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!!!!!

not the best of weeks....

But still basically ok.... and it started me wondering about the old trouble coming in threes thing...and deciding that its aload of rubbish... it seems to me that we just have trouble thinking of things in, say, groups of six, or twelve, and three is just a convenient number... but when we do have a problem, it seems to put us into "recognise problem" mode, and we tend to pick up on other problems which have been there for ages, but we just haven't noticed it... its a similar mechanism to the "PurpleCar" one... if you are not aware of this, I will explain... yu may never have conciously seen a purple car... but the minute you consider buying one, you will suddenly see loads of them on the roads... not because they weren't there before and now are, but because you have just uploaded the "recognise purple car" firmware... it works with all sorts of things... try it one day... but we do have a thing about threes, don't we... troubles, bears, rings for the elven kings, parts of gods, being a crowd, and of course the rule of three, without which cinema and literature (and I use the word in its loosest possible sense) would be either duller, shorter or more longwinded... interesting that we tend to group in pairs rather than threes..... but I digress... and I'm tired... until your troubles go away in threes just to be fair, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Very good week.... and apart from Sileby model railway show, that's all I'm saying.... Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!

Valentines Day.....

Cumberland sausage and cherryade..... and that's all I'm saying..... Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!

Half Term begins....

And probably ends again very quickly.... with tons of plans that are very unlikely to be executed... but enough of that... so far i've done some shopping, ensured that my son spends at least some time with his mother, built a snowman, had the most enjoyable snowball fight of my life, built some more bits of a model railway, (a small n-gauge, built from leftovers for a friend's son... not brilliant, but serviceable) listened to the BBC recordings of Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, listened to Sad Les and Chess about three times each, watched Return of the Jedi, and planned for next week... and all since Thursday... and that doesn't include working on Friday, when we had to do two days worth of deliveries to make up for Thursday..... Our trip to Wales has been postponed to Easter, so I now have saturday free next week... but I'm sure that won't be the case for long..... But I am looking forward to next week.... a trip to Leicester to spend my son's birthday and Yule money.. (that is, he's spending it, not me...) a disco at Scouts on Tuesday, at which i will be dressed fancy, and on Wednesday I have been invited to dinner by a very attractive young lady of my aquaintance... I shall, of course be providing dessert... I would tell you more, but as she reads this blog occasionally (and for all I know is the only person to do so... no, I know shellie's had a look..) I will keep my wisely bearded mouth tightly closed..... suffice to say, if it doesn't work out, it'll be a sachet of Birds Custard and a packet of Digestives.... Next weekend, if I remember correctly sees a Model Railway show at Sileby... one of my regular venues.... along with the Soar Valley show at Garendon School, and the DEMU event at Burton....so gusess where I'll be spending a few hours on Sat or Sun??!!??...... By now, you'll probably have realised that I quite like trains.... my favourites being (steam) Stanier's "Black 5", and the Fowler 3F "Jinty"..... and (diesels) Classes 60 and 66... I'm also a great fan of multiple units, especially 158/159s, 170s and Meridians..... but my absolute favourite must be the absolutely gorgeous Model 62..... liking diesels and multiples at one time would have made me something of a pariah amongst railway modellers, but luckily nowadays a lot of the snobbery seems to be leaving the hobby.... I think we've all finally realised that one of the biggest spurs to railway modelling is nostalgia, and as someone who was born after the last steam loco left the rails, I get more nostalgic about seeing 37s, 47s and 25s pulling coal out of our local pits than I could about the steam I've never seen except at preserved lines... and eventually, I think the emphasis will change... already we have a younger generation of modellers who make steam layouts because they've never seen steam "for real..." then theres people like me, who like the modern era because its what we see all day.... my son will probably be nostalgic when he sees a class 158 at some preserved line in the future.... remember, steam finished oin 1968.... by 2068, there will be very few people left alive who ever saw a steam train on a real railway.... but I digress... I think what I'm trying to say today is that life is change, and those of us who don't accept this ar always going to be poorer than those of us who do... language changes, customs change, even people change... and so do our railways.... until all our plans are realised, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!