Friday 31st January 2020

After 47 years, today marks the UK’s final day in the European Union, with Brits nationwide feeling the full weight of Brexit.

While some are delighted to ring in the ‘dawn of a new era’, Remainers are woeful about what’s next. I voted to remain but Boris Johnson bullied and cajoled like a spoilt child that has to have its own way. Him and Farage a total embarrassment in my opinion. And as for David Cameron utter shameful.

The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum

Terry Hall and Lynval Golding

I see a clinic full of cynics
Who want to twist the peoples’ wrist
They’re watching every move we make
We’re all included on the list

The lunatics have taken over the asylum
The lunatics have taken over the asylum

No nuclear the cowboy told us
And who am I to disagree
’cause when the madman flips the switch
The nuclear will go for me

The lunatics have taken over the asylum

I’ve seen the faces of starvation
But I just can not see the points
’cause there’s so much food here today
That no one wants to take away

The lunatics have taken over the asylum – take away my dignity,
Take these things away from me
The lunatics have taken over the asylum – take away my family,
Take away the right to speak
The lunatics have taken over the asylum take away my point of view,
Take away my right to choose

These images speak loud for me. where the union flag was treated with respect and the EU flag was treated in the only way thugs know how to treat other people. After all its only a flag. But is it? What does it matter.

The Flag refused to burn but it did slowly melt away.

“Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen”…. Heinrich Heine a similar feeling in my mind.

Ordinarily he is insane, but he has lucid moments when he is only stupid ….Heinrich Heine

At the stroke of midnight European Union officials in Brussels lowered the Union Flag for the last time with all the respect and reverence this historic moment commanded.

In Britain by contrast, Brexit supporters who had gathered in London, failed to show the same magnanimity and dignity as they tried to burn an EU flag.

Among the group to gather in Parliament Square, several Brexiteers attempted to set light to the 12 stared-flag in a final act of defiance.

However, their actions were ironically thwarted by European safety standards, as the flag refused to burn.

 

 

Thursday 30th January 2020

Images sent overnight by Mike Mosier

I met Mike through Face book.
We have chatted a bit now and then and as you can see he is a fan of UppyALf. I sent him a mug. He sent me these shots relating to The Field more than just photographs he notes the way things change and I included the song lyrics he mentioned in his explanation to his memory and images.

These were all just West of Manteno, Illinois 55 miles South of Chicago. Rural area, farm country. Kankakee County.

Manteno Township is one of seventeen townships in Kankakee County, Illinois, USA. It was formed from Rockville Township on March 12, 1855.

1 mile West of Woody Guthrie’s “City of New Orleans” Illinois Central RR tracks.”

“The train rolls down toward Kankakee, past villages, farms, and fields. Passing trains that have no name, and freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles.”

I am an amalgam of South Boston, Massachusetts Scots-Irish and Dad’s Welsh/Quaker/Native Peoples rural folk.

These photos of the field beyond our home were inspired by you and The Field.

I have moved to Michigan where I have a lake behind me. I have traded Western sunsets for Eastern sunrises. With Gail gone and my “Field” filling with homes and the vanished barn I am turning the house over to my youngest daughter and husband. Such is life.

That’s why I am glad to see “The Field” as a constant through many lives.

Mike Mosier

City Of New Orleans

Arlo Guthrie (originally by Steve Goodman)

Riding on the City of New Orleans
Illinois Central, Monday morning rail
15 cars and 15 restless riders
3 conductors, 25 sacks of mail

All along the southbound odyssey, the train pulls out of Kankakee
And rolls along past houses farms and fields
Passing trains that have no name, and freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles

Good morning America, how are you
Said don’t you know me, I’m your native son
I’m the train they call the City of New Orleans
I’ll be gone 500 miles when the day is done

Dealing card games, with the old men in the club car
Penny a point ain’t no one keeping score
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
Feel the wheels, rumblin’ ‘neath the floor

And the sons of Pullman porters, and the sons of engineers
Ride their fathers’ magic carpets, made of steel
And mothers with their babes asleep, are rockin’ to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel

Good morning America, how are you
Said don’t you know me, I’m your native son
I’m the train they call the City of New Orleans
I’ll be gone 500 miles when the day is done

Night time on the City of New Orleans
Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee
Halfway home, we’ll be there by morning
Through the Mississippi darkness, rolling down to the sea

But all the towns and people seem, to fade into a bad dream
And the steel rail still ain’t heard the news
The conductor sings his songs again, the passengers will please refrain
This train got the disappearing railroad blues

Good night America, how are you
Said don’t you know me, I’m your native son
I’m the train they call the City of New Orleans
I’ll be gone 500 miles when the day is done

 

Wednesday 29th January 2020

Had a meeting today with the Learning Team including Forest School team. Awful.
I felt it was awful anyway I did not like it at all. About changes of contract being paid per hour and maybe afternoon sessions shorter hours etc.

Man In The Iron Mask

Billy Bragg

When he drops you off, I will not say
Who was that who so quickly drove away…
The things you’ve done and the places you’ve been
When I open the door for you
I will not let them in…

As long as you come back to me
I will never ask
For you I will be

The man in the iron mask

You said you love me and it broke my heart
I was always your prisoner right from the start
The nights you spend without me
this house is like a dungeon
And you only return to torture me more

You must have your reasons
I will not ask –
For you I will be
The Man in the Iron Mask

 

Tuesday 28th January 2020

Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy and television panel game, chaired by Nicholas Parsons until the end of Series 85 in September 2019, due to his death in January 2020. Its first transmission on Radio 4 was on 22 December 1967, three months after the station’s launch.
The Radio 4 programme won a Gold Sony Radio Academy Award in 2003.

The object of the game is for panellists to talk for sixty seconds on a given subject,”without hesitation, repetition or deviation”. The comedy comes from attempts to keep within these rules and the banter among the participants. In 2011 comedy writer David Quantick ascribed Just a Minute’s success to its “insanely basic” format, stating, “It’s so blank that it can be filled by people as diverse as Paul Merton and Graham Norton, who don’t have to adapt their style of humour to the show at all.”

Throughout its half-century history, the show has, in addition to its popularity in the UK, developed an international following through its broadcast on the BBC World Service and, more recently, on the internet.

The idea for the game came to Ian Messiter as he rode on the top of a number 13 bus. He recalled Percival Parry Jones, a history master from his days at Sherborne School who, upon seeing the young Messiter daydreaming in a class, instructed him to repeat everything he had said in the previous minute without hesitation or repetition.

To this, Messiter added a rule disallowing players from deviating from the subject, as well as a scoring system based on panellists’ challenges.

The format was first used in One Minute Please, chaired by Roy Plomley, broadcast on BBC radio between 1951 and 1957. Whilst the fundamental rules were the same, the game was played in two teams of three rather than with four individual contestants. Other early incarnations of the show, all created by Messiter, include a 1952 version on South African radio, and a television version on the DuMont network in the United States.

The pilot for the show was recorded in 1967, featuring Clement Freud, Derek Nimmo, Beryl Reid and Wilma Ewart as panellists. The chairman was originally intended to be Jimmy Edwards but he was unavailable on Sundays, the proposed recording dates, and was replaced by Nicholas Parsons who was originally supposed to be a panel member. Parsons did not want the job and only reluctantly took it, just for the pilot episode. After the show settled in, again he found himself in the role of a straight man for the panellists. Although executives at the BBC disliked the pilot, its producer, David Hatch, threatened to resign if he could not oversee a full series. Not wishing to lose Hatch, the BBC acquiesced.

The show’s theme music is Frédéric Chopin’s piano Waltz in D flat major, Op. 64, No. 1, nicknamed the “Minute Waltz” (which, despite its name, lasts longer than the 60 seconds taken to complete a round of Just a Minute; the nickname actually refers to “minute” as in “small” rather than the unit of time). The recording used for the theme is by David Haines.

In 2018, Nicholas Parsons was unable to attend the recording of two editions of the programme as he had the flu. This broke his uninterrupted run of fifty years as a performer on the programme. The episodes were recorded on 1 April 2018 with Gyles Brandreth standing in for Parsons and were broadcast on 4 and 11 June 2018.

He was also not present for a recording session for two episodes in series 85; episodes 942 and 943 were broadcast on 9 and 26 August 2019. Brandreth again covered for Parsons.

Parsons died today 28 January 2020, at the age of 96.

 

Monday 27th January 2020

 

Sunday 26th January 2020

 

Saturday 25th January 2020

No More I Love You’s

Annie Lennox

I used to be lunatic from the gracious days
I used to be woebegone and so restless nights
My aching heart would bleed for you to see
Oh but now…
(I don’t find myself bouncing home whistling buttonhole tunes to make me cry)

No more “I love you’s”
The language is leaving me
No more “I love you’s”
Changes are shifting outside the word

(The lover speaks about the monsters)

I used to have demons in my room at night
Desire, despair, desire… SOOO MANY MONSTERS!
Oh but now…
(I don’t find myself bouncing home whistling buttonhole tunes to make me cry)

No more “I love you’s”
The language is leaving me
No more “I love you’s”
The language is leaving me in silence
No more “I love you’s”
Changes are shifting outside the word

(They were being really crazy
They were on the come.
And you know what mummy?
Everybody was being really crazy.
Uh huh. The monsters are crazy.
There are monsters outside.)

No more “I love you’s”
The language is leaving me
No more “I love you’s”
The language is leaving me in silence
No more “I love you’s”
Changes are shifting outside the word
Outside the word

Nothing Compares 2 U

Prince

It’s been seven hours and fifteen days
Since you took your love away
I go out every night and sleep all day
Since you took your love away

Since you’ve been gone I can do whatever I want
I can see whomever I choose
I can eat my dinner in a fancy restaurant
But nothing
I said nothing can take away these blues

‘Cause nothing compares
Nothing compares to you

It’s been so lonely without you here
Like a bird without a song
Nothing can stop these lonely tears from falling
Tell me, baby, where did I go wrong

I could put my arms around every boy I see
But they’d only remind me of you
I went to the doctor and guess what he told me?
Guess what he told me?
He said, “Girl, you better try to have fun no matter what you do,”
But he’s a fool

‘Cause nothing compares
Nothing compares to you

All the flowers that you planted, mama, in the back yard
All died when you went away
I know that living with you, baby, was sometimes hard
But I’m willing to give it another try

Nothing compares
Nothing compares to you
Nothing compares
Nothing compares to you
Nothing compares
Nothing compares to you

Zu Asche, zu Staub

Severija Janusauskaite

Zu Asche, zu Staub
dem Licht geraubt
doch noch nicht jetzt
Wunder warten bis zuletzt

Ozean der Zeit
ewiges Gesetz
zu Asche, zu Staub
zu Asche
doch noch nicht jetzt

Zu Asche, zu Staub
dem Licht geraubt
doch noch nicht jetzt
Wunder warten bis zuletzt

Es ist doch nur ein Traum
das bloße Haschen nach dem Wind
Wer weiß es schon genau?

Die Uhr an deiner Wand
sie ist gefüllt mit Sand
leg deine Hand in mein’
und lass uns ewig sein

Du triffst nun deine Wahl
und wirfst uns zwischen Glück und Qual
doch kann ich dir verzeih’n

Du bist dem Tod so nah
und doch dein Blick so klar
erkenne mich
ich bin bereit
und such mir die Unsterblichkeit

To Ash, to Dust

To Ash, to Dust
return we must
But not just yet
Miracles are ours to get

The tide of time
It seals our fate
To ash, to dust
To ash?
Let’s make time wait!

To Ash, to Dust
return we must
But not just yet
Miracles? Not just yet
Miracles are ours to get!

Is this a dream we’re in
Always Tossed and torn by the wind
Who could know for sure?

The clock upon your wall
Alarm begins to call
So put your hand in mine
And hold it for all time

Its time for you to choose
With everything to lose
Do you love bliss or agony?

Our time is fading fast
The future soon will pass
Open your eyes
At last we’ll see
Each other
Immortality

I wrote this poem in June 2019 I had never heard the above lyrics or seen them.

Dust Ash and Disgrace

I have a hunger that won’t be satisfied
It just won’t stop
Like a virus it will devour its host
It won’t rest
No peace of mind, no lazy day
Like the fires of Hell it burns away
My soul will never survive this ride
The end of my time
Will I guess decide
I don’t believe in a better place
My pain will cease leaving only
Dust and ash and disgrace
No heroes mark
No dreams
No longing
No desire
All will have gone
My atoms returning to the bigger plan
Until the heat death of the universe

But chaos does not have a plan

John Bish 26th June 2019

Southampton 1 Spurs 1

It was honors even at St. Mary’s Stadium in the FA Cup. Spurs went ahead thanks to Son Heung-Min’s low-struck goal in the second half, but conceded a late goal to Sofiane Boufal and ended up drawing Southampton 1-1 in the FA Cup. The two sides will now play a replay at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in ten days time.

There were a couple of surprises in the starting lineup. New signing Gedson Fernandes made his first Spurs in attacking midfield, while Harry Winks was back in the lineup despite taking a heavy knock to his ankle in the mid-week win over Norwich. Japhet Tanganga came back into the lineup, again at left back, and Davinson Sanchez started at CB alongside Toby Alderweireld. Hugo Lloris started his second straight match after returning from elbow surgery. Tanguy Ndombele started on the bench, and while Christian Eriksen traveled with the side, he was not in the match day 18.

Gio Lo Celso ran the show out there, showing some incredible dribbling ability in midfield, and equally good passing. He’s every bit as good as we thought he’d be. This is Gio’s team now.
Spurs had a fantastic first half and a less fantastic second half. Had Spurs been a little more clinical they could’ve killed this game off much earlier.

Serge Aurier had another good match but was responsible for losing Ings in the buildup to Southampton’s goal.
Again, Jose Mourinho didn’t use all of his subs, which was especially baffling considering that Spurs looked gassed down the stretch in this match.
A replay isn’t the worst outcome, but it’s disappointing that Spurs couldn’t finish things out here on the road.