The rain falls upon my head and runs in cold rivulets along my skin toward earth. Just as I am carried along so too is this water. Both spending a lifetime in motion and neither aware of how many times we have made the journey.

For breath whispered into autumn dusk from my eager lips can but have one name and that is yours. I track all the shooting stars that arc across crystal clear jet-black night skies and make a wish on them all. Yet of what I wishes I whisper I shall not tell for the dream is alive and shall never make me bereft of your loving touch upon my soul.

Check out the beautiful pictures on this site...some are absolutley stunning

http://www.livingstonphotosociety.com/

Monday 7th Oct 2008

It seems like the holiday to Cornwall was weeks ago now. We had the most splendid week of warm sunshine and interesting places to go. The week was probably the last gasp of summer before the autumn begins to shut down the days ready for winter. What was best was having a week of relaxation and calm. Very welcome.

So waiting for Las Vegas to come around in a month or so and don’t mind telling you I am a little apprehensive but hey-ho, it’ll be an experience if nothing else. A fabulous show (their words) every night and the flashy lights of the strip with the showgirls. If nothing else I can take lots of pictures while I am there.

Work’s relatively quiet...so thanks credit crunch. Another huge fall yesterday again. One could hardly escape the news about all that as it seems to be wall to wall coverage at the minute. I guess in the final analysis life will go on without too much changing hopefully. Guess we are all eagerly awaiting the election on the 4th November and I just know who I’ll be cheering for. I would have preferred Hilary Clinton but whatever the figurehead of the party we need a change. We can but hope...I confess though that I do however have a certain admiration for Sarah Palin for some reason though I can’t really think why? Someone that goes out killing things isn’t that high on my list of assets for a nice person. Still she brings some realism to all the rhetoric and exaggeration that seems to be around.

Off to the dentist today to have my British smile worked on. (A British smile is like a Hollywood smile only with really bad teeth.) One of my teeth cracked in half and there is only half of it left now so I think they’ll have to pull a tooth out...aargh!! Around 10.30am I should be in agony I think. Lucky old me...bring on the porcelain is what I say.
Have a great day and enjoy the Cornwall flowers.

What lies on ground at night to point the way to truth?
Or sits high in the throne-rooms that pierce the clouds
To be took by the wind and fly across senses like a ghost
Wandering eastward to hills across a sighing black sky…
So black eyes cannot discern beginning, end, or purpose
Only that it simply is and its cold touch draws sharp lines
Across our hearts and minds that desire only to be free
As the night overwhelms and beckons us into the dark
With slow, tremulous footsteps of discoverous trepidation
That lead…across harvested fields of fading summers gold
That whispers in the wind the start of autumn is once more

Starlight and shooting stars hold eyes heavenward toward the night
Where the soul is who knows but it has left all the tedium long behind
See it wheel and soar and takes no regrets from all the worlds fools
For it glides through its dreams on wings of love stronger than steel
Come with me now and always with me for I have such a need of you
Let us take the infinity we know is within our grasp...if we but dare it
To shout out love and caress hopes alive and never to let fade away
For I love you and the moon sets a route toward our destiny tonight

For the hushed veil of dusk draws black across the night skies. Inch by inch the shortest day is reached and then shall the lowest day wane once again. Follow a trail of stars northwards till you come to that place where the heart resides. It waits there patiently eager to feel your tender touch and be at peace. It shall always be there and it too will watch the night sky wishing on shooting stars that its world should never change.

See the light and shade that hides the secrets of the world between the deepest green leaves that blur the sun. Here in the cool grows regal purple heather that perfumes a September evening with the scent of the hive. A sweet perfumed delicacy of beeswax and nectar bought dearly with a populous army of siblings that arise in spring to work beneath the tallest trees. To rise and fall with the arc of the sun through seasons and yet fall as the winter comes and as the sun wanes so do they and yet their legacy is fulfilled.

For that legacy is the greatest changes must come from those that follow the sun and explore the world. For the world shows the way through dawns of dew and dappled trees to dusk’s that shape light into night. I behold the world tonight and I change for the better for only with love within my heart may I see the beauty. For in all that is a wonder and a treasure to me from the world you are its greatest gift.

Have a look at my auctions..fab or what....!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230297389126

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230297381127

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230297383456

If a picture is worth a thousand words then I must hurry
For, our time is short and my heart larger than this flesh
That aches for you through the long autumn nights that…
Sweep trails of golden tears falling and floating from every tree
To soften the path I walk through the cold light of day

If a word is worth a thousand secret thoughts I must write
For how otherwise can I share the joy bestowed by your love?
That warms the days of brisk western winds running off the hills
Carried over the sea into the arms of the clothed waiting trees
That they may shed summer coats and stand free once again

If a secret thought is worth nothing to others, then I shall have none
For what is a secret without a common loving heart to share it with?
Soon the world shall retreat inside once again to warmth and hope
Within solid walls alight with warmth that await the flame of spring
And the warmest fuel of all shall be the heat within my soul for you

So there are no secret thoughts, yet words and pictures I have
I shall always share of everything that is me with you for time…
Never stops and we shall walk side by side through our destiny?
Through seasons of green and harvests of gold and ice to one day
We shall come to the greenest field and sit upon the grass forever

For paradise is to some a thought but never a secret desire
My paradise has you in it with me, for how could it be that I…
Should wish to be there alone without you to finally see and touch…
The love I have held, shall always hold for you whether the season
For in loving you dreams of paradise take shape and solidify

If a thought is shared then look within me and see the truth forever
That a love carried within my heart is stronger than life and wishes
See it wears your name as a badge of pride for all to see and know
That the man who came this spring is here this winter and forever
He shall be my great love through every season to come…I love you

Dusk slips ever quicker into the day like a stream slowly passing through bracken covered peat. Dark and fluidly agile it winds around the land and slowly light dims to reveal hues of the coming cold night’s touch. Then comes indigo night sky to hang in silence shedding tears of rain over all that would venture forth into the cold. Yet safe within the warmth comes the thought that I would face the cold and the rain for you…always. For in loving you the last thing I shall ever care for will be me.

Enrobed by slender clouds that glistened and flickered and then slowly went out the sky waned tonight with delicate coral hues that reflect colour off these vaporous hills to mimic the great maple shaped leaves at the top of the trees that fade to the orange of autumn. I gaze up into the fiery colours and feel the first sense of autumn. Backlit by the last rays of the September sun the tree shrinks against the skyline. Its leaves must eventually fall and diminish against the colder days and soon the tree shall take every drop of goodness back that it has given itself and leave us with a magnificent golden passage to winter.

Sunday 28th Sept 2008

Got back from Cornwall on Friday evening after a torturous drive back lasting 8 hours. Nick did all the driving and didn’t stop so that was some going by him...don’t think I would have managed the whole drive without stopping. Below is a brief synopsis of the holiday. I label the photos where I can.
Can I just add before going on that Cornwall is amazing and we had wall-to-wall sunshine the whole time...amazing!

Thurs 19th Sept 08
Set off to Gloucester as stayed overnight with Nick’s friend Gin who is a lovely girl. Initially we got lost and Gin had to come and find us. Luckily she has a bright yellow VW Beetle so it was easy to spot. Gloucester looks a good town to explore someday.

Fri 20th Sept 08
Set off to Exeter at 6.30am to meet up with Jane and Noreen at “Darts farm” in Topsham (a little village just outside Exeter.)Farm shop was great and we got some giant free range eggs and thick cut bacon for the holiday. Thy also have a great Aga showroom.

http://www.qype.co.uk/place/187396-Darts-Farm-Ltd-Exeter

http://www.aga-rayburn.co.uk/southwest_topsham.asp

From there we drove to Carbis Bay to the cottage close to St Ives in Cornwall. The cottage is called April cottage and was so picturesque. Soon found out the Aga wasn’t switched on which was a little disappointing but there was another oven to use. Quick explore of the house and then off to the beach to explore. See the house by clicking the link...how great is that! From the house we could see the sea.

http://www.classic.co.uk/holiday-cottage/desc-1871.html

Sat 21st Sept 08

Took a day trip to land’s End which has spectacular cliffs and scenery but is a little spoil by the visitor centre...I mean we really didn’t need a Dr Who exhibition here. The on to Porthcurno to the museum of telegraphy...which despite the title was actually very good.

http://www.porthcurno.org.uk/

Sun 22nd Sept 08

Went to the lost gardens of Heligan (near St Austell) I have to say that the walled vegetable and fruit gardens were good but the rest of the gardens didn’t seem all that great. Still nice birdsong on the website and Nick made a big roast dinner when we got home.

http://www.heligan.com/flash_intro.html

Mon 23rd Sept 08

Off to St Michael’s Mount at Marazion (close to Penzance.)Excellent day out! The island is located very close to the shore. Spectacular views and what a great place to be able to live in. We took a boat out but walked back along the causeway. The causeway is only exposed at low tide for a few hours each day. We didn’t wait for the causeway to dry completely so off came our boots and we waded through the last few inches of freezing cold water.

http://www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk/about.htm

Tues 24th Sept 08

The hot weather throughout the holiday is strange but so welcome. We are all tired and in bed early and poor Jane has a cold. We’re having a quiet day today. I think I had a bit of a cold or something too...maybe an allergic reaction to the sunshine. I’m sat in the garden looking out to sea with the wind and waves merging into a melody of airy roars. It is very peaceful. No songbirds but maybe that is the seagulls keeping them away. Tonight I cooked a lamb tangine for dinner. I later earned the name the “Darwen poisoner” for it but suspect it was a rogue Cornish pasty or too much wine on certain people’s parts. We’ve had some good food this week and Nick has cooked most of it. Bit of a busman’s holiday for him really. It’s been great to be able to use the computer while we have been here. Nick and Jane seem to have been playing Mah-jong all week.

Weds 25th Sept 08

Went to Goonhilly and had a great time whizzing around on Segways. We both want one now. I wasn’t sure about Goonhilly but it was a good trip. Would definitely go back.

http://www.goonhilly.bt.com/

After that we went to “The National Seal sanctuary” which proved a bit of a disappointment and really a rip-off. £12) Wouldn’t go back there again.

Thurs 26th Sept 08

Saved the best till last and today we went to Kynance Cove which was just breathtaking. Spectacular cliffs, white sands and rock pools.

http://www.cornwall365.co.uk/cornwall/places,2,Kynance-Cove.html

If that wasn’t enough in the evening a bald eagle crashed into the garden tree mobbed by around a hundred crows and seagulls. The whole episode was like bedlam and so extraordinary to say the least. The eagle thrashed around in the tree and then headed off pursued by the mobbing birds. We later found out he had absconded from the local bird of prey centre in Hayle.
Hope you enjoy the pictures...back to work tomorrow...

Sometimes I can enact a hurtful thing
Just by saying wrong words in haste
But your silence in reply to my idiocy
Tells me more than I could ever learn
From that peace I know that I am sorry
I ask, but don’t expect you to forgive me

Enjoy a little bit of Cornwall (looks Mediterranean doesn't it?) and a photo of the house...cool!!!

Thursday 18th Sept 2008

Off to Cornwall this afternoon once I finish work so may be incommunicado for a week. I am taking my Pc and the mobile internet connector so I may continue posting if there is a signal. I hope so as I will be taking lots of pictures this trip.

I shall make it my aim to banish your average days and give you only bright, perfect days filled with love and wonder.

I know i must be going on holiday as I had a terrible night’s sleep last night....excitement mingled with a little trepidation as today is the last day of a big audit at work. Everything comes at once...

Hope you’re well and bon voyage to me.

It is quite the most beautiful of nights. The day began with a dense fog followed by sheets of rain and has evolved into the dry clear night I find now. I am walking through the wooded part of the cemetery and the night sky is traced behind the filigree of arching branches of the beech trees. It casts shades of violet and black and the grey clouds float onward through the sky like vaporous icebergs on a collision course to the dawn. The world hangs dark and heavy at first but lightens as I walk and my eyes widen to the little light there. Above a solitary bright star through the maze of twisting, arching fingers of these tall trees shines. I walk the clean, cool air and I am so wrapped up in thoughts. The little light that there is reflects off the marble headstones creating visual stepping stones to lead me through the night. Where do I go? I am not sure, but it is forever in your direction or in the garden writing to you there. I shall enjoy that so much. To sit and record the world and show it to you when you aren’t there to see it yourself.

Safe and soft comes the thought that a life lived through a dream is never close enough. I am glad it is so for now our dream grows and colours on the horizon. Every day come it a little closer to us and even now the little remaining time before we can touch it and make it whole sees it shift and shimmer undergoing another metamorphosis into something even greater and nobler than the day before. The wings of time bear our great gift eagerly and we for our part must wait and watch and be content for the time to pass remembering all the time that the love grows stronger and stronger.

A whisper enters within my mind as I sleep fast in great dreams of my love. It taps away at the unconscious man I live within till I rouse and leave the man with his dream. And where would I go? To follow the whisper that takes me to you waiting patiently on the edge of space and time for me to come. And oh, you are so beautiful to me and I rush into your soul like a cascading waterfall into the pool below it. We wrap our love and desire into a new awakening and sate our love among the stars. Then you take hold of my hand and show me the world. It becomes our world now and I shall love it so because it has you upon it. Somewhere in the world a man sleeps and dreams of you safe and warm under the covers in the fastness of sleep and while he sleeps his soul leaves and finds you. For it could not bear to be without you ever. Wherever you go I shall be there.

I got this wonderful smile within my heart
Yet most cannot see it or know it is there.
It is my beautiful secret shared only with a few.
It means when I am sad or feeling unfairly treated
I look within and feel the warmth that radiates there
For the special people who bring joy and laughter to life.
It would surprise some (but not all)...if they knew
That this tall, quiet man was sparkling with joy within.
For I can look within my heart and it is forever summer.
Clear blue skies, time spent resting against oak trees
While the songbirds create complex masterpieces
Which soar to the heavens and wrap around dreams.
Spiral endlessly upward through the whitest clouds
Into the cool rarefied air’s that lie still overhead.
See the glimmer of honeybee wing or drops of dew
Reflected in shafts of auburn light
Filtering through the cool green leaves
To dapple the forest floor with dark and light.
Sweetly haunting me and soothing away
Any breath of doubt, making the smile within
Don’t ever go away now you are a part of me.
I feel you tonight, your spirit wrapped around me
And comfort of your touch drives away emptiness
Of one alone who waits for that sweet night
When I can but hold someone
Within my arms and never let go.
To gaze upon a sweet sleeping face
With a heart full of pride and joy
Know that nothing could ever make me
Hurt this wonder held close to me.
For if you were here asleep ever
I would watch over you and nothing...
Would ever hurt you
While you were in my care.

Rich and vibrant hangs a picture of yesterday framed in rosy hues
Yet scratch the gilded frame and see the image crumble into ash
For that which is in the heart from a life past recedes into history
And is but an echo trailing along a breeze of gentle remembrance

For memories are made complete and time absorbs the pain till there is…
Only honeyed musings and laughter from all the pain that was once real
How we strode through life like giants welcoming all the new experiences
Till it seemed only joy and hope was there within the circles of the world

How soon we fell and reaped the pain that befalls us all, sooner or later
Silent nights filled with tears that fell with every heartbeat into rivers of hurt
That swam along worried brows into the sea of inconsideration and loss
For the world gives, then in the sum of a sorrowful equation takes all back

Health and youth and innocence peel away like layers of frost under the dawn
Loved ones leave and never return and our hearts harden like ripening walnuts
Hard and bitter within and yet comes the day that wisdom finally matures and…
Within the hardness and protective shell flows the sweet oil of forgiveness

For yes the world wounds and takes, making us less than thought and hoped
But love does come again to unexpectedly sweep away the apathetic notions
Till the luckiest among us are healed and wholed into a spring garden of birdsong
My love is you and our garden is evergreen for we are now the lucky ones…

What hangs within the balance of a mind that is breaking under the strain of an impossible day is the love that evens out the scales. So that madness and the impotence of rage are calmed and transmuted to joy. That I am home and you are in my thoughts and the world feels better.

Time has no sense of tomorrow for all her energy is in today
So the time is precious between us and shall never come again
Then shall I take every second I am given and while there is life
Shall give each one I have to you my special and precious love
For time may descry the future but mine is within your arms

Arise from sleep and travel across land to the sea lying still and cold between the isles. Look over the water and take a wish and send it out to sea. For soon shall you be looking over the water with me and amid the roar of the water and wind listen for that wish I made today. It is the whisper of love to you my sweetheart from far away. It shall reverberate endlessly across the oceans till the second you hear its call and then once heard shall die away having fulfilled its promise. For we shall be together once again in body, spirit and soul. So for tonight I send my love and place my spirit at your side as you close your eyes to the day and take to the dreaming. I am with you always and never shall I leave now for you are mine forever.

For in the descent of the sun in the solar plane another year is lost with it a glimpse of wonder for another year. Nights shall now lengthen and the Beech leaves will wither and burnish under an autumn sun. Long ago I asked you to take a walk through the moonlight into those magical places that hearts create. Now having took that journey I find I need more and ask for your hand through the rest of my life and to whatever destinations our hearts may fly to. For there is magic and wonder in the world and it lies within our softly beating hearts.

“If only everything in life were as reliable as a Volkswagen”
Trilled the ads on TV but if it were true then I am afraid that I…
Should never have prospered or lived long enough to see adulthood
For all I have suffered is inconvenience and regret
That V *** DCW is my worst car yet

“Self defence lessons from Polo so the advert said to me”
Then my good VW Company I would now have to say
I unknowingly shot myself in the foot or the head
70mph on the motorway’s fast lane the engine stalled dead
And if I close my eyes now I can see my life flash past again

Judging you by your car that I bought so little time ago
With the high hope of workmanship and quality service
I now realise that the wonderful three year warranty
Was just there because there must be so many faults
Such as windows don’t work and the garage staff laugh?

For these little episodes humorously break up their day
When the customer suffers and they dont have to pay
No courtesy car is has ever been offered or available
The legendary Volkswagen service is to me only a fable
I am in short dissatisfied and though it sounds extreme
A VW car that worked without fault is to me but a dream

And a dream it shall remain for as long as I am able
My hard-earned money shall never again come to your table
I shall never again buy your smooth, wistful advertising
For life is fleeting and the tarmac world to explore is vast
But in a VW I’m afraid to the end of my drive it wouldn’t last

The night came swift and wet to the hearths of the north
Yet never shall it enter within the heart of this one man.
Who fearless before the dark remembers your face

For the heart is born aloft by the sentiment of memories
The higher the cold winds blow down upon me
The warmer I become for they carry your laughter

I close my eyes and I hear your sweet, loving words
That are and always shall, be my comfort and eternal joy

For when the wind blows you are with me in the dark

This is humour in case anyone gets the wrong idea (Nick you'll remember this)

The day is re-born after the nights have passed cold
A heart arises and asks where is my someone to hold?
From works toil to secure fortune I stretch a day’s hours
Yet all I want really is you and I, amid a garden of flowers
To sing and dance, to make love, hold, kiss and caress
But preferably my dear without you wearing that dress

For the rain has found once again its way home.
Summer aged leaves dance in its water waves
That shimmers wreathing along leathered branches.
Yet if a raindrop can travel a thousand miles as...
A vapour star born high upon Atlantic winds.
Cannot my spirit hold you from far away?
For I have need of your touch right now.

Soft and welcoming entwined around my heart

It has rained for what seem forever and is pouring down now. You want some of it? Well just asking, although you have probably enough of your own I would think. We’re heading towards autumn; darker mornings and evenings and much cooler winds. It is quite warm this morning and I have the window open. The wind is lifting the curtains and letting the cool morning air in. I can smell the trees and the damp earth and it is a wonderful taste of the outside. How I would rather be out there now than having to go to work. Maybe one day if I am very lucky I shall.

Calm rides in dusk on a darkening sky. No wind blows or rain falls upon now blackening grass that a moment before lay glinting green under the last rays of the sun. A ghostlike evening shapes and takes upon it the eerie stillness of the underworld. No birds sing, nor dogs bark and for the briefest time I feel alone. Then comes the tempest and it trumpets nightmares of feathered, violet cobras wreathing through obsidian clouds to spit silver venom relentlessly upon the earth. I feel the power and malevolence and I am humbled like the ant before the looming oak tree. It was a good storm tonight.

Slowly comes the changing of seasons
Borne on warm winds of passing summer
That is blowing within the shrinking days

See the arachnids come to yellowing ceilings
To dance stealthily among the nights lengthening
For the time is ripe and the nights cool and fertile

With flying ants that reach for the dusk of August
To escape in clouds their humming nest of siblings
To alight on cool grass and tear at useless wings

For the world moves to the autumn once more
Star-filled skies spinning silver webs among indigo
Of dreams and harvests and always of rebirth

For as the air cools and the stars brightly shine
So to does the world softly exhale and in it’s sigh
I hear the whisper of love and it calls with your voice

Could our souls meet while we sleep? Certainly...but think rather that maybe they already have but only now choose the moment to reveal their alliance to us. I firmly believe things happen at certain points in a life because they are supposed to.

So where would a soul journey? Anything and anywhere is possible and yet even as the thought begins to take form it dissipates. For I feel your soul slip within mine to disseminate it’s structure and allow a new form to be created…and if joy, laughter and honour have a corporeal presence it would be this. I know not its shape, nor size, no colour. Only that it is a perfect environment filled with all the seasons of the world in a harmonious melding of ethereal zones. It is alas, only for the time we sleep and yet it is there forever and though our union of souls must separate still I take a piece of you with me and whether waking or asleep you are a part of me forever.

Bills, work and domestic tedium run through my mind. They are vying for precedence against the watercolour image of you I paint with thoughts. I lay my head on the soft damask pillow and exhale. The world takes pity and these long-lashed eyes close tight shut to release the soul to the night.

and this is where we were taking the bread Saturday....

Anyone for a weekend break with stunning scenery and fantastic food? You might even meet some royalty as the Duchy of Lancaster owns most of the area

Check out the website....

http://innatwhitewell.com/welcome.php

I want this view from my window....

Enjoy the pictures of the Ribble Valley

Who would have thought delivering bread could be so much fum

4 photos (sorry they are not too exciting) but roll on the week in Cornwall in 4 weeks when i can take lots of pictures of new things haven't seen before. Hopefully with a backdrop of blue skies and glorious sunshine.

2 are of the flooded lake paths - so you can see how high the water level is this month. Normally it is reduced to a small river running along the bottom. It normally doesn't get this hight till late winter.

1 is of a fungus riddled Beech tree...I thought this was quite spooky when i saw it and nearly stood on a tawny owl's head walking towards it. The owl was sat on one of the large roots at the bottom of the tree. Not sure why but some one at work says it is so they can surprise small rodents and quicky pounce. Sounds plausible.

1 is of a Squirrel with bread in its mouth. Not very clear but I haven't seen them eat bread before.

Hope you have a good weekend and haven't the Olympics been great. The Chinese have certainly pulled out all the stops. I think it will do them nothing but immense good around the world. I never knew China was such a beautiful place and that its people are such a noble and clever race. One day I would love to walk along the great wall.

Monday 18th Aug 2008

Phew the long prose took some jiggling about to make each sentence fit on one line but I finally did it after a few days. I wonder if anyone will read it the whole way through. Probably not; but I enjoyed doing it all the same. It is Elric’s saga. Sorry i had to make the letters smaller but it was the only way to make it fit.

Epic or epitaph...you decide!

I want to say it has been a good few days over the weekend, (and it has,) but the weather is truly dreadful across most of England. Set to continue so for the next few days.

If that wasn’t gloomy enough the machines at the mill are silent due to lack of orders and we have a big audit tomorrow. The “credit crunch” is here and the big ‘r’ word (recession) looks to be nearing a reality.

What would cheer me up is a sunny evening with warmth and a large glass of wine to toast the birds into the dusk...yes i'll think of that till the weather improves...

For words unsaid shall grow about us rising taller than trees.
So I think then say it, whether the world should listen or turn away
Tonight drags me down to the safe pit of deepest sleep and yet
The heart claws and hungers for the last, sweet, gasp remaining
So that with my last thoughts I hurl the words I need you to hear
That you may just as your eyes close know how I love you tomorrow
So come day, release me from sleep that I may know my heart beats still
For oft a storm shall quiet words to stillness and for a time doubt grows
But surely as night follows the footsteps of day I shall walk in your heart
For we arise to a morning of hope filled with the sweetest of birdsong
For day is born anew and we are one in a mighty purpose that compels
The greatest emotion known to our race that is love enduring always
When burdens lie heavy an unmerciless world shrieks for enlightenment
At night souls bereft of purpose see only their one abiding love that waits
For comfort and kisses are the benison of aching limbs and slothful intellect
The mind moves torturously slow, yet the heart flies free beyond the stars
As eyes close memories of today begin to unfold, are allocated to perspective
For healing touch of sleep upon my life and the nights dreams will cleanse
Till the morning brings hope and vigour and the realisation that all is forgiven
For the day is blameless and a heart born in innocence will thrive and grow
So into day we ride on great horses that may bear the weight of hearts reborn
The spirit of adventure thrust toward us and grasped for all the new joys that…
Shall cross the path we gallop our steeds along blithely? For love is the steersman
Our blind guide feels all in a world that sings with possibilities and echoes eternity
For the man is come to an age almost as great as my own and always it shall be
In that touch and grace ills shall fall away like snowflakes under the midday sun
Arise in the last minutes of the night and see its cold remnants laid across the land
Silvered skeins of ice embracing every last leaf clinging with its weakening hold
The breath of winter blows and soon they must fall to earth in spiraling showers
Last testaments to a summer now gone lying like fallen soldiers on a battlefield
Richly golden they shall soften our footfalls and gladden our hearts with warmth
Summer memoriously within us yet and we do not forget it will come again soon
So all is reaped and sowed in furrows of industry that I might have the freedom
To search out my heart’s desire and spend time in its shadow so that I might
Find peace and love within the arms and breaths of an angel come only to me
Upon the gossamer wings of fortune when I needed it the most long ago
For I love my angel and nothing shall ever stop the race into those arms
That held so tight, shall never let go, making me feel like I shall live forever
Within the encircling winds of a love pure as the snow atop the mountains
What dream may be born on such days when the leaves lie in drifts of yellow?
For the autumn colour is potent and richly vibrant in the watery morning light
Mist arises from the ground like ethereal snakes writhing free of earthen gaols
To wind around the mossy trunken feet of tall sentinels warding the landscape
That standing hauntingly like colonnades to an altar of winter laid in the distance
For days are running toward their extinction with the lightning speed of wraiths
We begin the cycle of light and dark that bethrones darkness as queen of earth
For a little while she may wave malevolence before us making the skies blacken
We enthralled with the cold and relentless pantomime of snow and ice she plays
For it is her time and acquiesce to her power for the reign is vital and honoured
For without the cruel reign of winter there shall be no blessed realm of summer
So take what we may and hold each other tightly for the days will change again
Then I would be holding you still for whatever the season my world is set to fair
So strip away the day and revolve instead around emotions that lie buried therein
For a gentle souls vortex around doubt arises from necessity to make retribution
For the false felt sense of wrongs that shape hearts into mass of doubt and anger
That creates confusion where only peace should reign within hearth and home
So I will remember you tonight for need for peace is strong and you shall come
Into my dreams and brush the hand of love across a creased brow softly
Restoring me to wholeness, make me see all that passed is a day without you
The journey within your care begins as eyes close to the last of the day to pass
Dreams come fast, vivid amid sound of a tempest that hammers windowpanes
For tonight my dreams shall match elemental roaring of wind and tears of rain
So to the morning awake as though I had fought a battle with the world and won
For you are still by my side and a world dawns in myriad possibilities to share
It is winter and draws down evening in the middle of the day behind a rain curtain
Thoughts flounder, become submerged under the oppressive dampness that dulls
Senses and vitality to a wish to sit close by fires and think of sunnier times past
The days under powder blue skies, hazy sun, ensconced in love and contentment
Yet the door opens and I am safe within walls of stones from the relentless rain
Venture out I must for the world is not good to others and ever the march of time
Wears away men we know to reveal a fragility of the ages within others or ourselves
Let us not think of tomorrow for our world is youthful, vibrant and so in bloom
For we have created paradise within home and thoughts, we should tarry within it
For nothing may last within imperfect lifetimes we are born to, yet we strive…not for
Today but everlasting tomorrow we see in our hearts, shall share eternally in bliss
Look closely again at words and images we treasuredly amassed over the year
No small emotions shared could work so hard, devotedly and take heart and hope
What we see and feel is the right path of loving, willing souls fervently sitting
On greensward at rainbows end a chorus of birdsong on spring mornings
We know it, feel it, all thus needed now is patient hands of time to show the world
For when day proves long and filled with unforeseen delay, think on the positives
Think of joy that words bring when least expected to be heard in the midst of day
Words freely given without expectation of thanks or reply, given totally in love
To heart s eager to receive, knowing the love from others to uphold and strengthen
Through days as these when comfort is sparse and joys exist for tomorrows dreams
I give love to you for you always take it and in return I ask only that I take yours
I have need of you in all ways I know and you make me content with all that I am
Or shall one day become, you the creating hand that guides me to become better
Before sleep comes to take me away I shall look on the full of the moon and sigh
Is her radiance not a reflection of light taken, transmuted from the sun as a mirror
Yet what glories mirrors show to one’s that gaze into it with a humble reverence
For within its silvering I am bathed in a light that is pure and sacred and I will wish
Yet what I wish I shall keep safe within me for it is proved and deserves its privacy
The moon vast keeps my secret and shall share it with only one other for always
So gaze up at the moon rising yellow in the night sky above eastern horizons
Crossed by indigo lateral clouds that float laconically sideways over its bottom half
She silvers rising, her light grows, lengthening shadows as I walk into the night
Always works of man seem childlike to the majesty of such beauty sitting in the sky
Rising behind mountainous horizons to inspire and enchant resolute sophisticates
The greatest gifts given existed long before we rose from the sea to take the land
Remains after the last of us have taken all we could squander and sing to the ages
While I remain I awake to the day with longing to see its beauty and health shining
Just as sun washes the land today in clear blue skies, birdsong reverberating softly
In my ears and my heart I have love following all my footsteps and life is beautiful
The vengeful wind howls tearing the last leaves from trees and dashes them down
Scornful she seeps cool fingers deep into every crevice torn apart by the elements
When our world teeters on the brink of winter heralded by the northern sirocco
For cold advances southward and who would be out alone, unloved on a this night
Rejoice in warm hearths, comforting coverlets that hug bodies till loved ones come
Take the cold away with encircling warmth brought without thoughts of summer
How I wish you were here to hold me before sleep takes me away to dreams of you
Arise this morning to the first snow drawn from the north to dust the Pennines
Leave warm beds and await its fall upon a waiting world seeking respite from rain
To take heart in a familiar world and landscapes transformed to purest white
Chase a white dog on white hills, watch stark forms of trees soften as flakes grow
See wind raise snow flurries to high drift s that blow like chaff separated from corn
The snow is here and the only thing missing is you to explore its icy joys with me
Alas the snow falleth not into northern lands this day and the heart lies low
Yet the sun shineth sweetly in the bright blue sky in recompense
I strived to make that which is given worth giving and rest now after labours
Tis sweet to feel satisfaction effort come to fruition for the day is fast coming
To herald feasts and assemble brave hearts around fires while fowl roast in the ash
For we spend and we give and no matter the cost; all is counted a bargain in love
For love is worth more than snow or riches, without it we would diminish
So turn days to clear mornings that shudder under touch of night waiting dawn
Grass, sweeping branches encapsulated in rime laid by the distillation of moisture
No birds’ sing awaiting first light in studied silence, appointed watchers of morning
In frost traced inches of land there is life, though unseen can be seen, heard, felt
It waits for a crescent moon to pass into the west while a new day is born eastward
And so turn days again to grey, cloudy vistas that promise, yet never deliver snow
On hills wreathed in silver mist and rising gold’s over pastures devoid of cattle
I turn east and watch the sun slowly rise orange on a new day in the depth of winter
For days run fast,fluid to the longed for feast and it calls us from our heritage
To remember those who made our walk on this earth possible…we do not forget
For those that have gone walk still with us and every day for they watch our lives
Benevolence granted by those that can but love from beyond our understanding
I look at my world tonight and joy is greater because I share it with you and you
Understand all I do,yet love me still…twice blessed,doubly loved I sleep content
See what strength one may draw from a warm heart placed close and ever faithful
Riches bought with currency of trust and devotion, may not be bought another way
I would not change one thing in my world nor dream longingly of other pleasures
What I have is seen, touched and took within my arms, drawn close to my breast
Christmas comes, I have gifts I need to make the year worth the cost of loving you
Embrace all that has gone and hand in hand chase dreams next year that we see
Snow comes to eastern hills and I would have you by my side when first flakes fall
Together magic feathered drops melt on our skin and dissolve into winter tears
Of joys in each other, celebrating our love and honour those close to us who wait
In our joy we musn't forget those that make us strong , let us take joy unto them
Let us think now upon the year, reflect power that can connect two souls together
Links within a chain spanning the arch of time to the beginning of the universe
Bonds stronger than the ages past elemental and spiritual we move into the future
The blood of the heavens within us shaped from solar dust moving in tidal winds
Through a void long before chronicity mark ed mans passage through aeons
And though seems we have but met recently all are one and in the final revelation,
Shall be joined again as the cosmos smiles, takes back all bestowed in birthing
Though Christmas again in the world in the universe seconds pass unmarked
Whatever God guides us the earth may live in peace if we give more than we take
All I give is peace and joy,take it without hesitation for it is freely given and true
Though snow falls and the world is cold at my side is a place for you for all time
See the hordes throng every thoroughfare laden with delights and knowing smiles
The Christian feast comes, we are ready to celebrate joyous birth of hope and life
For the days turned longer again and light now enters shining within the evening
Raise faces, live briefly to excess and never should it be counted waste or greed?
Earth bears us, nurtures, gives such bounty that we may praise all her goodness
With groaning table, happy hearts among our loved one’s in the midst of her winter
I think of all I may do over the hours that stream across the holiday and it pleases
I may wander, see the misty mornings and late sunsets that hang still over water
Glimpse a solitary deer retreating through trees into the bracken-hued undergrowth
And I think that I get to do them all with you and it is our special time for eternity

I think they needed to add the city of Darwen with Blackburn to this list

Struggling northern cities will never be able to regenerate and should be given up. Residents of cities such as Liverpool, Bradford and Sunderland should be encouraged to move to the more prosperous South-east, it says. A future government should build three million homes in and around London, Cambridge and Oxford to prompt Britain's biggest mass internal migration since the 19th century.

The call from Policy Exchange will be a huge embarrassment to the Tory leader as he heads to north-west England today to campaign in marginal seats. Policy Exchange was founded by Michael Gove, the Tory education spokesman. Its policy director is Anthony Browne who is about to begin working for Boris Johnson and is tipped for a role at No 10 if the Tories win the next election.

Policy Exchange said many large coastal cities had lost their raison d’être with the decline of shipping and raised the alarm over the future of Liverpool, Sunderland, Hull, Scunthorpe and Blackpool. It said it was unrealistic to expect the prosperous cities of Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle to regenerate less well-off neighbours such as Liverpool, Rochdale, Bradford and Sunderland. It said such places were not "doomed" and could not be abandoned, but people had to face up to the fact that they had "little prospect of offering their residents the standard of living to which they aspire". The think-tank said all three million new homes earmarked for England by 2020 should be built in the South-east, making it easier for people in less well-off areas to move. It also called for massive building in Oxford and Cambridge, taking advantage of their high skills base and favourable location.

Tim Leunig, a co-author of the report, said: "No doubt some people will claim these proposals are unworkable, unreasonable and perhaps plain barmy. But the issue is clear: current regeneration policies are failing the very people they are supposed to be helping and there is no evidence that the trend will be reversed without radical changes. Internal migration has always been an important part of a dynamic economy."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cities-in-north-doomed-says-favourite-tory-thinktank-892856.html?startindex=10

Tuesday 12th Aug 2008

I was driving home from work which is only about 3 miles but I was struck by how polarised even a small town like Darwen is becoming. 5pm sees the rush from work to home and most of the cars crawling along are quite new, quite flash (well apart from the odd old wreck like mine.) Along the pavements walk those, who I guess have to walk and I wonder how far this can go. Seems like every week we are slipping back to a past that everyone thought had gone forever. A world for most people lived with low wages, scarce jobs and higher outgoings. How many will have cars 10 years from now and more importantly, how will the have-not’s be reacting to a future of subtle control through welfare payments, technology and cheap addictive avenues out of desperation. How did we come to make a society with such a greedy disposition? Where inequality is alright as long as you're the one standing on someone to lift you up (and after all the poor they deserve all they get don’t they?) Or so think the very people running around saving the environment but forgetting to save the people living in it with them.

So pause just for a little and think how unreasonable optimism probably is when set against the behaviour of the haves through long millennia.

It’s still raining too...torrential at times today. So you didn’t expect anything cheerful did you.

Tuesday 12th Aug

Oh dear the glorious 12th...maybe not so glorious for the winged inhabitants of the UK. It's the start of the grouse season here....not my cup of tea.

Got a close up of the metal heron at the lake and some pictures of sunshine and shade which are always my favourite? It was a reasonable Sunday although the other days were nothing to get excited about. Dull, dull days and rain seems to sum up the summer of 2008

I shouldn’t wonder about things too much. Mull thing over till clarity recedes as a man that gravitates toward worry with a penchant for realism is not in my opinion the best person to wander among the clouds. Or perhaps he is the only person that can! I think I should come to earth a little more but it is hard to dream among the stars then return to the normality of everything terrestrial. There are so few of us here among the clouds that I think once we have found this place we can never go back completely.

Monday 4th Aug 2008

It’s a serene sunshine filled evening after a gloomy day. The sun hits ever more angled from the horizon and the once sunny seats where the muse deliberated sink into evening shadow. All that glistens now in August indeed is not gold, it is rather sun-tinged emerald leaves that take light and refract it into a visual treasure.

I am listening to Donna Summer “State of Independence” extended 12” vinyl remix record through my monitor gold’s. Was it really 1982 when I heard it for the first time? How time has taken my life so far, so fast in its wings? Without great hurts or loss and always with mostly wonderful people close by so that I never felt alone.

Ok moving onto Thelma Houston “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning from 1977 when I had just began my working life as a rather naive 16 year old teenager at the mill. Here I am 31 years later still there and still in the same town. Time has shown me a world without me ever having to go look for it. It seems like a good thing for the most part but not always.

I think I’ll liven things up a bit now with “I feel Love” a 1982 remix by Patrick Cowley. He worked a lot with Sylvester who was a bit of a diva also. They are all vinyl records by the way. Shame old Donna S went a bit loopy and said all those silly things. I never bought another record of hers after that. I always remember the duet she did with Streisand and how Barbra Streisand’s voice soared and held rock solid while old Donna sounded a bit karaoke.

Hope your evening is drenched in sunshine and warm thoughts also. Sorry Donna but you did start it and we are like elephants...we never forget!

Here’s a link to our local paper…parochial and sensational but lots of information about the locality and the scurrilous activities of its inhabitants. Enjoy!!

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/

6am 31st July 08

Dawn is up and the sun shines
Through a hole in the clouds
It highlights upon the distant hill
With long fingered rays of sunlight

Normality restored to our idiosyncratic weather as it was another warm and sunny day till 5pm. I sat in the yard when I got home from work and watched the sky turn to deepest black. Then followed lightning in huge arching violet traces but for a time there was no rain. It came after a few minutes riding on the reverberation of the thunder. Huge heavy drops that hit the ground sizzling like aquatic cymbals accompanying the bass thunderclaps. It rained violently during the close of the storm and then like a magician had waved a wand the grey vista peeled away to reveal a perfect summer evening. Normality restored on a blue sky with clear air and doves cooing in the trees. The only reminder of the storm, the wetted ground and the scent of ozone fading from the air.

K D Lang is playing Manchester tonight. I only hear about it yesterday and tried to get a couple of tickets as she is one of Nick’s favourite artists (and I think she’s ok too.) Not to be though as all the tickets were sold out...went on sale in March. Maybe next time.

We are born to something higher and nobler
Than the pain and suffering of the world
We shall eventually grow old and fade
But like night it shall be toward a better dawn
I have now no fears for tomorrow or beyond
For you are with me till the heavens fall to earth
You are my dreams borne out of the stars
To walk softly through eternity with me
For you are found to me as a treasure
And I shall guard my treasure well

Sunday 27th July 2008
Well somebody up there must have read the last post as the weather improved dramatically. The last couple of days have been very warm and it looks set to be another warm, sunny day today.
To sum up Lancashire it rains a lot. “When you can see Darwen Tower it’s going to rain and if you can’t it already has,” is a local saying which tongue-in-cheek is generally true. (see section below on Darwen Tower it is quite interesting and difficult to believe that access was prohibited at one point.) I guess some things have changed for the better.
Courtesy of Cotton Town (the local council site)...it’s quite interesting

http://www.cottontown.org/page.cfm?pageid=755&language=eng

Darwen Tower

They say you can see the Welsh hills from the top. I've never seen them and I must have been up there a hundred times. More often than not you are lucky if you can see the Lancashire hills; mist and moorland are seldom parted. But whatever you can or can't see from up there, from down below and from many miles away, it commands your attention. You can see it from the M6 north of Blackburn; you can see it from the centre of Preston; you can see it from the hills above Bury; the hills above Chorley and the hills above Accrington; you can see it in the gaps between houses all over the town: Darwen Tower is a beacon that beckons the eye. The urge to build something on the nearest hill surfaced in Darwen just over one hundred years ago. On one level it was a gesture of loyalty to a monarch celebrating her sixtieth year on the throne, but on another it was a gesture that struck at the very thing that monarchy is all about: the ownership of land and the power and privileges that go with it.

Much more so than now, in those days communication was by foot. There are plenty of people up on the moors on a sunny day today, but their business is recreation, a hundred years ago their business may well have been business. Packmen, peddlers, farmers and labourers communicated by track and trail and moorland path, not by phone, fax and the Internet. So when in the 1870's the Lord of the Manor the Reverend William Arthur Duckworth began blocking ancient rights of way and turning people of the moor, he was doing more than depriving them of the right to a leisurely stroll after work, he was denying them a basic form of communication.

The Reverend William Arthur Duckworth was born in 1829. He was a nephew of George Duckworth who had bought the Manor of Over Darwen in 1810 from John Trafford. William Arthur was educated at Trinity College Cambridge and ordained in 1854. In 1859 he married Edina Campbell daughter of the Lord Chancellor. He visited Darwen only rarely, residing for much of his life at Orchardleigh near Frome in Somerset.
When the Manor of Darwen had been offered for sale in 1766 it was described even then as being well stocked with game. By the time it came into the Reverend William Arthur's hands gaming rights had become a valuable commodity. Wealthy captains of industry loved nothing better than to ape the aristocracy; buying castles and Scottish islands, riding to hounds, shooting and fishing. The last thing Duckworth wanted was to have his land devalued by what he saw as trespass on the moors.

Set against him was another William, William Thomas Ashton. He was born in Blackburn in 1832 and came to Darwen at the age of fifteen to work first at Brookside Mill, then as cashier at Bowling Green Mill and then as manager of Eccles Shorrock's mines at Dogshaw Cough and Entwistle Moss. He knew the moorland footpaths well, taking orders from farmers and other customers. When Duckworth's gamekeepers blocked his way, he unblocked it. When they erected more substantial barriers, he went for his saw.

The story of the freeing of Darwen moors has been told many times. It's enough to say that apart from a few bloody skirmishes on the moors, the struggle took place in court and that Duckworth lost it and that in September 1896 the negotiations were finally completed and the townspeople had regained the right to use the moorland footpaths. Ashton had died in 1894, but his three sons lead a celebratory procession up on to the moors to the spot where the Tower now stands.

The victory coincided with the need to think of a way of celebrating Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. There were not that. many people in the town who could remember anyone but Victoria being on the throne. To us now it would be as if Elizabeth had succeeded to the throne in 1937. No doubt there was a feeling something grand should be done, if only to outdo Blackburn. Perhaps the idea of a tower had been discussed openly in the town already, perhaps when the suggestion first appeared in print in the Darwen News on January 13th 1897 it was a novel idea. The writer signing him or herself Landmark added as an afterthought that such a tower would also mark the freeing of the moors. There was something for everybody in an idea like that: flaunting a victory for the common person in the guise of a loyal gesture to the crown. In spite of some grumbles about the cost, the idea was adopted.

A competition was held for a design for the Tower, which was won by David Ellison of the Darwen Borough Engineers office. Jubilee Day was June 22nd 1897 and up on the moor the first sod was cut on the site for the Tower by the Mayor Alexander Carus. It was a hot Summer's day. In the evening there was a bonfire and a firework display.
It must have been a mixed blessing of a job for the men who built the Tower. There was a long climb up to the site with their tools, the stone was already to hand at Red Delph quarry; but then on fine days there'd be grand views all around whichever way they looked. Of course fine days would be the exception, more often than not there'd be bitter winds, slicing rain and cold, grey skies. Indeed bad weather so delayed work that by the official opening day, September 22nd 1898 some of the porticoes round the base were still not completed.

Another fine day and the Reverend W. A. Duckworth was there to declare the Tower open. Over three thousand people came up on to the moor to see him do it. Many of them must have wondered what was going through his mind. It was a long way from Somerset to Darwen in those days. Was he just being decent about it, after all he had donated the stone for the Tower? Was he just showing his face, reminding everyone that he was still a force to be reckoned with? Certainly he used his speech as an opportunity to explain his position and to express his hope that people going on to the moor would cause as little disturbance as possible to the game. His tenant Mr. Ashworth was not there, but Duckworth read a message from him expressing his hope that trespass on the moor would be less in the coming season than the last.
A pepper pot, a space rocket, a stumpy, awkwardly proportioned piece, thus has the Tower been described over the years. It is in fact an octagonal structure with outer faces fifteen feet in width. It has sixty five stone steps and an iron staircase of seventeen steps. It has sixteen windows and three panels over the northern archway. It is built square to the compass with walls two feet thick. It stands eighty five feet high. It was built by local contractor R. J. Whalley with ironwork by Robert St. Foundry, copper work by Entwistle and Nutter of Market Street and plumbing and glazing by H. C. Jepson of Bolton Road. Darwen Tower though is more than the sum of its parts.

First of all it stands for the town in a way that other towers, with the possible exception of Blackpool Tower, do not. Darwen Tower is Darwen Tower because it was built to stand for the rights of Darwen people. Furthermore it has encouraged successive generations to visit the moor and has become a welcome landmark for hill walkers. And last but not least it has been an inspiration for countless artists, reproduced on canvas, in wood, in ceramics, and in metals both precious and base, most recently of all on the new railings in the town centre.
It has stood up there for one hundred years, even though on a number of occasions its future has been uncertain. During the second world war it was feared that German bombers would use it as a landmark and attack the town. An editorial in the Darwen News urged that it be pulled down. Of course it wasn't and apart from in October 1940 when seven bombs were dropped and a double decker bus going up Marsh House was machine gunned the town escaped relatively lightly.

In 1947 however gales blew away the original wooden turret that had crowned the Tower. For a long time the abbreviated Tower suffered from the attention of vandals and the neglect of officialdom. There were proposals that it be bricked up indefinitely, but in 1971 Bill Lees as Mayor launched a fund to have the Tower repaired, cleaned and topped with a new dome. This was done and on January 18th 1972 the refurbished Tower was declared open.
The most bizarre threat came later that year when an offer purported to come from the U.S.A. was made to buy the Tower so that it could be exported and reassembled overseas. The town council considered the matter and declared its refusal to accept any offers for the Tower.
And there it still stands one hundred years later at an altitude of 372 metres or 1,200 feet as we used to say. As a listed building, it looks set fair to survive well into the twenty first century and who knows that one hundred years hence folk won't be celebrating its two hundredth anniversary. What will you be able to see from the top then I wonder?

22nd July 2008

Without wishing to sound boring the weather is starting to get on my nerves now. Will it stop raining and will the clouds part to let us see some blue sky. One can only live in hope.
Had my first new potatoes this week and they were absolutely delicious. There’s quite a lot so should keep me going for a few weeks. Which is just as well, as there is not much of anything else? The pigeons ate the gooseberries and the lettuce and tomatoes need a little more sun. I can’t actually see any tomatoes yet just lots of flowers. The mushroom experiment has yielded nothing either but I guess I’ll have to wait till the autumn to see if it has been a complete failure. The trees though are magnificent this year...tall and green and so full of health. Even the ones the squirrels munched all the bark off.

The pond is 2/3 green from the growth of water plantain, marsh marigolds and water mint. The branches of the willow arch over the water and it all merges into the soft, green duckweed that grows over the surface. The whole scene is of the greatest tranquility amid the green, freshness of water. Hundreds of black flies cross over the surface whilst I imagine the tadpoles nearing completion waiting in the water below to emerge in the coming months.

I walked up to the top of the hill but I have to say came down very much faster as horseflies eyed me up greedily, some even making forays onto my flesh but luckily no bites. I watered the tomatoes and the flowerbeds (such as they are), but then the midges came in a cloud of biblical proportions to put the skids under that idea. It is so wonderfully, magical here sat here listening to the wind chimes with the breeze softly making the trees sing. Everywhere I look I see the treetops sway and I feel so at peace. I am and shall be at peace for however long I remain sat here at this moment in time in my green heaven carved from a barren hill and may it remain ever so that nature can comfort so wherever I shall be.

Apart from that it’s all rather quiet at the moment just days of work. I had a nice meal in Leeds on Saturday with the group that is going to Las Vegas in November. Nick didn’t come to Leeds but he went on the razzle with a friend to Manchester and had a great time. Then got up early and played a tennis match on Sunday morning. I think he might be a little bit fitter than me!