John's Shots of Scotland

Couple of shots from my friend John's trip to Scotland.  He came back raving about Fort Augustus; Loch Ness; the Isle of Skye etc., and I must say the place looks fantastic.

Haven't been to Scotland since I was a teenager, can still recall being driven round Loch Lomond with it absolutely lashing it down.  Still, John's shots have wet my appetite for a possible future trip to Fort Augustus; Loch Ness; the Isle of Skye etc.

Warsaw: The Witold Pilecki Memorial

This wartime memorial sprang up in the Zoliborz district of Warsaw recently.  As soon as I saw the name Witold Pilecki, I had to check out what his story was:

From the memorial, it was obvious that Pilecki was a wartime hero who'd played some kind of significant role at combating the Auschwitz death camp.

And on the Internet, I found the following information about Pilecki's involvement in the 2nd World War:

* He was a cavalry officer in the Polish Army and co-founder of the Secret Polish Army in German occupied Poland

* He provided the first comprehensive Allied intelligence report on the Auschwitz concentration camp and the Holocaust (he volunteered to go inside Auschwitz as a prisoner to gather such information, and ended up being imprisoned there for over two years before he escaped in 1943)

*  He was a combatant during the Warsaw Uprising (August-October 1944)

* He remained loyal to the London-based, Polish government in exile after the Soviet-backed communist takeover of Poland

Pilecki was also a devout Catholic which may well have helped drive his heroic wartime actions.

However, in 1947, he was arrested by the communist secret police on charges of working as a spy for 'foreign imperialism' (British intelligence) and was executed after a show trial in 1948.

Moreover, until 1989, information about his exploits and fate was suppressed by the communist authorities in Poland.

 

The information above the pictures only comes from a few basic Internet accounts about Pilecki's life.  It would be interesting to read something more detailed about his life.

Bury (Lancashire): A Catholic Whit Walk Picture

Love this old picture of what I guess has to be a (Roman or possibly Anglo-) Catholic Whit Walk from yesteryear, as it just contains so much rich cultural information.

The statues of Christ, His Mother, and the Apostle John are absolutely amazing with the men proudly and solemnly carrying them.  

This just couldn't be imagined in the current age of political-'correctness' (cultural marxism) where Christian religious imagery/symbols seem to have been banished from public view in many British urban environments.

The dark, factory-type building in the background shows that Bury town centre had far more northern, working-class character back then.

Also interesting to see a picture of a Catholic Whit Walk passing the now sadly gone, red-bricked, Congregational church building on the left above.

Just think there's a beautiful symmetry between the Congregational church; Catholic Whit Walk procession; and dark building and almost mystical-type sky in the background.

Yeah, this picture helps to remind me of just how much more character my hometown of Bury, Lancashire had in the past.

My Mental Jukebox Part 4

Many of the thousands of tunes inside my mental jukebox are songs from my school years (1977-1982), quite a few of which are by the late 1970s/early 1980s incarnation of Roxy Music ('Dance Away'; 'Angel Eyes'; 'More Than This'; 'Avalon' etc.).  However, the most prominent Roxy Music tune in my mental jukebox has to be 'Oh Yeah' (above), closely followed by 'Take a Chance with Me' (below):

  

Kotek: A Close-Up Shot

A close-up shot of the equally innocent and mischevious, Kotek.

Yet Another Great Polish Beer

This Polish beer from the Stary Browar (Old Brewery) in Koscierzyna, a small town of about 24,000 people in the Kasubia area of northern Poland, was a joy to drink.

A student of mine was in Gdansk for a weekend and very kindly brought back this fine beer for me to try.  This beer reminded me of a good, dark, British Real Ale, so I'm quite stunned to see it advertised as a lager on the green bottle label above.

Finishing Thomas Hardy's 'Under the Greenwood Tree'

Having just finished Thomas Hardy's 'Under the Greenwood Tree', I quite naturally have some thoughts buzzing round my head.  I'm sure I read this novel(la) about 10-12 years, but one way or another, before reading it this time, I could remember next to nothing from it.

This time round, I had the good fortune of reading a fantastic Introduction by Dr. Claire Seymour from the University of Kent in the Wordsworth Classics edition of the book.  This sensitised me to two central themes in the novel(la), the issues of cultural continuity and cultural loss which was pivotal for me gaining a much better understanding of the book this time round.

Dr. Seymour's Introduction also sensitised me to the fact that there are two main plots in 'Under the Greenwood Tree':  the demise of the Mellstock male choir and the love intrigue between Dick Dewy and Fancy Day (and Farmer Shiner and Parson Maybold too).  The male choir issue obviously relates to the cultural continuity versus cultural loss themes, as the replacement of the male choir (with its violins, cello etc.) with the more modern use of the harmonium leads to many male rustic members of the local Anglican congregation feeling redundant in local church life.

Having visited St. Michael's church, Stinsford (Hardy's model for the church in 'Under the Greenwood area); Lower Higher Bockhampton (Hardy's birthplace, the Hardy cottage being the model for the Dewy household in the book); Lower Bockhampton (the old schoolhouse being the model for where Fancy Day teaches in the book) etc.  I could clearly visualise some of the paths (e.g. the riverside walk from St. Michael's to Lower Bockhampton) trodden in the novel, especially those covered by the half-drunk male choir in the early hours of Christmas Day (some of the magical early scenes from 'Under the Greenwood Tree').

Tied in with the cultural continuity-cultural loss themes of the book, there is yet again the issue of upwardly mobile (semi-) outsiders coming into a rustic community and disturbing its natural dynamic and equipoise.  Here, the main outsider is Parson Maybold, whose arrival, and being soon under the influence of Farmer Shiner, signals the demise of the Mellstock choir due to both of them believing that Fancy Day's playing of the harmonium at church will lead to one of them getting married to her.  Like Grace Melbury in 'The Woodlanders' and Clym Yeobright in 'The Return of the Native', Fancy Day herself is in the awkward position of being a native who is returning to a rustic community having seen something of the big world beyond it.  However, through the genuine love chemistry that develops between Fancy and Dick Dewy, 'Under the Greenwood Tree' has a more positive ending with the marriage of Dick and Fancy than 'The Return of the Native' and 'The Woodlanders' which feature the failed marriage of Clym Yeobright and Eustacia Vye and almost irreparably damaged marriage of Grace Melbury and Dr. Fitzpiers.

While both 'The Return of the Native' and 'The Woodlanders' end in tragedy: with Eustacia Vye and Damon Wildeve both drowning in the former and Giles Winterbourne sacrificing his life for Grace Melbury's moral honour in the latter, 'Under the Greenwood Tree' ends far more happily with Dick and Fancy's wedding party taking place in Keeper Day's garden.  As the younger people dance, the older ones sit under the great big tree in the garden reminiscing about things from the (sometimes deep) past.  For me, this is kind of tinged with some sadness, as Dick now wants to follow Fancy in becoming more upwardly social mobile, which will inevitably lead to further cultural loss, a continuing move away from rich, rural traditions.

While reading 'Under the Greenwood Tree', I also step-by-step watched the 2005 film version which helped me to visualise some of the main characters in the book better, such as Farmer Shiner, Parson Maybold, Fancy and Dick below:

However, I couldn't help but notice that the film version used quite a lot of poetic licence (e.g. Dick going business-seeking on the day of Fancy's first performance on the harmonium in church, when in the book, Dick more honourably attends the funeral of a friend in a neighbouring village).