Days Off, Snow and Tears

To celebrate finishing my tax return I had a day off and went to Macc.  I went to Macc and I didn't shout at anybody, so I think we can say I have turned a corner. 

It was snowing as I caught the bus to go over England's most dangerous road.  "Should I be doing this?"  I thought. 

That reminds me of a little tip I wanted to give you: don't go to the Dali Museum with a banging hangover.  Those Spanish attendants can really shout if you spew up.  Unless you can say "visceral response to the art" in Spanish and think you can bluff it out.

I didn't stay long as it was cold and I was thinking about the snow and the dangerous road thing.  I bought a DVD:

A New DVD

went home, lit a fire and had a good cry over the film.  Could Hardy get any more miserable? 

Probably.

Rusty Water

When I walked down to the studio, I saw the brook was really full.  I cross it twice on my way; once by a footbridge, once a road bridge.  There was so much water rushing down from the hills that there was white water.  Well, they would have been if the water wasn't brown.  The water in the brook is so brown even the white bits are brown.  That is because the water is - today's word - chalybeate.  That is full of iron.  It doesn't make for a very attractive brook, as it is always a kind of rusty colour.

Half a Marble and a Stone Axe

Last night I re-watched one of my Christmas pressies:

Play For Today

It is an old television Play For Today from 1970.  There is a mysterious element in it of an object found in the garden of a modernised cottage.  The new owner of the cottage finds half a marble on the outside windowsill one morning.  "You've brought it in the house, then" states the creepy housekeeper from the village.  We never know quite what the half-marble has to do with the ensuing events, but somehow it is a link, or a piece of contagious magic.

It is an idea I find fascinating: how a physical object can link a modern person to centuries of history that have played out in ordinary people's lives on the same spot of English earth.  It is the theme in my favourite book:

My Favourite Book

Aimo read it recently, at my insistence, as I had eventually (after 26 years) read his favourite book.  "It's alright, but there isn't much fighting in it" was his opinion.  Whereas my opinion of his favourite book was "It's alright, apart from there was too much fighting."  So be warned, Ferney contains some nightmares, some torture, a bit of strong bloody violence, a murder; but no actual battle scenes.

Although I love Ferney, I would have to admit that the central idea had probably been used first in:

A Good Book

which has as it's central theme an object (a stone axe-head) which is the link between centuries of history, some battles included.  If you are looking for a film or book with this theme, these are available, and you pays your money and takes your choice.  I love them all.

Art, Roller Discos and Gardens

We went to a family party in North Wales on Saturday night.  To bribe myself to do this, I promised myself a visit to the Ruthin Craft Centre on Sunday morning.  I always remember the centre as the place where we went on spec and saw Reggie's Roller Disco.  I still carry my ticket to Reggie's Roller Palace in my wallet, next to the photo of my kids:

My Favourite Exhibition

This time there wasn't anything that grabbed me like that, but I suppose you can't see your favourite artwork ever every time.  The main exhibition was ceramics, and I felt a bit dangerous around it, with a hangover and still wearing high-heeled boots as I hadn't brought sensible boots to change into with me.  You don't want to be wobbly and slightly dizzy near expensive ceramics.

One of the small exhibitions was this:

A Good Exhibition

It featured the work of an artist couple who were interested in myths and mythology and gardens.  I love the commitment of old style art where people completely went for it.  These two artists married, bought a place in Herefordshire and lived their art, making their home and garden part of it.  Fifty years later they have not just their art, but also a garden which they have made.  It's the opposite of short-attention span art, really concentrating on your own thing.  I loved it so much, I bought the book:

A Good Book

as a little vote of thanks for letting me know about Ronald and Betty Pennell and their work.

Hippy Witch, Fairy Witch

Talking of hippy witches here is Miss Aimson the hippy witch on holiday:

The second fairy witch looks a little bit grumpy, that can't be right.

Bluebells and Fish and Chips

With the arrival of snow last night, I have been further encouraged to think about holidays.  I checked the almanac in the kitchen at Aimo's House, and found that Easter is really late this year.  On the one hand, this means we have ages to wait, on the other it means, if we go South, there is a good chance of bluebells and the countryside being really pretty. 

Here is a photograph we took one Easter in Cornwall:

Hippy Photo

with the bluebells just starting to come out.

This was taken on the road between Boscastle and Tintagel.  Hey hey, could you get any more hippy witch than that for a location!  On the subject of Boscastle, my latest

A Great Magazine

Merry Meet magazine just told me that the Director of the Museum of Witchcraft (in Boscastle) has retired and gifted the Museum to The Museum of British Folklore.  I understand why he has done it, to protect the collection and keep it together, and that he thought long and hard about the best way forward, but it feels sad.  It feels like the middle class holiday resort Cornwall of the South of the county is creeping up to the North of the county.  It feels like

"Hey Hey Hippy Witch, you're not welcome any more"

So where are hippy witches to go on holiday?  Now the hippy witch community is on-line and at specialist conventions only, where are we to go if we want to be a hippy witch in the not-virtual world?  Where are we to go if we want fish and chips from the King Arthur's Chip Shop, or a magazine from Merlin's Newsagent?  I'm going to miss it if those places don't exist any more.

p.s Aimo said I wasn't doing enough swearing in my blog lately so: fucking bastards I want my hippy shit back!

Snow! Shock! Horror!

Well we have the first covering of white of the winter.  I don't know if it's going to turn into anything much, I don't think so.  Here is a reminder of winters past: