Author Archives: malcolmsmusingscom

Three stories from yesterday: At our ‘Music for Wellbeing’ group we sung the old English folk song ‘Scarborough Fair’ (made famous by Simon and Garfunkel). It’s a story of unrequited love… The young man says that his lover must complete impossible tasks…. sewing a seamless cambric shirt – impossible because cambric’s a light fabric usedContinue reading “The Apparently Impossible…”

Jack and Brandis sat behind us at the football at Norwich last Saturday… On the pitch at half time Jack asks Brandis to marry him… He’s been planning it for months, she has no idea… She says, ‘Yes.’ The West Brom supporters chant, ‘You don’t know what you’re doing!’ Everyone laughs. It’s a familiar footballContinue reading “You Don’t Know What You’re Doing”

Yesterday… …At our Men’s Shed Richard’s made a new seat, he says, with ‘two pallets, a saw, a hand full of nails, a little imagination.’ I think there’s a fair bit of skill too… …I met a friend at Costa. He’s planning to move to Yorkshire… making a fresh start… moving closer to his partner’sContinue reading “Preparing for the Mists of Mystery”

Sometimes we watch the TV comedy panel show ‘Would I Lie To You?’. The regular presenter and team captains are joined by celebrity guests. Players reveal unusual facts, outrageous claims, embarrassing personal tales; the opposing team must determine truth from lies, drawing the viewing audience in with them. Teams score a point for correctly discerningContinue reading “Would I Lie To You?”

Yesterday I was reading Ruth Rice’s ‘Renewable Wellbeing’. After suffering a mental health crisis Ruth set up a café space linked to her church. Hobbies and activities were shared; there was a prayer room attached. In 2017 she set up the charity ‘Renew Wellbeing’ to encourage similar spaces across the country. Their website tells meContinue reading “Never Alone”

On Saturday Son-Pete and I went to Norwich for the football – against West Brom. A young couple, whom we later discovered were called Jack and Brandis, sat behind us. I earwig their conversation… He’s a regular Norwich City supporter… She sounds American… She’s never been to the football before… He’s explaining what happens… It’sContinue reading “Give Me Wisdom”

Johnny Cash wrote a song about Jesus turning water into wine. He tells a good story, explaining simply how he came to write it. They say that country music is ‘three chords and the truth’… He turned the water into wine He turned the water into wineIn the little Cana town the word went allContinue reading “He Turned the Water Into Wine”

A couple of days ago my blog-friend Wynne, on her excellent blog ‘Surprised by Joy’ wrote about her ‘go-to metaphor for life’: mountain climbing, a subject in which she has both knowledge and expertise. She talks about taking one step at a time, ensuring that you have rest breaks, team work, self-care… with helpful insightContinue reading “Life’s a Fairground”

Kippers are herring, a small oily fish, split from tail to head, gutted, salted, and cold-smoked over smouldering wood. Reflecting on Lowestoft’s traditional herring industry, folks who worked on and remember the fishing fleets, local remaining smoke-houses, led me to ‘kipper-prayers’ this morning: Happy Memories: Mum occasionally gave us kippers for breakfast. I remember ourContinue reading “Prayers From Kippers”

…Chatting to Jack: ‘I love the word ‘Rigmarole’’, he said. We looked up several definitions… It’s a long, complicated, tedious procedure or explanation, set of actions or words, that’s without any apparent purpose. We investigated further. It seems that it comes from the old English ‘Ragman roll’… ‘Roll’ were rolls of parchment, ‘ragman’ were listsContinue reading “Rigmarole, Paddington and Kenaniah”