Look, I don’t think I’m weird about this. I really don’t. I think lots of you sniff your books. And probably other people’s too. The way books smell matters. The cheap hard white academic institutional paper of tenure books and reheated dissertations has a smell that tells you from the beginning that you will learn a […]
via Book sniffing note: Slanguage, by Bernard Share — Sesquiotica
Every year much time and money was spent on creating a series of floats decorated with tulips to parade around the small Lincolnshire town, sponsored by local and national businesses. Tourists flocked there every year from many parts of the country and beyond.
Sadly those days have long gone now. However a ‘vestige’ of this former glory still remains in the numerous church flower festivals which still take place in early May.
I was particularly impressed this year by Donington’s flower festival. The explorer and cartographer who essentially mapped Australia, Matthew Flinders, was born in Donington in 1774. Recently his remains were discovered and there is a move to bring them back to Donington – you could almost feel the air of anticipation at this prospect.
Today many strong links remain with Australia; there are numerous visits from ‘down under’ too, both sides very keen to keep up and improve the cultural associations.
Let’s hope his remains return home soon and that a tasteful setting is created for the memory and legacy of the great Matthew Flinders of Donington, Lincolnshire.
To put that into perspective, King William (Rufus) the Second of that name, son of the mighty Conqueror, had been on the throne since 1087. It was only a quarter of a century after the Normans’ hostile (in fact rather brutal) take over of the board of the richest kingdom in western Europe, but already their introduction of Romanesque architecture was changing the landscape of the country for ever.
However Lincoln Cathedral’s early history was blighted by disasters. A fire destroyed the roof in 1124, an earthquake destroyed most of it in 1185.
Nevertheless despite this the structure was rebuilt in magnificent fashion to become effectively the tallest building in the world, thanks to its huge central spire. The triple spire configuration as it was during the late medieval and early modern period must have been an incredible sight. Then, tragically, in February 1549 the central spire collapsed during a storm. The two smaller spires remained for some time until they were taken down for safety reasons.
Even so, Lincoln Cathedral still remains high on its hill, and is at least to my mind, the best cathedral in England and therefore one of the best anywhere. If you are in the region it’s well worth a visit.
There is much more I could say about the cathedral and the city but I will leave that for future posts.
It’s interesting to note that it’s 19 years to the day since Vladimir Putin was first elected to the Russian presidency.
I don’t believe it’s been continuous, I think Medvedev spent four years as President too, but few western politicians have spent so long in high office, or achieved such levels of popularity, which he appears to retain to this day and Russia has certainly been transformed in those years, the Orthodox Church being reinvigorated, for example.
Naturally though, he remains a controversial figure in the West.
Milly Reynolds’ quirky and quintessentially English crime series ebooks, featuring Detective Inspector Mike Malone, are at last starting to appear on Smashwords.
There are the first two on Smashwords currently, with the others soon to follow, including the two books featuring DI Jack Sallt, the ever-so-dangerous sleuth who is fond of the ladies!
There is also the one-off romantic novel, ‘The Unseen Sky’, which takes place in England and Venice.
There will be nine ebooks in total and others will follow soon.
*Find them here: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/MillyReynolds
All of these ebooks are already on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk
Ciscography 