Bertrand Russell - His Message To Future Generations (1959)

With the world as it is, it is timely to listen to this man.

Bertrand Russell was without doubt one of the world's greatest philosophers. 

When I was up at my senior school, in the early 60's, I read two of his books. 'Fact and Fiction' was one, I can't remember the name of the other. They were impressively logical and informative works, and influenced my life enormously. He was so clear and precise about everything he'd researched, and it rubbed-off on the young reader (me).

Here he is, back in 1959, being as coolly logical, reasoned, and analytical as he always was. His words are as important today (if not more important) as they were then.

May I suggest watching the short video TWICE.

Bottoms everywhere!

Sussex (The Garden of Eden) has some interesting place names. Above are just a few.

Peculiar to Sussex is the upside-down nature of certain place names. For example, East Grinstead is to the West of West Grinstead, Upper Beeding is lower than Lower Beeding, and, of course, The Downs are hills; which go 'UP'.

I cannot claim to have visited many of the villages above, but I'm looking forward to spending some time in Poverty Bottom, Bushy Bottom, and Loose Bottom. All delightful I'm sure.

 

With God on our Side.

 

I am not a Church-goer, nor am I ascribed to any religion.

However, I have absolutely nothing against anyone believing whatever they wish. I don't hate Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Jaynes, Hindus, or the members of any other of the countless different religions. They all have their imaginary gods and devils, and that's fine by me.

I don't like members of certain religions who use their beliefs for terrorist reasons, but that's a different matter. Nor am I too sure about priests 'Blessing Guns', as above!

Most religions teach their followers to love one-another. To be kind and generous to our fellow man. Yet many extremists ignore that, and are determined to kill those who believe something slightly different to themselves.

I suppose the most bizarre extreme of this attitude must be between the Catholics and Protestants in N Ireland. They use the exact same book, yet they seemed to hate each other because one group reveres one character more than another..... For goodness sake!!!

All religions have their own festivals, ceremonies, and even dress-codes, which I'm happy to accept as a bystander. I even take part in certain religious ceremonies myself.

So please, may I plead with members of religious groups and congregations. Keep believing in your own ideology if you must, but leave others to believe in theirs. There is no reason to hate or kill people simply because they worship some different non-existent god to yours.

I hate to suggest such a thing, but have any of the religious terrorists ever 'suspected' that their deities may not actually exist? Just because someone tells you that there are gods and devils out there.... it ain't necessarily true.

The Greengage Tree.

I've been wanting to prune our Greengage tree for years, but not being there in the Autumn/Winter pruning months, I haven't had the opportunity. I didn't want to cut branches down that were covered in leaves.

Luckily Kimbo is at the cottage at the moment, and he offered to help. We discussed via WhatsApp exactly where and what he should cut, and here is the result. He's done a great job; exactly what I wanted.

I asked him to cut much higher than it will eventually be. I know exactly where I want the three main branches to end, and how much of the young growth to retain. I want it to be 'goblet' shaped, and 'airy'. I shall exercise my Chainsaw, and Secateurs, when I arrive next June.

The poor old tree had become old and ungainly over the years, and many of the higher branches were dying. It will now be given renewed vigour. Now that's it so much smaller, I might even give it a wee dose of diluted Tar Oil, to keep any bugs away. 

The Greengage Jam I made this past Summer was delicious, and I'm hoping to make a lot more in 2026.

These are some of the lower branches that have been retained. As you can see there is plenty of fruit on them. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that we haven't stopped its 2026 fruit production totally; I'm confident that we haven't.

I'll let you know next August.

Al-d Advert (Parody) - Britain’s Cheapest Chaos

I promised myself that I would re-visit the new Aldi store that has recently appeared en route to my usual weekly shopping destination of Sainsbury's in Hove.

I did visit once before, but only very briefly, and I wanted to make a more 'detailed investigation'. I don't wish to ignore it without having seen what's on offer.

I got there early; just after opening time. A lot of the shelves were empty, so I began to peruse the aisles; ignoring my strictly detailed shopping list.

It's a strange set-up. They have most things inside cooled cabinets, and a 'Middle Aisle' with all sorts of 'bargains' that you don't want, which apparently change from week to week. Mostly cheap rubbish.

I bought more of the Australian wine that I'd bought previously, they didn't have any Caulis, but I did buy some nice looking Medjool Dates; I haven't tasted one yet, but they are favourites and I'm sure they'll be delicious. I'm still a little dubious about the quality of many items.

At the checkout there was no-one at the only aisle that said 'open'. I had to hail someone who looked as if he worked there. He didn't speak much English, but pointed us to a different row. We all moved and were seen-to. Not very impressed!

I don't think I shall visit again. Verdict: a generous 3/10

Daffs

Down here on The English Riviera (Brighton), we have Daffs.

It warms the cockles. It must be nearing Springtime!

 

House Coats; remember them?

The human mind is a strange thing, I have no idea what made me think of this. I was saying to Lady M recently that 'house coats' must be a thing of the past.

I had an Aunt in Shropshire (she died back in the 80's) who always wore a 'house coat'. She put it on in the morning, over her normal clothes, and wore it all day long. I think at that time most of her neighbours did the same. It was a housewife's uniform.

This lovely looking lady (below) is French, and shows the classic apron previously worn by most French housewives; again it was like a uniform.

Just as a matter of interest I looked on Amazon to see if house coats still existed. I came across plenty of Aprons, and short things called 'tabards', but no actual house coats.

I'm not sorry they have disappeared. They were not something we saw down south; they were more of a northern style, and frankly I found them bizarre.

Under 'house coats' on Amazon were plenty of toweling after bath/shower coats (I even have one myself for post-swimming) but now't else.

Traditions come and go. Where would you go these days to see a housewife scrubbing her front doorstep wearing a house coat?