Nigeness
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Nige, who, like Mr Kenneth Horne, prefers to remain anonymous, was also a founder blogger of The Dabbler and a co-blogger on the Bryan Appleyard Thought Experiments blog. He is the sole blogger on this one, and his principal aim is to share various of life's pleasures. These tend to relate to books, art, poems, butterflies, birds, churches, music, walking, weather, drink, etc, with occasional references to the passing scene. His book, The Mother of Beauty: On the Golden Age of English Church Monuments, and Other Matters of Life and Death, is available on Amazon or direct from the author.
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All posts (242)
Last night Call the Midwife – the BBC's cosy, corny, sentimental, occasionally brilliant Sunday-night drama – finally came to an end, after 14 years. Well, it might be back with a prequel or even a spin-off, but it's certainly over for me, because Sister Monica Joan – the oldest nun and by far the most interesting ,...
A few weeks ago, I lamented the lack of finches and other songbirds in the garden. Since then, happily, the goldfinches have returned in good numbers, along with chaffinches and – a particularly welcome return – greenfinches. No blackcaps or siskins, alas, but they were only occasional visitors at best. I don't know...
You can say what you like about Facebook – and many of my acquaintance won't go near it, indeed flinch at the very name – but I find that it does throw up some unexpected gems from time to time. Here's one that popped up today – 'Enough already of Lacan, Derrida, and Foucault poured like ketchup over everything....
Here, to lower the tone, is a little something that Philip Larkin wrote on the, er, challenges of personnel management...AdministrationDay by day your estimation clocks upWho deserves a smile and who a frown,And girls you have to tell to pull their socks upAre those whose pants you'd most like to pull down.It seems...
At the risk of turning this blog into a calendar of saints' days, I must, as a Mercian and now a Lichfieldian, note that today is St Chad's Day, marking the death in 672 of Chad, Bishop of the Mercians and Lindsey People, and founder of the church that is now that tri-spired wonder Lichfield Cathedral. Chad's death...
The first day of Meteorological Spring, and the sun has been sighted here in Lichfield, though it seems to have disappeared again now. It is also Chopin's birthday (born 1810) – and St David's Day. To mark the last of these, here is a poem by R.S. Thomas – one that requires a word of explanation. First, the title:...
Here's something I wrote about J.L. Carr for the excellent Engelsberg Ideas. Follow the link...https://engelsbergideas.com/notebook/the-man-who-gave-books-away/
Yesterday I came dangerously close to falling in love with London again – but then I reminded myself that it was not London, that 'human awful wonder of God', that had stirred my heart, but one hallowed spot: Holland Park, the city's most beautiful park, and one for me repleted with fond memories. I had been having...
Yesterday I was walking in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds. It was a well planned five-miler, taking in three good churches (Turkdean, Hampnett and the magnificent wool church of Northleach – all open), a decent lunch, and glorious rolling countryside with wide views – pastureland and paddocks, drystone walls,...
I spent the weekend over the border in Derbyshire, visiting my cousin, and on Saturday we found ourselves dodging the rain in Belper. Where better to shelter awhile than in a large charity bookshop? There I spotted an anthology edited by Wendy Cope – The Funny Side: 101 Humorous Poems. Having found much to enjoy in...
Dick Davis, one of our finest living poets (and translators), has always published sparingly. If and when his complete poems are published – and they really should be – they will not make a fat volume. Davis favours short forms, including epigrams. Here is one of my favourites – On EpigramsThis neat, egregious...
One of the pleasures of grandparenthood is enjoying all over again some of the things that most entertained us in our own childhood and, later, when our own children were young. Books, of course, but also vintage animations – the great Chuck Jones classics, Popeye, Oliver Postgate's Bagpuss and Ivor the Engine, John...
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