Contemplating a change of name

As I am no longer active in any sort of ministry, I think it is perhaps time to change the name of this blog to something which reflects where I find myself in terms of writing, living and all the things that go with it. In truth, the last few years have been a challenge in several ways as I have tried to get my writing refined, my books selling and juggling home, family, writing, and publishing demands. Then there is research, developing ideas and plotlines, promoting the books in print and, of course, pulling my weight around the house.

The Shelties definitely think I should devote more time to them, but that means less time to write ... A nice little balancing act I think.

So, what do I, in my alte ego under my own name, plan for 2018 and the future? First of all there is a new Harry Heron story in the process of publication. It will appear (all things proceeding smoothly) in early July. Harry Heron: Savage Fugitive is the fo urth book in the series. It will be followed by at least two more. I want to pick up some of the characters I created in A Baltic Affair and Limehouse Boys in some new stories set in the 19th Century, and I have been playing with a few other ideas as well. The biggest problem is devoting the time writing demands to the task. Sir Terry Pratchett once said that writing is the most fun you can have on your own, and he was right. The problem is there is a fine balance when one is married, has family and other responsibilities ...

So, my solution at present is to try and find a way to make more use of my blog and my website, Harry Heron, to market my writing. I hope it will allow me to use this blog as a sounding board to discuss the books and share my thoughts on writing fiction and, perhaps, occasionally to share my thoughts on other matters. For now, I will leave the blog name as it is while I think up something more appropriate. And that will now have to wait while I make a brief visit to family and friends in my former stamping grounds.

Inspiration may be triggered there!

Milestones

Last year was one of those 'milestones' in life in a number of ways. It was the fiftieth anniversary of my finishing my 'formal' schooling. It marked the point at which I found myself launched, unprepared and without a map or a compass into the world of 'work'. I don't think I was the only one to have that feeling as we walked out of the school gates for the last time as pupils. For myself, beyond some vague ideas about becoming a priest (I'd passed the selection process, but been told I had to first work for three years), doing - perhaps - military service (it was on a ballot system) or 'going to sea' somehow, I'd not the faintest idea of what sort of 'work' I could do, let alone look for. University was not an option, my parents couldn't afford it, and even had they been able to, I managed to NOT pass the key subject, Mathematics.

As I quickly discovered, that limited my options quite considerably. I got lucky, my father's boss arranged for me to be interviewed by Barclays Bank, and much to my surprise, they hired me. So last month saw me report for my first day at work in the Main Street Branch - which was a Regional Head Office - of Barclays Bank DCO. I worked for them for three years, and I think it is true to say that was long enough to know I didn't suit banking. A spell trying to explore my vocation at Theological College ended in my taking a post as a travel agent as I simply did not have the support necessary to survive three years with no income. I tried sales (my grandfather ran his own 'agency' business, but I wasn't working for him), I tried clerical, the civil service (Customs and Excise) and I tried the fire service.

Fifty years, three marriages and three children (all from the first) later I look back on a career that now spans two continents and covers a little over 36 years between South Africa and the UK. It has taken me to the Romania, Poland, Kazahkstan, the US, the Caribbean, West Africa, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. It also led to my eventually meeting and marrying my wife.

As I sat on the benches at the Founder's Day Ceremony at Selborne College last October I could not help but marvel at how much I've experienced, and how much I've seen and done since that day in 1964 that I walked out of the Lukin Road gate for the last time. I was saddened to learn how many of my former school mates were no longer with us, astonished at the journey many more have made, and delighted to see around thirty of them at the reunion. Here are some photos ...

The School's War Memorial, installed in 1920 to commemorate the former Old Boys who died in 1914 - 18. They fell in France, Belgium, Turkey, East Africa and in various oceans as well. The list enlarged to include 1939 - 45 and the subsequent 'Bush Wars'.

The Ceremony of the Key. Each year a representative of the incoming Matriculation Class is selected by his fellow pupils as the next 'Custodian of the Key' and the Changing of the Guard on the Memorial is marked by the handing over of the Key. The Ceremony has been performed since 1921 and the boys parading for this are now entirely volunteers.

Probably the only mark of my passage through the school. I subscribed to a campaign to raise money for the future of the school, so my name appears beneath my father's and above that of a friend I made in 1957. My 'Old Friend', as he likes to remind me ... OK, OK, so he's six months my senior ...

The Food Bank Controversy ...

Food Banks are much in the news at present, and are something of a 'hot' topic in many people's minds. The reason is not hard to find, we are bombarded with news items about the 'rising number' of Food Banks, and the need for them. Add in a liberal mix of politicians all trying to make political capital, abuse of statistics in the media and you have a ready made subject to 'prove' that poverty is on the rise. Recently a friend and former colleague who happens to be legally qualified and does voluntary work for a number of charities who work with those in need, on benefits or in low-paid employment. He had some very interesting things to say about the misrepresentation of the figures on Food Banks, and pointed me to a website which provides even more interesting information. 

The Trussel Trust is a major provider of food banks, and there website has a range of very accessible and readable statistics. According to their figures they have provided 913,138 people with 'emergency food supplies' sufficient for three days. Note that the numbers are for 'people' NOT 'families', and one more point of note in this is that each time a person returns, that person is counted as a 'new' customer. My friend informs me that this is further complicated by the fact that the referring charities hand out the food bank vouchers to individuals, NOT families, so a single adult applying and qualifying will receive one voucher, a second for a partner and another for each child. And they will receive the same number each time they reapply. Thus, someone who comes in say every fortnight and receives five food bank chitties is going to appear in the statistics as 26 times 5 people - 130 people in the years statistics.

Of course, not everyone does that, and the suggestion from the participating charities figures is that probably fully two-thirds of those in receipt of this assistance don't. The second half of this is, of course, to put the numbers into a proper perspective. As I said earlier, we are talking individual people NOT 'families'. Next we must look at it against total population in the UK, and we find that even with the 'repeat users' it is still actually quite a small percentage of the population. 

The Trust keeps a record of why people are drawing on the Food Banks, and now we find really interesting statistics on why people are 'in need'. The top three, in order, are -

1. Delayed Benefits

2. Low Income

3. Benefit Changes.

The fourth is equally interesting. It is listed as 'Other', but this includes those who persist in believing there is a horse somewhere, that will make them rich. Unsurprisingly, Debt and Unemployment come next, with Homelessness, Domestic Violence, and Sickness in that order. Certainly, in our society, the top three may be addressable, and numbers five, six and seven should be. 

Sadly, there is little one can really do about those who spend their wages (and family's domestic subsistence) in the local betting shop, short of shutting such premises altogether. However, we need, once again, to look at this in a balanced manner. Once again, the news papers and the 'word on the street' has been somewhat misleading. What it has failed to mention when reproting the 'increase in reliance on food banks' is that there has been a change in the way certain 'Benefits' were dealt with. 

'Benefit' is probably the wrong word to describe what used to be called a 'Crisis Loan' which was issued by a Local Authority and was supposed to 'tide a family over' a temporary shortfall in income. As of 1st April 2013, a change in the law switched off these funds, but switched it to an alternative system. Crisis Loans had to be repaid, which meant that ultimately all you were doing was deferring the crunch. Under the new system most Local Authorities issue 'Food Vouchers' which are redeemable at a Food Bank and give three days worth of food. These are not 'means tested' so anyone can, in an emergency, qualify. Naturally, those who would and could benefit most are the elderly, young folk struggling to get started, the homeless and the sick. 

We must also look at the sudden increase in the number of these food banks. Once again, it goes back to the changed legislation. The rise in the use of the food banks directly correlates to the rise in the number of these facilities. Did they increase due to demand, or did usage increase due to availability. It would seem to be a bit of both, not least due to the removal of a 'cash loan' system and its replacement with the vouchers redeemable only in food. As my friend put it, the loans had to be repaid, and there was no guarantee that the money handed out wouldn't wind up attached to a betting slip in the local bookmakers. Now, at least, those who receive the vouchers, get food on the table. 

Yes, it is a great shame that we need them, but the fact is we do. Almost 70 years of political meddling to 'lift people out of poverty' haven't achieved it, nor are they likely to. Human nature is, by nature, inclined to certain behaviours, and some of those tend to drive people toward poverty. So we have food banks, and more food banks are being opened, but it doesn't mean more people are 'falling into poverty' because the usage is increasing. Changes to the benefit of 'Emergency Loans' mean food vouchers, not money for the betting shop or the pub. 

Unfortunately, the stigmatising of Food Banks by the ignorant is putting off many who should be making use of them. That is something that concerns my friend very deeply - to the point it makes him extremely angry when he encounters those he considers 'numpties' who are grinding ideological axes founded on complete ignorance of the subject. As my friend wrote to me - 

Finally with all the do gooders shaking their heads in disgust at the foodbank, they have by default made them unavailable to many folks who wont accept the vouchers (my experience), because there is a now a stigma about them, thanks to all the best meant criticisms. Many are too proud to be seen going to them. They are usually the proud OAPS and genuinely most needy.
Yes, it's sad we need them, but they, like many things in life, are a necessary evil, and I plead with everyone to be careful when ranting about them that they don't by accident stigmatise them and the people who need them.
And the next person I hear using foodbanks as a cheap political point scoring tool “wull get their heed pood aff”

For those who don't speak Glaswegian, that bit in parenthesis translates as - "will get their head pulled off". In my view, they will deserve it.

Societies in Decline

Students of the wider sweep of history are very acutely aware, I suspect, of the manner in which societies - and their attendent cultural forms and influences - rise and decline. Sometimes they are violently overthrown and even eradicated by a more aggressive neighbour. Egypt versus the Hittites, Hittites versus the Assyrians, Babylon versus Assyria, Persia versus Babylon, Greece (Macedonia) versus Persia, Rome versus Greece, versus the Carthaginians, and so on. Along the way there is often an element of 'ethnic cleansing' - Rome's Punic Wars against Carthage, and their suppression of the Etruscan civilisation, spring immediately to mind - but that is the tip of the iceberg.

In the Far East there is a similar pattern of rise and fall of societies and cultures, each one weakening one society, often by simply killing off all males. There is evidence that this happened in Britain once the Angles and Saxons began a serious settlement invasion. Recent reading I have been doing on the subject of genetics and genetic diseases suggests, for me, a possible explanation as to why we are seeing an increasing number of genetic defects in the world's populations, and why, in some groups, we seem to be seeing a form of 'regression' physically and mentally. I must stress that I am NOT a geneticist. I have NO qualification in that field and I know only what I can access online, in paper journals and books on the subject. So what I think can be dismissed by those with far more knowledge as "speculation" - but I would hope that someone, somewhere, will be kind enough to consider this, and perhaps explain to me why I am wrong - or why I'm right.

Many now accept that western society is in decline. We have lost our competitive edge as the business phrase is, and our taste for military adventures. Our response to threats such as that posed by Iran or Mr Putin's Russia, is to retreat into hand-wringing appeals to their 'better nature' and launch into a flurry of 'diplomatic activity' and horse trading until someone, somewhere, can emerge waving a bit of paper and proclaiming "peace in our time". A century ago, we'd have sent a Fleet and bombarded someone until they saw our point of view. And that is part of the problem I am about to raise. Each of those 'little' wars culled sections of the human gene pool. Until the so-called Great War of 1914 - 1919, the numbers were actually quite limited - assuming one ignores things like the French losing 10,000 of their nobility at Agincourt, or Napoleon's loss of 100,000 men retreating from Moscow. In the Great War, however, all the European nations and their colonies threw the cream of their genetic pool into the trenches and carried out a cull of it on an industrial scale.

Then we repeated the folly barely twenty years later - and this time involved the rest of the world. Add to that, the Russian Bolshevik 'cull' now estimated at more than 30 million, and the Japanese 'cull' of Chinese in Manchuria and elsewhere (estimated at around 10 million), Mao's cull estimated at 100 million, and we have a stage set for a massive restriction in genetic diversity. The impact is probably most notable in the former British Colonies and Dominions since the "European" genetic pools in these countries was quite small, and their losses during the first and second World Wars disproportionately high. However, the Germans and their allies, and the Russians and their's suffered higher losses than everyone else in this conflict, and the French probably, in proportion, most of all. So why have we not seen the collapse of their populations before this?

Part of that answer is, I think, due to the fact that post 1945, their populations have grown, expanded and to some extent been replaced, by inward migration from all over Europe, and lately, from Africa and the Near East. The loss of genetic diversity among the 'native populations' has, to some extent been masked and the effects delayed by it. In Britain, where there has tended to be less 'mobility', I would suggest that the loss of genetic material has had a more visible and insidious effect. There has been a large increase - according to one source an above average increase, in the incidence of Multiple Schlerosis, Thyroid problems, Aspergers Syndrome, Parkinsons Disease and several other genetically caused disabilities. Given that we know it requires a minimum of 2.5 million people to provide the unrelated genetic diverstiy to prevent 'inbreeding' in any population and all the problems that causes (I'd love to know who the genius was that included the ban on marrying brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, cousins, etc., almost 3,000 years ago in the Bible), it does not take a genius to work out that a lot of this is down to 'bad genes'.

So where do they come from? Back we go to the 1914-19 and 1939 - 45 wars. All sides lost millions of young men. Young men at the height of their breeding capability, and at the point where the genetic material they carried was at its best. Then we subjected the survivors to diseases, to radiation, to chemicals and a range of conditions, stresses and diets guaranteed to cause genetic damage - and now we reap the results.

OK, so I'm not an expert. I'm not a biologist, and I'm certainly not a geneticist, but the more I read on this, the more I realise we have a serious problem. That we have compounded it by interfering in the process of 'natural selection' as well, just makes it worse. Who cannot be moved by the grief of parents who have a child whose only hope of survival at birth is a total replacement of all its organs? (There was a case of this a while ago where the NHS was sued to force them to provide it for a desparately ill baby) What does it actually achieve, given that the reason is the child's genetic blueprint is loaded with defects?

Yes, the World Population has exploded and expanded since 1945, largely due to the eradication of a range of diseases we were prone to and which the weakest members of our population gereally succumbed to. Infant mortality has fallen everywhere, more children survive to adulthood and breed, more adults survive beyond 45 years and some even breed into their sixties. All of which adds more genetic defects to the pool if the latest research saying that men over 30 are more likely to pass on defects than under that age. Children who died in their prepuberty often did so because they lacked resistance to certain common ailments, or had some defect in their systems which meant they couldn't cope with it.

For Europe, I would suggest that our gene pool was seriously weakened by the wars of the 20th Century, and though it is now diversifying again, it is simply widening the range of damaged genes we can use. As I said at the outset, I'd love to see what the real geneticists, biologists and experts say about this. So far I see and read a lot of skating round the edges, but, as far as I can see, no one is prepared to take a longer and wider look at it.

Maybe someone should.

Gone, but not forgotten ...

Today would have been my mother's 89th birthday. She died in 1999. Our relationship was never an easy one, she'd had a rough life and endured a bad marriage 'for the sake of the children' - a decision which has certainly left its scars on my brother and I. She believed that 'family' should stick together, no matter what, and she was a fierce defender of us, of my children and of her own father and mother - though more than five minutes in her father's company would produce an argument ...

Rest in Peace, Grace Eleanor Frances Cox, nee´Heron. 11 Feb 1925 - 21 Oct 1999.

Out with the old ...

Out with the old and in with the new as the saying is. 2013 has certainly seen its ups and downs, and I suspect a few people won't be sorry to see the end of it. Hopefully 2014 will bring better fortunes for us all. For my own family there have been some great times and some of the others as well. My youngest daughter got married in July to a man I really like. My eldest finished her Bachelor of Science degree with Honours, and my son is currently doing what he loves - flying helicopters.

Silke, Harry and I had a great holiday in the UK, travelling around in a hired camper van, the only snag being the battle we had with the UK's 'rules' concerning animals (even with 'Pet Passports') arriving by air with their owners. Next time we'll know, and travel by car!

Our trip took us through Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and Gloucestershire, giving us a chance to walk on beaches, explore the history and catch up with friends. It was lots of fun and the Camper Van proved to be a good way to do it.

A trip to Belgrade for a conference for  me proved interesting, and Silke had similar conference trips to Hamburg and Thuringia. Our papers were well received - rewarding considering the amount of effort that goes into preparing them.

The rest of the year has been taken up with a wide range of work related activities for Silke, the publication of one new book for me, and preparation of another. The work I've tackled for a history of my former place of employment seems to have stalled temporarily while I try to find information, anecdotes and pictures of one of its 'former' manifestations, and, of course, lots of 'playtime' and walks for Harry.

All that remains is to wish all my friends and  readers a very happy and prosperous 2014!

Feasts, Festivals and their significance

Since the dawn of mankind, as archeologists are discovering, humans have found reasons to celebrate certain events, or to mark certain seasonal changes. In recent years it has once agin become fashionable to re-invent, or in the words of some, to reclaim, the major Christian festivals, usually in the name of some 'original' religion, but often just for the sake of making it more 'inclusive' and secular. In recent days I have read several treatises on how Christmas was "stolen" from Nordic pagans, or some other group or people, so perhaps it is time to look afresh at why Christianity adopted certain dates in order to mark key events or beliefs.

The one festival we can be reasonably certain of is the Easter festival. Since St John tells us the trial, condemnation, crucifixion and resurrection all occurred "on the eve of the Passover". It made sense therefore to the early Christians to mark the Jewish Passover by commemorating the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ. The problem is, of course, that it isn't a "fixed" feast in the sense that it may occur anywhere between March 21 and April 25. The Jewish formula, the Orthodox Church and the Western Churches all have slight variations on the way they determine it (Rome, responsible for the way we calculate Easter in the West, changed the formula at least three times between 325 AD and 700 AD) which means, of course, that while Easter and Passover often do coincide, sometimes they don't. It also means that the Western Easter and the Orthodox Easter often don't coincide either. Personally I don't believe this makes one jot of difference - the key is that we remember what Easter is all about - the fact that Christ died on the cross (forensic analysis of the accounts makes that clear!), and rose from the tomb in a renewed 'body' on the third morning. It is this 'resurrection' which is key to the entire Christian Faith. That is why Easter is so important to all Christians.

Having dealt with the reason Easter is 'moveable' and not 'fixed' let us look at some of the other major festivals. The obvious 'biggy' is Christmas, set as the 25th December by the early church fathers. It certainly didn't take its present form however until quite late, and it isn't, and never was, intended to mark the actual day of Christ's birth. Again, examination of the gospel accounts more or less tell us it was very likely in summer. Shepherds and sheep aren't out on the hills in winter, even in the Holy Land. So why did the early fathers choose this date?

The answer is simple. Many of their converts already celebrated the Saturnalia between 21 December and 1 January. Primarily the Saturnalia is a fertility festival associated with a fairly wide range of 'fertility rites' including public copulation as an "offering" to some local deity. Under Romano-Greek practice Bacchus, Satyrs, Pan and several other 'fertility' figures featured in the celebration which marked, as you've guessed, the gradual move out of the winter and into the Spring rebirth of fields, forests and animals. Theologically it does not take a great deal of effort to link the Birth of the New Adam - Jesus Christ - to a renewal of all life, and the renewal through the 'New Adam' of all humanity as well. As St Paul did with the Athenian altar to "the Unknown God", all that really happened was that the Christian converts found a new reason to celebrate the Saturnalia, though we may be sure they didn't continue with some of the more carnal excesses!

Over time, and with the spread of Christianity, the Winter Solstice celebrations in Northern Lands were 'converted' to the Christian message, again, largely because converts already kept these celebrations, and simply were given a new interpretation of them. Thus, Yule logs, Christmas trees, decorations and lights entered the celebrations. As the faith spread, each 'new' group of converts found ways to celebrate their new faith within the framework of the celebrations of their 'old' faith. Gradually these have been 'standardised' by the wider church, but still retain a lot of local and regional variations.

This is how some of the Imbolc customs have become associated with Easter, and how some of the Samhain customs associated with the Festival of All Saints. Imbolc, a festival celebrated by the "Celtic" tribes of Northern Europe and the British Isles doesn't coincide with Easter as some think and actually falls in February. It was originally a celebration of the increase of flocks and herds, since it marks the birthing of lambs, wild boar and deer - and the original cattle. Likewise Samhain doesn't necessarily fall on what has become "Halloween" (a corruption of "All Hallows Eve", the evening preceding All Saints) which is, again, an amalgam of several similar pagan festivals celebrating Harvest, honouring the dead, and invoking local 'gods' and spirits to tide one over the winter. By switching the focus to a commemoration of the "Saints" who set us an example, and adding a commemoration of all those departed this life, the early church created a moment for reflection on life and thanksgiving following the intense labour of the summer, the harvest and the preparations for the long cold, lean months of the winter.

There is a logic to the progression of the festivals and feasts the Church adopted and it has worked very well, by and large. Of course one could argue that some of the original focus has been lost - no one would, I think, disagree that since the 1850s at least, Christmas has been gradually turned into a shopping extravaganza. One could also be excused for wondering what some folk think they are really celebrating in their church/family traditions, and I will confess to being a little concerned at some practices.

What has always intrigued me, and which I have still not been able to find an answer to, is the question of the reason why so many very diverse cultures chose to mark similar festivals at very similar periods. Christianity has adopted largely northern and western European festivals, but one can find similar festivals and seasons in many other cultures. Some, obviously, are related to the 'cycle' of the agricultural year, while others are not. Answers on a postcard please ...

Congratulations

Are definitely due to the Monk's eldest daughter, who has successfully achieved a Bachelor of Science (Hons) Management with Trusts and Estates. She has worked hard for this, holding down a full time and demanding job and studying part-time.

Studying for a degree is never a walk in the park, even as a full-time student. Doing it while dealing with a full-time job and all the other little things in life adds a few complications and some challenges. In my view it makes the achievement all the more noteworthy.

Congratulations VC, a celebration is definitely now in order.

The Passage of Time ...

Today the Monk finds himself wondering where the years went. He looks back on a very full, sometimes rewarding, often hectic and sometimes bitter range of experiences. The high points in his life were the births of his three children (in which he had a very minor role ...), his career, the move to the UK in 1988 and the subsequent time he spent in various ministry roles culminating in his time in the congregation and ministry of Tewkesbury Abbey.

Today his wife has spoiled him. Her gift is a 'smart phone' for him, so now he must learn to use it properly - and remember to convey to all his friends, the new number!

Now his faithful small companion is waiting for his all important walk in the woods with the Monk. Harry has to check all his marker posts, check which new deer, wild boar, other dogs and even the odd raccoon or pine marten has dared to wander through his forest, so the Monk had best make haste and set off.

Wedding Bells

Today the Monk, Mausi and Harry are attending the wedding of the Monk's youngest daughter to a super young man, whose surname just happens to be the same as the Monk's middle name. The are being wed in the Parish church of St Mark, Bromley South, where Alli was once in the choir and the Monk a Reader.

The Monk hopes his readers will join him in wishing the happy couple a long, happy and fruitful marriage. He is preaching at the wedding by invitation, the first time he will be standing in that particular pulpit since he moved to Gloucestershire 21 years ago.

As you may imagine, the Monk is delighted.

Blogging over the next few weeks may be erratic as the Monk and Mausi take Harry on a short tour of the South West following the wedding.

A Birthday Celebration

The Monk and Mausi, wish The Postulant a very happy birthday. We hope and pray that the year ahead will bring everything she hopes for.

May it be the first day of a great year and the first of many more.

Celebration

Last Saturday the Monk and Mausi celebrated their marriage in the Friedenskirch in Wiesbaden. It was a fun service, conducted by our local priest in the Old Catholic way and attended by a large number of our friends and the Monk's son and eldest daughter and their partners. A glass of 'Sekt' (can't call it 'champagne' even if that is what it is - the French and the EU don't like it) in the church afterward with everyone was followed by a superb dinner at the Eden Parc Hotel in Bad Schwalbach.

The Eden Parc is a fantastic hotel in a great setting. It was built in 1930 to the "Bauhaus" pattern, and includes large rooms with en suite facilities and an indoor swimming pool and gymnasium. Our guests were booked into rooms here so we could all enjoy the meal, some wine (German drink/driving enforcement tends to be very strict - one glass of anything is too much) and the company. We had guests from Poland, the UK and different parts of Germany so it was an 'international' gathering to say the least.

The dinner was superb. We chose dishes that were Rheingau specialities and a wine list to match. The Chef produced nothing less than a masterpiece, just the right quantity of each course and timing the courses to perfection. He and the rest of the staff were, however, amused and quite taken with the quaint 'English' tradition we insisted on to end the meal - a glass of Port wine accompanied by cheese and English water biscuits. Our guests thoroughly enjoyed the little ritual of 'passing the Port' and we finally retired to bed very late and very, very happy and well fed.

Eventually we will post some pictures - our photographer took plenty, but I haven't received them yet.

Great News

The Monk is delighted at the news his youngest daughter, Alli to family and friends, is engaged to her longterm partner. Jim did the romantic thing, proposing to her on a bridge in the South of France. The Monk is doubly pleased as Jim is a great guy, one the Monk thinks very highly of and knows will take good care of a very special lady.

Marriage

The Monk and Mausi today celebrated and cemented their relationship in German Law at the Wehener Schloss. It has been a two year battle to get the paperwork required by German Marriage laws sorted out - the Monk having been previously married in South Africa, then divorced in the UK complicated things, not least because it proved impossible to get the South African authorities to supply the required documents - but, having finally succeeded, they've now done the deed.

Posting here will be a lttle light for the next week or so as they are taking a short break in Denmark to celebrate. Plenty of sea and sand on the North Sea coast - and hopefully a little sun as well.

Preparations ...

This morning the Monk fetched his youngest daughter and her partner from the airport, and now they're preparing for a large party for friends and family this evening.

The reason will become apparent tomorrow ...

A little art ...

The Monk's mother was a very skilled artist, but, sadly, never had the opportunity to really make use of it. That said, she has left a number of drawings, sketches and paintings for the family. The picture below is one she did in pastels of an unusual bird, native to the Tsitsikama Forest. The Knysna Loerie is pretty close to its prehistoric ancestors and is a particularly beautiful bird. They make short gliding flights from tree to tree and are fruit and berry eaters.

The picture hangs in our stairwell, and the colours are very close to the live birds. They are green, with iridescent blue/green tails and trailing edges of their wings. The underside of the wing is a brilliant red.

The Toughmudder completed ...

The Monk is very proud of his youngest daughter and her team (Thanks Alli for the picture - obviously taken after hot showers and clean up!). They took on the Toughmudder challenge and completed it. If you're on FaceBook, take a look at the pictures the Toughmudder Organisers have uploaded and you'll have an inkling of what it entails. Twelve miles of tough obstacles over which the participants must run, climb, swing, crawl, swim and whatever else they need to do to complete the challenge.

You can get some idea from the picture below which comes from the Facebook page.

Definitely not one for the faint-hearted, the occasional jogger or anyone not prepared to put everything they have into getting to the end with their team.

Toughmudder ...

No, that isn't a bad attempt at dialectically spelling the word 'mother,' even though it is Mother's Day in the USA. The "Toughmudder" is probably a peculiarly British fund raising event for the charirty, Help for Heroes. It is a "team event" and the teams face the challenge of getting through a 12 mile long assault course, designed and built by the Royal Marines. They face getting through water, mud, obstacles and even barbed wire to complete the challenge - and bear in mind most of those doing it are NOT in the Armed Forces.

It is not for the faint hearted or the unfit. It is a tough challenge and it isn't one individuals should try, it does require a team to get through it. This is something the Royal Marines are very good at, they build teams, they work in teams and they train in teams. So when they design an assault course, it takes a team to beat it.

The Monk is extremely proud of the fact that his youngest daughter is a member of a team that has taken up this challenge. She and her team will be tackling this course today, Sunday, and hopefully will raise lots of money for the wounded and disabled soldiers, sailors and airmen the charity supports. Anyone wishing to add their support can use this link! Yes, there is still time!

Go Alli!

Triumph over bureaucracy ...

It has taken 23 months, numerous visits to the Standesamt, more telephone calls, emails and letters than we care to remember, apostilles, certificates, certifications of authenticity and a couple of affidavits - but we've finally got permission to get married in Germany. The bureaucrats finally surrendered and stopped sending us demands for more certificates, more proofs of nationality, marriage anullment, income and residence, and have issued the necessary clearance.

Now all we have to do is set a date when those we'd like to invite are likely to be able to attend - and the necessary officials, priest and venues are available ...

It's only taken 23 months so far, what's another six or so?

Birthday

Today is the birthday of the Postulant, the Monk's eldest daughter. She arrived on Friday the 13th a while ago and makes her father very proud indeed. Tomorrow she collects the keys for her new home and will move house on Saturday.

Two significant milestones to celebrate!