a wayfarer’s notes

Illustration: from the New York Times review of first edition, in 1907. I’d been reading a trio of Conrad’s sea stories: The Nigger of the Narcissus, Typhoon and The Shadow-Line. Two were about storms, one a calm; two about sailing ships, one steam; two about serious illness on board, one about the obstinacy of a captain. After these I… Continue reading The Secret Agent →

an extract from Virginibus Puerisque Closely following on this epoch of migratory lanthorns in a world of extinction, came the era of oil-lights, hard to kindle, easy to extinguish, pale and wavering in the hour of their endurance. Rudely puffed the winds of heaven; roguishly clomb up the all-destructive urchin; and, lo! in a moment… Continue reading Robert Louis Stevenson on Gas Lamps →

I wrote this in 2006, when social media were still young. Blogspot was the popular medium for bloggers, who habitually offered lists of  other blogs they recommended. See for example Bryan White's Encyclopedia of Counting Sheep with his journal of dreams.  Reading it again, I still hold to the view that blogging is a way… Continue reading Giving Something Back →

Who was she? Although the history of her formal canonization is complicated, regional calendars of the Catholic Church have listed her as a saint for centuries. On 10 May 2012, Pope Benedict XVI extended the liturgical cult of Hildegard to the entire Catholic Church in a process known as "equivalent canonization". I'll try and read… Continue reading Hildegard of Bingen →

farm buildings with brick and flint building behind, part of the estate     land fenced off Gate to the public footpath on return walk farm worker had just laid this fresh supply of hay. She stopped to chat when she was about to push a wheelbarrow heavily laden with water to replenish the trough… Continue reading Sunday Morning Stroll →

This is to say thank you to all readers and especially to Ellie Clayton, Phil Ebersole, IanInverness and Michael Peverett, for your comments on my recent Simone Weil posts. Also to those who clicked on “like”. Most especially to those who remained silent. It’s all valuable feedback. It’s become clear that reading Gravity and Grace is not… Continue reading A Graceful Retreat →

Dostoevsky, from Father Zossima's discourse in The Brothers Karamazov, freely rendered

Gerald Bullett has this to say about the excerpt:

Shakespeare, Sonnet 116

Traherne, from Centuries of Meditations

It's definitely time for another post. Ideally, some inner process would prompt me into bursting forth, some natural impulse like buds and blossoms in Spring. For something had been going on while the trees were still bare in winter; a preparation, invisible to the untrained eye. But this morning I'm starting from cold. My conscious… Continue reading Seeing a Pattern →

It’s a relief to come back here and write a post. I’ve endured weeks of “nothing to say”. Instead I pursued my latest book project, alluded to in the previous post, which has involved pruning, refining, selecting, truncating, rewriting—in short editing—what I’ve written over the last ten years. As a task it’s a long winding… Continue reading What to Do →