Poem of the Week

Jerusalem
William Blake

And did those feet in ancient time.
Walk upon England's mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my Bow of burning gold;
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!

I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land.

Birthday...

So, it is the 90th birthday of Phil the Greek, or "Bonehead" as the Queen calls him in the Steve Bell cartoons...

There has been a huge amount of sycophantic rubbish written about the man, who is admittedly carrying himself well for a 90 year old, but who is also crass, offensive and unpleasant as a person.  As far as I can tell anyway, that appears to be true from the TV interviews I've seen.  Also from the one time I was relatively nearby when he met a colleague.   He was rude and objectionable about a project she had been working on for over two years, and left her in tears. 

About the only person I could see who refused to submit to the general kowtowing was the MP Paul Flynn, who said - regarding the proposed 'humble address' (a message of support and celebration from the Commons):

Why on earth is this a ’humble address’ in this age?

Are the royal family superior beings to the rest of us? Are we inferior beings to them? This was the feeling of the House seven centuries ago when we accepted rule under which we speak now.

We live in an egalitarian time where we recognise the universality of the human condition, in which royals and commoners share the same strengths and frailties.

He said the “humble address demeaned the honour of MPs’ elected office”, and continued:

If these occasions are to be greatly valued, it should be possible for members to utter the odd syllable that might be critical.

The sycophancy described by the Prime Minister... is something that must sicken the royal family when they have an excess of praise of this type.”

Well done that man!

Le Touquet-Paris-Plage

So we decided on France, as I wrote earlier, rather than be around for the wedding.  After Montreuil, the next day we went to Le Touquet.  It was beautiful, warm and sunny.

And then on to nearby Ste-Cecile-Plage:

Wedding-schmedding.  I don't think we missed much...

Montreuil

So having got to France we wanted to maximise the time we had away from WillandKateLand.

Montreuil pas-de Calais or Monteuil-ser-Mer is a pretty medieval walled town sitting on a hillside looking down on the river Canche.  It is somewhat inland from the sea, and has 17th century ramparts by Vauban. We wandered around, ate food in a small restaurant while a thunderstorm happened outside, and generally enjoyed ourselves...

Possibly the only drawback was the discovery that a 'Welch' (selected by younger teenager) was not quite cheese-on-toast, but rather a bowl of molten cheddary substance with some bread in it.  Sort of thick cheese soup.  Quite horrid.
On the other hand, the countryside around Saint-Josse, where we were staying, was warm and wonderful.  This site being what it is, here is a local tree.

A Cure for Collective Insanity

And so the Nation once again descended into collective Royal insanity, and we decided to do the only rational thing and leave the country...

... so we joined the throngs at Dover who refused to stand by and witness their country being so traduced by the media circus and sentimental tosh...

... and headed out with them ...

... to fair France where they understand how to deal with so-called nobility.