Now that’s a statement that just asks to be challenged isn’t it? It’s a perspective voiced if someone requests a vegetarian meal instead of a ‘normal’ one. It’s a view expressed if someone asks for a decaffeinated coffee instead of a ‘normal’ one. You know what I mean. Yet, if
Continue readingTwice in one morning I was asked, why is it called Maundy Thursday? The answer I gave was close, but no cigar. I thought ‘Maundy’ described the sense of mourning because Jesus was betrayed by one of his disciples; close, but no cigar. The word Maundy is an Anglo-French reworking
Continue readingIf you visit a city that has an artists’ quarter you’re likely to see artists drawing caricatures. In Montmartre, in Paris, I’ve stood admiring their skill and sense of humour as they’ve grotesquely distorted the features of those sitting before them who then, amazingly, paid them for the pleasure. Artists
Continue readingThe 1994 film ‘Four Weddings and a funeral’ has a very colourful opening scene; though it’s not as colourful as I’d remembered it. The first 90 seconds or so has Hugh Grant, who plays Charles, swearing constantly because he’s late for the first wedding in the film. However, when I
Continue readingI don’t do numbers. I realised this again re-reading Bill Bryson’s ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’. In this fascinating book on many things scientific he plays with numbers whose size is virtually impossible to get your head around. But then again, when I’m told that on average this Christmas
Continue readingNo, I do really mean it; let’s stop ‘Going to Church.’ Before you organise your diaries too much let me tell you a story. When I was younger I would tell my mother Sunday by Sunday by Sunday that I was going to Church. My mum knew exactly what I
Continue readingThis month Gilli and I are walking the North Downs Way, a ‘mere’(!) 153 miles long. We made this rash decision because last year we walked the Peak Pilgrimage; the fact that that was only 40 miles long and only took four days hasn’t been lost on either one of
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