My 13th short story: “The Away Day”
June 6th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
We really don’t know what’s going on in other people’s lives and so perhaps we should make allowances. That’s the theme of my short story “The Away Day” which you can read here.
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Two more fun days with my darling granddaughter Catrin
June 5th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I haven’t blogged for a couple of days because my hands have been full looking after my granddaughter Catrin who is now almost four and a half.
Almost a year ago, I blogged about a visit we made to Legoland and I commented then: “This was something of a trial run to see if I could manage the logistics and if she would like the place. The travel went fine and she enjoyed it, but I think that she’s still a bit young to get the most out of it, so we’ll leave another visit for a while.”
This week, we returned to Legoland in Windsor and had a terrific time. The journey there involved a taxi, a train and a bus, but Catrin was fine with the travelling (I suppose the children’s fairy stories on my iPhone helped). It was the perfect day to be there: the weather was warm but not too hot and there were not too many visitors so we hardly had to queue for any rides. I knew my way around better this time and took her to more age-appropriate sections and, in any event, she is a year older and up for all sorts of fun.
We went on lots of rides together: a helicopter ride, a submarine ride, a tower ride, and (twice) a boat ride past Lego figures illustrating various fairy stories. But Catrin was just as happy climbing and sliding in various adventures playground areas. Also she adored the splash area getting thoroughly soaked.
Catrin and I at the submarine ride in Legoland
We were out almost 11 hours before we returned to my home for a sleepover. She was still excited but I got her to sleep with stories and cuddles in the bedroom next to ours. I thought she might sleep through the night after such an exhausting day but, about 1 am, a little face appeared next to mine as I lay in bed fast asleep. She climbed into bed with us and fell fast asleep again. Then, about 7 am, a little voice announced: “I’m awake now. Let’s get up.”
Our second day together was in London and it was a really hot day. First, we had to plant a conker (which we found at Legoland) in Vee’s garden. Then we had to make a Lego kit that we had bought at Legoland: a princess and her bedroom. Next we went out for the day.
At South Kensington, I took her to what I announced was the best ice cream shop in London. Then, suitably cooled down, we went round the corner to the Victoria and Albert Museum – not to look at all the fine art but so that Catrin could splash in the large pond in the central courtyard.
Next stop was London’s South Bank to meet my friend Ellie Stoneley – a very special mum – and her daughter Hope who is about a year younger than Catrin (they have met once before in Cambridge). We started in the extensive sand area where the kids could pretend to be at the beach. Then we went to the Appearing Rooms Fountain which is a very popular annual attraction. This was the third time in two days that Catrin had enjoyed a water feature and that girl just adores the water. The four of us finished up at Gabriel’s Wharf for refreshments and more play.
Catrin was brilliant the whole two days: well-behaved, immensely chatty, and loads of fun. I was one happy granddad.
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Who was the greatest pilot of all time? I nominate Chuck Yeager.
June 2nd, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Three of my lifelong interests are aviation, space and cinema. The three topics are brought together in the 1983 film “The Right Stuff”which I recently viewed yet again [see my review here].
This brilliant movie is the story of the first seven American astronauts who were the Mercury team fronting NASA’s efforts to compete with the Soviet Union’s space programme in the 1960s (my teenage years when I followed every flight by both sides). However, the film begins and ends with two amazing flights by American test pilot Chuck Yeager.
Seeing the movie again reminded me of my admiration for this pilot and my enjoyment in 1986 of his autobiography (written with Leo Janos) entitled simply “Yeager”. It is an utterly remarkable story.
In the Second World War, Yeager was an ‘evadee’ and double ace with 11 kills. As a post-war test pilot, he was the first man to break the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, the conqueror of the Bell X-1A after a 51,000 foot fall, and the the burnt and battered survivor of the bale out from an F-104 Starfighter. Oh, and he was a veteran of 127 missions over Vietnam. I nominate him for the greatest pilot of all time.
Chuck Yeager is still alive, now aged 92. You can read more about him on his web site here.
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Last week’s movie-going : four very different films
June 1st, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Last week was half term in London, so I had few meetings and was able to go to the cinema no less than four times. I saw some very different works.
Two European films:
- The Juliette Binoche film “Clouds Of Sils Maria” – my review here
- The new French film “The New Girlfriend” – – my review here
Two American movies:
- The new sci-fi movie “Tomorowland” – my review here
- The new blockbuster movie “San Andreas” – my review here
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If I understand history correctly …
May 31st, 2015 by Roger Darlington
“If I understand the history correctly, in the late 1990s, the President was impeached for lying about a sexual affair by a House of Representatives led by a man who was also then hiding a sexual affair, who was supposed to be replaced by another Congressman who stepped down when forced to reveal that he too was having a sexual affair, which led to the election of a new Speaker of the House who now has been indicted for lying about payments covering up his sexual contact with a boy.”
Brilliant observation at the “Washington Post” by Orin Kerr, the Fred C. Stevenson Research Professor at The George Washington University Law School.
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Word of the day: erumpent
May 30th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Lovely word, isn’t it? I came across it for the first time recently on a television programme to do with the countryside.
It means ‘bursting forth’. An actual example: “The sun spun aloft, an erumpent orb of balling glory thrilling the blue sky with its brilliance.”
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My 12th short story: “An African Adventure”
May 29th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
This story may not be what you expect. Check it out here.
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Was the universe made for us?
May 28th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
At one level, the question may seem arrogant, even preposterous. After all, as a recent article in the “New Scientist” magazine put it:
“For much of our existence on Earth, we humans thought of ourselves as a pretty big deal. Then along came science and taught us how utterly insignificant we are. We aren’t the centre of the universe. We aren’t special. We are just a species of ape living on a smallish planet orbiting an unremarkable star in one galaxy among billions in a universe that had been around for 13.8 billion years without us.”
At another level, as the article – which can only be accessed online by subscription – points out, the laws of physics are ridiculously fine-tuned for you and me. All told, about 12 parameters – such as the values of the electromagnetic force and the strong nuclear force or the amount energy contained in empty space – have been identified as being just right for life. Why?
One answer is known as the strong anthropic principle which states that the universe is so perfect for life that it must have been made for us either by an intelligent creator or, more likely, because of some fundamental features of the cosmos that drives it towards intelligent life.
Another answer is known as the weak anthropic principle which states that, given that we are around to observe the universe, it simply has to allow for our existence.
Another, altogether more radical, proposition is that our universe is simply one of many multiverses, each with its own physical constants and laws. Wild as this idea seems, versions of it emerge from both quantum mechanics and standard cosmology.
So, how do you feel now?
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When did the Second World War end in Europe?
May 27th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
At one level, the answer to this question is obvious. VE Day was 8 May 1945 and we have recently marked the 70th anniversary of this event.
At another level, the answer is more complicated. The deaths and destitution went on for much longer. Many Holocaust camp victims contined to die after liberation – they were just too weak or too ill. Many citizens across Europe died from cold or starvation. Some 26 million were displaced.
But what is often overlooked is that, at the end of the war, ethnic Germans throughout Central and Eastern Europe were victims too. It is estimated that over two million women and children were raped, usually by the victorious Soviet troops. In what we would today call a process of ethnic cleansing, some 12 M ethnic Germans were expelled – including all the 3 M Sudenten Germans in Czechoslovakia – and at least half a million died. It was the largest forced migration on world history.
In many cases, the techniques used to expel, beat or kill ethnic Germans deliberately emulated the techniques and horrors and even the locations of the Nazi atrocities during their occupation of the previous years. War brutalises soldiers and citizens and one can under stand how Germans were treated after the war but we cannot condone or excuse it. These were crimes and most of the victims – especially the children – could not be held culpable for the Nazi horrors.
All this was brought home in a BBC2 television programme broadcast this week entitled “1945: The Savage Peace”. Newsreel footage and eye witness reports were truly shocking. My wife is half Czech and, for a few months just after the end if the war, she was in Czechoslovakia as a baby with her family. The accounts of the post-war retributions in Czechoslovakia were especially hard to view.
You can find an article on the treatment of the Germans post-war here and you can find a lot more detail on the expulsions here.
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A moving, and ultimately uplifting, story from the ravages of Afghanistan
May 26th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Virtually all the news we receive from Afghanistan is depressing. So it is heart-warming to hear of the magnificent efforts of musicologist Ahmad Sarmast to create an institute for classical music in Kabul, although tragic to find that the price has been serious damage to his hearing. You can read this moving story here.
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