Another Sleepless Night

St Mary's as I hope not to see it this winter.

The temperatures are dropping, the wind is from the East Brrrr.

Tomorrow, or rather today, is not one of my St M's days and I am more than glad of it.

Going out in cold weather is not one of my hobbies so unless absolutely necessary I will stay warm and snug in my burrow.

It is building up towards the most hectic season in the church, and lovely though that is it is also a time when health and fitness need to be at their best.

We have already had our first carol performance at a local brewery which wanted us to sing two half-hour sessions on their Christmas Shop opening day.  It was a really warm and welcoming event and we felt appreciated both by the management and staff and the customers.  Quite unusual but rather nice.

It felt a bit odd to be commemorating the Armistice the following day, as though we had got our dates reversed, but the Civic Service was a good one and well attended.

Soon we shall have the Buck's Fire and Rescue Carol Service then all the usual Advent Services, so a lot of singing and more than ever a need to be feeling well.

For me, this time of year almost always produces some kind of virus to try to put a spanner in the works so sleepless nights are not a lot of help.

I was in bed four and a half hours ago, had a brief 15 minute nap and woke from a nasty nightmare, since then I have been reading for hours and am now (obviously) on the computer.

As it is now 4.20 am I probably won't sleep any more till tomorrow night, but at least I don't have to leave the house till Wednesday morning.

Insomnia is a recurring theme in my life but these days it is not combined with the need to get up and go to work next day.

There is brilliant moonlight outside and a ferocious East wind blowing the trees about and I'm gloing back to bed to read some more.

Good night/morning/day.

There's No Accounting for Taste

The older I get the more fascinating I find the huge differences in the likes and dislikes of the people I encounter.

The cat enjoying a gherkin on the left is a classic  illustration of this phenomena.

Worldwide the chosen leaders of countries large and small. centre-stage or backstage in world politics, have such differing and varying ideas of how the world should be, that I am amazed any kind of agreement can be reached on anything at all.

Today's exhausting and confusing Brexit 'plans', have left me wondering if this is some kind of parallel universe.

Is this really what our ancestors worked so hard for, the right to vote, to have our say, to work to make this a better country, part of a better world?

I have always valued this precious right and exercised it whenever the opportunity arose but, now faced with uncertain goals, weak and indecisive leaders, political in-fighting at every level and conflicting information at every turn I am beginning to want to turn back the clock.

Not the sharpest knife in the box and with no great claim to intellectual clarity of vision I nevertheless always felt I had at least a loose 'handle' on any national political situation.

This is no longer the case.

I voted to remain in the EU and still feel it was the right way to vote, but that is no longer an option and the alternatives appear less attractive with every day that passes.

Listening to the amount of venom between the opposing factions I can't help but wonder just how well having got their way they will be able to manage an alternative system.

No-one stands out as a natural leader, though that doesn't stop the contenders bidding for the top job on a daily basis.

Are we to be treated to another dose of Barmey Boris, versus Jacob Reece Smug, exchanging verbal fisticuffs for a further 12 months or so while the Government limps on its directionless journey to economic failure?

Meanwhile over the pond the head honcho effectively proves that one man can single-handedly reverse centuries of evolution and civilisation and somehow remain in power.

At the same time the whole world is hurtling toward extinction burning up the environment and wasting all of its resources.

I can't help hoping to wake up and find this is a Terry Pratchett universe, or just a bad dream.

Now, if ever, is the time for a World leader to appear.

Any offers?

Thankyou

I have no way of knowing whether it 'just happened', or someone helped it to happen, somehow, but the problem of the invader blog appears to have been solved.

If anyone was able to remove it remotely I thank you.  If it was Divine intervention (unlikely), I am just as gratefull.

Sometimes i think i am the only surviving dynasour on the planet.

But, that won't stop me blogging/ 

Sorry.

Help I'm being stifled

If anyuone knows how i can clear aomeone else's blog from being superimposed over mine please let me know.

Currently "Medieval Church Art" is spread all over my blog and I can't get to my comments (if any) nor can i remove the intruder.

I shopuld add that the blog is one I read and enjoy, but not at the expense of losing my own.

I know virtually nothing about IT and haven't any hope of fixing the problem myself.

Is it too late?

This picture borrowed from Google is of a tiny surviving tree in a cracked and parched landscape.

For many, this Summer has been wonderful, hot and dry day after day, week after week.  For others, less so.

Never a lover of hot weather I have (at best) survived the months up until the end of September and am only now beginning to be able to breath and sleep more easily.

What has made this year so much worse for me has been the sight of our local trees gradually losing their freshness, leaves drooping, then curling and dying and even the trunks of some really big old trees losing colour and visibly fading.

I watered my garden as long as I could, but could do nothing for the poor trees gasping at the roadsides.

Like most gardeners and tree lovers I have rejoiced at the (very occasional) sight of clouds on the horizon, and like many of them have felt like crying as they, once more, passed us by on their way elsewhere.

Yesterday we had rain all day.  I am still recovering from my bug (see previous post) and had no intention of going anywhere, so welcomed the rare sight, praying for it to continue as long as possible.

On the bus a few days ago I saw, in a group of mixed large and small trees that some of the more recently planted ones were in fact dead.

Whether we will now begin to have more rain, it is after all October, I don't know, but I am hoping against hope that this will happen.

Apart from the beauty these lovely living things add to our landscapes, trees are the lungs of town and city and without their graceful presence we cannot survive.

Not once, among the glib meteorological tv weather reports and constantly repeated "another lovely day for the South", have I hear any mention of the terrible damage this 4 month drought has caused.

Surely I'm not the only one who is concerned for our precious greenery?

Lifebelt Over Here Please

This is  how I feel and probably look too.

Got home from a normal Friday choir practice on 28th, thought, hmmm don't feel too good, headed up to the bathroom and fainted.

A split second later struggled up and thought, "I'm going to be sick".

TMI Warning

Was immediately overwhelmed by a tsunami of vomit and (simultaneously) diarrhoea.

Well I did warn you.  Those of  SQUEAMISH NATURE read no further.

This ghastly state of affairs lasted at fairly frequent intervals until early Monday morning.

Having sipped cooled boiled water for 48 hours  I thought I'd risk a cup of cool tea.  Mistake!

Later in the day I ate a ginger biscuit (stem ginger)  knowing ginger to be good for stomach problems. It took me 10 minutes to eat it (felt like a 2 course meal) and, wonder of wonders it stayed put. 

Since then the flood seems to have abated and (between 3 minute sessions of cleaning up the bathroom and washing nighties etc I have spent my time lying down or trying possibilities like a two-egg omelette made in the microwave so no fat would be involved (stayed put), and an occasional
cup of tea interspersed with boiled water.

Without exaggeration this is the worst I've ever felt, but thankfully living alone I have not had to inflict the more sordid aspects on anyone else.

Luckilly for me, I have the constitution of an ox and once the evil bug has departed am back to my version of normal very quickly.

Where it came from (or whom) I have no idea, perhaps someone is trying to tell me to give up choir.

I know you don't need to say it, "she doesn't post for 6 weeks and this is the best she can do".

One small consolation I've lost 6 pounds in weight.

No I am not reccommending it.

Blowing his own Trumpet

I know I am only one of many who are staggered by the monstrous conceit of Donald Trump, but I could not resist adding my ten cent's worth to the pool of condemnation.

We have been treated to so many public displays of supremely undiplomatic behaviour since he came into his 'Kingdom', that it seemed unlikely he would be able to add anything worse.

Yet, here he is, in our country, describing in tones of deepest sorrow his unhappiness with all things British.

He explains how he "told Mrs May how she should have approached the EU on Brexit, but she ignored his instructions".

The supreme arrogance of this most ridiculous public firgure is matched only by his level of self-delusion.

Does he really believe the rubbish he spouts or is it part of the by now, indisputable paranoia he has shown to the world since he became a 'world leader'.

Will he I wonder, continue to condescend to everyone else he meets on this official visit, even, dare I suggest, her majesty The Queen?

Or, will his preposterous behaviour be toned-down to a more socially-aware level?

The thought of him languishing in the Tower is the only thing which sustains me .