• I do remember the old days – before we went to the new churches of shopping, namely the malls and garden centres. I actually remember going to real Churches as a child. Then Sundays would drag on forever. Nothing to do but wait for the Top Twenty on the radio. When that was over the evening would drag on interminably until bedtime and the new week ahead.

    Today, Caledonian McBrain were due to start their Sunday ferry services to the islands of Lewis and Harris, upsetting the old Calvanist order of boring Sundays, where even the playground swings used to be chained up for fear of some small child enjoying themselves on the Sabbath.

    But are we any better off in our 24/7 world? Do we need a moment of rest – of peaceful contemplation? I think Sunday should at least be a day free from daytime cash-in-the-attic-flog-my-auction programmes. But then, when I think about it, the grandaddy of them all, namely Antiques Roadshow, was a Sunday Programme. So maybe there is no hope for us at all. No peace for the wicked, eh?

  • Green Woodpecker
    Green Woodpecker
    I was just brought out of deep concentration while I was drawing, by a harsh, chattering, screeching noise outside. It had to be a green woodpecker.

    I took my camera out, just in case the woodpecker might be having a contra temps with the cats up the willow tree. They usually have at least one set to each summer. But no, the woodpecker was in someone else’s garden. Then, suddenly, he was on top of next door’s chopped off leylandi and I managed to get this very grainy shot.

    He’s back now, squawking away. Last year there was a whole family in the tree at the same time. I wonder if he is checking out the lay of the land to see if it is okay for his fledglings to come out and see the world?

  • The internet and the truth. Will one ever know the other?

    I’m researching Greek Myths at the moment. All those wonderful stories have many versions within the Greek tradition, before ever the Romans got hold of the stories and passed them down to us – we who have altered, rewritten and re-shaped them ever since.

    Of course, The Greeks didn’t think the stories up themselves, but adapted them from other traditions, Goddesses becoming Gods as it suited.

    So it is interesting to see how the stories change on the internet. One misquote on one site leads to a new chronology on another.

    I just found one site that suggested that Hermes used his winged sandals to steal Apollo’s cattle. Nice idea, but Hermes was less than one day old when he stole the cattle and had not been given the sandals yet.

    Does it matter? I’ve spent the afternoon re-crafting and outline of Hermes life, trying to make it exciting and accessible to modern children. Isn’t that what storytellers have always done? Isn’t that how stories get honed over the centuries and made relevant to the modern taste? Maybe I’m just a servant of Hermes, making sure his name lives on – in which case I can write what I like, exclude what I like and make up what I like, as long as it makes a good story and Hermes comes off the better for it!