where art collides philosoperontap

February 12, 2014

14

Filed under: thoughts — Trefor Davies @ 9:49 pm

Good number, 14. It’s an even number though why that should mean anything is anyone’s guess. Nobody’s business. It also means you are well and truly entrenched in your teens. 13 was the first of the teen birthdays. 14 is better. Another five numbers yet to come though. 15 – 19.

14 is one of the better birthdays. When I was 14 I was half way between being 13 and 15. Things haven’t changed even though we didn’t have the internet in those days.

One of the things about being 14 is that your age starts to race away from your shoe size. I don’t know anyone with a size 14 shoe. Good job. It’s also a good job that you eventually stop growing. Imagine if you carried on growing until you were 28! Uh!? Cost a fortune in clothes, food and versions of Football Manager/GTA etc etc.

52 divided by 14 is exactly 3.7142857132 according the calc on my dog and bone. Just sayin’. 140 is a long way off but you never know…

Happy birthday. You know who you are 🙂

February 10, 2014

trumpet lesson going on

Filed under: chinks — Trefor Davies @ 5:46 pm

There’s a trumpet lesson going on in the front room. Syncopation unless I’m very much mistaken.

There’s a pork chop being cooked in the kitchen. Nandos Peri Peri marinade.

The curtains are shut though it is still light out. Enthusiastic Mrs Davies.

A cup of tea rests on the arm of the settee. Going cold.

Work is over for the day. A night off.

Murmurs from the corridor and the sounds of a car departing. Football training.

A red light shines from the corner of the TV. Standby.

Assorted books fill three bookcases. Unsorted.

The cupboard doors are slightly ajar. Probably need closing.

Cars race by on the road outside and the sound of trumpets continues. The clock on the top of the bookcase ticks. It is showing approximately the right time. It may now be dark…

December 24, 2013

The meaning of Christmas

Filed under: thoughts — Trefor Davies @ 4:50 pm

Strange that the culmination of the year should be Christmas time. It is deepest mid-winter. The weather is at its most miserable nonentity. It rarely snows to make it the picture postcard scene of Christmas cards. Neither does it have the same significance as it used to – and I’m talking the midwinter festival here not the relatively modern religious aspect.

Time was, I guess, that folk got fed up with the austerity that winter brought and needed an excuse to break the monotony. Nowadays as long as you have the cash there is never a lean time of year where we await the onset of new growth with, presumably, eager anticipation. We still celebrate though.

In recent times the celebration has been themed around the birth of Jesus Christ. I am not in the least bit religious but I do still like the tradition of the whole Christmas Story. It makes me feel good. Takes me back to my childhood where we left brandy, mince pies and a carrot out for our midnight visitors and us kids were in bed at an inordinately early time to try and fast forward the night to morning.

Now as a parent with kids living away from home and knowing that they will be home for Christmas I feel almost the same excitement as I did all those years ago waiting for Santa to come. The kids themselves, I am pretty certain, like to come home. We have our community traditions: friends’ parties, carol singing in the Morning Star and early doors in the pub on Christmas Eve. For those that like to go there is the carol service at St Peter in Eastgate church.

The religious aspect now has no meaning for the majority of us. We still like to celebrate the birth of Jesus because we have always done so. It feels right but not because of any deeply held faith. For most, Christmas now means having a good time, nice presents, good food and drink. It has a feelgood factor.

As I write the fire is crackling away in the grate, there are Christmas carols on the radio and it has grown dark outside. The house is otherwise quiet and all is ready for the feasting ahead.

Have a great Christmas and good luck for the new year:)

December 21, 2013

Lincoln Eleanor Cross – launch of project

Filed under: Eleanor Cross — Tags: , , — Trefor Davies @ 9:46 am

On Tuesday a meeting was held at St Catherine’s church at South Common to launch the Eleanor Cross project for Lincoln. The original Eleanor Cross was destroyed during the English  Civil War although a fragment of the base still exists in Lincoln Castle.

Philosopherontap is going to cover the whole project but in the interest of getting some info out there quickly here are a couple of video interviews taken at the church on Tuesday.

The first is with artist Alan Ward and the second is with the parish priest Father Ian.

December 1, 2013

silent clock

Filed under: poems — Trefor Davies @ 3:17 pm

Low winter sun marks approach to solstice. House is warm. Kitchen radio talks sport, fire crackles. Clock makes its silent way.

November 27, 2013

Man escorts mother onto train

Filed under: chinks — Trefor Davies @ 7:23 am

Forty something man escorts his aged mother onto the train and tells her not to get off at Newark Northgate as the train goes straight through to Kings Cross. She mutters disapproval and says “Oh God” whilst shaking her head.

A couple of minutes later she is heard to ask someone on the train whether this train goes straight through to kings Cross. Now she is asking a member of staff. The son escorting her on the train was clearly right to tell her – normally you have to change at Newark.

Made me smile.

November 23, 2013

Boston

Filed under: thoughts — Trefor Davies @ 9:51 am

Off to Boston this morning to deliver some musicians to a midday rehearsal. Doing the “taking there” bit avoids the duty of bringing them back at around 10pm tonight. It’s not a bad drive back from Boston at that time of night but there are other things one could be doing.

For example I could be wallpapering the landing. I won’t be wallpapering the landing because it has only just been done by Anne and I wouldn’t be very popular if I did it again. If nothing else it would make the landing smaller. Anyway she would do a better job than me – better left to the experts I say.

The wallpapering bit was a random alternative job plucked out of thin air and deposited carelessly on the page in a take it if you will fashion. It isn’t the type of notion spent hours in careful crafting. Nor was it the output of an outrageously fertile imagination, a lively choice plucked dancing from the spotlit crowd neath life’s rotating mirror. It was in part the only choice. A selection of one proffered by a dullness of mind dampened by a late night Friday/Saturday morning.

Silence…

November 17, 2013

The Sunday Chill

Filed under: chinks — Trefor Davies @ 11:27 am

I’ve just sat down with a cup of tea after making a beef stew for tonight’s meal. I make a good beef stew. It sits in the oven on a low heat for most of the day and the result is a rich sauce and tender meat. The kids wolf it down. Quite pleasing. This one has a bottle of Timothy Taylors Landlord in it. Should be good.

The Davies house is at peace. One son is cooking sausages for his breakfast in the kitchen. Another has I think been doing some schoolwork. Good lad. Takes after his mother.

It’s quite nice to sometimes not do anything on a Sunday. Total relaxation. You have to get the balance of online and offline relaxation to do it right. Can’t spend all day stuck in a laptop. That would be just like an ordinary working day.

Last week was busy. Next week is going to be busy. Today is a day for chillin. Before we head out I’m going to clean out the fireplace and set it ready for this afternoon. Nothing quite like a cozy log fire on a Sunday afternoon. Yesterday I bought some crumpets. Say no more…

October 26, 2013

Journey to the far North

Filed under: chinks — Tags: , — Trefor Davies @ 7:41 am

It seems counter intuitive, heading south when I really want to be going north. I’m racing a storm. Heading towards it to escape the expected trail of devastation, before the airport closes and the hatches are battened down.

A crisp packet blows across the car park. Will it soon be a tree? A frisson of excitement tickles my spine.

September 28, 2013

;sldfk;ds’

Filed under: ideas — Tags: — Trefor Davies @ 12:05 pm

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September 8, 2013

Lincoln A2Z F15 Swanholme Lakes SirenFM sirenonline

Filed under: A 2 Z — Trefor Davies @ 7:44 pm

I been to Swanholme. More accurately I been to the Swanholme pub which isn’t in scope in this post. F15 is at the South end of Hartsholme Park which is a good place to take the kids for a run out on a Sunday afternoon.

Never been all the way round the park because it’s quite a long way round so the only view I’ve actually had of Swanholme Lakes is from the pub and the pub car park.

It’s quite a nice facility for the locals. Nice bit of nature. We are quite lucky in Lincoln with our bits of nature. After all we don’t have to go very far until we are in the countryside. Unless that is you happen to be travelling down Tritton Road in which case it’s mostly built up for a few miles.

Swanholme Lakes lie between the great artery that is Tritton Road and the sleepy commuter suburb of Doddington Park. Looked at buying a house in Doddo Park once but we ended up not doing so. We wanted to live in walking distance of Uphill Lincoln. More accurately within walking distance of the Bull and Chain, Morning Star, The Victoria, The Strugglers, oh and the shops of course.

We can always drive out to Swanholme if we want. We don’t. The kids are a lot older now and family life has moved on.

If you’re looking for birds Swanholme is the place to be. Splash. Splish. Splash.

Lincoln A2Z R14 – Canwick Pits

Filed under: A 2 Z — Tags: , , , , — Trefor Davies @ 7:04 pm

What do you think of when you hear the words Canwick Pits? Crap innit? Canwick, it’s the pits. It’s not really. The pits are a quarry where much of the stone used in walls around the very ancient village of Canwick was sourced.

Lots of history to Can wick. That’s the cool way to pronounce it by the way. Can – wick – two separate words. The first people to roam Canwick were hunters and gatherers in the Mesolithic period approximately 8500-5300BC. The first settlers arrived in the Neolithic period, approximately between 4500 – 7000 years ago, and then a more structured settlement came here in the Bronze Age, with a Barrow cemetery near the river Witham. I got that historical bit from the internet. Google it. It’s not my own original work. Plagiarised though not in a bad way. I’ve added value to the original copy.

I’m not going to go into any more detail either. There is a lot to read. It’s been around a long time and that is all we need to know for the purpose of this discourse.

I’ve not actually visited the pits at Canwick. Not even sure you can, though it might be one of those “former” quarries where people can walk the dog or ride mountain bikes or just go for a bit of a walk. Usually there is a lot of interesting wildlife to observe – fauna and flora. I’m thinking rabbits and butterflies with the occasional bird flitting by. Then a few flowers in the long grass.

Possibly it is a place where lovers go. Somewhere for a discrete cuddle away from the prying eyes of nosy villagers, curtain twitchers and tongue reporters. Telephone calls made expressly for the purpose of spreading the news. The same people see their husbands out on the drive on a Sunday morning, polishing the car, nipping down to the newsagent for a copy of the Mail on Sunday, maybe.

Gah. I get my stone from B&Q. That isn’t really true. I don’t buy stone. I got a barbecue from there recently but now I’m straying off the subject.

R14 – Canwick Pits. You know it makes sense.

K19 – Witham/Bracebridge Low fields

Filed under: A 2 Z — Trefor Davies @ 6:22 pm

In K19 the River Witham should not be confused with the North Hykeham Pump Drain which whilst being also filled with water is not the same. The Witham is of course a natural feature of the landscape whilst the drain is not.

The Witham will quite probably contain fish though not to my knowledge, salmon. The drain may also contain fish but it is less likely to do so than the river. In any event you should take care when out walking with small children that the youngsters keep well away from the edge of the water. It can be very dangerous especially after a period of heavy rainfall. The banks can get slippery.

I mentioned salmon because I quite like salmon sandwiches. Either smoked or poached with a bit of cuke and mayonnaise. Brown bread not white and butter not margarine. You should eat a variety of sandwich fillings in order to provide a varied diet. Just salmon every day would get a bit boring and you might find yourself short of a specific vitamin. This is guesswork.

I am somewhat digressing here. Artistic license. I did look online to see what information I could find about the drain. I was hoping to find the date where it was cut/invented (delete as appropriate). I couldn’t. At least on the first two pages of Google and I wasn’t desperate enough for the information to look any further.

So that’s it. Not a particularly enlightening article but it’s all you’re getting. Ciao.

September 5, 2013

the last few days of summer

Filed under: chinks — Trefor Davies @ 7:30 am

We are in the last few days of summer. Goodness gracious me an Indian summer. This isn’t summer in its death throws. It’s going to be a hot languid day with movement kept to a minimum but we know thanks to the experts at the met office that Autumn is about to come crashing down on us like an anvil falling through the floor above.

Nothing quite that dramatic really but tomorrow it will be cooler and it will rain. Tonight Hannah is having a barbeque with her mates. Good timing. Likely to be the last one of the summer season at least.

My train is speeding south and it looks like the harvest is in. The fields are stubble and straw bales. There is a haze. The haze that heralds a hot day ahead. The nation awaits in anticipation.

The god forsaken railway line

Filed under: chinks — Trefor Davies @ 7:23 am

The god forsaken railway line. Choose any one. They aren’t built for luxury. Back of the tenement, cement works, coal depot. No mobile signal. The long gaps in productivity a distraction. For productivity read connectivity. Don’t get me wrong. I like the fields. The countryside races by. Hares, deer even. Get up cows. Whadda you know!? Trees and hedgerows blurr. Warehouses clad in unattractive light grey. Golf course. Don‘t ask me where. Annoying private conversation spoken to all. Irritating sounds coming from someone’s mobile phone. I wonder what’s in that field. Cabbages? The harvest is under way. Hay. I hope he is getting off before me. Wondering whether to ask him to turn the sound off. This train is for Stanstead Airport. I’m not going all the way. Leicester. Fwiw. Was easier to drive to Leicester and catch a single direct train to Birmingham than to get a train to Newark, bus from Newark to East Midlands Parkway, train to Derby then one more connection to Brum. Either Brum is difficult to get to or Lincoln is. The bloke is overweight and has greasy hair. My dislike for him wasn’t instant. It has grown. Proportional to the length of time he has been in the same compartment. It isn’t that I don’t like train journeys. Far easier than going by car. There is standing room only in Standard Class. Popular line.

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