With my father and his partner we went to visit Conisbrough Castle. As is often the case I find Castle visits very anodyne and as on other occasions I was more interested in graffiti. There were the word: BARKING S.A. SCOUTS Carved into the stone on the ground floor of the sheet. My father comes …
Author archives: pasdelasbas
JS
What strikes me about this case is that the 1960s and 1970s saw popular public broadcasting increasingly wishing to integrate broadcasters as contemporary entertainers themselves. Throughout the 1960s the driving forces of popular music (men) were people perceived as challenging public mores of sobriety and decency. The 1960s took forward a liberal agenda whether that …
last rites
Patrick Duggan is dead. Pat. Queen’s Scout. Moustached. Flat cap. Always in order. Ready. I’ve been over contemplating death these past few days and I seem to have landed one big like a fish. He was found by his friend Norma on the bathroom floor and Saskia rushed over and pumped his heart until the …
pathos
How easy is melancholy to revive Just now by it’s absence I recalled finding the yellow archangel On a lane in a wood in Berkshire when I was young Which too is facile to evince The sense of being old that comes with age and fatigue I spend time on the edge of tears I …
Tall orders
We are overblown thinkers Properly moved by logic Those of us that think in this way Using thought to regulate a sorry route Following white lines catching cats eyes Refueled along the way A road just to get some where Somehow oblivious to suffering Despite everything that has happened It is a soul less task …
competitors, raptors and leeches…
So what I am about to write is best written when I am angry. Which I am not at the moment. But when I’m angry I don’t write things down. I have had quite a long association with academia and received funding myself to pursue research. Now I am no longer so closely associated with …
“you know they are Catholics not even real Christians”
Well I just had a properly depressing conversation. I went outside the building where I have an office and entered into conversation with two young men of Pakistani origin. The elder of them, 32 years old, had spent seven years in prison and was bitter and frustrated at not being able to find work. His …
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on not being stuck
I took my youngest child to school this morning and as I turned the car around in a small side street I saw a woman whose children attend the same school. This is somebody I have spoken to on and off for probably six or seven years now. She is a very nice person as …
St Antimo 1999
1. The tomb is always empty It cannot be otherwise I am here Such lamentation there will be when I rise. 2. Always we approach the White Hart And always he retreats So with stealth we approach And still he flees. To touch him He must die 3. Great silence …
clergy and heritage
Today I walked in to Sheffield Cathedral where extensive work has been done to remodel the entry and the interior of the nave. I was walking around and I could hear somebody reading from the Bible and was surprised to see that although there was no visible congregation other than one two people sitting reflectively …