On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... Day 44

Day 44

(Wednesday, 29th April 2020)

Lay awake half the night, it seems, thinking through dance moves for the video I need to submit for Hallmark of Harmony's latest song. It is to be an audio/video compilation of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in The Dark", to be presented at BABSLive, the online event that is replacing the actual annual convention at the end of May. I've submitted the audio recording of me singing my part, which has gone into the mix. Just need to get this video done now. 

Tai Chi class this morning with David Lipka, via Zoom of course. More great insight into the finer subtleties within all the moves of the slow form. I've inserted a couple of links for anyone who'd like to get an idea of how Wu style Tai Chi looks from two senior exponents of the art: Yorkshire Chi and Yuen Hong Nin.

Another Zoom meet up with fellow singers from Fox Valley Voices this evening, was a welcome chat and catch up.

As for the Street (Sycamore Road, that is), there are plans for a street 'party' for VE Day next week (strictly on 4th May, but now moved by decree to the May bank holiday on Friday, 8th May). I have equivocal feelings about this. On the actual day itself - 4th May 1945 - yes I would have rejoiced and had a right knees up of a party to celebrate the end of the war, but this time, despite the significance of the anniversary, the 75th, and each year, it is a time to remember the horrors of WW2 (not forgetting WW1) the hundreds of thousands of lives lost or permanently scarred by it and to be thankful. I therefore feel a street party with drinking and eating is not appropriate. We can have a street party any other time, but specifically on VE Day, I'm not keen. 

Clemency Burton-Hill's choice of music for today is: String Quartet with Didjeridu, No.14 ('Quamby') 1: Prelude by Peter Sculthorpe. As its name suggests, this is classical music with a didgeridoo (spelt differently). It works brilliantly, in my view. Nice one Mr Sculthorpe.



However you may be affected by anything I've written here, do let me know by leaving a comment below or, if you prefer not to, talk to a loved one, a friend or someone you trust.

On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... Day 43

Day 43
(Tuesday, 28th April 2020)

Infections globally from the virus have now passed 3 million (according to the Johns Hopkins tracker. More than 211,000 have died ... let's take a moment ... that's 211,000 people, each with a with personality, with a name, with grieving families and friends. It may be small in proportion to the World's population, but that is irrelevant, frankly.  The UK's death toll now stands at 10% of that global total. Whilst Donald Trumpington continues to throw off the blame laid at his door by many sources for not responding to warnings of the threat of a serious global pandemic that have been sounding (from many reliable sources) for at least three years, not forgetting Bill Gates TED talk in 2015 that spoke of precisely this threat, he still insists on putting out statements like "we didn't know about this" and "how could we know". A total imbecile supported by imbeciles! 

In the mean time the UK government is not in the clear over their responses to warnings over a similar time frame. In fact it becomes evident that a serious investigation and multi-party report in 2016 warned of this threat. Very little reference to this work can be found on the internet. Hmmm! There is even a publication, under the umbrella of 'Global Priorities Project 2017', whose title is "Existential Risk Diplomacy and Governance" (https://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/Existential-Risks-2017-01-23.pdf). 

The remit of this very detailed report is basically to assess and rank the sources of risk of such threats to humanity by scope and severity. They look at risks that range from nuclear war, to volcanic eruptions and new virus pandemics. This has been going on for some time. Here's part of the index:
Examples of risks categorised according to scope and severity

1.1.1 Nuclear war 
1.1.2 Extreme climate change and geoengineering 
1.1.3 Engineered pandemics 
1.1.4 Artificial intelligence 
1.1.5 Global totalitarianism 
1.1.6 Natural processes 
1.1.7 Unknown unknowns

Anyway, I'll not go on about this. You can read the report if you need to understand more. All I wanted to do was point to a few things going on in the World that wouldn't normally get any attention. Speaking of which, the grass needs some attention, in that it needs cutting (Note: we don't 'mow the lawn' here, we cut the grass! If you were to take a walk on it, you'd understand!

Clemency Burton-Hill's choice of music for today is: Lay a Garland by Robert Lucas de Pearsall. This is sung for you by my favourite a cappella Octet, Voces8. The harmonies in this piece are sublime and and totally suited to the beautifully blended voices of this vocal ensemble. Three years ago, we had the pleasure of seeing Voces8 come to perform at the Bradfield Festival of Music, which, besides being just over the hill five miles from us, annually attracts musicians of considerable note, not only from around the UK but also internationally. 

As a footnote, de Pearsall (1795-1856) was "one of Bristol's most musical sons", most of whose work remained unpublished until after his death. Interestingly, he also wrote poetry and did translations of Goethe and Schiller. He also seemed to live after his time because of his interests in what was considered to be not in line, musically, with the Romantic freedoms of the time. He was a "compelling advocate", writes Burton-Hill, "of what he believed in". He was a fan of Renaissance polyphony and the early music of the Catholic and Anglican churches and their conventions such as plainsong.

'Lay a Garland' is an 1840 madrigal was based on a poem from The Maid's Tragedy by Beaumont and Fletcher, which was entered into the Stationers' Register on this day in 1619.

Lay a garland on her hearse

of dismal yew

Maidens, willow branches wear,

say she died true.

Her love was false, but she was firm.

Upon her buried body lie lightly, 

thou gentle earth.

However you may be affected by anything I've written here, do let me know by leaving a comment below or, if you prefer not to, talk to a loved one, a friend or someone you trust. 

On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... Day 42

Day 42

(Monday, 27th April 2020)

Forty Two days! I'm not expecting to discover the answer to life, the universe and everything on this day. But it does at least match the name of my blog! 

I took the weekend off, as I've threatened to do before, but not really done it properly. Hence we have jumped from Day 39 on Friday to Day 42 on Monday ... today.

Not to forget Clemency Burton-Hill's "Year of Wonder", the music didn't take the weekend off, so here are Saturday and Sunday's choices. Two fabulous pieces of music.

Saturday, 25th April: Six pieces from Kuolema, Op.44 1: 'Valse Triste' by Jean Sibelius. I'd love to dance the waltz to this. It is quite beautiful, even, nay perhaps especially because it is in a minor key. Also, the images in this particular clip, of the Aurora Borealis, are magnificent. 

Sunday, 26th April: Caprice in A minor, Op.1 No.24 by Niccolò Paganini. The opening and conclusion along with the subtle reiterations throughout the piece play us a well known musical line, which you cannot fail to recognise. Yet the virtuosity of this violin playing by James Ehnes is flawless; judging by a gasp from the audience in the middle of his performance, dare I say perfection. Judge for yourself. 

This morning, the company we used to replace our roof eighteen months ago, have started work on our next door neighbour's roof, following our recommendation. So, I guess a week or two of disturbance. But then our neighbours had to put up with the same from us, probably more so. Anyway, I guess it adds a touch of 'entertainment’ to the street.

Clemency's choice of music for today is: Prelude in G flat major, Op.11 No.13 by Alexander Scriabin.

However you may be affected by anything I've written here, do let me know by leaving a comment below or, if you prefer not to, talk to a loved one, a friend or someone you trust. 

On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... Day 39

Day 39

(Friday, 24th April 2020)

A singularly ordinary day, if any day in the midst of a lockdown occasioned by a global pandemic of a virus, for which there is, at present, neither preventative vaccine nor cure, can be considered ordinary.

In other news, the lockdown has been extended for at least another three weeks and government is gently ramping up the likelihood that we are in this 'for the longer term', almost certainly beyond the end of the 2020. And social distancing may become a feature of life for the foreseeable future.

The worldwide death toll from Coronavirus is now rapidly approaching 200,000 people, whilst 2.8 million people are know to have been infected by it. That's a case fatality rate of 7%. Crudely, that's a one in fourteen chance of dying from it. The UK government's aim of 100,000 tests per day, is failing big time. There's high news about various political bureaucrats getting involved in and having a commending influence on SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies), which is a committee convened to advise government, at the moment on the pandemic and which should comprise solely of scientific specialists in measuring and reporting data on disease spread and control, epidemiologists, psychologists, psychiatrists and other social and welfare specialists. However, it is reported notably the infamous Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson's Downing Street adviser, has been sitting in on this committee since early this year and has reportedly taken a more 'commanding' role in its proceedings! Political input is not usually permitted on SAGE, because of the risk of political bias. Cummings is, in my view, a manipulative, controlling influence on Johnson and all those around him. I also suspect he is not a force for good, as far as the wider population of this country is concerned. A view not dimmed his his personal associations with Ben and Marc Warner, the latter of which runs Faculty, a UK based data mining company, which itself is associated with the US company, Palantir Technologies, who are also deep into data mining. This information is a worrying development. Maybe more of this later ... unless those sinister forces manage to suppress this tea of news ...

Meanwhile, B and I continue to keep up our daily routine of Tai Chi together in the morning, followed separately by an array of our other activities, including gardening, canine entertaining, walking, writing, singing and video calling with various of our children and grandchildren. Life could be considerably worse. 

We finished our day in a a very pleasing way, enjoying the National Theatre's production of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", streamed live on line, with Tamsin Greig as Malvolia. It was a fantastic piece of theatre and we enjoyed it all the more because both B and I had studied this play for our English Literature 'O' Level at school. 

And here's the music for the day from the "Year of Wonder": "Symphony No.5 in C minor,  Op.67 4: Allegro - Presto" by Ludwig van Beethoven.

However you may be affected by anything I've written about, do leave me a comment below or, if you prefer not to, talk to a loved one, a friend or someone you trust. 

On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... Day 38

Day 38
(Thursday, 23rd April 2020)

Unusual day today, in that I spent no time at my desk writing. After our usual half hour Tai Chi session, we had coffee then I went straight out into the garden to do some work on the paths in the lower garden. Following that I was needed to make B’s greenhouse bench, where she does her potting, planting out seeds etc. more secure. Following that and some lunch, I was needed by the reclining chair, where I read for while and then promptly fell asleep!

Was then woken by a FaceTime call from our eldest in Torquay. The three Nicholson grandchildren were spending a considerable time in their 2,000 litre ‘paddling’ pool. Our cheerful conversation was punctuated by the occasional tears, banged head and other inevitable knocks from boisterous playing in water. So normal life prevails amidst the surreality of the day.

Today is St George’s Day and William Shakespeare’ birthday. It occurred to me that I ought to celebrate this day with a bit of blank verse or a sonnet, with some good old iambic pentameter. So much influence did he have on the English language that there are countless turns of phrase and idioms we routinely use that he is responsible for. So I shall pause and go and find something suitable to honour the Bard.

The music for today, that Clemency Burton-Hill has chosen in her "Year of Wonder" is "How Sweet the Moonlight" from the Merchant of Venice by Jocelyn Pook. She, like many composers before her (Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Prokofiev, Sibelius, Vaughan Williams and Bernstein to name but a few) has chosen text from William Shakespeare, whose birthday it is today. Pook wrote the score for The Merchant of Venice (2004), which Clemency describes as renaissance with a modern twist.

How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank

Here will we sit and let the sounds of music

Creep in our ears. Soft stillness and the night

Become the touches of sweet harmony

~~~

However you may be affected by anything I've written about, do leave me a comment below or, if you prefer not to, talk to a loved one, a friend or someone you trust. 

On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... Day 37

Day 37
(Wednesday, 22nd April 2020)

Tai Chi on line with David Lipka this morning. Again a very good session enabling more detailed understanding of the subtleties of the movement, balance and positions of the slow form. Always feel empowered by these sessions.

Paid some bills (milk and Tai Chi sessions for April). This took over an hour, setting up new payees on line, verifying receipts etc etc.

Took only Taz for a walk up the lanes this afternoon. On route, I met two sets of neighbours, with whom we don't speak too often in normal times, but positive and cheerful exchanges - at a dutiful Social distance of course - acknowledging how lucky we are living where we do.


Today's music from "Year of Wonder" is: "Danza Gaya" by Madeleine Dring 

However you may be affected by anything I've written about, do leave me a comment below or, if you prefer not to, talk to a loved one, a friend or someone you trust. 

On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... Day 36

Day 36
(Tuesday, 21st April 2020)

Another day with our routines routine. We have started walking the dogs up the lane again, to test out how busy it still is. Plenty of people exercising, and good to see, but not too overcrowded. So will maintain this as long as sensible, but vary the route and perhaps a bit of the regularity.

T'ai chi ch'uan making progress through the form. Recalling the detail of 'Cloud Hands' is the first main challenge. We are having to watch the instructional videos carefully, which, linked with David Lipka's Wednesday morning sessions is helping us to dot the i's and cross the t's. There is so much subtlety and 'body consciousness' required to keep the balance, maintain 'softness' throughout our bodies. The only way to ensure effectiveness of what is, as originally intended, a martial art.

This afternoon, we had a tea party, organised by Guide Dogs in an attempt to break the Guinness Book of Records for the largest attended on line tea party. We had proper cups and some toast and  jam. 

Guide Dogs Tea Party

Taking a selfie of both us and two dogs, whilst holding cups of tea - forget the toast and jam - is somewhat tricky. But, hey-ho, we sort of managed it.

Rehearsal with Hallmark this evening was a departure from the norm. Tim put up a link to the YouTube playing of a 2009 documentary film called "American Harmony", which covered the fortunes of some now famous barbershop quartets in the quest to win medals at the BHS International Conventions in 2006-08. Rivetting watch, particularly because of the behind the scenes views of the ups and downs and nerves of the occasions. Vocal Spectrum (whom I met at Harmony College in the summer of 2018), MaxQ and OC Times, with whom we sang Bridge over Troubled Water at the SingLABBS in October 2019, when we (and they) were guests at the ladies national convention. So much enthusiasm and dedication to this special art of a cappella harmony singing.
Music for today, from Clemency Burton-Hill's "Year of Wonder" is "Khovanshchina Prelude: Dawn over the Moscow River" by Modest Mussorgsky, quintessential Russian 19th Century composer, a contemporary of the Petersburg-based Rimsky-Korsakov and Borodin.


However you may be affected by anything I've written about, do leave me a comment below or, if you prefer not to, talk to a loved one, a friend or someone you trust. 

On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... Day 35

Day 35
(Monday, 20th April 2020)

“The year’s at The Spring”

The year’s at the spring

And day’s at the morn;

Morning’s at seven;

The hill-side’s dew-pearled;

The lark’s on the wing;

The snail’s on the thorn;

God’s in his heaven -

All’s right with the world !

~ Robert Browning

Yes, all’s right with the, well, at least our world, for the time being, because hooray! Six weeks after we ordered an online food shop, it arrived this morning at 8:30am! Thank goodness. 

Apart from online streaming of full performance from the Royal Opera House and the National Theatre, which we are enjoying, I have been watching quite a lot of past rugby matches and moments, particularly put out by England Rugby, which, you might imagine, mostly involve England winning. It says something about my mood that dictates a need to watch matches I know we won, even though they are often still tense affairs, in which there are moments I feel, absurdly, I could believe the result might yet change ... daft I know, but hey-ho, morale is important right now. 

Nothing else of particular note happened today, so on to the music bit ... 

Clemency Burton-Hill's choice of music for today, from her wonderful book, "Year of Wonder", is "Music for a while" from Oedipus by Henry Purcell. Performed here by 'Sjaella Vokalensemble'

Music for a while

Shall all your cares beguile ... 

~ John Dryden, Oedipus

However you may be affected by anything I've written about, do leave me a comment below or, if you prefer not to, talk to a loved one, a friend or someone you trust. 

On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... Days 33-34

Days 33 to 34
(Saturday & Sunday, 18th & 19th April)

It is a small blessing that a number of sources of normal entertainment - that requires attendance at a public gathering of more than two people, like theatres and cinemas and opera houses - are being streamed in full, so we can watch them at home on our TVs. On Friday evening we both enjoyed watching the Royal Opera House performance of Cosi Fan Tutte, a 'comedy', sort of in the Shakespearean mould. On Saturday evening I enjoyed watching the England Rugby Union team go to Wales, during the 2017 Six Nations Championship. What a match it was ... and what a result for England! Next Thursday, 23rd April (Shakespeare's birthday), the National Theatre is streaming a performance of Twefth Night. This is the play that both B and I studied at 'O' Level. Looking forward to that.

I finally managed to record my (bass) part of Hallmark's latest song, which Tim Briggs is going to put together in a compilation of individual recordings from all the members of the chorus to present to the BABS Live event, which will be played on line and replace the now cancelled convention at the end of May. The song is Hannah Briggs' arrangement of Bruce Springsteen's Dancing in The Dark. For the Basses, it is probably one of the most challenging songs certainly I've ever had to learn, because it is relentless and leaves little or no time for breathing! Not helped because we cannot meet to rehearse this live and there's ultimately no substitute for that. So above all else it has been a challenge of our musicianship. I think the result will be worth listening to, if what Tim has already put together with the few submissions he's so far had.

I mowed the lawn (aka cutting the grass) on Sunday. To call it a lawn is a bit of a stretch. Also cut the expansive from lawn, all two square metres of it!



And, speaking of music, Clemency Burton-Hill's choices for the weekend, from her book, "Year of Wonder" are here ...

Saturday: "Stabat Mater 7: 'Eia mater, fons amoris' - 'Oh mother, fount of love'. by Antonio Vivaldi. One of many, many interpretations of the poem (of unknown authorship), "Stabat Mater Dolorosa" that down the ages has been given an extraordinary range of translations into choral and musical. In the mean time here is my poetic interpretation of this deeply moving Easter account: "A Ballad for Stabat Mater".

Sunday: "Valse Lente - slow waltz" by Germaine Tailleferre. 

However you may be affected by anything I've written about, do leave me a comment below or, if you prefer not to, talk to a loved one, a friend or someone you trust. 

On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... Day 32

Day 32
(Friday, 17th April 2020)

Another routine day, really. I continue to attempt to wash anything the current incumbent of the White House says from my mind. He is quite frankly so full of mind sewage, principally because, despite his pathological narcissism, he must know his credibility and reputation around the World is very poor; he is a joke and it would be a joke if it weren't for the fact he is the President of the United States and is therefore a threat to us all. So I'm not even going to report anything except that, in the extreme, he is clearly trying to divert attention away from his inadequacies by creating external 'enemies' of America.
Bloody stupid man!

As every day she does, B spent more constructive time in the garden, which its getting to look better and better. For the small part I play in that, I did a bit more work on paths and steps down towards the bottom of the garden. The dry weather continues to help these causes and sources of much needed salve and therapy for us both.
Today's choice of music from Clemency Burton-Hill's "Year of Wonder", is "Ellis Island" by Meredith Monk. Monk is described by Burton-Hill as a "multi-talented American composer, choreographer, director and filmmaker". Monk was invited to make a film about Ellis Island, "which had been the iconic point of entry for millions of immigrants to the USA". This track is, Clemency says, ""like a distillation of Monk's work in microcosm". It is a rather dreamy, mesmerising and lovely piece of music.



However you may be affected by anything I've written about, do leave me a comment below or, if you prefer not to, talk to a loved one, a friend or someone you trust. 

On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... Day 31

Day 31

(Thursday, 16th April 2020)

Another day. Another dollar ... or pound. God forbid we end up with dollars. That would mean that DT's dysfunctional corporate establishment, nay banking system, had finally bought out the UK. Perish the thought that we keep up the lock down - and it would seem wise and humane to do so - whilst the USA exit and get back to business, at a great cost to lives. Their economy survives and ours in ruins. We'd be at the mercy of a takeover! Nightmare, Night terror. Arrrgh! 

Meanwhile, the death toll continues to rise here (now heading towards 15,000 confirmed deaths from Corona virus) and around the World, although there is a tentative reduction in the load on hospital Accident and Emergency departments, which may indeed a momentary reduction. We cannot afford to relax restrictions yet. 

Or could it be China. Who knows. Whatever happens, as ever was the case, we can never be certain of the future and, as your well briefed financial adviser would say: "past performance is no guarantee of the future ...".

Enough of this. Some more digging and path repairing at the bottom of the garden, to provide some physical therapy. All's well that ends well the day.
Today's choice of music from Clemency Burton-Hill's "Year of Wonder", is "Tornami a vagheggiar - 'Return and desire me' from Alcina" by George Frederic Handel. This was Chopin's first piano concerto, although numbered 2 because it wasn't published till after his Concerto No.1, for some reason. At nineteen years old the young Frederic had just fallen in love with a beautiful singer called Constantia Gladkowska, but, smitten as he was, "in the six months since I first saw her I have not exchanged a syllable with her of whom I dream every night". 

Ms Burton-Hill follows this with "Mate, we've all been there". It is evident, however, that Chopin poured all his feelings of love for this woman into this piece. "It is hard to imagine a more persuasive love note ... At least this heavenly music endures." Clemency concludes.



However you may be affected by anything I've written about, do leave me a comment below or, if you prefer not to, talk to a loved one, a friend or someone you trust. 

On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... Day 30

Day 30
(Wednesday, 15th April 2020)

Today's first event was our once weekly on line session of Tai Chi with David Lipka, of Mindful Tai Chi.

What else? Apart from some path and step rebuilding as well as assisting B with a bit of digging at the bottom end of our garden in some glorious warm and sunny weather, it was a routine and uneventful day, besides our next door neighbour getting stuck in his garage followed by a plea for help from his wife to the 'Street' WhatsApp group, which we missed (because of the aforementioned digging at the bottom of the garden!).

For a change, today, I am going to point you toward the website of Poet, Writer and Editor, G Jamie Dedes, and in particular her publication this week of an article entitled "In the Wake of COVID-19: Free Speech and Freedom of Artistic Expression Threatened". She regularly exposes injustice and doesn't pull her punches when she does so. As an additional background to this singularly extraordinary woman, some time ago she asked me to write a testimonial for her 'The Poet by Day" blog, which primarily promotes the work of others as well as her tour de force, The Bardo Group's 'BeZine'. My statement was: 

"There are blogs and there are blogs. There is writing; there is poetry; there is art; there is human endeavour and there is ‘The Poet by Day’. Rarely, if ever, have I come across a web log like this, of such towering integrity. Seldom have I encountered such a willingness to subjugate self for the benefit not only of the art of the written word, but also for the benefit of poets and writers everywhere. Here be a deep well of inspiration."

“This is enhanced, in a major way, by her own invention, a blog called ‘Into The Bardo’ (now a collaborative blog, ‘The BeZine’), which represents the noblest of goals, an aspiration to connect all life on Earth spiritually; to unite the World in one grand scheme, which, if it achieves nothing, fills us with hope.” 

She is one of the very significant reasons I have continued to be motivated to write over the past seven or eight years that I've known her and been a contributor to her publications.

~~~~~

Today's choice of music from Clemency Burton-Hill's "Year of Wonder", is "Piano Concerto No.2 in F minor, Op.21 2: Larghetto" by Frederic Chopin. This was Chopin's first piano concerto, although numbered 2 because it wasn't published till after his Concerto No.1, for some reason. At nineteen years old the young Frederic had just fallen in love with a beautiful singer called Constantia Gladkowska, but, smitten as he was, "in the six months since I first saw her I have not exchanged a syllable with her of whom I dream every night". 

Ms Burton-Hill follows this with "Mate, we've all been there". It is evident, however, that Chopin poured all his feelings of love for this woman into this piece. "It is hard to imagine a more persuasive love note ... At least this heavenly music endures." Clemency concludes.


However you may be affected by anything I've written about, do leave me a comment below or, if you prefer not to, talk to a loved one, a friend or someone you trust. 

On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... Day 29

Day 29
(Tuesday, 14th April 2020)

I had a lie in this morning. B got up at 7 to feed the Zoo and watch the news. Apart from editing a haiku triplet, the theme of which I rather like, I decided to familiarise myself with TikTok ahead of hopefully getting my oldest granddaughter to teach me how to do the 'TikTok dance'..? There is a purpose, a plan, which might be revealed in due course ...

In the mean time, I further progressed my attempts to get some money back and/or claim insurance from flights and accommodation booked for Hallmark of Harmony's trip to Ireland for the IABS international barbershop convention in October, where we were due to compete as part of our preparation for going back to compete at BABS convention in 2021, following our year off as champions. Ooops! That was one of my long sentences. Apologies.

So far, I've managed to get 50% back, or will do in 5-7 days, from Airbnb for the flat I booked in Killarney. The rest, less the usual service/booking charge, I have to claim from the host. So we'll see what happens over the coming week. As for getting anything out of Ryanair, I've not even received the courtesy of a reply to my request for assistance from them, so it could well be next stop claiming from the travel insurance. I'll let you know how it goes, assuming you have the slightest interest ... if not I'll give you fair warning at the beginning of a paragraph when I am about to report on progress. So there you go.

In between whiles, this is how useful Guide Dogs can be ... 

Another good session on Zoom with Tim Briggs and 40 or so members of the Hallmark band of brothers in the evening, was followed by a bit of telly, including a harrowing and emotional episode of "Our Girl". Ooof, that's all you need just before bed! 

And also today's choice of music from Clemency Burton-Hill's "Year of Wonder", which is "Fruhlingsglaube - Faith in Spring" by Franz Schubert. The text is by poet, Ludwig Uhland encapsulating the bittersweet promise of Spring. The second verse is, as Ms Burton-Hill relates, "wistful" ...

With each day the World grows fairer
One cannot know what is still to come
Now all, all must change.

See you tomorrow.

However you may be affected by anything I've written about, do leave me a comment below or, if you prefer not to, talk to a loved one, a friend or someone you trust. 

On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... Day 28

Day 28
(Monday, 13th April 2020)

And so to the end of week 4 of our isolation and social distancing. Up to recently this state of affairs has been sort of 'voluntary', leaving it to the good and responsible British public to adopt the spirit of the times and knuckle down, pull their wait and get on with it. However, it seems that the police now have powers in certain circumstances, to impose fines on anyone, who is obviously flouting the instruction if they are not able to demonstrate that their 'outing' is essential. It's a shame that a few people remain so stubborn, ignorant, opinionated, seemingly convinced that they can neither carry nor pass on the Corona virus infection to other people, arrogant enough to believe they are above being confined to their homes, too willing to blame somebody else for the problem or simply too bloody-minded to care about the risk they present to others by not behaving responsibly, perhaps even they have a deeply embedded death wish!

I concede there will also be some, who live in physically confined or very crowded homes that must make life very difficult indeed for them to find their own space and remain behind their own front doors. We all need some space away from the noise and opinions of others.

As for the homes and lives of those in the NHS, working on the front line, daily exposing themselves to infection, it is very evident that they are having to be very courageous indeed. This is not least because of inadequate supplies of PPE. It is gradually becoming apparent that this government were far to slow to respond to the rising threat of the Corona virus, as it spread across the World from China and in preparing for it, including the fact that they failed to be involved in the opportunity for an EU initiative to procure healthcare supplies including PPE. I can only put this down to intrinsic, ingrained, imperious, arrogant Brexit mentality that runs rife through this administration.

I'm sorry, but I only intended that there would be an occasional rant in this blog, but that is yet another in two successive days! It needed to be said nonetheless, because, in days, weeks and maybe years to come, I (hopefully) will still be around to look back on this and reflect on what was happening out there ... and see what lessons may have been learned.

The "Killing Fields" ... the dogs have been at their cuddly toys again!

Meanwhile, back here on the ranch, at home sweet home, life continues in an un-extraordinary way, with our daily activities becoming embedded as routines. Included in which are the demands of two healthy and energetic Labrador-X-Retrievers, who are themselves having to adjust to a routine without long walks ... because we do have a reasonable sized garden and our back lane up to the moors is becoming like a busy city centre High Street AND some people think it's all right to let their dogs off the lead on the roads because there aren't many cars. No, it is NOT all right to do that for several very good reasons. But I'm not going to waste time here giving you those reasons, because people who read this are probably going to be savvy enough to figure it out. Besides, they do have a lot of cuddly toys ... 

I leave you with a quote from John Donne's Meditation XVII: 

“Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” ~ John Donne (1572-1631) from Meditation XVII and a poem from My Poetry Library

And also today's choice of music from Clemency Burton-Hill's "Year of Wonder", which is "Overture" from Tannhauser by Richard Wagner. In light of fact we are still in the Easter weekend and, in spite of its title, Overture, this is another quite long piece (15 minutes). Although this will not go out until sometime on Tuesday, I give you permission to kick back and enjoy this typically dramatic, but, in parts quite uplifting piece, still full of exceptional Wagnerian drama. It was also, so Clemency tells us, "the perfect introduction to all Knights and nymphs, pilgrims and troubadours, goddesses and sirens that were to come." 


However you may be affected by anything I've written about, do leave me a comment below or, if you prefer not to, talk to a loved one, a friend or someone you trust. 

On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... Day 26-27

Days 26-27
(Saturday, 11th and Sunday 12th April 2020)

Global statistics on COVID-19 as at 10:30 this morning (according to Saturday’s Guardian) are Confirmed cases now at 1.699 million. Recovered: 341,836. Deaths: 102,799.

Health Secretary, Matt Hancock reminds us that each one of those has a name and each number has a family whose lives will be changed for ever.

Now, speaking of loved ones, a warning. I’m going to have another rant.!

We’re getting reports from other parts of the city that, regardless of government advice and now even warnings of police fines for flouting the instruction to stay home, there are people going out in their cars and visiting other people. It occurs to me that these are people, who can only be amongst those, who sit, perhaps uncomfortably, somewhere between, on the one hand, not being able to cope with their fear and, on the other, a kind of misguided optimism that persuades them they are neither carrying infection nor are they going to catch it. They might even be well educated and knowledgable people, who think they know better. 

The following three paragraphs contain a lot of pointed second person singular. If you are, therefore, someone who is carefully following the advice on social distancing and self isolation, then this is not for you. I concede that it is also probably the case that those, who are refusing to follow that advice, will not be likely to read this. So, this is perhaps for posterity, but at least makes me feel better. Here goes ...

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU..!!  DO YOU NOT GET IT..?!! IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND IT, THEN PERHAPS YOU SHOULD THINK MORE CAREFULLY ABOUT TRUSTING AND FOLLOWING THE ADVICE OF THOSE WHO DO UNDERSTAND IT.

Perhaps it is because you don’t understand that, RIGHT NOW, in this present moment, this moment, your future is nothing, if not uncertain; a future which is measured by probabilities and, ergo, RISK, you actually DO NOT KNOW whether or not you are infected or whether or not you might come into contact with someone, a door handle, a perfectly innocent object that may hold the Corona virus on its surface, and therefore present a risk, not only to yourself becoming infected, but also to the outside world; of changing the future for someone other than yourself, some poor innocent life or the life of a family member or of a friendship group, that will be changed forever or maybe lost forever.

Before I move on to more cheerful things, perhaps this is a good time to refer you back to my blog on Day 3. It contains a chart of how many people a careless flouting of self isolation advice can affect in a short time. It is frighteningly stark. 

And, having sounded off like a bible thumping 17th Century preacher from his pulpit, let’s move on.

Today is Sunday. Easter Day. A day when churches and cathedrals would normally be filled with people being communal, being grateful for the sacrifice of others and being thankful for what we have. Given the courageous work of those who are fighting in the new front line, the latter day trenches - that is the NHS and caring services, not forgetting transport drivers, deliverers of food and sustenance for the nation and so many more, who are out there whilst we sit in our isolation - we do are a great deal to be grateful for. I feel this sincerely now. Speaking of gratitude, here’s a new poem. 

Saturday's choice of music from Clemency Burton-Hill's "Year of Wonder" is Tres piezas, Op.6 1: 'Cuyana' by Alberto Ginastera. Of Ginastera, Clemency says "No matter how many times I hear ... (this composition) ... I never know what's coming next - in the best possible way. I love how the composer takes us on a meandering melodic journey and just at the moment when you feel you know exactly where you are, he picks you up and deposits you somewhere else, somewhere completely unexpected." I love this, but add the a caveat that sometimes it is nice to be able to anticipate where a piece of music is going; a sort of comfort thin, I suppose.

For today: Clemency chooses something more melancholy, not that there is anything wrong with melancholy. Richard Strauss completed this dramatic, emotionally charged piece of music in 1945, towards the end of the Second World War On the contrary, I believe the value of having ones mood altered in this direction has the value of enabling reflection; of helping one to be less impatient, less anxious about what we’re having to go without at the moment, what we’ve been through and how we might resolve to make things different in the future. Metamorphosen for Twenty Three Strings by Richard Strauss. It is much longer (twenty five minutes or more) Than the normal length of pieces in the “Year of Wonder” In her final note she writes: “It is a singularly moving musical response to the senselessness of war - any war.”

And in the time it has taken me to complete this blog since starting yesterday morning, another one hundred thousand people around the world have become confirmed cases of infection ... and another 5,000 have died. Each one has a name. Each one a loss to their family and friends.

• Stay at Home.
• Protect the NHS.
• Save Lives.

However you may be affected by anything I've written about, do leave me a comment below or, if you prefer not to, talk to a loved one, a friend or someone you trust.