White Guilt 2

It will be 55 years this December since one of my heroes, a lady, refused to give up her seat on a bus to a man. It’s 40 -odd years since the sufferers of the religion of White Guilt imported a distorted version of the Civil Rights campaign, of which she became an icon, from the United States and began the great shaming of white England as one condition of the founding of a new social equality. The other condition was, of course, the shaming of non-white England into sharing the ridiculous and totally unfounded belief that somehow the colour of their skin made them incapable of competing in society on the same level as the white majority. Frederick Douglass had it about right a century and a half ago: What did he have right?

Courage, onwards and upwards

I told you all a couple of weeks ago that my relationship was over.  Well, after much talking and some organisation my partner is going into proper rehab on friday and I really admire him for it.

Like me, he went through daily rehab at a wonderful centre in Truro, which turned my life around totally, but it was not enough for him and even though he had cut his drinking down considerably it wasn’t enough and it was causing real problems with my family.  The main point of contention is when he has had a bit too much to drink he forgets that he is the adult in the relationship that he has with my eldest daughter and what starts off in banter soon turns into him getting really quite nasty to her, becasue he is giving more than she can handle.  I am not saying that Talwyn doesn’t antagonise him, because she does, only when he is on the beer, but he just can’t let things lie. Continue reading “Courage, onwards and upwards”

On This Day – 19th May 1536

A little before nine o’clock on the morning of the 19th of May 1536, Anne Boleyn was executed on a low scaffold inside the Tower of London’s walls.

The execution had been timed for the previous day, but it was hoped that if the exact time were unknown there would be few spectators. Anne had requested decapitation by the sword, rather than an axe, a French custom, and Henry had agreed. She had, as always, dressed for the occasion: a grey damask robe with a low neck and her hair tied in a net. She had been granted permission to speak and although her words have been variously reported all agreed that she claimed to have ‘come to die and not to preach’ and that she blamed no man for her death.

Her head and trunk, placed in a plain coffin, were buried in front of the altar of the Tower Chapel. The place was not marked.

Continue reading “On This Day – 19th May 1536”

Coast

And so, once in a blue moon, there comes a TV series that enthralls, uplifts, informs, makes you howl laughing, feel nauseous and is only very occasionally tedious.

That series is Coast. I’ve been watching the programmes for what seems like years and I’m not fed-up yet. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been caught in its trawler net as it plies the waters around this sceptred isle with a little detour for the less sceptred tax haven isles a stone’s throw from France. Continue reading “Coast”

Skydiving (Mark II)

“If at first you don’t succeed, then skydiving is not for you”.  Brian grinned inwardly as he read the flyer advertising a parachuting course at a local airfield.  He liked the droll humour of the advert and this was just the kind of challenge a young,gun in his position ought to be pursuing to maintain the interest of the stockbroker’s daughter to whom he was engaged.

Continue reading “Skydiving (Mark II)”

No Solution

“Mum! Nooooooo.”
His scream was shrill and distraught. My heart beat hard against my chest. What on earth was wrong, this time?  But before I could call back, an angry shout came towards me accompanied by footstamps  on the stairs.
“What have you done? I can’t wear this.”
I quickly unlocked the bathroom door, still doing up my flies.
“You know Mum’s not here; I’ll be there in a moment, James.”
But he was already standing outside the door, waiting for me.
“Look, Dad.”  He held out two articles of clothing. Two pink articles of clothing, still wet from the washing machine. Continue reading “No Solution”