for valentine's - uncontradicting solitude

'Best Society' by Philip Larkin

"...When I was a child, I thought,
Casually, that solitude
Never needed to be sought.
Something everybody had,
Like nakedness, it lay at hand,
Not specially right or specially wrong,
A plentiful and obvious thing
Not at all hard to understand.

Then, after twenty, it became
At once more difficult to get
And more desired - though all the same
More undesirable; for what
You are alone has, to achieve
The rank of fact, to be expressed
In terms of others, or it's just
A compensating make-believe.

Much better stay in company!
To love you must have someone else,
Giving requires a legatee,
Good neighbours need whole parishfuls
Of folk to do it on - in short,
Our virtues are all social; if,
Deprived of solitude, you chafe,
It's clear you're not the virtuous sort.

Viciously, then, I lock my door.
The gas-fire breathes. The wind outside
Ushers in evening rain. Once more
Uncontradicting solitude
Supports me on its giant palm;
And like a sea-anemone
Or simple snail, there cautiously
Unfolds, emerges, what I am..."

 a compensating make-believe for Valentine's Day: uncontradicting solitude for sea-anenome's and simple snail's just like me ;)

 [just two valentine's posts from me this year. All the rest from here can be found here ;o)]

for valentine's - can't wait!

Bob Dylan ROCKIN' IT with 'Can't Wait'

I'm glad to see he's enjoying himself and having a bit of fun

GO BOB!

["I don't know how much longer I can wait..." ;o)]



[just two valentine's posts from me this year. All the rest from here can be found here ;o)]

a quote, a blog, a drama, a video

some snippets that spring to mind from last year...

A Quote:

"Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away"

-- Mrs Craik.

This beautiful little gem was discovered whilst reading the brilliant book "Born Brilliant: the life of Kenneth Williams" by Christopher Stevens, where Ken would abbreviate the quote to "chaff & grain" amongst friends.

A Blog:

Lost and Found Photographs

My friend Rich shares these lovely old photographs and postcards he comes across. They inspire the imagination to explore the lives and stories of strangers from the past as if we knew them...

A Drama: 

Over Christmas the BBC1 adaptation of Great Expectations was amazing.



A Video:

It's Time



a story of true love in just 2 minutes

Simon

we're like to meet no more

A. E. Housman A Shropshire Lad XXII

"...The street sounds to the soldiers' tread,
And out we troop to see:
A single redcoat turns his head,
He turns and looks at me.

My man, from sky to sky's so far,
We never crossed before;
Such leagues apart the world's ends are,
We're like to meet no more.

What thoughts at heart have you and I
We cannot stop to tell;
But dead or living, drunk or dry,
Soldier, I wish you well..."

remembrance and the faithful thought

A. E. Housman Last Poems XVIII

"...The rain, it streams on stone and hillock,
The boot clings to the clay.
Since all is done that's due and right
Let's home; and now, my lad, good-night,
For I must turn away.

Good-night, my lad, for nought's eternal;
No league of ours, for sure.
To-morrow I shall miss you less,
And ache of heart and heaviness
Are things that time should cure.

Over the hill the highway marches
And what's beyond is wide:
Oh soon enough will pine to nought
Remembrance and the faithful thought
That sits the grave beside.

The skies, they are not always raining
Nor grey the twelvemonth through;
And I shall meet good days and mirth,
And range the lovely lands of earth
With friends no worse than you.

But oh, my man, the house is fallen
That none can build again;
My man, how full of joy and woe
Your mother bore you years ago
To-night to lie in the rain..."

I work all day and get half drunk at night

chaff & grain - thank you Mrs Craik

"... Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away ..."

-- Mrs Craik

the aftermath of the UK elections and referendum, 5th May, 2011

A year ago in the aftermath of the 2010 General Election which had resulted in a hung parliament, electoral reform was high on the political agenda (such electoral reform had been spoken about for much of the last century - just look at the Feb 1974 election). But today, thanks to Nick Clegg and the ConDems, the fickle public have kicked the prospect of meaningful electoral reform into the long grass for a generation. The vote today was a vote for David Cameron, the Tories and the political elite. They were the winners today, and ordinary people were the losers, now and for years to come. Retaining FPTP, and the ConDems' intention to gerrymander constituencies by reducing the number of MPs from 650 to 600, means that the Tories are much more likely to win an outright majority at the next general election. If that's in 2015, we are faced with the prospect of 10 years of David Cameron and the Tories. Despite Labour's gains (and Telford was a great result!), their poor performance in Scotland and the Tories' success in the English elections, at a time when they are wrecking the country with the biggest cuts since the 1930s, means it appears it increasingly difficult that Labour and Ed Miliband will be able to win the next election, unless there is radical change