Early start at Penponds Church yesterday - 'gem of Cornish churches' (John Betjeman) - enhanced and adorned by Canon Carah, who died in 1935. He brought back marble from Italy, comissioned ornate carving for the pews, a copy of a medieval tryptich from Belgium for the pulpit. Much of this paid for from his own pocket.
Camellias fading outside the door - pink and white - blossoms sodden and browning. There is a whiff of spring in the air though no sign of sun today.
Start to think of gardens - secret gardens and walled gardens. Andrew Marvell/The Garden:
"No white nor red was ever seen
So am'rous as this lovely green."
Gardens a state of mind.
Walking too a state of mind. Finally finish Extreme Rambling/Mark Thomas with a sigh of relief. This is a book that describe his walk along the Wall built by Israel around the Palestinian Territories. The most interesting parts when he talks about the experience of walking.
"Anyone with any taste knows that predictability is the woodworm of joy. And joy is what I was after. The joy unlike any other in finding a good walk, is genuine bliss. It comes from a combination of the landscpe, the route, the company and exposure to the elements that stays on the right side of exposure. Most of all, what makes a 'perfect walk' is losing your self in a sense of freedom."
The walk along the wall was too stop/start or alarming or frightening for that.
But was it Forster (E.M.) who says that good writing should reveal, not tell? Thomas just tells us - on and on and on - the jokes really seem like tagged on afterthoughts (mainly four-letter) when the story telling gets tough.
Plenty of detail of the Palestinians he met whose livelihoods have been destroyed by the war. Also interesting meetings with settlers - lovely vignette of a British diplomat...
But would anyone who hadn't seen the Wall really have sensed what it looked like, or what it felt like. Maybe it was so overwhelming that it was simply too hard to write about.... Very interesting that the most convincing - and heartfelt - passages seem to come close to the end when he's back in London at parents' quiz night at his children's school. Then some real - not mediated - emotion comes through.
AND ....as far as we can gather - he didn't meet many, if any, Jews who were not settlers, or doing their military service, or extreme Zionists. Would have been interesting had he done so.
Camellias fading outside the door - pink and white - blossoms sodden and browning. There is a whiff of spring in the air though no sign of sun today.
Start to think of gardens - secret gardens and walled gardens. Andrew Marvell/The Garden:
"No white nor red was ever seen
So am'rous as this lovely green."
Gardens a state of mind.
Walking too a state of mind. Finally finish Extreme Rambling/Mark Thomas with a sigh of relief. This is a book that describe his walk along the Wall built by Israel around the Palestinian Territories. The most interesting parts when he talks about the experience of walking.
"Anyone with any taste knows that predictability is the woodworm of joy. And joy is what I was after. The joy unlike any other in finding a good walk, is genuine bliss. It comes from a combination of the landscpe, the route, the company and exposure to the elements that stays on the right side of exposure. Most of all, what makes a 'perfect walk' is losing your self in a sense of freedom."
The walk along the wall was too stop/start or alarming or frightening for that.
But was it Forster (E.M.) who says that good writing should reveal, not tell? Thomas just tells us - on and on and on - the jokes really seem like tagged on afterthoughts (mainly four-letter) when the story telling gets tough.
Plenty of detail of the Palestinians he met whose livelihoods have been destroyed by the war. Also interesting meetings with settlers - lovely vignette of a British diplomat...
But would anyone who hadn't seen the Wall really have sensed what it looked like, or what it felt like. Maybe it was so overwhelming that it was simply too hard to write about.... Very interesting that the most convincing - and heartfelt - passages seem to come close to the end when he's back in London at parents' quiz night at his children's school. Then some real - not mediated - emotion comes through.
AND ....as far as we can gather - he didn't meet many, if any, Jews who were not settlers, or doing their military service, or extreme Zionists. Would have been interesting had he done so.
