Monday

Approaching Stanage Edge from the south

I made a simple vegetarian lunch today. Tomato soup with softened chopped onions and garlic - mopped up with fresh seeded wholemeal bread from Tesco. Despite the weather forecast, there was a big blue sky and golden sunshine outside. 

I didn't need any more persuasion. Time for another walk. Not too far away. Back to the moors and a stroll on Stanage Edge. I needed to blow the cobwebs away and add a couple more miles to my dial. But just then the telephone rang.

It was my brother Robin phoning from the L'Ariege region of southern France. Now that fellow can talk for England even though he lives in France. We always enjoy a good chinwag together, swapping news and putting the world to rights.

And when the conversation drew to a natural close, I noticed that an hour had passed by. The outside world was no longer as inviting as it had been but I still jumped into Clint's cockpit and shouted "Chocks away!"

I have been to see the millstones under the southern end of Stanage Edge many times. They were probably abandoned at the time of the first world war when thousands of men from just about every trade and every corner of the kingdom went off to fight.

I can still just about recall the first time I saw them back in 1979. I just came upon them with no prior knowledge that they would be there. It was quite a surprise. There are several other abandoned millstone workings in The Peak District complete with carved stones that never made it to their destinations for by 1918 the world had changed forever.

Back home I prepared an evening meal using the dahl curry that Shirley had made when I was at the football match on Saturday. She had carefully followed instructions set out in one of our son's "Bosh!" vegan recipe books and I must say that the end result was super tasty. 

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After Life - ''There are angels''

I’ve been catching up with After Life this afternoon after much nagging and have binge watched season 1 today.

It’s a powerful, incredibly funny and at times painfully poignant exploration into grief 

And although the scenes where Gervais let’s the luminous Penelope Wilton shine are incredibly beautiful 

I loved the more observational humour scenes such as this one in series 3  , just as much 

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Bath

 Rainy and wet

Moisture dripping

From the sky

As the livestock

Crowd around

Awaiting an 

Unexpected bath

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Hands On

 My circadian  rhythms are shot to hell. I’m back on nights on Wednesday and I felt jet lagged most of yesterday. This morning I’ve taken a leaf out of Rachel’s books and got a cancellation appointment with a masseuse at a local sports club. I rang at 8.30 and was being pummelled on a couch with my head in a hole by 9 am. How wonderful was that?

I feel so much more alive and emotionally stable afterward a bit of hands on therapy. The masseuse told me that flip flopping shift work at my age is dangerous , which isn’t quite the news I wanted to hear this morning, but I have booked another session next week after my next bout  of nights. 

 I’ve just walked the dogs ( above video) and I’m off to deliver a cooked dinner to a friend whose having an exceptionally hard time at the moment . 

Oh I did break wind during the massage , very loudly too, but I was too relaxed to care

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Lata

"The Nightingale of India"

The population of India is currently 1.38 billion and rising. In the west, we are all very aware of this great and populous country with its rich and chequered history, its mysticism, its beauty, its joys and its sorrows. Yesterday, almost the entire Indian population shed collective tears over the death of  Lata Mangeshkar at 92 from COVID19.

She was a very famous "playback singer". This term describes recording artistes whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs on camera; the actual singer does not appear on the screen. Lata Mangeshkar's voice was familiar to generations of Indians for she sang countless songs for the ever expanding Bollywood film industry in at least thirty six Indian languages.

She received many awards in her long career. In 2001, in recognition of her contributions to the nation, she was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.

Visitors to this blog are nearly all westerners and I guess that most of us feel disconnected from the soundtracks of Bollywood. We don't understand the lyrics and the singing styles are strange to our ears. Nonetheless, I think it is good to pause for a little while and give Lata Mangeshkar a listen as she departs this life for the "seventh heaven" of Hinduism.

Here she is in 1963 on India's Republic Day singing "Aye mere watan ke logo" in New Delhi in the presence of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru who was reportedly moved to tears. The Sinai-Indian War of 1962 appeared to have ended just a few months before. The first verse with English translation is printed below the video:-

ai mere vatan ke logo, zaraa aa.nkh me.n bhar lo paani

Oh, my fellow citizens! Shed a few tears.

jo shahiid hue hai.n unkii, zaraa yaad karo qurbaanii

Remember the sacrifice of those martyrs.

tum bhuul na jaao unko, is liye suno yah kahaanii

Listen to this story so that you do not forget them.

jo shahiid hue hai.n unkii, zaraa yaad karo qurbaani

Remember the sacrifice of those martyrs.

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