The Song of Solomon

My beloved spake, and said unto me,

Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land;

The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell.

Arise my love, my fair one and come away.

O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice and thy countenenace is comly.

Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines; for our vines have tender grapes.

My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.

So perfect for April

Favourite Views - The Hog's Back

View towards Godalming from the Hog's Back

For more views, click here 

Food Shopping in Winchester

Ross Brimfield at The Veg Shed

Shopping for food in the otherwise lovely cathedral city of Winchester is sorry experience. Three big supermarkets - Waitrose, Sainbury's and Tesco crouch on the extremities of the city like leeches sucking shoppers into their vast car parks - and forcing smaller specialist food shops to close. Incredibly, there are no butchers and no fishmongers left in this ancient city of 200,000, once the capital of England (well, Wessex) due mainly to our own weak-minded shopping habits, compounded by the cunning of the supermarkets who offer seemingly irresistible prices on everyday goods like lavatory paper and pet food. And for those trinkets we ignore the high prices we pay for imported vegetables and fruit and the factory-farmed chicken.

Not only do the supermarkets squeeze the last drop of profit out of all but the largest and best capitalised agribusinesses, but their profits are siphoned out of the area and contribute little or nothing to the wellbeing of city and its citizens, unlike small family-owned shops. And of course they avoiding paying as much tax as they can through transfer pricing, captive insurance companies, group relief and offshore trusts and make billions - while in a once charming and friendly city like Winchester (where as a schoolboy I used to be greeted personally by the bank manager), one is left talking to bored check-out staff rather than being known by name by knowledgeable shopkeepers who's defining advantage is service, not price.

There are signs of life however, outside the massive car-parks and ugly approach roads of the supermarkets. The Farmer's Market every fourth Sunday is hugely popular and carries interesting stock from small producers. And The Good Life, in Headbourne Worthy is a brave attempt at a farm shop, though it carries no fish. And, best of all, The Veg Shed run almost singlehandedly by Ross Brimfield, sells high quality and cheap vegetable, fruit and eggs from a wooden shack in two pub car parks three days a week and makes deliveries on the others. And he knows all his customers by name.  

Spitalfields Life Book Launch

Christ Church, Spitalfields

The launch of the book of Spitalfields Life was a magical evening; unique in publishing terms and probably the largest gathering of notable locals and far-flung well-wishers ever assembled in Spitalfields for any purpose.

We were bound together by the vision of the unnamed Gentle Author who has penned his daily stories of a place and its people in the most sensitive and yet enlivening way, and which, through the power of the internet, have instantly reached people across the world.

The book itself is a triumph of design and deserves to be the godfather of many other collections of blog pieces that one hopes could sometimes be opened on one's knee.

Some photos from the event can be found here 

The Gentle Author's own piece about the event and many more photos can be seen here 

Tichbourne Water Meadows in Winter

Click here for some more photos

The Road to Bangalore

Favourite Writings - Desiderata

Desiderarta

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

The Orangery Garden in Snow

An Astronomer's Paradise

An Astronomer's Paradise from Babak Tafreshi on Vimeo.

Favourite Places - Mottisfont Abbey

Mottisfont Abbey in winter