A Blank Sheet Of Paper

A blank sheet of paper combined with spontaneous writing can be a dangerous thing but let us wait and see. Here we go!

For the last three years I have had immense fun researching and writing for this site but inevitably there has been an opportunity cost. It is not exactly a case of do I work in the garden or write an article? Nevertheless you hopefully get the drift of my thinking. I believe I have a reasonable understanding of how a north eastern mining village ticked so perhaps it is time to move on just a bit.

I find the immediate past and present ever absorbing. For example I attend a play reading group - largely women who need me and one other male participant to take the romantic or evil roles! Well the Monday before last two of the women performed absolutely brilliantly- infact I told them that I would have paid thirty pounds to hear them. They were sensational.

The following Wednesday I attended a local church bible reading class called a 'Beta Group'. In recent years I suppose I have become their resident agnostic verging on atheist. It is fascinating to experience the group's exploration of Church of England dogma and how they respond to my questioning of the same.  They tell me that non believers have no moral code and as a consequence tyranny is inevitable. All breathtaking stuff! My centre piece question is to ask them whether they think it reasonable for God to have produced a world based on a food chain that results in trillions of animals frightened out of their wits on a daily basis. Many of them are ofcourse eaten, animals that is not Christians. If a food chain was the only way to have advanced life dominated by humans surely it would have been better not to have bothered.

Of late I have been studying the Stuart period at a nearby university. What does it tell me? It tells me that devious plots, cruelty, abuse of women, greed and goodness knows what are characteristics of life that just go round and round. There is hope for mankind though! By thinking out of the box, nurturing loving relationships and ignoring bigotry we can just be fine. Sadly I believe there is a fat chance of getting an agreement on that.

Which brings me around to pigeons.I know a lad that can tell us a lot about the importance of those flyers to the local mining community of past and present. No names no pack drill.

WB