I couldn't let my Mother's birthday pass without comment or some musical? madness! Use one of these links below (I couldn't be bothered to upload it again - it's quite a big one - ooo ah missus!) Select the link below - right click and choose go to : http:/ . . . . . https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B_f-rKckYjjEQXlwRUJjZlNfV1k Illness precludes a journey up there; at least for the time being.So a rough-cut little video to get you all singing along. We've had to cancel pretty well all social and business events for the whole of this year so far. But we want to wish Chris and Hannah a blessed married life and also Dick and Pauline who are celebrating twenty five years together and Sandra and Kevin have notched up twenty seven, I believe - well done everyone. Medical report? Blood levels still out of whack - but palpable lymph glands seem reduced. Still some breathing and brain fog problems. But Dr Flora smiled and said I was a nice man - not complaining and doing what I'm told and keeping fit. So there you are - that's all we need. Shingles is easing; although still painful. Lumps are reducing and the neuralgia in the general region (back of head and neck) is receding. However my right ear is still in blocked mode with earache. It makes listening in stereo rather a waste of time. Fatigue! Oh my word - there's no redemption there. I can get breathless and knackered just having a conversation, A friend kindly took me out on a little jolly, lovely chat, nice food and atmosphere. It would be very churlish and ungrateful to say it wore me flat - but it did and I had a good hour of snores afterwards. Hair loss - people with chemo often complain about losing their luxuriant locks. Not me mate! I want rid of mine - but I'm forbidden the shears due to infection and skin-damage risks. I don't look cool with the middle-aged accountant tonsure and fly away bits at (not on!) the side. I want to be bald again - just like I was here!
Pension matters - working it out - just like the constipated mathematician - with a pencil - think about it! And by the way have you seen the cost of setting up Lasting Power of Attorney? Kym's been brilliant - I've been niggly and a bit brittle - she's kept me on track. New obsession? Trainz Railway Simulator. Just another computer program demonstrating how impatient and incompetent I am currently. God willing - I will return to my powers of old. Trainz example Poor old (young) Boudica has had her beauty spoiled by some cat scratches on her nose. We have a large population of scrounging and scouring moggies. I guess she was trying to protect her own territory.
Another month has gone by an penury looms. We will survive - but from now on all will be different. A paradigm shift. Thanks for reading. Mystery Glue the best album for a might long time. Varity, lyrics, playing, production, emotion etc
Bye for now - we've got a few things to sort in the next week or so. Next chemo is booked for 15th June - so I think we will try and get some recovery for a few days. We've had to sort out a lot in the last month. Not easy when one's physical and emotional health are rether fragile.
As I was breathing deeply in some eagerly waited fatigue-easing energy (keep it simple stupid!) another health-related matter ripped into my life. I say ripped because it came with pain. Pain like having an acid burn on the top of my head. It was accompanied by ear ache, dizziness and nausea. Oh dear thought I. Kym was also dropped into the mire of medical doubt and anxiety. In one word - shingles:I surmised. Google and the NHS website seemed to offer proof of this new treat. We had to contact the MAcmillan specialist nurse who advised an appointment with the GP. The result of this was a telephone consultation. The outcome of this reflected the uncertainty of the medic. Her suggestion was we wait because it didn't seem like shingles to her. She must believe in her own clairvoyance. We reluctantly did as bid. Bank Holiday Monday I woke with painful lumpy, blistery spots on the back of my head and collar area close o where the acid pain had burned. Further Googling and all seemed to point to a dose of stinging shingles. Remember I wake at about 04:00 so a n hour or two of mithering before I felt I could wake Kym. This tale does not warrant being a long one - so to the point NHS 111 at 08:00. After only a short wait and a charming young operator took my details and after the inevitable interrogation informed me that a nursing operative would call me within two hours. About an hour later the call came in and she went through many of the same questions - I prayed I would remember the answers! She made an appointment with a town centre GP telling them I had immunity issues. Issues? I've got the lot! We made the appointment and the doctor confirmed our concerns; diagnosing shingles. She prescribed some hefty dose of anti-viral medication. We were somewhat reassured. It was an odd Bank Holiday Monday. Never mind as we had shared the Sunday with James and Sarah; celebrating Sarah's birthday. I have to admit that because of how I was medically feeling it was a bit tricky fully entering into the joy. But great to be together. After a couple of days we were still a little uncertain about the diagnosis. Kym had spoken to the Macmillan lot with our concerns and they postponed the next chemo by a week in order to give me the chance to recover and the lumps to scab and whatnot. We were still not completely confident so - another appointment. This time at my surgery. This time we had consultation with a very interesting GP - who had worked with the Ross on Wye Mental Health Team and told us a tale of how he was involved in an incident disarming an individual behaving oddly with a crossbow! He also told us of an adventure he'd had in the far north of Scotland. This was an eye opener on the world of General Practice - a GP with time to chat! Mind you he had poked me in the most painful part of my skull. Yes shingles! Thanks to Kym for pushing the buttons, driving me to these appointments and generally coping with my madness and moods. As this is an impromptu post - I won't enthral (bore) you with musical matters or other nonsense. This will have to wait until the next one. Best wishes, Roger & Kym
Before anyone gets any odd ideas about me - well more than you already have - I mean "queer" in the sense of different and at odds with circumstance or personality. Like I'm in someone else's skin or storyline. I've lost my sense of time and place. Probably that was happening due to the gradual declining quality and quantity of brain cells - I've termed it neural-autumnosis. Life becomes an ever increasing sequence of senior moments. What I'm trying to say is this is unlikely to be an accurate, time-ordered narrative. The Huxley randomness is likely to overshadow any logical chronology. The drugs were administered - intravenous and by pill. The body and mind reacted - after a short, euphoric, optimistic interlude - into the anticipated paranoid, irritated discomfort. The powerful cocktail sucked the life out of me like a damned Dyson on dextroamphetamine. That sounds clever - but I've no idea why! Thank God for family and friends! Without them all, making even the smallest gesture of support, life would or could have become absolutely intolerable. Kym has been a diamond geezer (lady geezer!) without whom I would have not found the strength to get up and at em. Neither would I have been able to cope with the administration of the bagfulls of medication and the well-made schedule of drug times. She's fed me and taken me out - to where there are no infectious people - and put up with my moods: I think mostly drug-induced. She's put up with me not sleeping and being emotionally scratchy to the expense of her own sanity and exhaustion. She's lived a sympathetic chemo.
Kym doing what she likes a lot
I don't want this to be a long monotonous moan about how this treatment is treating me. And how it's pretty much worse than any symptoms I experienced. It may help someone who randomly reads this and then thinks "Hey if this muttonhead can get through it then so can I" It's bad but better than leaving it and just fading away or worse.
Sometimes my mind sees things through a telescope the wrong way round. I can't remember when I had the last chemo - one moment it seems like just yesterday and then it seems like weeks ago. But whenever it was this discomforts are easing. The fatigue is still draining my energies and motivations so I just have to ease myself into every attempt to do something or move somewhere. I've managed to resume my tai chi and other mobility exercises. Following even the gentlest session my legs still ache - although that's possibly to be expected because the drugs knock out my blood cell production and a lot of that is in the larger bones in the pelvis and thighs.
We had a positive consultation with Dr Flora - she was kindly helpful and answered all our questions. I've got three more chemo cycles planned. Also to minimise the risk of postponement I am to have blood tests a week prior to the due date and if necessary have the G-CFS to stimulate white cell and platelet production.
I accidentally loaded this photo (well .gif file) This is a moving duo selfie. I think google+ auto enhanced a number of snaps we took trying to get the perfect image (ha bloody ha!) It looks like a middle-aged couple with ADHD on a day trip away from the institution. I have to say that the only drugs used were caffeine and cake.
So sorry - I broke the flow of my tale.
Three more cycles to follow. After the next one I will be scanned and poked to determine how the treatment is ridding my body of the diseased lymph glands and the condition of organs like spleen, liver, heart and kidneys. It may then be possible to reduce the dosage for the last two. If things go according to plan (delusional optimism!) the end of the last cycle will be the end of August, and hopefully I will enter the recovery phase. Dr Flora says this will last for between three to six months - depending on my general health - which has been pretty good for my age!
After a couple of months they do more tests and assessments and if all the boxes are ticked - that is Remission - they can't cure this puppy. So we remain positive and focussed on recovery.
We had a big toddle a few weeks ago and got as far north as Northampton! We had to see Sarah - James was able to come along. As you know I'm a bit of a ukulele and guitar fan. I've tried to encourage Sarah to learn the uke - it's a nice, sweet, easy-to-play instrument perfectly capable of being suitable for all types of music. Sarah cheekily filmed me while I was having an encouraging little strum after she had handsomely fed us.
It's another moving image!
To see and hear where the uke sits in my musical arsenal - here's a clip -
the song originates from my days at PGL - this was from 1975 at Llangors. I sort of re-composed it a couple of years ago and recorded it as a keep-me-going project during April this year. I finished! it in time for the General Election in May - the relevance being some of the original motivation was a comment on the 1975 referendum to join the Common Market.
The last bits of serious stuff - I hired a personal financial adviser to help me through the pensions issue. It was a bit of an ordeal - but he basically said that I'd done enough work myself and I had the best deals - better than he could offer. He didn't charge me for that - nice man with integrity. If you want his details contact me. So as my sick pay ends in a couple of months - together with accrued holiday - I have to find an income as I'm not fit for returning to work any day soon! I've got another session with an adviser to tie things up (which will cost) but it looks like we will have something to tide us over until Pension time in January. I'm trying to avoid any guilty feelings or anxiety - so perhaps as my song says "I'm playing at being an ostrich"!
What else have I being doing? Cycling? no - my balance and energy levels well are below Bradley Wiggins standard. I think Kym has a view on this - better leave it alone mate - I don't want to pick your pieces up out of the road. Brewing - no - haven't had the energy - I think it's about the sterilising etc. I've got the ingredients - but not the motivation. Graphic design - I've tried my hand at some little easy projects - Serif DrawPlus or GIMP together with the graphics drawing tablet - I can't really bite that cherry. Work projects - well my concentration has just evapourated - I hit a little snag - and oops stagnation. Ukulele and mandolin - some effort - but I don't seem to be able to sustain attention. Also noise can be a bit of a problem at certain times. I think the drugs have made me rather sensitive to certain frequencies and sudden blasts. Still I've been meditating and doing both breathing and mobility exercises. I think I mentioned a little Tai Chi earlier in one of my posts. For at least a week of the cycle I have insufficient energy to physically exercise - indeed some days it's all I can do to get out of bed and walk to the loo or downstairs to the sofa. Hey this is Tuff Mudda stuff - forgive the uncool attempt at cool. Meditation and breathing do not take much physical effort; mainly a question of motivation and will. Worrying, mithering whittering on - plenty of that. Reasons are that life has lost much of its focus and framework due to isolation and no workplace experience. Consequently the world in which we live appears to be more threatened and hostile. I had the idea that as my body is trying to kill itself so the world is turning upon itself in a similar way. I'll just share these ideas. You might know there is a great song called "What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding", actually written by Nick Lowe, but originally recorded by the band Brinsley Schwarz and then a hit for Elvis Costello. I've even had a go at it a few times - don't worry nothing yet down on tape - well perhaps the next project?
The Brinsleys
These thoughts have nothing to do with music really. I listened to a talk by Sister Alicia Vacas, a Catholic nun working in and around Jerusalem with people who are poor, dislocated, and ill. She sees her work as bridge-building between the mixed people in this "holy" region. She sees her work as shining light into the cracks in the walls and barricades that authorities, religions, governments have erected to separate people, hope and love from each other. Sister Alicia Vacas
That is a link to some information about her and a video of her presentation at a conference. Life is, once again, on the brink of great conflict Has it ever been any where else? We live in cultures of greed, envy, suspicion, self-centredness and power-mongering. This creates an environment of fear. How can we diminish the fear so it stops crippling us? How do we achieve this peace? By love. The Bible says that fear is the opposite of love. Jesus said love one another and the he also said love God and your neighbour as yourself. I believe that the Koran says similar things about loving one another for the sake of Allah and Love for Allah’s sake transcends the limits of our worldly existence. So it seems that there is a good place to start. Peace needs justice for it to grow and sustain. The things of growth needed for peace are love, dedication, hard-work, solidarity and forgiveness. However, so often, the things we see now in front of us, in many places, are sectarianism, nationalism, fundamentalism and power struggles. How do we grow from where we are now to a loving, peaceful world where justice is is the norm? We need to look through those cracks with the light of love for our fellow human race. If we have faith then one of the characteristics of God is that he contains the essence of Love. God will work with us. Only when those cracks in the barricades are burned open by the laser light of love will we have equality, dignity, freedom and our rights can be assumed, cherished and shared. Sister Alicia says it better than me. Well that's my bit of philosophy for the time being. Bu please think about what you can do. I promised to offer you a contemporary musical artist - who's not dead and buried. Reg Meuross is my man for you this Blog
That's all folks. Next Blog should include a review of Graham Parker.s great new album: "Mystery Glue" and also a review of the joint project between My Darling Clementine and the Mark Billingham called "The Other Half" Health and happiness to everyone.
Hello, a word (or two) of warning. I'm not sure that I might jinx the situation - although I'm not superstitious - by writing this post. The last three booked chemo treatments have been postponed due to the low white cell count level in the blood (where-else?) It's half four and I've had no call from the Hospital so I'm hoping to get on with it tomorrow: Friday First of May - Mayday!!!!! During the last week I've had to inject myself with a solution to bring the levels up to such a point that the medics can cosh me back down with the chemo. As you can see I'm fluent in the medical lingo. So how's it been? Well the fatigue has notched itself up a few points - I feel exhausted carrying out low level physical activity like walking, climbing the stairs, and I've gone a couple of short rides on Mr Sparkler - probable distance covered measured in metres rather than kilometres. I'm a year or two off the Tour de France. The lymph glands have reappeared and in my groin cause some discomfort and I also get some pressure in my breastbone area (solar plexus?). Throat is mildly sore much of the day and I often get a little catch - spittle or small things like coffee grains etc. That is the end of the medical symptoms. I spent some time reading about CLL and whatever and then wished I hadn't. No wonder the Macmillan people advised me to avoid that. I ventured into the murky area of learned scientific papers to arm myself with a broader depth of knowledge. However I can't really process or retain stuff and all I manage to do is to frighten myself. So enough of that!
Other stuff
It seems like a few weeks since I last wrote anything. I hope that you feel empowered to make comments - I enjoy being in contact with the world out there. I love you all. An additional reason is that I'm in a sort of self-imposed internment. This has worked well because I have kept well and avoided other people's bugs. Kym has been my anchor, rock and guiding light (sounds a bit scriptural) James, Anna and Sarah have kept me fascinated and entertained with what goes on in their lives. All our friends have shown great consideration and support. My friends at Headway have kept up their amazingly high level of contact with gifts, cards and counselling sessions. I am a lesser person without all of them. I bought a graphics from Ebay the other week with a view to doing some digital sketching. It cost less than £40 and came all the way from China in about a week. Unpacking it I thought it to be a great.bit of gear. I've tried it but need to re-learn how to draw. It's a very different technique to the HB and cartridge paper. I'm going to persevere; however perseverance is not a skill I have much of at the moment - so don't hold your breath for any masterpieces! All my selling activities on Ebay are finally over the last items packed off and hopefully the recipients are enjoying their bargains. It was rather a challenge particularly when the two gentlemen from Spain were unable to complete the deal. A lesson learned. If anyone wants to know the whole tale it's too boring for general distribution. I couldn't go on without a little scripture. 1 Peter 5: 6 & 7. Humble yourselves therefore under God's mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you." Have a look at his on-line exposition
Well, you can guess what happened! Rejection and delay - they actually sound like a pair of digital audio plugins! Some improvement - but not enough and also platelet count down below the recommended level for treatment. After much pleading on my part they still said to wait another week and say there is nothing I can do. I've been charting the results - no need to post, because they Well I had to rise to that challenge. A healthy diet - but I was already ticking that box. Low alcohol - again that box was pretty much ticked. Exercise: this involves body and mind - so some stuff for my well-being, some stuff for bodily function and some stuff for brain power. I had to be very careful not to over-tax myself. I have found it pretty hard going some of the time - well most of the time actually. I do get very fatigued after just a few minutes of very mild exercise. My little routine which I used to do in ten minutes now is done in about twenty with a break between each little activity. I manage to exercise most of my muscle groups; including some aerobic stuff to get my circulation going. Remember I used to cycle pretty much every day and that helped muscles and breathing. Talking of cycling - in four months I've been out four times. The furthest distance was to the town centre - went into the bank and Holland & Barratt and then came back. Phew that was an adventure. Legs and butt were tight! Result was I had to do it all again (few weeks apart!) and visit Cycle King for some spare parts to fix brakes and stuff. All now done bike lubed up - but no energy to cycle!!! How have I kept the brain ticking over - with an attention span of a goldfish? As I mentioned earlier I invested in a digital drawing tablet. Afraid to say it's not been hardly used. Loaded the software, checked out a drawing app (GIMP) and that has been it so far. I've tried to write some stuff for work - Newsletter is in the process and also the website - but the thinking / creative process is not running on all cylinders. Possibly due to tiredness but also some of the psychological issues that seem to have half-blindfolded me. That is the end of the negativity. The Independent Financial Advisor I'm hiring came and had a long session beginning to sort out my pension arrangements. I won't be et-setting or going on cruises - but hopefully with a little (hopefully) part-time work and / or ukulele and guitar teaching I should almost be able to make ends meet. No more guitars; I'm afraid. Actually the session proved a little emotional at times as we had to go over all the illness stuff again.
Creativity
I've done a bit of music practice - and resurrected an old song (from 1975). The link is below. My singing isn't good (stop the negatives) but is the best I can do without getting too serious and labouring over it. Hope it makes you smile a little. Just think I was only twenty four when I wrote the original song (has been modified a little since 2011). Can you imagine me as a twenty four year old? There is a photo in the movie as an enticement to watch it.
"I'm playing at being an ostrich" (c) theDodger
I said I would share some stuff about another musical hero of mine - here goes. I'm being brave to do it just after my humble out of tune offering. It's Jim Croce. He was brought to my attention by Noel Edmonds, who was then presenting the Radio One Breakfast Show. I'd heard some of the songs before. But Noel's first announcement was that Jim had been killed in a plane crash. What is it about me and long-dead musicians? Well I suppose a lot of you like Beethoven and Bach or even perish the thought - Wagner! Here's a link to one of his loveliest of songs. Oooh I'm an old romantic.
Jim Croce: Biography : Guitarist, Singer (1943–1973)
“If
you dig it, do it. If you dig it a lot, do it twice.”
Synopsis
Jim Croce was born on January 10, 1943, in South Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. He started playing the accordion at age 5, and by his
20s, was touring in multiple folk bands. He released five studio
albums and 11 singles. "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" and "Time
in a Bottle" were both No. 1 hits on the American charts. He
died in a tragic plane crash in Natchitoches, Louisiana on September
20, 1973, at the age of 30. I recommend that you look him up.
Au revoir!
Well I'm going to leave now. I thank you all for supporting me and reading my ramblings. We are on the cusp of a new political era and by the time you read this all will probably be revealed. A little political anecdote. My daughter Anna suggested I write to all our local candidates with a range of questions. As I'm currently intellectually challenged she put the words in my mouth - well keyboard actually. Emailing five candidates I expected some response. Eve of the Election no word from the parliamentary hopefuls.We had actually completed a postal vote that Kym had organised. Morning of Polling day - an email pops up with a pretty (party line) comprehensive reply. Guess from whom? Andrew White our UKIP candidate. I wrote back and thanked him for his thoughtful correspondence but informed him he hadn't persuaded me. He graciously replied to thank me for asking and for acknowledging his answers. fair play - I didn't vote for him and I have some issues with their policies - but respect to the man. Well best wishes to you all. Hopefully the Macmillan Staff will accept my blood levels tomorrow and I can get treatment. I have a Consultant Clinic on the twelfth so, again hopefully, some answers and some better signs of progress. Looking back to the top - I don't know what I meant by a word of warning! Perhaps warning you off from reading. That is a great advert. More news soon. Roger and Kym
Back in the blogging chair again. It is some time since I last typed anything longer and more considered than an email. What's been happening? I can hear you clammering through the ethernet. Baited breaths gasp as you all tremble at the mere thought of Huxley's latest revelations. Family and friends have all been fantastic - really appreciated - when you have difficulties you know who are on your side! Lovely. Well - to disappoint you - there are few. Since the "horrors" of the chemo slipped away I've been on a slow but steady climb towards some semblance of wellness. My word! Blogger doesn't like my language! - three red squiggly underlines in the first two paragraphs. I just call it creative spelling.
Health Bulletin
I'll get the medical stuff out of the way first. Physically, when drugs aren't involved, apart from throat and breathing discomforts the problem has been fatigue. My gums seem to have shrunk and as Jasper Carrott once said, "my teeth itch" I seem to have sleeps three times a day. The pattern seems to be: - five or six hours big sleep at night, about half an hour mid morning nap after breakfast and a nice relaxed drowse after lunch for ten to twenty minutes. Oh my - I've suddenly got old!! The real difficulties - I think I've alluded to these before - are cognitive. How many times in a day can I lose my glasses? My adviser calls it "chemo-brain" Concentration, memory, problem-solving and patience - all gone down the pan!! Well, I suppose they will come back - but it's a bit of a worry. The dizziness and tinnitus have eased as the weeks have gone on; which is great. I have been mithering about the philosophy of being ill - or probably, more correctly, the psychological impact of being ill and coping with the changes that disease bring to one's lifestyle, life expectancy and frame of mind. As you will have observed - I ramble on! I get plagued by this internal mental corkscrew of gibberish. It's a minor neurosis but it can be troublesome unless checked. It happens more frequently when I feel slightly improved and is probably rooted in the feelings of guilt either genetically or observationally inherited from my father. He just kept working; even when he was terminally ill and pretty much on his death bed - he would be asking for messages to be passed to work when he had some idea in his head he thought they should know. I know, at least, when I'm ill and being treated I can do nothing. However, when I feel better I think that I should be doing, achieving, sorting-out - in other words - what I've done pretty much all my adult life. Another "however" - I have to keep healthy and avoid any infections. This pretty much means avoiding people. To those who thought I was an ignorant, aloof, grumpy old man - you're possibly right! this has caused me to experience Cabin Fever. Terrible really as I like (or used to) my own company and space. But I was getting really extra grumpy about being required to be an outsider. I think I had come to the conclusion that I had to get out or get crazy. While Kym was out I teased my bike into action and went for a little ride. Fine I thought - this is just great. Until I realised that I had got to where I was - Cycle King to get a new saddle - and I now had to get back. I'd forgotten that cycling is a physical activity and I'd burned myself out!! I just managed to get home before she came back and I'd regained my cool, calm composure! Slightly chastened I realised that exercise must be less strenuous to be more effective and suitable. Tai Chi - was recommended and I can certainly support that. I've been following a short eight minute routine from Youtube (link below)
Tai Chi
He speaks a little quickly but after a few sessions you get used to it. I feel somewhat more flexible. The concentration helps my brain too.
Trying to "do" things
Thinking about a clear out and the need to perhaps raise a few quid for the lean times ahead I decided to sell some surples stock on Ebay - I am an above average performer I will have you know - 100% positives for several hundred trades. Well to cut out the bad language and tears - I goofed! I did not realise that I am now an International Shipper (where did that come from?) Two of my higher priced items were sold to gentlemen in Spain. I had no idea of what to do next - I tried emails, the on-line chat and all to no avail. My blood pressure went up and my patience went down. It had taken me pretty much a whole week to pack the things up and all that sort of stuff. I managed to get dispatched all the UK items via myHermes and the Post Office. But I had to cancel the deals with the Spanish gentlemen. Mind you, one of them never confirmed the purchase. P.S. if anyone wants an older MacBook Pro (aluminium model) pretty serviceable and quite nice to use - please contact me via the email (at the end) or the comments box. The whole episode shows me that the "chemo-brain" has taken over and I'm pretty much useless for much of anything for now!! I even tried my hand a a bit of brewing and that went wrong - first batch in several years to have to be poured in the cat's bowl (just kidding Kym!) Thing is I don't actually know what went wrong. Kym let me drive (more or less just around the block) - first time for three months. It wasn't too bad actually - I could remember which pedal to use and whatever. Saw Caitlin out and about too. About the only thing I've actually started and finished is this Blog - and I wanted to write it at least once a fortnight. I've got treatment this week so you won't hear anything for a couple of weeks at least - although we can't dismiss a miracle - think of Easter!
Easter, Spring and Creativity
In the title I mentioned Easter and Spring. Well a little of the appreciation and significance of both. Joy! Easter, I believe as a Christian, is the greatest celebration of the calendar. Without the yearly commemoration of the death of Jesus and celebration of His amazing resurrection each Spring has little meaning. Nature is mirrored in the cycle of life, death and new life. God raised Jesus to, be revealed , not only to those first Disciples, but also to us and to future generations. Life goes on with hope and love. I've not witnessed well - but briefly.
Our Church window Easter display - what used to take and evening - took all week! We managed Church for the first time since we had our "news". It was so good to see people and they respected my space and condition by not getting to close - but it seems they have been reading my Blog - so I hope I kept it clean and didn't let too many of my skeletons out of the cupboard. But God knows . . . yes God knows!
RMH in a "cross" mood!
I wasn't really impressed by the TV content for Easter - with two exceptions. Firstly David Suchet's two part film following in the footsteps of St Peter gave a different perspective to the Big Fisherman. He seemed to have been taken over by the medieval church in Rome and his whole essence and nature turned into something plaster and lifeless. He was a person like us with our doubts, fears, fallacies and frailties. He was filled with the power of God which enabled him to lead and reach out to people beyond the ability of a mere mortal. He was nowhere near the pomp and riches of any institution. His life in the power of the Holy Spirit was far more significant than his status or death.Secondly David Threlfall's excellent Noah was also human - a long way from either Russell Crowe's creation or the Sunday School song of "Who built the Ark? Noah, Noah!" He was closer to Frank Gallagher (minus the swearing, drug-taking, fornication, alcoholism, laziness, . . . .) than either of those. Pretty Shameless really! And he added fussiness to the list of human qualities probably ascribed to Simon Peter the fisherman from Galilee. It's funny that both of these characters are remembered for acts on the waters!
I think you should try and watch them - they should be available on the iPlayer for some time to come; if you have that facility.
Writing the number down!
We had a beautiful trip out on Easter Monday - throwing caution to the wind we toddled off to Leighton Buzzard and had a trip on the Narrow Gauge Railway - excellent! I'm most grateful for Kym indulging my weakness for things covered in coal dust, oil and puffing steam. The weather was kind and the place was pretty well packed. I made a short video to remind us. This is the first piece of lasting creativity I've done in months. See below.
The short movie shows how they loaded the quarried sand at the Stonehenge Sandpits (Leighton Buzzard) Now for something completely different! A poem: by Lebogang Mashile - (click on her name to hear her reading it) Thanks Anna.
. . . . Our future hangs on the present’s legacies
Life is a puzzle held together by the air we breathe
If hope were breathe, we every second of time
We could conceive
Of a life where love is not betrayed by mirages
Of concrete hierarchies
And other fallacies . . . .
She reads it with a beautiful rhythm.
In Tune: Musical section
In the last post I promoted the music of Townes Van Zandt - a troubled troubadour. This post I'm going to do something similar. Harry Chapin. He was considered to be the great storytelling singer-songwriter. He came to my attention in the late 1970's. I recall him on the Old Grey Whistle Test or Sight and Sound in concert - something like that. I knew he'd written some of my favourite songs - "Cats in the Cradle", "All my life's a circle", "W.O.L.D", "Flowers are Red", and many more. I knew he'd been killed in a car crash in the early 1980's. I knew that he did good charitable work. But - the man - was quite largely forgotten to me. I also recall he looked similar to my (then) friend Roger Ackroyd. Little else. At the risk of alienating my great friend Andrew Waller - who encourages me to listen to new music - or at least to musicians who remain alive or not collecting their state pension! Here below are a couple of links to some stuff about Harry. I think you could possibly say - "I'm just mad about Harry"! Not that one who's still in One Direction!
Harry Chapin: a life in music (film)
Cat's in the Cradle
Flowers are Red
I hope that you investigate some of Harry's music and stories - he's infectious.
Another musical gem which bonds two of my obsessions Railways and Graham Parker! Graham Parker and the Rumour have a new album out in May - I announced last month - Mystical Glue. The track on display below - Railroad Spikes is accompanied by a great new video. At last after several decades of pretty certain obscurity a record company id finally getting behind him. "Woo hoo"! have a listen.
Railroad Spikes Graham Parker & The Rumour - you have to wait for the ad to play first
Well that's about all for now folks. I have really felt some recovery going on and look forward to the sunny slopes of remission in the Summer. I know there are many challenges to come and some pain to reach the gain, but God willing, with friends and family we'll be there to have another celebration. Please use the comments or email me - roger@kymandroger.co.uk roger@kymandroger.co.ukto keep in touch. Both of us really appreciate you being there for us.
