“A time to every purpose” From Ecclesiastes 3:1–8

Mid February 2018, I lost my connection to the Internet, and anyone would think someone had died in the house——oh the unbearable loss!  The first few days were the hardest but gradually I, and my eighteen year old son who was also unable to connect via his smartphone(we live in a WiFi black spot – a trough!) became accustomed to being broadbandless, in fact we will remember it as a special time – a GIFT! The problem was an external one, so there was nothing we could do other than patiently wait – five whole weeks for re-connection! Of course my son was able to use WiFi when he was out and about – but for me, I don’t have a smartphone – or any other portable means of connecting to the Internet – so it was downtime for me, other than sending a couple of very short ‘distress’ messages to friends and family to say I couldn’t answer any emails for the foreseeable future. In order to email, it involved walking at least a mile from home – standing in a windswept gateway, fumbling around in the dark, trying to ‘text’ with cold fingers (I can’t do it with my thumbs like the young folks do)and then continuing the walk as if the phone’s intensely bright screen had been seared onto my eyeballs so I couldn’t see where I was going momentarily…’we’ got through though!!! 

Anyway, enough of all that ‘woe’ – I’m back and I can visit here again, and write – and upload pictures and everything, it’s great—but different…

I certainly won’t take the Internet for granted anymore – and expect that it’s always——magically going to be there anytime I care to switch on. It really isn’t the end of the World if you loose IT for a while. We rediscovered the joy of watching series one and two of ‘Lark Rise to Candleford’ together – and are still hooked – so much so we’ve just bought series three and four on Amazon – oh the joy of t’Internet!!!   

The upside of having no Internet has been the completion of an artistic project that I had neglected to find time to get on with. Finally, the woodworm ridden, shell of a Grandfather’s clock that had been dumped in my father’s cold, unlived-in room for months – has been transformed. Several coats of Mouse’s Back  were applied – then buffed with a soft cloth to a fine, fragrant beeswax finish. Its purpose complete…One of the top corners of the clock has been eaten away by woodworm but the little critters are silent——long gone, in fact the clock is silent as the grave itself. It doesn’t tick, it doesn’t tock – or chime on the hour, but it tells the time more accurately than all the other timepieces in the house. And if one cares to open the door in the base of the clock, there’s an added reminder never to waste time aimlessly browsing again!

“The wonder of the world, the beauty and the power, the shape of things their colours, lights and shades; these I saw.

 Look ye also while life lasts.”

(From an anonymous epitaph.)

Time teller.  No cogs, no chains, no hands required; only the clock face behind the glass.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A lovely, romantic  encounter.

“These I saw”  Springtime 2018.

Cradled to safety from the middle of the road, a beautiful pair of coupling toads. Even though I prefer walking in darkness – on a Spring night it is essential to move forward by torchlight!