Low pressure brings low mood, not unusual in British summertime ... the reason countless Brits head South to roast in high pressure for a week or two ... kindly permitted by the Junta, who take away the joy by insisting on some half-baked quarantine when returning, impossible to enforce, of course, but nosy neighbour peer pressure is doing that job anyway ... plus fear of fines, also unenforceable ... police are plenty busy with proper criminals, courts struggling to cope. ..
One of the many benefits of a Pennine home is the propensity for differential weather patterns ... prevailing Westerly winds pick up water from the Atlantic and dump most on the popular Lake District, leaving Stanhope rather drier ... when an Eastern flow, not beastly, but static, sits around for days on end, drizzle waters the land, warmth boosts plant growth and humans get depressed ... the solution, a mere 30 minute drive, over the hill to Alston, highest town in England, centre of Britain, some say, and Sunny ... hooray!
Yesterday was for Philosophers. First, a FB post on Sophistry, the Dark Art branch of the Love of Wisdom, or, in this case, knowledge, a very different thing. Mouths for hire they called the Sophists in Ancient Greece, as they spun their yarns rhetorically, slipping fallacies into plausible and malign tales ... sound familiar?
Next, the routine morning walk, and Malcolm, a local friend and handshaker. .. not masonic nor long-term local, but a retired rigger. .. an occupation which you don't survive with Fear, since the work demands nerves of steel and full awareness ... he is walking his dog, with visiting grandchildren, aged 8 and 9. The elder is the philosopher, full of questions and insights to share with an adult prepared to listen to the voice of a child not yet beaten to submission by the system. And fascinated by the Quantum World, the world he inherits ...
After morning writing and mundane work, an after lunch excursion West and Sunny stroll along the railway footpath to the Cumberland-Northumberland border, on the roof of England ... an alarming loss of front teeth thanks to ill advised chocolate bar, a bargain and delicious! Still, equanimity prevailed, plate safely stashed for resticking when dentists resume work, and on to encounter with a young philosopher, aged 18, and her vicar father, who doubles up as associate professor of Theology ... nice work if you can get it ... and learn the convoluted messages of organised religions, notably Abrahamic ones ... Lucy was very keen to explore Consciousness, the Observer Effect in Quantum Physics and all the implications of that ... young minds are into that ... it's time after a century of the pioneers, Max Planck, Schrodinger and his cat, David Bohm, of course, still relevant today, though resisted by the old guard ...
A return to dismal Durham County, enlivened, for some mask work in the Co-op, an unexpected handshake from an emboldened young rebel and home for supper and a later night of restful sleep and meaningful dreaming ...
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