Woke up thinking of this less known stanza from Yeats:
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity".
Bob sits on the storm drain next to me as I recite it to him. The young garagiste on his motorbike en route to opening up the atelier sees us and beeps. I wave. Bob , unmoved, ponders and stares into the distance. Sophie, for some reason, has found a small fallen branch that she's chewing on intently. Sophie is not a Yeats fan.
The mother of the tikes drives by in the large white Renault minivan. She has a broad smile on her face. I assume she's left the father and the two tikes at their skiing lodge and returned home with the six ( or seven ) little ones. They can be seen bouncing around in the back. Peace and quiet when you have a large feral brood must be relative.
Down to the barbers. There is a man in black track suit trousers and a tee shirt who insists on getting up from the chair and kissing me on both cheeks as if I'm a long lost friend. I'd guess he had garlic for dinner last night. Bob eyes him suspiciously. His accent is completely impenetrable.
The three retired farmers haven't yet arrived. This means that while the man who smells of garlic has his hair cut I can read the local paper.
The barber is off to Peru for two weeks in mid-March on his annual holiday. Last year it was India. ''Better give you a trim that will last until I get back" he says. Angus tells him not to make it too short. The clippers get to work. Angus now sports a twenty five to life style buzz cut.'' Goodness" says 'The Font' unhelpfully when we meet at the car park.
French breakfast radio news leads with the quote that 'a gun free
school is a magnet for bad people'. The gulf between the old continent and the
US just got wider.
Angus is invited to come to Moscow to talk to men in dark suits. It's -20 they inform him. Angus politely declines the invitation. It's - 2 here which is quite cold enough. https://twitter.com/HughHarrop/status/966239451675549698
How long before the caption under this photo is changed from the Kerch Straight Bridge to the Kerch Straits Bridge ? http://www.kennan-russiafile.org/2018/02/21/vladimir-putins-parallel-state/?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiT1RFd09EWmpaalppWVdNeiIsInQiOiJIbUs2QnZGTWo5SjNTUEdlMkZkUzFMNEZxTjFaTkVCQUJKMjJpXC85NDR3VkNjR2loQTd5em4yMHk5b1dzMktXamRIc3MyeTQ2XC9scVphU1VaR1BjZEpYenh2cTFUck
13 comments:
Thank you for the Yeats quote. An old friend in Aberdeen, originally from Dublin, loved nothing more than to recite Yeats' poems, which did did most beautifully. He died last year, age 93, and is sorely missed.
Last night I went to the the film 'Loveless', which has left me feeling that your decision to decline the trip to Moscow was a good call.
Cheers, Gail.
The best way not to smell garlic on someone's breath is to have garlic breath yourself.
Hari OM
...and they said the cold war was over... all I know is the current 3'C over the Hutch doesn't compete. YAM xx
Hmmm, best find a warm hat in the cupboard till the weather warms up or your hair grows out a bit.
Bonnie the wee Scottie
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity".
Angus, Just thinking that if Yeats had met the amazing teenagers who survived the Parkland shooting, he would have seen drowned innocence transformed into passionate intensity. The school is just a few miles from our houseso it all feels incredibly close. But what has not been noted is that Marjory Stoneman Douglas, the person for whom the school was named, was herself a woman of passionate intensity who spent her life championing the Everglades (remember "River of Grass?"), speaking truth to those who would not listen, and is a perfect model for that passion!
Never mind, Angus, your hair will grow out - just in time for your next visit ! Did Sophie have a trim at the same time that you did?
Haven't seen Loveless but the directors Leviathan was brilliant and Ibsenesque ( if that's a word ) Ibsen like if it isn't.
A good idea but maybe not at 8 am .
The Font has bought me a trendy black bobble less hat. Great minds clearly think alike !
French tv news showed one self assured 17 year old quizzing an uncomfortable Marco Rubio on his NRA funding.
It won't grow out until the cold snap is over -6 forecast for next week.
In future, I suppose all signs will be emojis....no one will need language.
(As a former teacher, there were days when no one would want me to have access to a gun.)
There were dozens of others. Determined. Wise beyond their years. Unafraid to speak out despite what they had experienced. inspirational.
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