Newsletter

Days like this one only happen twice a year – today is the Vernal Equinox, that moment in the calendar when the night and the day are of equal length. From this day forward all the way to the Summer Solstice the evenings will be getting lighter, the days getting longer – Spring has arrived. This is the time when the daffodils make their welcome appearance, the bright yellow of their heads adding a splash of colour helping to banish the greys of the Winter. How do those little clumps of flowers appear on the grass verges in the middle of nowhere? has some benevolent soul been out and about planting bulbs knowing the resulting joy these flowers bring? I hope so, what a wonderful thought.

‘March comes in like a lion and (hopefully) goes out like a lamb’ – these last few days have been more than blustery in this part of the world, the strong winds a reminder that although the Spring is almost here, Winter still has a few words to share. The weather being a uncanny parallel for the optimism of a country looking forward to coming out of lockdown, but troubles of the last year are still very much an influence.

Like a gaggle of children excitedly bouncing back to school (hurrah!) the clouds skate and tumble across the morning sky, a solitary needle-like vapour trail, piercing the blue, trying in vain to stitch the white back together – the phrase herding cats springs to mind. The skylight perfectly framing the constantly changing shapes – as the images slowly morph from one to another, the sense of calm they instill is immediate – no wonder there is a Cloud Appreciation Society – with gentle beauty like this unfolding beyond the window pane, we should all be members.

The moon will be full to bursting this evening, and if the sky is as clear as it was yesterday, it will be a bright one – a big clear dimpled and textured disc in the night sky, so clear you could reach out and touch it. When the moon is like this, it always reminds me of the film poster for the 1902 film ‘Le Voyage dans la Lune’, minus the rocket of course!

“The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning his little home. First with brooms, then with dusters; then on ladders and steps and chairs, with a brush and a pail of whitewash; till he had dust in his throat and eyes, and splashes of whitewash all over his black fur, and an aching back and weary arms. Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing. It was small wonder, then, that he suddenly flung down his brush on the floor, said ‘Bother!’ and ‘O blow!’ and also ‘Hang spring-cleaning!’ and bolted out of the house without even waiting to put on his coat.”

What is Love? Love is a suit of armour with which to protect the soul, it is a shield to deflect the arrows of doubt, it is the sword to vanquish hate. Love lights the path, it warms the soul, it holds us up and it drives us on, it is the net which catches us when we fall – we have little if we do not have love.