Rumours from the domain of Arnheim

Another Valentine

Today we are obliged to be romantic

And think of yet another valentine.

We know the rules and we are both pedantic:

Today’s the day we have to be romantic.

Our love is old and sure, not new and frantic.

You know I’m yours and I know you are mine.

And saying that has made me feel romantic,

My dearest love, my darling valentine.


Wendy Cope


Love is...


Love is feeling cold in the back of vans

Love is a fanclub with only two fans

Love is walking holding paintstained hands

Love is.

( the rest )


The late, great and beautiful Adrian Henri

Yikes, the new Camelot is a pig's ear.

Why do they get talented creatives to invent fantasy clothes for historical programs instead of someone who's read a book on the subject? Or seen a documentary? Or had a ten minute conversation with anyone who knows anything?

( Cut for a very minor spoiler )

Pretty, pretty people dressed in ugly, ugly clothes, rather like an explosion happened in the BBC's costume department and they just glue gunned it as it landed and sold it on, chortling.

Kind of "last minute, had to use what I could find at a jumble sale for 10p" by cosplay standards, let alone something set in the real world. I didn't think we could get served up with less believable costumes than Keira Knightly's "King Arthur", but I was wrong, a new low.

And I thought they would have saved so much time and cash on the costumes for the actresses, seeing as they don't wear any most of the time...

I've enjoyed spending time thinking about swords and swordsmanship for our writing weekend, particularly revisiting The Duellists (1977) directed by Ridley Scott.

( True Story )

How can two men sustain such an obsession? 19 years is the length of time from Scribbles first falling into the arms a twenty-four year old ingenue when he was a penniless singer in a band with long hair and a RAF greatcoat, to slow dancing with him, recently returned to singing some of the same songs, dressed in a kilt and a captain's cap at Kita-kon earlier this year.

The wars mark us, but reveal us more than change us.

And great passions endure.

Britain's first Green Party MP is Caroline Lucas in Brighton.

I honestly thought it would take a massive environmental disaster in the UK before we beat the first-past-the post system. Maybe people are realising Climate Change is already a disaster. A hope for survival, a voice for radical policies that is isn't tainted with the odour of racism. I didn't have a candidate myself again because of the costs, but this has lit a fire again. We worked years ago with a Plaid Cymru MP we formed a pact with, but to beat the three-party system in our own right is astonishing.

Whatever your place on the political spectrum, I believe this has got to be a useful wake up call for the traditional political parties bogged down in the mire of power-play and spin. Will a hung Parliament actually bring better government?

A Merry Christmas to all!



We've dodged the Christmas shopping, ducked the office parties, been out carolling at the Station in the snow with chaps from church, Scribbles has put up a few cards and lights and we've had sherry and a mince pie.

How more like Christmas can it get?

I hope you find Peace & Joy amid the flurry :-)

Quite literally, that was the subject of our morning church service and I'm both impressed and proud of what I heard from the pulpit (Actually we don't use the pulpit, the rev stands at the front of the altar dais and uses a lapel mike, which I prefer myself) .

The notes for the service were: "God has made male and female and affirms us as good. How do we regard those whose sexuality is different from our own? What is the place of marriage?"

The message was one of compassion and acceptance, that the Word is for everyone, not just the ones in this or that pigeonhole, that we sin against one another when we objectify and commodify each other, disrespect or abuse one another, not because we are gay or aren't married or have been divorced. That message, that we might not be evil because we were sexual, or because we don't tick box A, was personally very comforting and politically very refreshing.

( Click for more challenging and uplifting stuff )

Parting thought: I just noticed the footnote in Today's New International Version:
John 4:21 "Woman," [b] Jesus replied, "believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem... a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.
[b] The Greek for 'Woman' does not denote any disrespect.

How alarming that people might need to be reassured that Christ didn't call someone 'woman' as a dismissive term.

I married my girl 15 years ago today. I love her even more deeply now.

Pic from 5 years ago gazing into the sky.

If I saw someone on the street trying to saw their own foot off, I would try to stop them. When I see some fit young person smoking in the street now, I want to punch them in the face. I fantasize about getting cards printed up with the name of my favourite oncologists to hand them out to the schoolkids who gather to smoke at the end of my street. I want to plunge their heads in buckets of water until they swear to give up.

I suspect the Smoke Free helpline may be a more productive approach ;-)

But. ( Click for ifs and butts )I see
In many an eye that measures me
The mortal sickness of a mind
Too unhappy to be kind.
Undone with misery, all they can
Is to hate their fellow man;
And till they drop they needs must still
Look at you and wish you ill.

A Shropshire Lad, XLI

One is angry with the wounded animal that bites, but you resist the temptation to punch its lights out ;-)

( Poem: The First of May )

Now I read it again, it seems pessimistic, but I still love the whistful nostalgia.

To the Ladies and Gentlemen of the Air


I had the good fortune to visit the Airyards this morning. I am happy to report that The Flying Roman is nearly completed. As I stood gazing up at its proud skeleton, awaiting only its final covering and pressurisation, besides the installation of such furnishings and comforts commensurate with modern travel, I was reminded of an anecdote concerning General Sir John Moore.

This great innovator, so instrumental in introducing the principles of Unnatural Philosophy into Their Majesties' service, masterminded the formation of the first Light Mechanical Brigade, as you know. According to the work of Sir Arthur Bryant, Moore's care was such in honing our Forces in order to pave the way for the ultimate destruction of the Great Tyrant of the Air that he considered not only the incorporation of Mechanistic devices capable of countering Leon's Montgolfiers but also the Physical, Mental and Metaphysical character of his men.

It is said by Bryant that, when constructing the buildings of his new brigade training camp, he was consulted by the architect on the apposite layout of the paths. Sir John asked him to wait a couple of months, to observe the behaviours and habits of his men and most particularly where they grew accustomed to walk of their own natures and then to place the paths accordingly.

As we contemplate the adventure before us, with nought but the trackless immensity of the sky to furnish us with a heading, let us be guided by this principle in opening ourselves to limitless Possibility and to the New.


Not by generals, mentalists, prognosticators, Authors or even captains shall our course be decided. Instead, let the chroniclers construct the pathways of History upon our wake.


I look forward most eagerly to renewing our various acquaintances, and remain always,



your most humble and obedient servant,

Nathaniel Constantine, Capt., R.A.C., K.L.D.S.



GOD SAVE THE QUEENS!