A combination of bookmarks and a blog. Just for me. Feel free to browse. Contact me: rich(one of those at symbol thingys)foshy.co.uk
Tags (by frequency):Worzel Gummidge - 27.12.2020
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
The best childrens books set in the countryside can hint at something deeper and, perhaps, darker at the edges of the narrative. Just around the bend in the path through the woods, or behind the hedgerow on the other side of the field, is something... other, something a little sinister.
An obvious example is Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Mole and Ratty live a sunny life on the river bank, and in the surrounding fields and lanes, but the Wild Wood is silently and ominously waiting to ensnare the unwary. Alison Utterly paints a perfect picture of four pigs living with Brock the Badger in her series of children's books, but I always worried that if Sam Pig let his guard down Mr Fox was going to eat him. A E Kennedy's marvellous illustrations also added to my childhood unease. Perfectly innocent, there was something very slightly off which enhanced the delicious thrill of reading.
I never read Barbara Euphan Todd's Worzel Gummidge though. I was, of course, fa...
Snowflakes - 24.12.2020
Here's a festive snowflake what I made:
Link to the code if you want to play with it.
Earworms - 13.12.2020
[music]
Studies show that 98% of us experience earworms. I've noticed that mine often occur when outside on two feet. There doesn't seem to be a reason why certain tunes inhabit my mind, they seem almost completely random and have no relation to my musical likes and dislikes.
I'm keeping a record:
(Updated - 04.01.2021)
- Supper's Ready I'm not going to claim that all 23 minutes of Genesis's masterpiece went through my mind as I ran this morning. Perhaps just the edited highlights. I'm listening to it now. Still just as good as when I first heard it in the 70's.
- What's new pussycat Goodness knows where this came from today. Always like Tom Jones though.
- Where Do You Go To My Lovely Peter Sarstedt today - a lovely song. Such a welcome surprise when it popped into my head, as it's been ages since I've heard it.
- You've got to pick a pocket or two - Watched Oliver! on Christmas day. Still as fresh as it must have been in 1968 when it was released. "In this life, one thing counts, in the bank, large amounts" - amen!!
- Que Sera Sera
- Flowers in the rain
- Eating in full colour
- The Oom pa pa song from Oliver
- Its got to be perfect
- Hail to the bus driver
- Stay another day
- Oh what a circus
- Barry Norman "Film" program theme
Season's greetings - 23.12.2020
[poetry]
i was out beside the football pitches
next to the railway lines
two kids ahead were cycling fast
away from mum's confines...
they slowed their speed as they neared me
the first - a girl - piped up:
"happy christmas!" and smiled so wide
i felt my heart fill up
her brother next called out the same
i surely should reply
"you must be soft you silly kids
it's all a con, run by
"ruling elites, grasping white men
capitalists so mean
dead eyed tories, daily mail hacks
and worst of all - the queen!"
i put them straight and carried on
towards their loving mum
"nice kids" i said and grinned at her
"hope your christmas is fun!"
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - 23.12.2020
[books]
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ☆ ☆
Harold Fry unwittingly sets off on a pilgrimage the length of England. As we travel with him, we feel each footstep, learn his motives, and probably shed a tear or two as the whole story unfolds.
It's the sort of book which is ideally suited to grey wintry days stuck at home during a pandemic lockdown. Turn the heating on and the TV off.