Walking Commentary
Thoughts while waiting to walk from Manchester to Rome in 2022
This chapbook started with oat milk sweetened coffee. Truth and consequences took over.
A question like “Why have there been no great women artists?” implies inadequacy in the 50% of the human population that births everyone. One wonders if perceptions have improved since Linda Nochlin posed the question in 1971.
That a circle can’t be squared was proven in 1872. That gave rise to the metaphor of ‘squaring the circle’ to describe the impossible. You’ll recall that 22/7 aka π is transcendental and irrational; it’s a number that neither ends nor repeats. Forgetting their maths, media and politicians often talk of squaring circles when discussing crises, crises that never end but do repeat.
Advance and Retire
Every stone and brick herein is a handstone, each a memorial to the smiths that shaped and placed them using skills honed over a millennium. Their work has withstood the tests of assaults, sieges, invasions and regeneration schemes. The craftsmens’ names may have been effaced by time but their legacy still supports and renders the city in good light.
Omne Bonum (Every Good Thing) is an incomplete encyclopaedia created by James le Palmer (died ~1375) which survives as four volumes in the British Library. Can we say that every thing is good in our knowledge 650 years on?
Having leaves two inches broad …
This collection of photographs shows recent activity on the twenty year old Salix caprea ‘Kilmarnock’ (formerly ‘Pendula’) in our back garden. Whether presenting bare canes in winter, early catkins in spring, luxuriant summer leaves or an autumnal colour show, it’s a hive of activity in all seasons.
