Time away from usual routines is a necessity. Whether it is for holidays, taking time out to go for a really good walk with the dog, time to think, to take a metaphorical deep breath and refresh your batteries, is vital.
Time Away
Information
Hugh Benham: Sacred Choral Music
A new CD of choral music by Hugh Benham, director of music at St Boniface CofE Church, Hursley Road, has just been released by Convivium Records as disc CR050 – Hugh Benham: Sacred Choral Music.
Copies may be ordered from Hugh at H.Benham@Soton.ac.uk at £10 – delivery is usually possible within a day or two. CDs are also available (as are digital downloads) from the Convivium Records website. [Read more…] about Hugh Benham: Sacred Choral Music
Numbers Into Writing Will Go
Numbers in writing? What role do they play? In maths, obviously, but writing?
What possible role could they play in fiction, say? Surely there it is about the prose, how well the characters are created etc. Numbers turn up all over the place in writing.
Incidentally, the inspiration for the title comes from an old phrase hammered into me when I was learning division many moons ago at school. I had to look for numbers that “would go” into another number – e.g. 2 into 4 will go (twice!) and say 2 into 5 will go (twice but with 1 left over). Anyone else remember that style of teaching?
On to the use of numbers in fiction then…
Winter Trips
Image Credit: All pictures were taken by Allison Symes.
Do you enjoy days out over the winter months? I do.
Okay, I prefer them when it is not howling a gale and pouring down with rain, but there are usually enough of such winter days where I can get out and about fairly easily.
What I find the hardest to cope with is the lack of light at this time of year. It makes me feel tired so much earlier in the evening which can be a pain! I am looking forward to the longer evenings and it won’t be that long before we start noticing the evenings are gradually extending.
Registration required for Household Waste Recycling Centres
Later this year Hampshire County Council (HCC) will be introducing a registration scheme to use the county’s Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs). Barriers and Automatic Number Plate Registration (ANPR) systems will be installed to allow access only to vehicles with a pre-registered number plate. Non-registered vehicles will be subject to a £5 charge – for each visit. [Read more…] about Registration required for Household Waste Recycling Centres
Beginnings
Happy New Year!
Letting Time Get On With It
I must admit the days when I saw the New Year in are long gone… I take the view now Time can get on without me nicely thank you while I have a decent sleep! After all, it does for the rest of the year.
What the New Year brings me is a new calendar and I usually go for a Border Collie one. The one I’ve got for 2020 has a picture of my favourite breed of dog for every day of the year, guaranteed to put a smile on my face every day of the year too!
What’s Your Poison?
What’s yours? A question asked in bars around the country; whisky, gin, beer. In another context, the question is not asked, because most of us are not interested, but the answer is given at length. What’s your disease?
There is no one so proud as the, now recovered, person describing how baffling and serious their disease has been. ‘None of the doctors knew what it was; I even saw the professor and he did not know.’
I eavesdropped on one such conversation at a drinks party. The man described his symptoms well and insisted that the disease was a mystery. I interrupted and asked, did he suffer from diarrhoea and vomiting about two weeks before the illness started? How did I know? He had not realised that this was the start of the illness. [Read more…] about What’s Your Poison?
Snakes and the Supernatural in Sri Lanka
Eclipse
Fifteen years to the day after the terrible Tsunami swept across Sri Lanka, another powerful natural phenomenon struck awe and even fear for some of the rural people. The morning sky turned dark.
We had travelled upcountry to a place called Naula, close to the line taken by the total eclipse of the sun. Our friends packed a welder’s visor in their overnight bag. I thought David, an engineer, was planning to do some welding when we reached our destination, but it was his wife who had the foresight. She follows events in the heavens and told us of the eclipse.
When the time came there was cloud cover which was fortunate for me as I managed to take photographs of the eclipse through the clouds. In between the clouds, we observed the eclipse through the visor.
The cook and some of the staff where we stayed thought it was an intervention of the gods and wanted to go to the temple. Many people did visit temples, churches, kovils and mosques but it was the schoolteachers who could tell them what was happening. We collected the staff and let them all have a look through the visor. One of our Sri Lankan friends explained what was happening, but I am not sure we convinced them all.
It’s That Time of Year Again…
I hope 2019, despite all the upheaval, has been reasonably good for you and 2020 may prove to be better still. My favourite gag I’ve heard so far on the theme of the New Year is:
Why are shortsighted people looking forward to next year?
Answer: Because they will finally have 2020 vision”.
Okay… that one’s never going to win any awards…
As ever the last year seems to have flown by and it’s time to take a look at how things went, writing wise, this year.
‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ by The 14th Eastleigh Scout and Guide Band “The Spitfires” and Friends
Written by Greg Walker, Principal Director of Music, The 14th Eastleigh Scout and Guide Band.
Here’s our talented group of youngsters at The 14th Eastleigh Scout and Guide Band showing what we can do, along with a mass choir of Scout and Guide Shows from all across Hampshire, with our cover of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’... we hope you enjoy it – we had GREAT fun recording and making it.
“The Spitfires and Friends do Christmas” CD (2019)
Christmas Songs
It seems that pretty much every singer has recorded a Christmas song. Some are originals; some are covers (which may or may not be better than the originals). Some of the songs are quite enjoyable; others are less so.
Here are some of the less well-known songs that have made it to my Christmas playlist. You may or may not agree with my somewhat erratic and eclectic selection.
I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas by Gayla Peevey is possibly the oldest recording in the list. This is such a fun song that it is permanently on my MP3 player – proving, perhaps, that a Hippopotamus isn’t just for Christmas but for all year round. [Read more…] about Christmas Songs
A Tale of Safe and Well at Christmas
Have a safe Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!
Stay safe in your home this Christmas and don’t increase the risk of fire. Drive safely.
This is a beautiful Christmas parody ‘A Tale of Safe & Well’, produced by West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.
It’s performed by firefighter Jon Arey and featuring Abi Austin with the Fixby Songbirds. It’s a parody of the original song by The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl.
With heavy rain forecast overnight and into the weekend, @hantshighways have extra crews, gully tankers and jetting machines ready to go out across Hampshire.
Check our colleagues @romanse feed for the latest traffic information
Stay safe out there 💦https://t.co/QFme8Ds14C pic.twitter.com/6Nyh9eAs88
— Hampshire County Council (@hantsconnect) December 20, 2019
What Makes A Good Story
How do you decide something is a good story? Do you judge that by the genre or by the quality of the characters?
For me, the latter is by far the most important criterion. Really good characters stay with you long after you’ve finished reading or listening to the story.
Christmas Church Services in Chandler’s Ford 2019
Church Services for Christmas 2019 – Chandler’s Ford Churches Together
Christmas with the Parish of Chandler’s Ford 2019
The 6 Hidden Lessons at Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church 22nd and 23rd December 2019
[Read more…] about Christmas Church Services in Chandler’s Ford 2019
Christmas Carols old and new
Just over a week to go to Christmas, and churches will be preparing for their carol services. Technically, there is a difference between a Christmas carol and a Christmas hymn, but I’ve never been able to definitively put my finger on which is which. As a rule of thumb, I think that songs that tell a story – such as While Shepherds Watched or Good King Wenceslas – are probably carols while those that are more worship-based – such as Hark the Herald Angels and O Come All Ye Faithful – are probably hymns. There are also Easter carols, but let’s leave those for a few months.
Some carols/hymns I like more than others. The Holly and the Ivy, for example, has always struck me as a collection of rather tenuous links. [Read more…] about Christmas Carols old and new
Christmas: A Time for Family and Friends
The birth of Jesus was the beginning of family life for Mary, Joseph and their new son. Mary’s pregnancy had not been normal by anyone’s standards, starting with the conception from the Holy Spirit, announced by the angel Gabriel. The gospels do not go into detail but we can guess how difficult it must have been for Mary to explain this to her parents as well as her intended, Joseph. There will have been gossip and funny looks in the market place, I am sure, as her pregnancy became more obvious. So, not easy for a young girl. Luckily, Joseph was guided by an angel not to divorce her but to support her. Then there was the journey to Bethlehem, for Joseph to register in the census, and the lack of accommodation there that meant that the new Messiah was born in a lowly stable.
This story is familiar to us all, as each Christmas we hear the Bible passages and sing the words in our carols. And, of course, it is illustrated on the Christmas cards we send and receive, the Advent calendars, and the decorations in our homes and our towns. So familiar are these images that it is too easy for us to become hardened to them and not to look at them afresh to read what they really tell us.
The new little family – the Holy Family – was unique. Mary, Jesus’ mother, was chosen by God to carry and give birth to his son. As any mother does, she nurtured him, watched as he grew up, guided him, then stepped back as he set out on his ministry. Later, she had to watch and live through his violent death. Mary is now venerated as the model of all mothers and holds a special place in many Christians’ hearts.
Friends and Traditions
This is the time of year when many traditions are upheld, of course, but I think the best involve getting together with friends to celebrate something you have in common.
For me, this winning combination works so well with the Bridge House Celebration Event held this year at St. John’s Church, Waterloo, in London on Saturday, 7th December 2019.
Trains
I love the train. I think it is one of the best inventions and I’ve throughly enjoyed trips on them and connected to them.
Progress and Success and How to Judge Them
My Oxford Compact dictionary defines progress as forward movement, advance, development, improvement and almost everyone seeks it in many areas of life. Despite the straightforward definition, it can be hard to define if you’ve achieved progress. Not everything can be measured… Even when it can be, progress can genuinely be slow. What matters overall is that there is some!
As for success, the dictionary defines it as accomplishment of aim, favourable outcome, attainment of wealth/fame etc.
[Read more…] about Progress and Success and How to Judge Them
Hook Road Hutments and My Family by Peter Russell – Part 3
Edited by Allison Symes
Image Credit: All images were supplied by Peter Russell
Hello again. I am Peter Brent Russell and I was a child of the Hook Road hutments from June 1950 to Summer 1955. This is Part 3 of my series on The Hutments and, this week, I will be looking at my recollections of hutment life. I will also share my recollections of the other families there.
Once again, if there are further memories/information people would like to share, I would love to hear from you via the comments section. It would be nice to fill in the gaps wherever possible.
[Read more…] about Hook Road Hutments and My Family by Peter Russell – Part 3