not sure.... but something.. or nothing....

Strange how your mind wanders.. but maybe yours doesn't.. so let me rephrase.. strange how my mind wanders... i was remembering the othe day a theory of matter that myself and a schoolfriiend invented at school.. strangely enough.. the basics were this..that really, there were only two things in the universe... stuff, and gap... and everything else was made up of them.... and that there was more gap than there was stuff... and just to make it more fun, what we tend to think of as gap is usually made up of stuff... for instance, space and time... for in my opinion time is not the stage upon which we act, but merely another player.... time, we must always remember, does not pass.. it is only the failure of our nervous system to comprehend time that gives the illusion of time passing.... all moments are both instantaneous and eternal... when you imagine existence, imagine one of those long exposure photos of the brooklynn bridge at night, with all the headlamps showing as lines.. then imagine every lamp line to be an individual particle... and that the picture is infinite.. and you've got a fair idea of what the universe really looks like...i was told once that everything in the universe was simply a probability function... i've also been told that everything is simply a wave function equation, or that its a product of a deranged imagination.. although my money's on the last.... but it gets late, and i digress.... and i still haven't explained the appeal of Anthea Turner... if it is indeed explainable.. until we are all perfect housewives, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!

Dippers, Doves, and dandruff....

The beard which is wise had a lovely walk in along the Derbyshire/Staffordshire border yesterday, along the beautiful river Dove... strangely enough, at the incredibly famous Dovedale, near Ilam... walking along the Staffs side to the stepping stones, we found said stones to be half underwater... but, if not for the central on being under six inches of fast flowing torrent, they would have been passable.... but with a twelve year old, it was not a good idea.... so, steps retraced, it was over the bridge, and along the dale... and, once the sun came out, a very beautiful day it was... we strooled through to Milldale, crossing the famous Viators Bridge, and then put ourselves in reverse, and went back through the dale, the return journey, as usual, seeming only half the distance... ther were buzzards and ravens aplenty (which will please my friend at Polyolbion...) and we saw one solitary dipper, plunging beneath the fast flowing Dove to reappear several times on its way upstream... but no doves, or even pigeons... although we did see one shot rabbit, one dead sheep, and one part mummified bunny... which just goes to show... a stark reminder that, no matter how peaceful and picturesque, even a place like Dovedale is a place of life, and therefore also a place of death... and, of course, it reminds us that in England at least, there are no wild places.... it is only the action of man, in industry and agriculture, that gives us Dovedale, The Peak District, the Yorkshire Moors, the lake District.... so remember, next time you see people objecting to quarrying, open cast mining, factory building.... if, hundreds of years ago, the same nay sayers had had their way, we would not have the Peak District.... the world always changes, and nothing man does is permanent... if we scar the earth today, time will repair the scar... in a few thousand years, the scar will be gone, or beautified.... grown over, and essential.... ah, I hear you say.. but what of the dandruff?? Well, suddenly finding myself to weigh only 15 stone 12, and not the 18 stone expected, all I can think of is that the Head and Shoulders has worked wonders... and with that, it is time to go... until all men realise that we are not so important that we can end a world, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!

its that time of the month....

Its been a strange year for me... starting on new years eve (which to you is last year, but not to me... more of that later...) and carrying through to today.... its a topsy turvy twisty turny life I lead.... apparently.... but back to years.... I well remember the "end of te world " mania around the so-called "millenium" with those Christian groups, and others who should have known better worrying about God's second coming.... even I, as a non-Christian got a little worried... not about God, as such, but about some loon trying to do God's work and stirring up armageddon.... but when all is said and done (as ABBA so famously said) its all just numbers.... I mean, some of us pagans number this year 1007 after the discovery of Vinland.... some of us use the Christian years... and I, along with many others, don't use numbers at all.... I name the years after significant events... so therefore I don't know what year I'm in until after its over... and to explain more about New Year.... the secular year begins Jan 1st, at midnight... the tax year on April 4th if i remember correctly... then we have Chinese new year, Jewish new year, Islamic new year... but I still get weird looks when, in October, I tell people to have a happy new year.... that's right, our year begins in October... technically it begins with the first frost, but to make it easier we begin it at sundown on the day of the new moon nearest the end of October, or on the day usually called Hallowe'en.... sundown?? Yes, as our tales tell that the world began in the cold and dark.... so our day begins in the dark, once the sun goes down, and continues to the next sundown... and then the year begins in winter... and we have thirteen months....as there are thirteen new moons in every year, and a month is literally a "moon..." which can get confusing, especially as pagans themselves don't really agree how many we have, and what they're called.... for example, to me, we are in Hred month.... the month sacred to Hred... new year falls in Winterfilth, or the time of tree felling for winter... but to some , we are in Barren Moon.... mind i always find it strange that, although we live in a supposedly Christian country, and the secular calendar has Latin months, we have kept a tight hold on the days.... our Monandaeg, Tirsdaeg, Odinsdaeg, Thorsdaeg, Freyrsdaeg, Saetaresdaeg and Sonndaeg are recognisable to all... but I digress.... I think what I'm trying to say is that it doesn't really matter what we call the days... or the months, or the years.... we all, as Philip Larkin would have said, live in the same ones..... regardless of the International Date Line.... but there we are.... the only alendar that really worries me is that one that counts downwards.... lets hope they're not right... until all our days become nights Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!