Seb Palmer

This first gallery is mostly (all?) exterior shots, taken before I went inside.

This next gallery is interior stuff. Mostly font – the font is fabulous! – roof, and sundry wooden stuff.

The next gallery is the glass (and some odd paintings):

And these next two galleries take us back to the wondrous world of wood. The roof(s), and associated sculptures, and the sculpted bits on the ends of the pews (no doubt they have a proper special name; I don’t know/recall it!).

Sadly St Peter & St Paul was closed. I got there at 2.15 pm, to find it fully padlocked. With a notice in four languages, saying open daily, 10-2. Bummer!

When I were a wee nipper, mum and dad had Sleepwalking, by Gerry Rafferty, in their record collection.

Despite, like anyone else with ears, hearing Baker Street ad nauseam, over the years, I failed to realise that it was Gerry Rafferty – despite his very distinctive voice – singing ‘Stuck In The Middle With You’, with Stealer’s Wheel.

Anyway, I watched a documentary about Gezza yesterday, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked in particular his ornery non-compliance with Music-Biz diktats… so I bought this cheap twofer.

And now I’m eating a Big Breakfast lunch in Tesco, whilst reading – or rather browsing – the above tome.

Nice to see the Angel roof of St Wendreda’s receiving fulsome praise and two decent photographs.

I think I’ll go visit a church or two, on this, my first (full) day off in a while. But I’ll post about that separately.

I’m obeying what my body is telling me, and sleeping. A lot. It’s strange, ‘cause not too long ago the issue was insomnia. Now it’s what I’m calling hypersomnia!

I think improvements in diet, and more/better exercise would probably help re-invigorate me. But, for the immediate time being, what I actually want to do, is heed my body (and mind, for that matter), and rest.

After the enervating soul-crushing experiences of the last year plus, I’m a different person than I was before all of that. For better or worse. Rest and sleep are – as far as I can tell – an essential part of recovery.

And yet contemporary life seems designed to induce guilt at such a state of affairs. I don’t think I should feel guilt or shame for wanting to rest and recover. Yet I do. Not a great deal. But enough for it to be irksome and counterproductive, in terms of the need to relax, as part of healing.

I guess, whilst life is far from either perfect, or even what I may have hoped for, I’m quite lucky in some respects. One of those being that, unlike many in our current society, the depth of my servitude, or the grip society has over me, is – by comparison- at times/in ways, quite loose.

To state it simply, and although it comes with very heavy costs, I have a certain amount of freedom. At least in theory. Perpetual total exhaustion currently rendering it a bit redundant! But at least I have the option, right now, to take the rest I seem so desperately to need.

I’ve been mostly sleeping now, as I do most nights at present, for about 12 hours a night/day. Often more. What I’m hoping for is recovery. There’s so much I want/need to do. But I can’t do it with no fuel in the tank (never mind no money in the bank!).

I’m taking a pal, Patrick, to a gig, tonight. He’ll pay for my ticket and petrol, etc. I’d prefer not to need him to do so. But needs must! In the meantime, I’ve tried, without success, to book some more delivery work. Truth be told I’m glad no shifts have come my way. As I’m so totally and utterly washed out!

I don’t even have the energy to read, nor even to watch anything! And I’m not looking forwards to being out late tonight. I like to be in bed by 8pm, nowadays.

The only thing I’m planning to do – aside from a few minor chores (buying a new toothbrush, getting some stuff for Teresa) – is have an English Breakfast brunch at Tesco, around midday.

Oh, and – not that I particularly want to discuss this ‘publicly’ – total exhaustion means loss of libido. In some ways this is helpful, as I have next to no ways of satisfying my normal perma-priapism. But in others it’s depressing.

Life, eh!?

This image came up in my FB feed. Captioned thusly:

United Kingdom and Ireland as seen from Space on a rare clear day.

Source, the James Webb Space Telescope, on Facebook.

I was in Thorney today. There are lots of lovely buildings in Thorney, such as those of Abbey place, pictured above, and in the gallery below.

An then there’s what remains of the Abbey. Now known as St Mary &St Botolph’s Church.

And here’s a gallery of snaps from the church/Abbey:

Also in Thorney, a lovely old windmill, that’s now a domestic residence.

And to finish, avenues of trees on Willow Hall Lane.

I was out, working, again today. So, just as with the Sunday, I had to watch ‘catch-up’ style.

The first thing to note is that Jak Jones did extraordinarily well, having survived the 7- bloodbath that was the first session, to fight back to 17-14. And he’s won a lot fans in doing so.

But, as the ex-player pundits anticipated, having started with a six-frame cushion, Kieran was – never mind their respective pedigrees – odds-on favourite.

And so it duly transpired. After numerous frames where he seemed unable to cross that tantalising finish line, at 17-14, he finally did it. With a little help from Jak.

I’ve warmed to Kieran slowly, over the years. Several of his admirable qualities were on display today/tonight: for one, it’s powerful to see what it means to him (and his family); for another, the sense of community and family he cherishes is heartwarming; thirdly, his candour and honesty.

I could go on. But ultimately, he earned it. He deserved it. And he was generous in victory (as was Jak Jones in defeat). A great final! All hail the new chief.

I’ve just sold another bit of music gear. This time a 14” Zildjian K Mini-China. Sold on Reverb, for £160 + £15 postage.

Here’s a gallery of pics of me packing it, ready for ‘shipping’, as we say nowadays (thanks, Yanks!).

So, the cymbal is packed and ready to be shipped. It being a Bank Holiday Monday, I couldn’t post it today. So it goes off tomorrow.

Next up, a wee gallery of pics from my first delivery route of the two I did today.

After the bloodbath of the first session, which finished 7-1 to Wilson, Jak Jones has been fighting back. As I’m typing this, he’s clawed his way back to 10-5.

Phew! And now it’s the last frame of today’s second session. Can Jak take this? And get from seven behind, to just three in arrears.

Gaah! Nail-biting stuff on the last black. Which it took Kieran about 10-15 minutes to get.

Wow… that was really something. I wanted Jak to win that frame. Pity he didn’t. But, still, that was pretty draining to watch! God only knows what it was like for the players.

These dark purple tulips were an Xmas gift from Hannah and Tim. Thanks guys!

Out on my deliveries, I saw this very apt road sign:

Back home, what are these plants?

And to finish, odds n’ sods: mini-tracked tractors; nice old truck; stalls; sundry stuff.

A few more I missed earlier…

To finish, the ‘spectacular’ RAF Battle of Britain fly past:

Ok, I only saw one plane. Was it the Hurricane or Spitfire? I didn’t see what I took to be the one plane closely or clearly enough to identify it. I think it was the Spitfire?

This fly past was the only slight disappointment. A few more passes and both planes would’ve been nice.

But, all told, there was tons to see and enjoy. And we had a thoroughly good time. Lots of beautiful old machinery. And it was a gorgeous sunny day, in a pretty location.