Dru, Steinbeck and the Book of Deer

Dear Juliet I'd thought of writing a blog about the time I wound up in Death Valley on a midsummer day one May, but I already did that with my first post on here ... And they had a cold snap. In Needles, a cold snap means the temperature stays under 90 F., but it seems L.A. is currently quite overcast at 70 F while Shifnal is hitting the heights at about 93 F. It's going to be fun working in this hot old town tonight, and I missed last night's eclipse as I was travelling around the shire spreading some kindness that night, too. Got this shot of sunset's song in nearby Kemberton, though. So, five calls in Bridgnorth tonight and what shall I say? I think I'll say that coming back tonight and seeing your statistical presence on the blog makes my day. It's a simple point, but one which must be strongly underlined. I look forward to "seeing" you that way and it fulfils my day. I don't mind getting stuck in a waiting room in San Antonio, strolling round...

Dear Juliet I know you're probably feeling a bit fragile, so let me reassure you this blog isn't that gory. Just a few more figments of England and history... There's a little village called Little Sodbury (yes, really!) in Gloucestershire, which is one of the forty or so English hamlets which got all their World War One soldiers back. They're called Thankful Villages . Their churchyards are memorable not for what they have but for what they lack, namely war memorials. I went there a few years ago: And next to the churchyard with no war memorial, I found this interesting sign: So, okay, here comes the gory bit... William Tyndall or Tyndale was just about the first person to translate the Bible into English; and definitely the first person so to do using the original Greek and Hebrew source materials. The Book of Deer, for example, is written completely in Vulgate Latin except for those annotations in Scottish Gaelic. It seems to be fact that Tyndale first got his brigh...

Dear Juliet The above phrase was famously attributed to George V after he spent several months recuperating from lung surgery in Aldwick, near the seaside town of Bognor, West Sussex . Bognor got a bit hopeful it might be able to add the royal suffix of Regis to its name, George reputedly got a bit irritated when asked about this and may have uttered the immortal line, "oh, bugger Bognor!" His aides probably sweetened him up a bit, and today the town rejoices in the title Bognor Regis. I've got cousins in Felpham, next door to Bognor, and have visited for decades. So here are a few photographs of a typical British seaside resort, rather unlike Santa Monica... Beach huts and the sign to The Sea... On the beach... Obedient local bikers... And William Blake 's lodgings near The Fox, Felpham. This is where he wrote "Jerusalem"  ca. 1804 before making seditious remarks to a young soldier in the doorway of The Fox and being arrested... There's actually a refe...

Dear Juliet If I understand correctly, you can scarcely believe someone would like you for yourself and not for what you can do for them? Over the years, I semi-regularly pitched about Dear Miss Landau and/or the Dru Quartet to anyone who might be interested. Potential business transactions, but with heart. Dru or bust, you might say but, yes, on a commercial/transactional basis. Then you came along again ( just a-walkin' down the street ), and I've tried to tell you for months that I just like you for you and I won't use you for transactional stuff or leave you crying while I pursued my own selfish ends. And I hope you believe that. Then I saw an opportunity the other day. Some Sarah Michelle Gellar website. Send them an easy email re Dru/ Landau , see what happens... I could have done it very easily and never even told you. Except I didn't. I thought about it for a bit, and I decided not to do it. Pretty easy decision, actually. So there. You mean more to me than my...

Dear Juliet I'm getting through the cessation of the cancer pills. Some fatigue and feeling flattened most of today, though I'll still soon go out to work and climb Bridgnorth's steps, if not those of Mount Seleya... So I'll find a few more mementos of Merrie England, but I was playing around with property options while waking up earlier, so all I'll say is this: There's a way forward. I hope that brings you solace. So. some more of Merrie England! Ullswater, Lake District. More of Ullswater, Lake District. Canal boat, Upton-upon-Severn. King's College, Cambridge. Tintagel, Cornwall. I hope this makes your day, and reminds you the rest of the world's not far away. Love, James

Dear Juliet I don't think my brain's doing very well today, so I thought I'd send you a few pictures from Merrie England? Well, I Hope U Like: Silbury Hill in Wiltshire . It's the largest artificial prehistoric mound in Europe, built about 2400 BC. Nobody knows what it's for as the guys who put it together didn't leave a handbook... I've been past it several times. I first found it after being diverted from the M3 because some nut dropped nuclear waste on the carriageway. I had to navigate along the back roads by the seat of my pants, decided I'd try and find England's best-looking pub and came across the Waggon and Horses just behind it in Beckhampton: Then there's Richard III... I went to a college get-together in Leicestershire, had a look round town first and found Richard's recently recreated resting place. As you know, they lost his bones for centuries and only rediscovered them in 2012-2013 . British Path é made a movie about it called...