• I Grant You Refuge

    1.I grant you refugein invocation and prayer.I bless the neighborhood and the minaretto guard themfrom the rocket from the momentit is a general’s commanduntil it becomesa raid. I grant you and the little ones refuge,the little ones whochange the rocket’s coursebefore it landswith their smiles. 2.I grant you and the little ones refuge,the little ones…

  • If I Must Die

    Yesterday evening (Aug 3rd) Heather and I attended a vigil for peace in Gaza. This post and the next will featrure two poems by Palestinian writers which were used in the vigil. Neither are used to excuse or justify the actions of either Hamas or the Israeli government and army. Both, it seems to me,…

  • Speke Hall

    Looking for a day out yesterday, we realised we hadn’t been to Speke Hall for ages. Speke Hall is a National Trust property which sits right beside Liverpool John Lennon Airport. Speke Hall is a rare Tudor timber-framed manor house in an unusual setting on the banks of the River Mersey. Restored in the 19th…

  • The Handmaid’s Tale

    Landslide by Fleetwood Mac with help from the handmaids Last night we finally reached the end of the final series of The Handmaid’s Tale. For those of you who haven’t kept up, there have been 6 series. The program has never been less than good and has often been excellent if extremely disturbing. The final…

  • Preston and The Essence of Great Britain

    Heather and I had a day out in Preston on Wednesday. We walked from the bus station, now a Grade II listed building and a prime example of “brutalist” architecture. We went past the market, now a much reduced version of the old bustling area. We carried on to Fishergate, where we used to have…

  • Chill Out at Acorn Bank

    It’s been a really busy month so far. I repeated the Beacon Fell walk with 2 good friends from Southport about 10 days ago. The post showing the original walk in May is HERE. Then we had big Grandson’s 23rd birthday at the rather wonderful Solito Posto in Lytham. Small Grandson says it has the…

  • It’s Glasto

    High Spots: Just watching The 1975’s set from Friday night. Pretty good really. I was quite looking forward to Rod Stewart this afternoon, but after the Farage comments, might give it a miss. I’m sure that Kneecap are chuffed to bits with the extra publicity received from our PM and the BBC. Didn’t watch the…