The Golden Hour is the hour before and after dusk (and also before and after dawn), when the light is soft and tinged with colour. It is when the daytime animals settle down – and when nocturnal animals begin to hunt. It is a time of peace, transition, and soft, magical, light.
A walk in the South Downs. Our rambler is a ‘man’ of a certain age who buys all the kit – but is really a fair-weather walker.
The Somme is a metaphor for the horrors of war – it’s pointless mass destruction and death. That remains as true for us today as it has been throughout history. And it is usually the foot-soldiers who suffer the most – whether they be Roman slaves fighting for the Romans in the Somme area against the Gauls, or the Tommies/Jerries fighting in World War One. The Somme battle was from 1 July to 18 November 1916. More than one million men were wounded or killed, making it one of the bloodiest battles in human history. On the first day, the British had 57,470 casualties.
Meditation, relaxation – we all need time to unwind and slow-down. But some people end up taking themselves too seriously (‘Self-obsession in poor Nepal will make job worries start to pall’). They need to chill!
A farmer’s life is a hard one – especially if you are keeping sheep on a mountainside. But, at the same time, what is good for the struggling farmer can be bad for the environment and the rest of us (the non-farmers). So this rhyme is in two parts: firstly, the struggle of the upland sheep farmer, and secondly the plight of those affected by flooding caused by the removal of the upland trees and vegetation, and the widening of drainage channels. So on the one hand we can ‘pity’ the upland farmer, and on the other hand we can ‘curse’ the upland farmer.
