thousands of refuges trying to squeeze into their sector.  The Americans panicked and were invoked in a terrible war crime, when hundreds of civilians were massacred.  

General McCartney's audacious assault resolved the northern attack and the north retreated back over the 82 line.  If  that had been it, as had been agreed by the UN, there would have been not much to discuss, but buoyed up by hubris and triumph, McCartney argued for an attack on the north.  This time Truman misjudged the Chinese.  There was a time when Truman and McCartney seriously considered using 24 nuclear bombs to create a dead zone between Korea and China, contaminated by radiation for 99 years (with the use of a cobalt). The allies had about 700,000 soldiers committed to the war.  North Korea, China and Russian had about 1.700,000. The allies withdrew to the 82 line, though the front went backwards and forwards. No armistice was possible because Stalin saw that the USA embroiled in a stalemate made good soviet foreign policy.  This could go on for ever.  Every Korean town and city had been decimated. Then Stalin died, and peace was possible.  There has been the potential for the war to start again in the 70's.  North Korea knows that it's only sure protection is to threaten USA with nuclear retaliation.  It will never give up this power.  All things come to an end, so this divided country will some day unite.    

I remember the wonderful Korean film called

Welcome to Dongmakgol

Church of England?

Interesting facts-  There are a number of Welsh churches in the Church of England.  I believe this is not true of the English/Scottish border.

Examples I discovered from my research on the Wye Valley  are :-

C of E parishes actually in Wales
Old Radnor and Kinnerton,
Presteigne and Discoed
Kington
Trelystan

For 186 years Calais was a part of England.  The enclave sent two MP's to parliament. However the Calais tourist board website says this was 'not really England'.  For one it was originally part of Flanders and the people spoke Dutch, and two, the church was always part of a french diocese.)

With the Treaty of Brétigny in 1360, Guînes, Marck and Calais jointly known as "Pale of Calais" was unofficially allotted to the English and only partly put into practice. In 1363 it became an important port and in 1372 became a constituency of the Parliament of England. But it did kept its bonding with France as it still was a part of the diocese of Thérouanne.

Tenth Day of Advent

My friend Judyanto asked me to meet someone he knows who has messed up.  He has been kicked out of his marital home due to his selfish behaviour, and because he was a student this year, is currently spending the night in the University library, which is open through the night. 

To make the situation more complex, this person is not British, so his immigration status is affected by the failure of his marriage.  Landlord/ladies are careful about immigration status because they can get heavily fined for giving accommodation to illegals. 

The guy is completely exhausted and on the edge.  He is keeping a job down, but only just.
So what do I do?  Well I pray.  We prayed together.  And I will see what might be able to be done in my amazing wider Christian community. 

What happened to the Palaces of Henry VII?

Sheen/ Richmond Palace-  A favourite of Henry VII and Elizabeth.  There was a major fire in 1497.  The palace was rebuilt and renamed Richmond.  Henry died there, as did his granddaughter Queen Elizabeth.  The Palace was sold off after the English Civil War and fell into disrepair.

The Gate House- All that was left.

Coldharbour Palace- on the river bank by Upper Thames Street, City of London.  Residence of Margaret Beaufort, and then given to Prince Arthur and his bride Kathrine of Aragon. The Palace is likely not to have survived the Great Fire of London in 1666

Baynards Palace- A castle restored by Henry VII.  Given to Kathrine of Aragon on the eve of Henry VIII wedding.  Again believed to have been lost in the Great Fire, and worse, build on by BT in 1970!

Collywesten Palace- Home of Margaret Beaufort in a Northamptonshire village on the Rutland border.  May have been the size of Hampton Court.  Gone by 1640 (Margaret died in 1509.) 

Placentia/ Greenwich Palace- Important Palace for the Tudors being Henry VIII and Elizabeth I's birth place.  Knocked down by Charles II in 1660 for a modern take on royalty.

There are so many other historic Royal Palaces around London-

Elton
Oakland (No longer exists)
Hampton Court
Windsor
Buckingham
Kew
Kensington
Clarence House
St James Palace
The Tower
Westminster Palace - (Now has a different use.)

I wonder what the 'Bed room Tax' would add up to.

Ninth Day of Advent

No inspiration today.

Perkin Warbeck

What a character!  He reminded me of the American, Frank Abagnale, who's story was made into a film called 'Catch Me If You Can'.

Perkin Warbeck (Alison Weir thinks this is from Peter), was thought to be from Flanders, and perhaps because people though he looked like Edward the IV, was coached to be the reborn Richard IV.  Ironically he was to end up in the same place as Richard Gloucester, the Tower of London, before being hanged at Tyburn.

This guy convinced the King of France that his blood was royal to the extent that the King arranged him a royal marriage to Lady Kathrine Gordon, daughter of the Earl of Huntly.  Apparently she was considered to be so beautiful that after Perkin's failed attempt to take the throne, Kathrine was saved by her body.  She became a lady in waiting to Queen Elizabeth.  The discriminatory effects of beauty have a long pedigree.  Perkin must have needed to live life on the edge because despite Henry VII ridiculously merciful settlement, he tried to escape twice. (Second time was thought to be a sting operation.)

The spot in the middle of a traffic Island where the dred
gallows were thought to have been erected.

Consecration of a restored site plaque.

The Tyburn Convert, created as a shrine to the Catholic Martyrs

Eighth Day of Advent

I knew immediately what it would entail.  All of it. 
And yes, I love them so much and want them to enjoy the moment.  I delight in their pleasure.
It is an irresistible "Yes".

I knew that over the many years ahead, my children would forget,
And then forget that it's me that has to feed them deal and clean up their mess. 

Everyday, as the sun rises in the morning, I sustain them. 
I never forget them, I can't.

And so -

I did choose to create the world, and I knew what I was doing. 
I can bear it- and it is a price worth paying.

Pros and Cons of keeping a rabbit

Seventh Day of Advent

Here I am, peering  out on the world over my eye sockets, like someone hiding in a letterbox. 

How aware am I of the position I find myself?  My self righteous attitudes.
I'm not perfect, but probably I'm better placed than others around me.

Today I am convicted that this is not true.  My position becomes insecure. 
I look for a rock on which to stand.

Sixth Day of Advent

Another walking thought.
As I walked back to my office from Beaumont Leys, following the circuitous route prescribed by the council to avoid roadworks near my office, I passed through Beaumont Leys Country Park.  The Western bypass, a mini motorway, passes nearby and the noise is deafening.   I noticed lots of birds in the trees and scurrying through bushes and was struck that despite the stress of modern life, these animals were doing well and seeming getting on well.   I thought that should take some inspiration from the birds.  I'll do well too despite the noise.

Thus with Greta Thonberg I say we need radical change to care for this world.  But like the birds, we can also live peacefully.

Route from my office to the NSPCC

Elizabeth- Daughter of Elizabeth of York

                                         1492- 1495

Inscription, now lost, recorded by Francis Bacon- 

"Hereafter Death has a royal offspring in this tomb viz. the young and noble Elizabeth daughter of that illustrious prince, Henry the Seventh, who swayed the sceptre of two kingdoms, Attrapos, the most severe messenger of Death, snatched her away but may she have eternal life in Heaven."

Elizabeth appears to have died suddenly, aged three, at Elton Palace.  Her parents were not with her.  How did she die?  Did she experience atrophy, or wasting disease?  Alison Weir says there was no record of anyone being concerned for her.  Her tomb was denuded of metalwork by 1700.

Young Elizabeth's Tomb in the Henry VII Chapel,
Westminster.

Elizabeth of York

Fifth day of Advent

No inspiration...yet.

Fourth Day of Advent

Walking into the light.

This morning I went for a walk from Kegworth to Sutton Bonnington across the fields before the start of my lectures.  The morning light was brilliant and I walked straight into the streaming sunshine.  Dazzled, I really could not see what was under my feet.  Nor could I see clearly where I was heading.  But I was drawn on.

 So I walked into the light, knowing that there is no other way.  Sometimes blinded, I was forced to  trust that the route was secure.  And today, the ground was frozen, and so I walked on water.

Third Day of Advent

Roger and I visited Hillfield Friary 30 years ago. I remember the great reply made by a friar when someone provocatively said "I love this place.  None of you ever talk about God." The friar retorted,  "Yes, and we don't talk about you in your presence either."

Second day of Advent

As we discussed the tragedy that is the state of the 'human sexuality debate' in the Christian Church I remarked to a friend, "It's the second Tower of Babel.  We are all speaking different languages."

The challenge is to learn each others languages and get on together.

First Day of Advent

I hear a voice calling me to change today,
A change as great as that of converting to a new religion;
Such as becoming a Jehovah's Witness, or a Muslim.

This is John the Baptist crying out in the wilderness.
Repent- turn around, go the other way.
Is it going to happen?  "Unlikely, what would the family say?"

Except for the light,
And the increasing sense of hope.
The expectation in the air.
What do I do?