Favourite Poetry - John Henry Newman's 'Dream of Gerontius'

The full text of the 'Dream of Gerontius' by John Henry Newman can be found here 

This is the opening Stanza:

GERONTIUS: 

JESU, MARIA - I am near to death,

And Thou art calling me; I know it now.

Not by the token of this faltering breath,

This chill at heart,, this dampness on my

brow,— (Jesu, have mercy! Mary, pray for me!)

'tis this new feeling, never felt before,

(Be with me, Lord, in my extremity!)

That I am going, that I am no more.

‘Tis this strange innermost abandonment,

(Lover of souls! great God! I look to Thee,)

This emptying out of each constituent

And natural force, by which I come to be.

Pray for me, 0 my friends; a visitant

 Is knocking his dire summons at my door,

The like of whom, to scare me and to daunt,

Has never, never come to me before;

‘us       death,—O loving friends, your prayers!— ‘tis he! 

As though my very being had given way,

As though I was no more a substance now,

And could fall back on nought to be my stay,

(Help, loving Lord! Thou my sole Refuge,

Thou,)

And turn no whither, but must needs decay

And drop from out the universal frame

Into that shapeless, scopeless, blank abyss,

That utter nothingness, of which I came:

This is it that has come to pass in me;

O horror! this it is, my dearest, this;

So pray for me, my friends, who have not strength to pray.

And this the last: 

ANGEL:

SOFTLY and gently, dearly-ransomed soul, 

In my most loving arms I now enfold thee, 

And, o’er the penal waters, as they roll,

I poise thee, and I lower thee, and hold thee.

And carefully I dip thee in the lake,

And thou, without a sob or a resistance,

Dost through the flood thy rapid passage take, 

Sinking deep, deeper, into the dim distance.

Angels, to whom the willing task is given,

Shall tend, and nurse, and lull thee, as thou liest;

And Masses on the earth and prayers in heaven,

Shall aid thee at the Throne of the most Highest.

Farewell, but not forever! Brother dear,

Be brave and patient on thy bed of sorrow;

Swiftly shall pass thy night of trial here,

And I will come and wake thee on the morrow.

Set to music by Edward Elgar, it can be heard here, sung by Dame Janet Baker and conducted by Sir John Barbirolli. 

Favourite Music - Dame Janet Baker

I have listened to this BBC programme about Dame Janet Baker with enormous pleasure and interest.

She was the natural heir to the great Kathleen Ferrier, my parents' favourite singer, and retired from opera when she was only 49, to the disappointment of all opera lovers.  

One of the most moving moments is when she, as the Angel, sings the final stanza of Elgar's 'Dream of Gerontius' (a Ferrier favourite as well) as a requiem for Sir John Barbirolli, She is barely able to finish the piece. Listen to this on the programme.   

SOFTLY and gently, dearly-ransomed soul, 

In my most loving arms I now enfold thee, 

And, o’er the penal waters, as they roll,

I poise thee, and I lower thee, and hold thee.

And carefully I dip thee in the lake,

And thou, without a sob or a resistance,

Dost through the flood thy rapid passage take, 

Sinking deep, deeper, into the dim distance.

Angels, to whom the willing task is given,

Shall tend, and nurse, and lull thee, as thou liest;

And Masses on the earth and prayers in heaven,

Shall aid thee at the Throne of the most Highest.

Farewell, but not forever! Brother dear,

Be brave and patient on thy bed of sorrow;

Swiftly shall pass thy night of trial here,

And I will come and wake thee on the morrow.

Interestingly, she says that when she comes back, she would love to sing Wagner.

See also Kathleen Ferrier 
See also 'The Dream of Gerontius'

Old Swan House Garden in April 2019

 The garden is waking up to spring and the huge hazel is coming out. The euphorbias are already in full bloom and seem not to mind the frosty mornings.

Box balls and pyramids massing by the pond

The new box balls by the summerhouse anchor it beautifully

The orchard on a frosty morning. I fear that the frosts have damaged the plum and apple blossom.

The grass garden is springing up again after being cut down in March. The bright shafts of pheasant grass show up clearly in the kate sunshine.

The mysterious corner. The wildflowers are greening up strongly behind the fence 

The new planters and box balls finish off the small terrace

The euphorbia are fully out and flow onto the gravel garden

The grass garden again in late sunshine

Stockbridge Gardens Open for the NGS 2019

The grass garden at Old Swan House

The National Gardens Scheme began in 1927 as a means of raising money for district nurses, by persuading private garden owners to open their gardens to the public in return for a small donation. In 2018 over 3500 gardens nationally opened at least once a year and enough money was raised for the NGS to be the principal donor to the nursing charities, Macmillan and Marie Curie, Hospice UK and the Queen's Nursing Institute, and it has recently begun supporting Horatio's Garden (which was started at the spinal injury unit in Salisbury and has now built gardens in seven such units nationally). Last year the NGS gave over £3m with Hampshire raising the most funds of all counties.

The Old Rectory

Persuaded by the redoubtable Patricia Elkington, the then area organiser for this part of Hampshire (now Kate Cann), Stockbridge began opening some of its gardens for the NGS in 2009 at the same time as Penny and Sandy Burnfield at Terstan in Longstock. The original openings were of Kim and Frances Candler's garden at Shepherd's House, Sally Milligan at Trout Cottage, Mary Matthews at Little Wyke and Pamela Marples at Waterlow. Robin Colenso and Chrissie Quayle at The Old Rectory joined in 2013 and Herry Lawford at Old Swan House in 2015. This year Becky Ferris at West View, London Road is opening for the first time in August (Sunday 4th - 10 to 4) and Wednesday 7th - 1.30 - 4.30) while Kim and Frances Candler are taking a sabbatical.

The four gardens in the High St open as a group on Thursday 13th and Sunday 16th June (2-5) on a single ticket (£7) with tea being taken on the Church lawn (and the tea proceeds going to the church).
Additionally, Herry Lawford opens Old Swan House each Tuesday in July (2-5 - £4).

The garden owners hope that many will come to their gardens this year and will be most grateful for your donations to the NGS.  

How To Be a Bore About Saving Almost Anything

The original caption is 'The Importance of Not Being Intellectual', but it could just as well be 'The importance of Not Being a Bore' - after Pont.

As well as trying to get the most mileage from a gallon of petrol, I have taken to trying to save other stuff as well.

It has occurred to me that I waste a lot of water washing things under the tap without catching the water in a plastic basin (to be used on the garden). That has changed and the plants near the back door now look better watered than ever. 

Until now I have saved my vegetable peelings for friends' chickens, but I have now taken to cooking up the top end of leeks, potato skins and other leafy stuff in a vegetable stock. And the stalks of broccoli, once sent to the chicken as well, are now peeled and chopped fine and taste delicious - especially raw! I do however now have more veg stock that I strictly need and so the chickens continue to get their greens!

I have also bought some 'Beeswax Wraps' that can be used (and reused) in the place of clingfilm or silver foil. They work really well, particularly for keeping a loaf of bread fresh, and for cheese.  

A lot of waste goes on in the bathroom. Needless to say, I turn off the tap when brushing my teeth, and I do use the plug in the basin when running water for my shave, but I expect I should find a way to use even less water. But I can't quite bring myself to shave in a mug of hot water. Shaving is such a pleasure that I still preserve the full ritual. However, I draw the line at not flushing the loo each time one has a pee, but of course, one should use the small flush option if there is one, or put a brick in the cistern.

But perhaps my main contribution to using less polluting forms of energy is in the fact that the house is heated only by electricity. When I bought it it had night-store heating - which was ok in the mornings as the heaters (essentially piles of brick) gave off a tolerable level of heat, but when I built on the kitchen at the back of the house in 2014, I put in underfloor electric heating which warmed the large high room very well. However, it was expensive to run in winter and when I eventually took the plunge to get rid of the night store heaters and put in some electric radiators with sophisticated thermostats, I found that I didn't need to use the underfloor heating nearly as much and my bills went down by £100 a month*. Even if it's a bit chilly on cold days, I sit on the sofa with a rug. But I do still have a wood fire own very cold days and will continue to do so until they are banned.

What more to do? I always read articles on energy-saving and pollution with interest and am keen to make changes when opportunities arise. I would like to think that my reluctance to fly anywhere has something to do with saving pollution from aircraft, but I'm afraid that if I needed to fly long distance to see family, I still would**. However, I would seriously consider taking the train or bus for European travel, as I am no longer constrained by time. 

I hope to go on adding to my list of things to bore on about, but I am struck by the entrenched attitudes that I encounter. The most common is that none of this makes any real difference, so why bother, and 'as most pollution comes from India, China and the US, it is they who should tackle the problem'. This, however, is not actually correct, as driving eg fuel-hungry cars has a measurable effect on emissions. and both the US and China have actually made some serious effort to use more green energy.  

The fact is that we are all responsible for polluting the planet, and in fact, CO2 pollution really started right here in the UK in about the 1850s as heavy industrialisation became widespread. NASA have just released a study of tree-rings that shows increased CO2 levels beginning at that time. As we (the industrialised countries) have benefited from more than a century of industrial activity, even though we are now using less fossil fuel than we once did, we actually have the most responsibility for its global effects. The other point is that we should try and use as little of the earth's resources as we can, and conserve what we can, as a careless attitude to the use of energy and other resources breeds a similar careless attitude to conservation in general, leading to a decline in many species.   

* Not surprisingly! When the electric radiator company surveyed the house, they showed me that in order to warm the kitchen to 21c, the floor had to be 30c! 

** As an illustration of how things have changed, I was happy when British Airways gave me a Gold card for life, in recognition of the thousands of miles I had flown with them, but I am now somewhat ashamed of it and fully expect one day to have a tax surcharge applied to any tickets I buy using it.  

See also 'How To Become a Petrol-Saving Bore'

The Scourge of Intensive Farming 

How to Become a Petrol-Saving Bore

Boodle and Annette in 1989 

I had never taken much notice of how much petrol I used, probably the result of having it free from the farm in my youth, and I think that almost the first time I noticed that I was using a lot was in 2005 when I saw that the Lexus 4x4 was returning 12mpg in London driving. And that was after I had driven 5.0 litre Jaguars and Daimlers that must have been even more thirsty.

The first Lexus at Richmond. This was actually quite frugal car despite its sportiness as it was a 2.5 twin-turbo

But in those days, apart from looking at the mileometer and working it out from when one filled up at the pump, there was little way of knowing what mpg the car was doing. In any event, petrol was then relatively inexpensive and few had connected climate change to the use of cars.

Kei in the Lexus 4x4 - much more thirsty especially in London driving

I would like to report that it was my concern about its mpg that persuaded me to change the Lexus to two Priuses, but it was more the fact that insuring the Lexus for Kei to drive at 18 was prohibitively expensive. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the fact that the Prius had a clear read-out of how much petrol one was using and it showed that I was driving more frugally. However, to begin with that obscured the fact that I had maintained my fairly swift driving style and the average 52 mpg that I was now getting (in my third Prius) was not particularly good.

My first Pruis on Old Winchester Hill. 

It was the drumbeat of climate change reports in early 2019 that caused me to look again at the mpg that I was achieving and think about how to improve it. It turned out to be less difficult that I imagined. I set the car to 'eco' and drove more slowly, and found that I could maintain an mpg of about 63 in normal conditions and up to 65 mpg on long journeys, a marked improvement. And of course my gentler driving style scarcely altered the time taken to reach my destination, and indeed it became obvious to me that the time taken to reach anywhere isn't the point. What matters is to set out in good time and not hurry.

I would now like to further improve my mpg by getting a plug-in hybrid or even a full electric car, but will wait until my car needs changing before making the switch. In the meantime, I am enjoying the challenge of getting the best mpg I can out of the current Prius while becoming a petrol-saving bore.

Update in April 2019: On a two-hour drive along the A272 in April, the Prius achieved a whisker short of 70 mpg - 69.9 - and the missing .1 was because the last 100 yards was up a steep uphill drive!

Update in May 2019: 75 mpg achieved on a 140 mile run up and down to London.

Update in May 2021: On e the same A272 journey as in April 2019, we achieved 71.7 mpg. 

Some comparisons to think about:

2L Petrol-engined car: average life 300,000 miles @30mpg = 10,000 gals or 38,000 litres of petrol costing £47,500 @£1.25 a litre.

Hybrid car: average life 300,000 miles @60mpg = 5000 gals or 19,000 litres costing £23,750. It's also worth noting that road tax is Nil.

EV 300,000 miles @ 0mpg - petrol cost nil, but about £500 a year to charge at home overnight and about £5 for a quick charge at a charging station. Also Nil road tax. 

NB 1 gallon of petrol contains 33kwt/hour of energy. Electricity costs £0.16 a kwt, so electricity is a bit more expensive than petrol, but an EV goes much far further on the same amount of energy.  A Tesla has a 72 kwt/h battery, the equivalent to a 2 gallon tank, but goes 330 miles on that amount of electricity, and so is much cheaper to run. 

Having talked to a number of people about this, I am struck by the entrenched attitudes that I encounter. The most common is that none of this makes any real difference, so why bother, and 'as most pollution comes from China and the US, it is they who should tackle the problem'. This, however, isn't the whole story, and driving fuel-hungry cars does actually make a difference. 

The fact is that we are all responsible for polluting the planet, and in fact, CO2 pollution really started right here in the UK in about the 1850s as heavy industrialisation became widespread. NASA have just released a study of tree-rings that shows increased CO2 levels beginning at that time. As we (the industrialised countries) have benefited from more than a century of industrial activity, even though some are now using less fossil fuel than we once did, we actually have the most responsibility for its global effects. The other point is that we should try and use as little of the earth's resources as we can, and conserve what we can, as a careless attitude to the use of energy and other resources breeds a similar careless attitude to conservation in general, leading to a decline in many species.   

How to Be a Bore about Almost Anything

The Scourge of Intensive Farming

Old Swan House Garden in March 2019

The gardening year always begins sometime in March; in Old Swan House garden it started on 13th March when the grass garden was cut down.

Before that, the garden was mostly asleep, guarded by the dark yew hedges and the still darker box, apart from the astonishing Daphne that has been casting its scent over the pond since January.

The Daphne scents the garden from January to April

The grasses have been marvellous all year and are no less interesting in winter.  The tallest, Miscanthus 'Prof Richard Hansen', throws a bright shaft of light nine feet, drawing the eye from all over the garden but particularly from the house.

The garden in February with Miscanthus 'Prof Richard Hansen' throwing up its beam of light against the dark hedge

The wildflower patch is cleared in the autumn but retains intrigue behind its rusty fencing.

The wildflower area

And then the grasses come down, along with the sedums and other small plants that dot the gravel garden, and the whole area feels refreshed and new. 'Stipa gigantea' is already throwing up masses of sharp green leaves, while the pheasant grass (which is not cut down) shows its pleasing colouring now that the most prominent grasses have gone. This year two of the tallest grasses have been removed (leaving one) as they were becoming somewhat 'thuggish' and beginning to crowd out others. 

With the clearing of the grass garden, the 'borrowed landscape' over the wall comes more clearly into focus and will remain so until the grasses return to draw the eye back to the area in May and June. 

One plant that does beautifully almost all year is my favourite, euphorbia. Not only are the acid-green whorls of 'wulfenii' out already, but its creeping cousin, 'myrsinites' is brightening the gravel with its fascinating spread of octopus-like arms.