chochiyo_sama

Friends House- described in the literature as "The Home of British Quakerism"- is grand- in a style I think of, perhaps unfairly, as Mussolini classical. It is by no means the grandest building on Euston Road- but it fits in. Compared to Gilbert Scott's vainglorious St Pancras Hotel a few blocks to the west it's a modest little thing- but Quakers shouldn't fit it. Historically they were always the grit in the corner of the eye that made society blink. I look at that facade, I walk those long corridors, I admire the huge circular Meeting Room and think "This is how and where we went wrong".

Friends House makes it's money by hiring itself out for corporate events. No, no, no, no, no!

I am a bad Quaker. I refer to the table in the centre of the Meeting Room as "the altar", and call Advices and Queries "The little red book".

But then G.K. Chesterton once said that a religion that can't laugh at itself isn't worth having.....

David and Jane- who fell out with us for giving shelf room to secular media (we were storing it for Terry in Thailand)- including art books with nudes in them (O God how awful) and the CD of a movie they reckoned was "pornography" (it isn't)- are still very hot against the Eastbourne Meeting. They encountered John the other day and informed him we were "toxic". I was upset when I heard this but now I'm thinking I should embrace it.

Eastbourne Quakers- spreading toxicity for over seventy years- how's that for a slogan?

cmcmck

( Read more... )

Current Mood: photographical
Current Location: 'ome from town

poliphilo

Ailz attended the morning session at Friends House. I didn't think I'd enjoy it so I went for a walk instead. By lunchtime we'd both had enough. I find central London a bit much- the people, the noise, the traffic- and to be honest I think I always have done. As a kid I used to take myself up to the West End and it always gave me a bad headache. Anyway, we ate our packed lunch in the garden of Friends House, said "Hi" to a few people we knew and came home. So it wasn't a long day after all....

I wanted to see St Pancras old church, which is tucked in alongside the railway lines leading in and out of St Pancras station. It claims to be one of the oldest sites of Christian worship in Europe- and it may be- though most of the fabric of the present building is newer than that of St Pancras New Church on the Euston Rd- and both are 19th century. It's not a particularly attractive building....

....But the churchyard is one of the largest green spaces in this part of London and contains some interesting monuments.....

.....The most famous of which stands over the family vault of the great architect Sir John Soane- and, a generation or two later, is said to have inspired the design of the iconic red telephone box. Well, maybe....

Thomas Hardy- yes, the great Thomas Hardy, but before he became a famous writer- had the job of clearing the deaders out of a part of the grounds the railway company wanted to build over - nasty, thirsty work- and he lightened it by creating a whimsical artwork (as we'd think of it now) by stacking the redundant headstones in a radiating circle like so....

There used to be a tree at the hub of the wheel- and the construction was known as "Hardy's Tree" but the tree fell over in 2022 and the authorities haven't replaced it yet; they absolutely should....

cmcmck

We took a trip to Perth to visit an old friend, Lesley, who was at university at St Andrews with the Scot and was also my maid of honour when we got wed.

The museum is where the stone of destiny is now kept and also has some very fine Pictish symbol stones:

( More pics! )

Current Mood: content
Current Location: ici

poliphilo

I'm up early (4.45 ish) because we're going to London for the BYM- which stands for British Yearly Meeting (of the Society of Friends). I always want to call it The BVM- which is the Prayer Book abbreviation of Blessed Virgin Mary.

We expect to be home around midnight.

Long day ahead....

poliphilo

Rendlesham Forest is the British Roswell. In 1980 a thing that might have been a UFO showed up in the woods outside an American base in Suffolk. Several US servicemen got a good look at it, and even touched it . If you know about these things you know about Rendlesham. It's a well attested, thoughly investigated case- and the evidence goes way beyond hearsay.

The Guardian just published a long article about it. Better late than never!

But it's curious that the sceptic's paper of choice should be giving space to something so paradigm-busting. Did word come down from somewhere higher up that now's the time to warm the public up for further revelations?

Because there are rumblings- and some evidence- that governments are gearing up for "disclosure". The US govenment apparently has a website- currently empty- ready and waiting to be filled with content. Stephen Spielberg has a movie called Disclosure due for release this summer. The President hs been dropping hints.....

cmcmck

We walked out to Cambuskenneth and on the way, Ben Ledi was still covered in snow:

( More pics! )

Current Mood: photographical
Current Location: 'ereabouts

poliphilo

The wind has been blowing hard for days, but because it's coming from the north and hitting the front of the house bang on (with much moaning and sighing) the back of the house is sheltered and we can keep the bedoom window open at night without the blind rattling or the curtains billowing. It's an odd effect.

We want the window open because, in spite of the wind, the days have been sunny and the nights warm.

We are passing through the magical short time of the year when the blossom is out and the leaves on the trees are still small and vividly green. It won't last much longer. Already the garden is looking lush.....

poliphilo

I dreamed that a relative- the one who has just fallen out with me- was banged up in a prison in a Mediterranean town and I was visiting with a family party. I had brought pictures with me to hang on the cell walls. The warder told me short nails were admissablel for hanging the pictures but long nails forbidden- and showed me his deformed fingernail which had he said had been bitten by an inmate he had mistakenly thought he had tamed.

It was huge, ancient prison, rather beautifull, with big high ceilinged rooms, doorways with sculpted surrounds and courtyards open to the sky. I guessed it had once been a bishop's palace. I wandered off and then realised I couldn't find my way back. I had a child with me who was at once my younger son, my grandson and an imp. Security was lax: one could walk out into the sunny town square and back in again without being challenged. In one large space nuts and potato crisps had been scattered over the floor in imitation of a beach and a Peter Sellers movie was showing on a screen at one end. In another, which was more like a hospital ward, but still enormous, a teenage girl was lying asleep on a couch. The imp went over and hugged her and her family were displeased and handed him back to me.

We entered a courtyard in which prisoners in blue jumpsuits were doing exercises- possibly relgious in nature. The man in charge told me to get out. I told him I was visiting my relative and I was lost. He gestured down a corridor and said,"Go consult the notice board." I said. "It's alright for people who know the place and can find their way around, but I'm a stranger and find it bewilderng. It's a maze...."

cmcmck

Stirling is on the River Forth.

This is the old bridge (no, not the one the battle of Stirling Bridge was fought on, which was there before this later medieval one)

( More pics! )

Current Mood: photographical
Current Location: ici

poliphilo

Phil's "offence" was being part of a group from Just Stop Oil that shut down a petrol station at Cobham Services on the M25 in 2022. You can find the details online. Just Google "Phil Laurie"

Controversial guy. He thinks climate catastrophe is imminent. In one scenario Britain turns into Siberia, in the other it becomes tropical. Either way Quaker Meetings need to prepare for a future in which infrastructure fails. Some found him convincing. Others didn't. But that's Quakerism: hear all sides of an issue and then "discern" a response. After the Meeting eight of us- including Phil- had a long, leisurely lunch at the Crown and Anchor.

"You like what he has to say because it's woo-woo," says Ailz. Well, yes, I'm not going to argue.

I took a picture of him yesterday morning, with his heavily laden bike,

poliphilo

AI gets better and better- and there's more of it. You need to make an historical reconstruction for your Youtube channel? Forget the actors in wigs, the stiff, stately home theatrics; just build it all in the computer. I watched a short clip about Agricola's invasion of what is now Scotland- and Agricola looked like a real person with actual human feelings, the battle was epic, as was the footage of the Roman fleet oaring its way round a rocky, misty coastline. Apparently the vogue word for this kind of thing is "slop" but there was nothing sloppy about what I was seeing. There was evidence of human intelligence shaping it, proper research having gone into it, artistic sensibility crafting it. Really, this was the next best thing to owning a Time Machine.

And there are proper little movies being made as well. Check out The Patchwright from Gossip Goblin- a studio run by Zack London- an American living in Sweden. It's a 20 minute movie set in a dystopian society. The story is not only fascinating but philosophical, the visuals are hyper-real, the world-building detailed and immaculate. Think Blade Runner- only better. This ain't slop, it's art. And significant Art at that. The big studios, the big actors are taking an interest. Soon there'll be full-length movies of this quality- and people will be making them on their phones....

poliphilo

Picture Diary 128

1. Corridor

2. Alcohol, salt and caffeine

3. Pipe dreams

4. They mean you harm

5. Imagining Hamlet

6. White on white

cmcmck

This house, close to the castle and next to the Holy Rude (as you'd expect from The Earl of Mar, a senior noble) was destroyed during the civil wars.

And this was Cowane's house (he of the hospital). You can see the difference between a noble's house and a wealthy merchant's house.

Current Mood: photographical
Current Location: 'ereabouts

cmcmck

The great hall. Just look at that hammerbeam roof!

( More pics! )

Current Mood: photographical
Current Location: 'ere

poliphilo

Phil did something the police considered illegal in connection with a climate protest and is out on remand. I haven't asked what exactly it was but no doubt I'll find out in the course of the day. It seems impolite and possibly insensitive to push for that kind of information.

He's middle-aged, sun burned, soft-spoken......

Quakers have a long history of getting up the noses of those in authority.

Before Phil cycled in we had Wendy here planting potatoes and all sorts of other veg. I am charged with watering everything twice a day. "Don't you mean twice a week?" I pleaded. No. Twice a day, morning and evening.

Did you know that dandelions are wholly edible- root, leaves and flower? They're also medicinal. Particularly good for the kidneys- as the alternative peasant name for them "piss-the-beds" would suggest. We do the earth and ourselves a disservice by treating them as weeds. Wendy and I nibbled a leaf each. Bitter but not unpleasant. She also ate a flower. "Pretty tasteless" she said. We agreed we would cultivate a bed of dandelions alongside all the other veg- and to that end we collected some seeds.

cmcmck

The palace:

( More pics: )

Current Mood: photographical
Current Location: 'ereabouts

poliphilo

You show an interest in something online and an algorithm picks up on it and shovels masses of related content in your direction. Currently I'm weltering in a morass of narcissism. OK, that's enough! I get the idea, I now have a layman's grasp of the theories, the subject is not particularly happy-making so lets talk about something else.

How about climate change? We have a chap we've never met coming to address the Quakers on the subject and because Ailz is clerk and I'm an elder we're the ones who are giving him a bed for a couple of nights. The Friend who booked him- but has since backed away from the Meeting House- says he's "lovely". So that's nice.

He'll be arriving by bicycle. From Faversham to Hastings (with a stopover) and from Hastings to here. Clearly he takes his subject seriously.....

cmcmck

WW1 memorial for the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders- the regiment of both his father and grandfather:

I was taken by this window detail:

Current Mood: photographical
Current Location: ici

poliphilo

The orthodoxy seems to be that narcissism arises out of childhood trauma but I was listening to a woman yesterday who was saying "Rubbish!". She also said don't comfort yourself with the belief that the narcissist is hurting inside because some of them are having a wonderful time.

Personally, I don't think you can categorise human behaviour. Or at least, while it can be useful to put people into categories a point will come where the filing system breaks down. Like I'm a librarian and here's a book that features an Elf detective solving cases in the greenwood- so what shelf do I put it on- Crime or Fantasy?

I think narcissism exists on a spectrum. Some people are just a bit narcissistic and some are full blown. The current US President takes it into the realm of caricature. I doubt anyone is entirely free of the syndrome. I mean, we all like getting our own way, don't we?

Again I believe you can outgrow it. I look at my behaviour as a young man and think, "That was pretty controlling." However, I'm not like that now....

Why was I so controlling? Because the world was well scary and I needed allies. And if my chosen allies didn't entirely see things my way I tried to bend them to my will. In my case narcissism rose out of Fear- and if I'm no longer narcissistic it's because I've stopped being afraid.....

Profile

chochiyo_sama

October 2024

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

Page Summary

Style Credit

Style: Green Machine for Lefty by sarken

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated May. 4th, 2026 06:00 pm

Reading

Navigation

Bad Quaker

Last holiday pics

Old St Pancras Church

Perth

BYM

Warming The Public Up

Cambuskenneth Abbey

Late April

Wandering The Prison

Bridges!

Phil Laurie

By Leaps And Bounds

Picture Diary 128

Mar's Wark

Inside the castle

Ecological

Stirling castle

By Bicycle

Inside the Holy Rude.

A Little Bit More On Narcissism

Profile

October 2024

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags