Which fictional world would be the most fun to vacation in?
There are two choices for me, the world of Narnia from my childhood reading or the world of Harry Potter that I shared with my children. I instinctively want to go back to the fantasy world of my own childhood as it brought me comfort when I needed it.
Narnia is a world of talking animals which we first encounter in The Magician’s Nephew when Aslan the lion brings it to life. We then revisit it at various points in it’s history finally witnessing it’s end. If I had to choose a time to visit it, I would choose the time of The Horse and His Boy set in Calormen.
Now, to modern eyes the setting with it’s Middle Eastern flavour and the way that those of darker skin are not to be trusted is troubling, perhaps more so because of the revival of such attitudes in mainstream politics across the world. However, it was to C S Lewis, in all likelihood, merely a useful way for the reader to differentiate between good and bad. Anyway, the era of The Horse and His Boy is the time that the Pevensie children have been on their thrones in Cair Paravel for a number of years and are now adults. It is a time of peace and happiness in Narnia itself even if Calormen and Archenland are at war.
Narnia at the time of the book is still a relatively young country and one where the Witch Jadis has been defeated and banished. The talking animals are now free from fear and have the run of the country as equals to the humans that share it. There are once again four seasons as the Witch no longer makes it always Winter and never Christmas. Fauns like Mr Tumnus are once again free to live their lives without threat. It’s not the idyllic setting of the newly created world, but the setting of a world at peace and ready for exploration by the occasional tourist.
If you could go back and witness any historical event, which one would you pick?
Last year I went to Stonehenge for a very special opportunity. Along with about 40 other people including my wife and son I was able to walk in the Stone Circle and discover the amazing atmosphere amongst the stones. It is truly an otherworldly place and if you have the opportunity and the money available I can absolutely recommend it.
While I was there I got talking to the guide about what he would really like to know if he could go back in time. He said that he would love to see the process by which the site was built. He had a number of questions. How were the stones brought to Stonehenge? How were they lifted into place? What did the site look like when it was newly built? It was a fascinating insight into the thoughts of someone who knows the place intimately. The amount of guesswork and conjecture in archaeology is amazing, because however much they do know, the amount they don’t know is much more extensive.
My interest is in the way that the Stone Circle was used. For that reason I would choose to witness the first Winter Solstice at the newly completed Circle. Was it, as many people have assumed, a religious ceremony or celebration of the day when the dark started to gradually loosen it’s hold on the world? Was it a Neolithic rave where hedonism was the order of the day? Was it a meeting to decide how to divide the food and drink available over the long Winter? What did they wear? (I ask this question primarily because I saw a number of men dressing up in ‘Druid’s Robes’ and wondered why on earth they had decided that this is what would have been worn by the high priests.) Were there high priests or were they actually priestesses? So many questions with no answers, but answers that I could give if I was able to go back there and witness that first Winter Solstice. On reflection, I quite like the mysterious nature of the site and, as I will never be able to go back in time, that mysterious nature will remain intact and that is for the best. I have my vision of the Solstice in the Stone Circle and I will leave my imagination to fill in the gaps.
If you had to get a tattoo right now, what would it be and why?
This is very similar, once again, to a previous prompt. In this case it’s a prompt from March 20th so it’s taken 5 months for a repeat, which is not the shortest gap! I can only repeat what I said then. I have never wanted a tattoo and I am quite baffled by the concept of deliberately inflicting pain upon myself! Three of my four children have tattoos and my youngest daughter is borderline obsessed with them! Moving away from that I thought I would look into the history and culture of the art of tattooing.
Tattoos have been around for many thousands of years and we have clear evidence that Otzi, the Iceman discovered on the Austrian border with Italy was tattooed with 61 different designs due to the mummification of his body. However, tattooing was no doubt practiced long before and possible tattoo tools have been found which can be dated to the Upper Paleolithic era which ended around 12000 years ago. Why this happened is of course completely unknown. Was it a sign of a warrior or a criminal? Both of these are understandings of people who wore tattoos from my childhood and teens. It was made clear to me that I was not to get a tattoo because that was a sign of a person who was not to be trusted unless they were ex forces according to my Dad at least.
Indigenous people around the world have long traditions of tattooing, perhaps most recognisably amongst the Pacific Islands and New Zealand Maori. In these cultures, the facial tattoos were a mark of status but this became problematic because Pakeha (Europeans) traded tattooed heads. Around the middle of the 19th century the prevalence of facial tattoos reduced, apparently as a reaction to Pakeha desecration of their ancestors. However, in 2020 Nanaia Mahuta became New Zealand Foreign Minister with a moko kauae or facial tattoo as they began to reappear. Some non Maori commentators are antagonistic towards the facial tattoo but the younger generation are much more accepting in general.
In Japan, the history of tattoos, as in the UK, is associated with criminality and antisocial attitudes. The Yakuza famously have tattoos as a mark of their belonging, but the interesting aspect is that they only developed as that because the Meiji government in 1868 made tattoos illegal. As a result, anyone with a tattoo automatically became a criminal and therefore to survive they needed to band together. This led to the creation of the Yakuza, who would not have existed in their current form without this law. Even amongst younger people, the heavy weight of Japanese social attitudes means that tattoos are not widely seen because, for example, some Onsen will bar anyone, Japanese or Gaijin, from using the hot springs if they have a tattoo.
So, when did tattoos become mainstream, at least in the UK? David Beckham was sporting visible tattoos from the late 90s onwards and many other sports stars and singers followed suit, and in many ways this made them unremarkable to my children’s generation even if they were still unsettling to me. I first came across a teacher with visible tattoos on her arms back in 2016. I hired her because she was the best person for the job and because the students, even those from the most traditional cultures would be unlikely to be bothered by it. I reflected at the time that 10 years before this would not have been the case. My oldest children both had tattoos by this time and so did many of their friends. I guess that Gen Z saw it as a way of expressing themselves and their life journeys. I am happy to leave the ink to them!
The final story of Series 8 is an all time classic and one of the best stories of any incarnation of the Doctor, classic or modern.
Doctor Who Re View The Dæmons
This is a review and reflection in my usual style of my favourite Jon Pertwee story, and therefore by extension my favourite Doctor Who story. Take a read and see what the fuss is all about as far as I am concerned. First seen over 50 years ago but no spoilers just in case!
How did you meet your significant other?
I first met Janet on February 3rd 1987 when I started work at the Chatham A Unemployment Benefit Office. As a new member of the team I was assigned someone to work with me and show me the ropes and it was Janet. She was a good guide but I was a slow and inconsistent learner and she was baffled by how difficult it was for me to repeat the same tasks over and over again despite being shown on a number of occasions. As she was to find out in the years ahead, it takes a long while for things to stick with me, but when they do they are there for good.
Over the first three months I was there we built up a connection even if we baffled each other with our approach to work, life, politics and pretty much everything else 🤣! She was quite intrigued by my habit of bringing the cryptic crossword into the break room at times and reading a whole parade of books by RF Delderfield which I bought from the WH Smiths across the road. I was intrigued by the fact that she had stood on the terraces at Gillingham games for about a decade. I found out later that it had given her a fairly wide vocabulary that she avoided using at work!
Then, Janet announced that she had got another job and it surprised me how much it affected my mood. I was going to miss her as a colleague but I didn’t think she was going to miss trying to teach me the basics over and over again! About a month after she left she sent a thank you card to the office with a specific message for me in the form of a crossword clue! I figured out, despite the fact that the clue was wrong (!) that the answer to the clue was Miss You. I didn’t know if that just meant as a colleague, but then I was spectacularly clueless in matters of the heart!
Eventually, Janet got up the courage to ask if she could see me again. If she’d been waiting for me to do it I would never have organised anything. The message came via Wendy, one of Janet’s best friends at work who she had kept in touch with. Wendy told me that if I upset Janet by messing her around I would have her to answer to! With that warning in my head I agreed to see her at the Crispin and Crispianus pub, my local at the time, on December 17th 1987. Safe to say, things went well and next month we celebrate our 36th wedding anniversary.
