Author Archives: malcolmsmusingscom

Yesterday afternoon I walked along the seafront with my friend Ivan. It was a typical Lowestoft early Spring day – a touch of sunshine but a chilly wind. In Aesop’s fable the wind and the sun argue about who’s the stronger. They have a contest: which of them can remove a man’s coat? The windContinue reading “The Wind and the Sun”

There are key dates I have to remember each year – Christmas, Easter, family birthdays, wedding anniversary, Valentine’s day… Yesterday Boris gave us key dates – March 8th, April 12th, May 17th, June 21st – our  ‘roadmap’, our way out of Covid, our ‘one way road to freedom’.   We work out how that affectsContinue reading “Solomon Grundy”

In recent months many have enjoyed the Marsh family (see below). Three weeks ago they expressed a feeling shared by many: ‘Once upon a time we could travel abroad, now we barely get in the car. There’s nothing we can do, we’re totally fixed where we are.’ Some of can identify with:  ‘We’re really feelingContinue reading “Boris’ Roadmap”

I don’t know about tomorrow,I just live from day to day;I don’t borrow from its sunshine,For its skies may turn to grey.I don’t worry o’er the future,For I know what Jesus said;And today I’ll walk beside Him,For He knows what is ahead. Ira Stanphill wrote about 400 gospel songs. He wrote this in 1950. HisContinue reading “I Don’t Know About Tomorrow”

Musing on two articles… Julia Rynkiewicz, a Roman Catholic final year midwifery student, was banned from her hospital placement because of her pro-life views and her involvement with a pro-life society.  A lecturer at the University of Nottingham reported her. She was forced to suspend her studies; she was subject to a four-month fitness-to-practise investigationContinue reading “Controversy – Midwives and Crème Eggs.”

One of my favourite local stories this week is of Kylie Thompson who was shopping at the Lowestoft ‘Tesco’ with her son Riley-Jay. When she got to the checkout Riley-Jay started screaming and hitting out – ‘He was having a full-blown meltdown.’ Some of us can empathise – we’ve been there! A member of theContinue reading “Meltdown in Lockdown”

I’m reading the autobiography of the singer Johnny Cash. His mother always referred to his voice as ‘the gift’: ‘…I think she did it on purpose, to remind me that the music in me was something special given by God. My job was to care for it and use it well; I was its bearer,Continue reading “Gifts – Johnny, Eric, Ernie & Francis”

Numbers 13,14… The Israelites left Egypt to go to their Promised Land. 12 spies go to investigate. They’re gone for 40 days. Most of the spies say that entering the Promised Land is impossible. The people grumble and complain. God says they will wander in the desert for 40 years, one for each day spying.Continue reading “Forty Days of Lent”

Today’s Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day… Musing on ancient customs and religious roots… Penitence It’s a day of penitence and confession in preparation for the start of Lent tomorrow. Over 1000 years ago a monk wrote in the Anglo-Saxon Ecclesiastical Institutes: ‘In the week immediately before Lent everyone shall go to his confessorContinue reading “Shrove Tuesday”

Yesterday was grandson Zak’s birthday. There were presents, cakes, balloons, a special meal and tuneless singing of ‘Happy Birthday’. It was his 18th: he’s now officially ‘a man’. … Musing on what that might mean: Legally he can do things he couldn’t do before – he can have tattoos or body piercings, get married withoutContinue reading “Becoming a Man”