Showing posts with label English. Show all posts
Showing posts with label English. Show all posts
Friday, 23 April 2010
Happy St. George's Day.
Jerusalem
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills?
Bring me my bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire.
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.
-- William Blake
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
A Throwaway Snow Comment.
I find it fascinating that we English are so incompetent at dealing with snow and at the same time so unbelievably transfixed by it.
Here is proof via the social networking site 'Facebook', you may have heard of it... (I know, using Facebook as proof is a bit of an oxymoron. But in my defense, I had to work all day and consequently didn't actually meet any of my friends, if I had I am certain they would have said similar sentences to me). Some selected statuses from friends posted during the last 8ish hours:
"snowtastic"
"first day of term cancelled due to SNOW! amazing."
"Snow day! Huzzah!"
"snowflakes continue to fall"
"my snowman is dead!"
"has a day and a half off school to play in the snow! Yay!"
"more snow - no work"
"built a snowman"
"reckons a little bit of white stuff and everyone goes silly ... don't you just love it !!!"
I'll stop there... but you get my drift.
We love it. I understand, I really do. I guess it taps into the British 'weather taking' psyche - just we go on about it forever because it's not as normal as, say, drizzle.
Anyway, for what it's worth, here's my throwaway snow comment of the day:
You see more when it snows, especially at dusk, because any light that is left is reflected by the snow on the ground, thus making it seem lighter and more eerie than it actually is. I like this bizarre state of flux in the earth's lighting.
In other news - Norah Jones has an incredible voice. Just incredible.
Here is proof via the social networking site 'Facebook', you may have heard of it... (I know, using Facebook as proof is a bit of an oxymoron. But in my defense, I had to work all day and consequently didn't actually meet any of my friends, if I had I am certain they would have said similar sentences to me). Some selected statuses from friends posted during the last 8ish hours:
"snowtastic"
"first day of term cancelled due to SNOW! amazing."
"Snow day! Huzzah!"
"snowflakes continue to fall"
"my snowman is dead!"
"has a day and a half off school to play in the snow! Yay!"
"more snow - no work"
"built a snowman"
"reckons a little bit of white stuff and everyone goes silly ... don't you just love it !!!"
I'll stop there... but you get my drift.
We love it. I understand, I really do. I guess it taps into the British 'weather taking' psyche - just we go on about it forever because it's not as normal as, say, drizzle.
Anyway, for what it's worth, here's my throwaway snow comment of the day:
You see more when it snows, especially at dusk, because any light that is left is reflected by the snow on the ground, thus making it seem lighter and more eerie than it actually is. I like this bizarre state of flux in the earth's lighting.
In other news - Norah Jones has an incredible voice. Just incredible.
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