{"id":934,"date":"2020-01-31T09:12:33","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T09:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bobjanet.org.uk\/bobsblog\/?p=934"},"modified":"2020-01-31T09:17:23","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T09:17:23","slug":"gloomy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bobjanet.org.uk\/bobsblog\/2020\/01\/31\/gloomy\/","title":{"rendered":"Gloomy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yesterday morning, another walker coming back down the path told me about a thrush that was singing its heart out on a tree further ahead. “Carefree”, she said. And I have to admit, a singing thrush was enough to cheer up even a gloomy old so-and-so like Thomas Hardy<\/a>. Well – actually he remained miserable in an evidence-based kind of way, but did acknowledge the existence<\/em> of cheerfulness. I think what gives this apparently pessimistic poem the power to remind us of joy is its similarity to the carol, “It came upon a midnight clear”<\/a><\/em> (more detail available on request). It sort of contradicts it and underlines it at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday also, we did a circular walk from a 237 bus stop to Hartshead Pike. It was unexpectedly good, with a pleasant stop at a pub for food along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There was a layer of cloud over us and covering the moors to the east. But we could see it was sunny across in Cheshire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today is a gloomy day too: a moment in our history of transition to a third-rate nation. Safety, health, the wellbeing of our planet are all under threat in the name of freedom. I’ve lost. I accept that. I’m going to get on with life just like everyone else. But don’t ask me to celebrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also some blessed hope of which I am currently unaware. After all, Jesus is still alive: he’s still making a difference in people’s lives. After all, there are still people all around the world praying for God’s kingdom to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there is good news in today’s events, too;- If the pound has lost value, it helps us to sell stuff. If house prices have taken a dip, it helps people to buy houses. If we can reduce duty-free allowances, it helps the exchequer and our health (it won’t happen though). And chlorinated chicken won’t actually taste<\/em> of chlorine. (That last one was probably a bit of a scare story anyway).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday morning, another walker coming back down the path told me about a thrush that was singing its heart out on a tree further ahead. “Carefree”, she said. And I have to admit, a singing thrush was enough to cheer up even a gloomy old so-and-so like Thomas Hardy. Well – actually he remained miserable … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Gloomy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobjanet.org.uk\/bobsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobjanet.org.uk\/bobsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobjanet.org.uk\/bobsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobjanet.org.uk\/bobsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobjanet.org.uk\/bobsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=934"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/bobjanet.org.uk\/bobsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":938,"href":"https:\/\/bobjanet.org.uk\/bobsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934\/revisions\/938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobjanet.org.uk\/bobsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobjanet.org.uk\/bobsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobjanet.org.uk\/bobsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}