1:37 am. Sophie let's us know there is someone, or something, outside. Job done, she then goes back to sleep. This morning I open the postbox to find a copy of the village newsletter. The new mayor has been doing his ' wee hours of the morning ' thing of delivering them in the pitch dark.
The newsletter tells us that 1) Two free face masks a week are available from the town hall for those who need them 2) There will be scarecrow making classes in the Salle de Fetes on alternate Thursdays in September and 3) the village hall kitchens will be closed until further notice but the outdoor barbecue is available until the 'current problems are resolved ( please employ social distancing ) '. This gives you a flavour of the pace of life in our deeply unfashionable corner of paradise. Judging of the 'village fleuri ' competition has been cancelled for this year.
After the storms the little stream and waterfall have returned to life. Not a gushing return but a sedentary trickle is better than nothing. Sophie has a long and noisy drink. She also tries fishing for minnows but even she recognizes that she's merely going through the motions.
On our way to this mornings cafe we stop at the lights and find that the Cirque Franco-Belge is in town. It has set itself up in the parking lot by the shops that sell end of roll carpets and discounted wallpaper.
Angus starts on a book about Eastern Orthodox Christianity. A subject he knows absolutely nothing about. He's reading it because Hagia Sophia in Istanbul has been converted back into a mosque. Why this should be bad when Spanish mosques have been converted into cathedrals is something he feels he should get to grips with. The book although well reviewed is written in that trendily jaunty ' I'm a young Eastern Orthodox priest and this is what you should know' style. It can only get better.
Getting out of New York : https://stormking.org/
A picnic place with a story : https://www.domainedumeteore.com/the-meteor/
This is an interesting insight :
https://rusi.org/commentary/vaccine-nationalism-ugly-face-science-and-politics
2 comments:
I have picked up several excellent book recommendations from reading this blog (Mark Mazower's 'What You Did Not Tell' being a particular standout), but I think I'll give 'The Eastern Orthodox Church' a miss. I am assuming that the author is not the same John McGuckin as the Irish geologist who used to be a colleague!
That science and politics are not independent is not such a new story as some of those covering the Covid-19 pandemic sometimes seem to assume.
Cheers, Gail.
I've been to a few of the Spanish Mosque/Cathedrals. They are beautiful and what I took away from the tours was that it was important to the Spaniards to reclaim them for Christianity because it signified the reclamation of Spain from the Moorish Conquest. Some had been Christian churches prior to the conquest of Spain.
Ear scratches to Miz Sophie
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