I have recently decided to hopefully improve my overall health by aiming to walk 10,000 steps a day. I realize that this is a fairly arbitrary figure, but it does make a target to aim for. I have been striving for this for about two months and by my standards, have been fairly successful so far.

As a daily endeavour, time and cost restrictions mean that I cannot travel to areas of outstanding beauty every day. Although the Derbyshire Peak District National Park, and the National Forest are within driving distance. The views from my own home certainly cannot be described as scenic, as it faces the M1 motorway fence only yards away. However, there are a number of attractive walks within a five mile radius. In addition, living on the edges of an urban area, and having the time available, I have discovered that I can often leave my car in the garage and walk to most of the services I require (pubs, shops, etc.). An added bonus is that being on foot restricts impulse buying. It’s just not the same, snapping up those bargain priced bottles of wine when you have to carry them home on foot.

Below are pictures of one of my recent walks, Elvaston Castle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvaston_Castle for information of the location) on the outskirts of the City of Derby. A short drive for me, although in the summer I may attempt to walk to it if my stamina and speed increase sufficiently.

Victoria & Albert Museum – Hallyu! The Korean Wave Exhibition – Christmas Tree by designer Miss Sohee

Victoria & Albert Museum – Hallyu! The Korean Wave Exhibition

The Design Museum – Surrealism and Design Exhibition

Covent Garden

Trafalgar Square

Having posted last week about the Village of Eyam in Derbyshire, cancelling its commemorative annual church service this year because of the corvid 19 virus I discovered another effect of the virus on traditional events which normally occur at this time.

Well Dressing is a tradition centred on the communities of the Derbyshire Peak District which usually takes place between May and the end of September. Different towns and villages decorate their wells at varying dates within that time period. Its origins are unsure, some suggest that it has Christian origins and began as a thanks for salvation during the period of the black death plague during the 1300s. There is evidence of the village of Tissington’s taking place during that period. However, most believe that the ceremony has a pagan origin, connected to worship of gods of springs and wells. Some people believe that the origins are Celtic and predate the Roman occupation of Britain, surviving the subsequent Anglo-Saxon, Viking and Norman influxes Since at least the middle-ages decorations usually follow Christian themes, sometimes linked to local or national events. The displays are made out of flowers and other natural materials.

Originating in the Derbyshire hills and a few communities in neighbouring Staffordshire the tradition has spread over the years and nowadays, some other areas of the county including the City of Derby itself also decorate a well.

Unfortunately, this year, many of the well dressing dedication ceremonies have been cancelled.

More information:

Suzanne from ’Lets go Peak District’ (Youtube)

Peak District Videos (Youtube)

OTHER LINKS

https://www.visitpeakdistrict.com/conference/whats-on/well-dressingshttps://www.conversanttraveller.com/well-dressings-tissington-derbyshire/

Copyright – Alan Fleming / Eyam Church

I have decided to write this post after watching the local B.B.C. news programme for the English East Midlands this evening during which they mentioned that the picturesque village of Eyam in the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire had cancelled this year’s commemoration service at the village church.

The reason that this struck a cord with me is that I am currently working on a short novel in my ‘Saga of the Irrelevant One’ series in which the heroes take a holiday back in time around the Nottingham area in order to escape the current/recent/pending pandemic lockdown. I did consider including Eyam as one of the locations they could visit (not in the immediate Nottingham area, but could still count as it is located in a neighbouring county). However, I decided against it.

The issue is that Eyam is famous because in 1655, during the reign of Charles II, there was an outbreak of plague in England, centred on London. It is believed that this outbreak reached Eyam in particular by being transferred via an order of material from London delivered to a local tailor.

As soon as the local villagers became aware of the outbreak, the story is that they agreed, led by their local vicar, to self- isolate in their village in order to spare their neighbours the risk of plague. This idea of self-sacrifice has been challenged in recent times. I have seen a claim that the isolation may have been imposed by the authorities as a recent public health measure but the original story is still the most accepted. The village was cut off for over a year. Supplies were left at the parish boundary and payment was made in coins left in jars of vinegar. Approximately three quarters of the population died (260 people) and a tradition has grown in the village to commemorate this sacrifice in a special service in the last week in August.

My writing to date has tended to be of a very light-hearted nature, although I do hope to widen my scope in due course; so at a time when there are so many modern comparisons that can be made with the plagues of old, including high mortality rates, I have decided to leave the subject of Eyam out of my book.

Local website

Eyam Museum https://www.eyam-museum.org.uk/

Had to cut short my wanders due to the health scare so I stayed in all day Tuesday before driving home from London back to the Midlands that night (everywhere was closing down anyway so it’s not as if I made any sacrifice). However, before self-isolating I did manage to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum on Sunday where they had an exhibition on cars and one on Tim Walker, a leading photographer. It was on a visit to the V & A that I first discovered sculpture as they have some works by the French sculptor, Rodin. This visit, I found two sculptures of early Saxon gods, Thuner and Sunna

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O66624/sunna-figure-rysbrack-john-michael/

Visited London for London and South O.U.P.S. Day Conference at the London School of Economics and made a short five day break of it

O.U.P.S. stands for the Open University Psychological Society. It’s main purpose is to provide academic resources for O.U undergraduate students although it also includes members who have graduated (including myself). This year’s conference went ahead despite the current health situation although numbers attending were down on previous years and two of the speakers delivered their presentations through video conferencing. The theme of the conference was Technology, Psychology and Artificial Intelligence.

Also been visiting a few exhibitions and films. no worry about contagion, there were so few people about. This is a picture of China Town in Soho on Saturday night, normally it would be teeming with tourists.

The Wallace Collection

Visited an art exhibition at the Wallace Collection called ‘Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company’. Not that impressed with the exhibition but I like the venue (Hertford House, Manchester Square, London) and the permanent free exhibits including Dutch Masters and others, plus a collection of weapons and armour (not as famous as some other venues but well worth a visit).

Denis Scott is an indie author currently writing under the name of E. D. Robson. He is in his sixties lives in the U.K. and is retired (on and off) having left school to work for a few years as a merchant seaman on cargo… The post 7 Questions With Author Denis Scott appeared first…

7 Questions With Author Denis Scott — Esther Rabbit

Being a late to bed and late riser, I am sat here watching my T.V at 2 a.m. in the U.K. (GMT) having just watched episode 5 of a sub-titled German thriller called 8 Days which is being shown on the Sky Atlantic channel. I didn’t use to watch sub-titled programmes as I often semi-watch, by which I mean read something else at the same time or wander out of the room without pausing the show. However, the rise of Scandi-Noir has converted me and I have now watched numerous such shows from different corners of Europe. Still having a bit of a problem maintaining my concentration, probably just demonstrates my laziness as a native English speaker, (despite having learnt Danish as a child, and promptly lost it when I left, plus my mother having been fluent in four languages).

The show centres on a wider German family in the last days before an asteroid is due to hit Europe. It is a clever play on the migration crisis as people pour out of central Europe and the rest of the world limit immigration. The authorities do have some bunkers ready, but without spoilers, the plot revolves around the politics and morality of who gets a place. a bit slow to start with but really picks up as the story develops although I haven’t got to the end yet, I would be interested in other opinions and envisage an English language version in due course.

HERE [away from it all] by Polly Hope

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A fantasy book set on a Mediterranean island where, after some cataclysmic event, locals revert to ancient beliefs to the detriment of tourists trapped there. I actually first read this book many years ago as a young man when I found it in the library of an oil tanker I was working on. It has always remained in my memory as I found it uplifting in a thoroughly depressing way. You keep expecting some rescue to arrive and turn things round but, just like real life often is, the tide never turns, until in the final pages all hope is lost. A very brave non-engineered conclusion written at a time when such things were rare in popular fiction. I believe, but can’t be sure that this may be one of only a small number of works published by this author.



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