13th of February to the 19th of February 2024
It might as well be spring, Salve Piscatores! Newman on gentlemen.
Hints of spring
Out hiking along a fen drove I found myself humming the jazz standard It Might as Well be Spring.
I'm as restless as a willow in a windstorm
I'm as jumpy as a puppet on a string
I feel so gay in a melancholy way
That it might as well be spring
Here’s the excellent Stacey Kent performing the song live:
Of course, spring is still far away, we could quite easily still have snow in this absurd country.
Salve Piscatores!
I enjoyed this snippet from a obituary of the Harvard classical scholar John Houston Finley from 1995.
Finley wrote Four stages of Greek Thought which opens with:
Whether the Greeks saw things most freshly because they came first or it is pure good luck that, having come first, they answered life with unmatched alertness, they in either case keep ageless sparkle, as of the world lit by a kind of six-o’clock-in-the-morning light and the dew imperishably on the grass. The Greek mind remains in ours, because this untarnished freshness leaves it, like youth itself, our first exemplar.
That six-o’clock-in-the-morning light is a special thing if you’ve seen it.
Too indolent to bear malice
John Henry Newman’s portrait of a gentleman, perhaps something to aspire to in these days of rancour.
That’s it for for now, have an excellent week.
Spring is definitely here, all the blossoms in the rain, and birds gearing up for mating season. Even spotted a very lonesome swallow at our nearest reserve, arrived way too early.
Gentleman, an interesting concept, and one that I aspire to, stripped of any class based connotations. It’s how you think and behave, putting others first and thinking of others. As everyday as being polite, saying thanks and (now we live outside London!) saying hello to people you bump into. Guided a career of public service too.