September has most definitely left no one in the Cotswolds in any doubt that autumn has arrived. We did not have a particularly warm summer, enough to drift about in a linen dress for a few days but for the most part it was firmly cardigan weather. September however has mostly been cold and wet, with the important question being raised of whether it was cold enough to put the heating on. This last week has been so wet that there are flood warnings in place across the region, this morning severe enough to close the M5.
Weston Wynde (16th Century)
Westron wynde, when wyll thow blow
The smalle rayne downe can rayne?
Cryst yf my love were in my armys,
And I yn my bed agayne!
The medieval town of Tewkesbury, site of one of the famous battles of the Wars of the Roses, is fairly close by and regularly floods in the winter. Flooding in September is a relatively rare event but with an estimated months worth of rain arriving over a few days, following a wettish summer, I imagine there isn’t many places for the water to go. It is at times like this that I am very grateful that we live on a bit of hill, even though the wet corner of our garden is currently underwater (thank you interesting geology of the Cotswolds).
It is with some envy that I am looking at the weather in Oban on the west coast of Scotland where we will be heading in mid October, which is currently enjoying blue skies and sunshine if the weather reports are to be believed. I frequently forget just how much weather we have, and how varied it is over comparatively short distances. While it may be our national pastime to discuss the weather, it is more understandable when predicting the weather for the day is an art not a science. Even looking out the window isn’t a guide for what it will do in half an hour, much less longer, nor is it a reliable guide for what may be happening ten miles down the road. I would, however, not have it any other way.
The Rainy Day by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow
My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.
Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary …
While I might enjoy a grumble at the weather there is no risk of getting bored of what is happening outside my window. On first moving to the Cotswolds I was initially quite depressed, we arrived in what appeared to be a biblical downpour, the full forty days and forty nights of rain. I wondered what I had come to. Over time I have come to appreciate that this green and pleasant land is the result of the mild climate and copious rainfall, and you can’t have one without the other. Rain is our household is now “liquid sunshine”, after all it rarely lasts for long. Even when, as in the case of that first winter, I began to wonder if Ark building was something you can learn off YouTube, it remains a perfect opportunity to snuggle down with a good book.
Reading Plan Update
I was in needing of cosseting over summer, I was struggling a bit with my health so I was not in the mood for too much challenge.
Fiction
Discworld series by Terry Pratchett are perennial favourites and ones I return to when needing low energy entertainment. I read five this quarter.
- Small Gods pokes gentle fun at what can happen when people get involved in religion, the truly divine experience versus the power play.
- The Shepherds Crown is the last novel Terry wrote before he died and it is sad on so many levels, not least because more so than in his other books you can see how much the Alzheimer’s was taking an effect. To be fair it can legitimately be described as an unfinished novel as he never got to add all those extra flourishes and plot twists for which he is rightly admired.
- Moist von Lipwig novels (Going Postal, Making Money & Raising Steam). Pratchett’s biting satire of the inertia of the Civil Service, the greed and hypocrisy of the financial markets and a love letter to steam train enthusiasts everywhere.
I also finished off the forth novel of the Barchester Chronicles, Framley Parsonage, and Orlando by Virginia Woolf.
Non-Fiction
My long read project of reading the entirety of the Bible in a year as finished, it has been quite an experience and I am so glad I took it on. I will be writing it up and it will be published here on Substack in the next few months.
Pure Wit by Francesca Peacock is the biography of an extraordinary woman of the 17th Century, Margaret Cavendish. I am in the process of writing a separate book review which I will publish in due course.
Islands of the Evening by Alaistair Moffet. I enjoyed his book on Lindisfarne so much that in preparation for our trip to the west coast of Scotland I picked up this one on the missionary saints to the Western Isles, Iona and the conversion of the Picts. It didn’t disappoint.
I have become interested in prayer as topic, something I noticed myself that when my mother became ill and then subsequently died I returned to the comfort of prayer. I have been reading some books on the topic, which although mostly Christian, have relevance to understand why we pray. I found two small volumes which have provided amble food for thought The Jesus Prayer by Kallistos Ware and Creative Prayer by Anthony Bloom. The first takes a short prayer from the Orthodox faith and shows how all encompassing it can be, there are obvious parallels to be made with Buddhist and Hindu mantras. The second had some delightful insights into what constitutes prayer, as an example knitting and being open to the presence of the Divine is a form of prayer.
Current Reads
The Second World War by Antony Beevor – from my lifetime reading plan as a means to fill in some gaps in my knowledge. I am trying to read a chapter a day, any more would be hard going. Beevor is an engaging writer but he packs a huge amount of information into each sentence so this is not a relaxing read, but it is still very enjoyable.
Uncrowned Queen by Nicola Tallis about the life of Margaret Beauford mother to Henry VII of England.
The Small House of Allington by Anthony Trollope, my least favourite of the Barchester Chronicles so I wonder if it improves with re-reading.
Columba by Ian Bradley a fortuitously timed pick by my reading group.
Tales from Underground by Dostoyevsky.