Author Archives: malcolmsmusingscom

Yesterday was an ordinary day. I went to ordinary places, met ordinary people, did ordinary things. There was no chaos or crisis, no excitement or parties, nothing deep and meaningful. I chatted to neighbours, visited our Men’s Shed, did stuff at church, read, wrote, did some gardening, followed the cricket, tennis, football… I like ordinary.Continue reading “When Ordinary is Good, and Good is Ordinary”

Yesterday we heard… …Prince George started at Eton College. This elite private school taught his father – and twenty British prime ministers… Fees are around £65,000 p.a… I’m not part of that way of life. …Monty Don is no longer presenting Gardner’s World… singer Sir Tom Jones is stepping back from judging on The Voice…Continue reading “What I’m Not”

The bird recognition app on my phone tells me which of my avian friends are in the garden – robins, magpies, woody the woodpecker, little wren…This morning I turned it on; there was nothing. No songs, no noise, no friendly visitors. Complete silence. …Talking to friends who see injustices in the world, bad things happeningContinue reading “Dealing with the Silence”

Yesterday… …Cycling home from church, I passed Alan cutting his hedge. Alan’s bungalow is on a corner, and he has a high hedge on two sides of his property. Growing in his hedge were several bullace trees. He picked a few and offered them to me. They looked and tasted good, like small round plums.Continue reading “Lessons from Falling”

I woke up this morning singing the old hymn, ‘Leaning on the Everlasting Arms’. I don’t know where it came from in; I can’t have sung it for sixty years. I looked it up. It was written by Elisha Hoffman who was born in Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania in 1839. What a fellowship, what a joy divine,leaningContinue reading “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms”

Our friend Helen, who was brought up in Scotland, was talking about breakfast. Inevitably the conversation included porridge… the best way to cook it and eat it… stirring it with ‘a spurtle’. Spurtle?! Apparently a spurtle is a traditional Scottish wooden stirring stick, designed to stir thick foods – like porridge – to create smooth,Continue reading “The Spurtle”

Yesterday, September 3rd, was the feast day of St Gregory the Great. I read… Born around 540 AD, into a wealthy family, Gregory was a government official in Rome before he was 30. After five years in office he resigned, gave away his wealth, became a monk and founded six monasteries. Ordained a priest, GregoryContinue reading “Saint Gregory the Great”

Yesterday my friend Nigel posted a piece about ninety-year-olds having to use a smartphone to access basic rights: ‘,,,everything has become an app, a code, a portal. The very people who built this country… now find themselves illiterate in their own homes. If booking a medical appointment or paying a bill requires the help ofContinue reading “Exclusion”

Yesterday we visited Minsmere. We enjoyed coffee and cheese scones from the café. We enjoyed walking through the woodlands, and walking beside the reedbeds, the stretches of open water. From the bird hides we saw majestic Marsh Harriers soaring high above the reedbeds… we saw speedy Hobbies swooping down to catch dragonflies… we saw AvocetsContinue reading “Avocets”

Yesterday’s big local news: A rollercoaster at Pleasurewood Hills broke down, leaving twenty-seven people stranded 50ft in the air. Two-and-a-half hours later fire crews rescued them. Afterwards, a Pleasurewood Hills statement included: ‘We would like to say a huge thank you to every rider… for their patience and understanding while the situation was resolved.’ WellContinue reading “Patience and Understanding…”