williamonthehill

A Pre Holiday Ponder

" The day passed on; and again the wide stare stared itself out; and the hot night was on Marseilles; and through it the caravan of the morning, all dispersed, went their appointed ways. And thus ever, by day and night, under the sun and under the stars, climbing the dusty hills and toiling along the weary plains, journeying by land and journeying by sea, coming and going so strangely, to meet and to act and react on one another, move all we restless travellers through the pilgrimage of life."

Charles Dickens - Little Dorrit

A Soldier of the Great War

What is an Irishman doing being buried in a small Norfolk seaside village? A long story.

William Fagan was born in County Offally 1887. He took the Kings Shilling (when?) and enlisted in the Connaught Rangers. He was sent to the 2nd Battalion, then in Garrison at Aldershot. So it was that he was mobilised and landed in France on 18th August 1914. Part of the 2nd Division of the 1st Corps BEF, It was the night of 25th August before the Connaughts saw action but it was a nasty night attack which cost them 300 men.Thereafter they retreated with the rest of the army, but not taking any real losses until they stood on the Marne and beat the Germans back to Flanders.

It was tough. It was bloody. By the time that the Connaughts stood in the line outside Ypres that first wet autumn of the war there were perhaps about 100 men left. During the skirmishes and the artillery fire fights through those wet, dripping woods and flooded ditches and dykes of late October William was blown up by a shell. He received severe chest and leg wounds and became so traumatised that he became detached from his mind (shellshock). His war was over. And less than a month later, with only 19 men left, the 2nd Battalion was absorbed into the 1st Battalion, just back from India.

William went from one military hospital to another. He spent time in the asylum at Maghill Hospital, Merseyside and is shown to be on the strength of the Kings Regiment. In July 1916 he was finally discharged from service. He was not in his right mind. He returned to Ireland. Ireland post the Easter 1916 Rising was not the land he had left as a young man. And even in his Navy Blue serge convalescence uniform William was not a hero to his fellow Irishmen. Rather, he was despised, spat at, worse.

William was not a well man. His psyche was very fragile. Too fragile to cope with 'real life'. By the time his daughter, my mum was born in 1927 it was obvious that William needed to be in an asylum for his own protection. It is entirely possible that William was a Pensioner Inmate of the Royal Naval Hospital, Great Yarmouth by the early 1930's.

The RN Hospital, Great Yarmouth was established in 1881 as the Lunatic Asylum of the Naval Medical services. Then it was filled with Matelots and officers who had lost their minds through alcohol abuse or Venereal Disease. During the War it began taking a new and at that time misunderstood phenomena - 'shell shock' victims. By the end of the war nearly all the wards of the RN hospital were full of the so called 'intractable' shell shock cases. Other centres that dealt with shell shock had good records for successfuk treatment. Maghill was one such place and I assume that the doctors must have felt at one time that William was amenable to treatment. But alas...

Right through to the end of the hospital, in 1962, there were two whole wards that housed shell shocked veterans of the great war. William Fagan, Private, Connaught Rangers, died on 23rd June 1957. He was 70 years of age.

Grave Location

I would like to publically thank Mr. George Beale, a humble public servant who knows how to serve his public well.

Mr. Beale is assistant manager, bereavement services at Great Yarmouth Corporation. He has sent me a map of the location of my Grand Pa's grave in Caister-on-Sea New Municipal Cemetery. This means such a lot to me especially as part of the purpose for the holiday in Ireland is to discover roots. We intend visiting the small town where my mother was born, Clara, County Offally.So this is good news at the right time. 

Anglican Woes

I can't get excited about whatever is going on down in Canterbury. Its not my fight. If the Anglicans split, they split. Splitting and factionalism is built into Protestantism. Was from the start. When you reject central authority (The Pope and the Magisterium) for Biblical authority (Sola Scriptura - scripture alone) then you open up a can of worms. Without any guidance who is to say what this or that passage really means? So you end up, as Lwis Carrol said: it means exactly whatever I say it means.

Somone once observed, "In the sixteenth century the Protestants threw out the authority of the Pope in favor of the authority of the Bible. In the twentieth century their own liberal scholars undermined the authority of the Bible. Now they have nothing left but their own opinions."

This is exactly what we are witnessing in Canterbury at the moment. Expressions of personal opinion sometimes hiding behind this theological arguement or another.

Purely from a Utiltarian point of view: in 1993 the Synod voted to Ordain women. But in order to ensure Unity a very bad fudge (Compromise) was made. That women could become Priests but not Bishops; not immediately anyway. Perhaps some of those who accepted and voted for the fudge really believed that women priests would never catch on. Who knows? But immediately they Oked women priests then they also Oked women Bishops. It makes no logical sense not to have also women Bishops if you have women Priests.

Biblically of course it cannot be done. Jesus did not commission women to go to the four corners of the world and "Baptise in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." And bear this in mind also. That alone of all the nations in the Middle East at that time, the Jews alone did not allow women priestesses. And we, the Gentiles are the adopted children of the Jewish God  and therefore are the Elected of God.

Spicey Black Lentils with Smoked Haddock

I read a news report in the week about the health advantages to be had from following the rubrics of a Meditteranean diet. Six items were needed to gain a health advantage. Just including two items could see a 12% reduction in the ods of avoiding a heart attack. The six items were:

Red Wine

Olive Oil

Lentils and Pulses

Oily Fish

Wholemeal bread

Salads.

As I haven't had a recipe on the site for a while here is an iteresting and healthy dish "in the spirit" of the above

BLACK LENTILS WITH SMOKED HADDOCK

225 gms Black Beluga Lentils

500 gms Smoked Haddock

25 gms Butter

250 gms Leeks trimmed and chopped

2 teaspoons Madras Curry paste

100 gms Creme Fraiche

handful flat leaf parsley, shredded

METHOD

Rinse the lentils thoroughly under the tap, place in a saucepan, bring to boil, then simmer for 15/20 minutes until tender.

Meanwhile, cut the Haddock into three and fit into a shallow, lidded pan, add 150 ml water, cover and poach for 5 minutes until just cooked. Lift onto a plate and reserve the liquid.

Heat the butter in the pan, add the Leeks and cook over a medium heat for 3/4 minutes until soft. Stir in the curry paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the liquid from the fish and the drained lentils, stir together and gently cook for 5 minutes.

Break the fish into large flakes, removing the skin and add to the lentils with the Creme Fraiche. Warm through and finally stir in the parsley before serving. 

A Presence that Disturbs

I have just finished reading Father Anthony Gittens book A Presence that Disturbs: A Call to Radical Discipleship. While I found the premise of the book very interesting I found my reading was very disturbed by several passages which I found to be, frankly heretical. Particularly in chapter two; The Holy Spirit:Advocate, Comforter, Life-Giver. Gittens is quite without any humility whatsoever since he alone claims to knows what the Holy Spirit is doing in the Church. Essentially this chapter, supposedly on the Holy Spirit is in reality a treatise advocating women priests.

There are other passages where he accuses the Roman Catholic Church of 'forgetting' about Christ and setting up a self-serving and authoritarian church. I see a clear thread running through Gittens who is influenced by so called "Liberation Theology". He would like to see a Catholic church in the image of yet another Episcopal, Protestant sect.

Whatever happened to the idea that Catholic Priests, other theologians and writers of religious books have to submit their work to be checked for Theological orthodoxy. The Bishop's Imprimature.? Doesn't that happen anymore?

Following on from this my own observation leads me to wonder whatever is wrong with the Missionary Orders? Gittens is CSSp. Why are they so often Liturgical and Theological 'liberals' (aka spirit of Vatican II men)? What is wrong with just obeying the Magisterium and in teaching what the Church has always taught? Just asking.

Holiday Feeling

Our holiday is only a week away - Liam and I fly out of Heathrow bound for Dublin next Monday 14th. This evening I got my suitcase down from the top of the wardrobe and I have put a few clothes in already.

I give you all advance warning: I have absolutely no intention of Blogging while on holiday. No intention whatsoever. But I do promise a good and lush essay on it all on my return.

Tomorrow (Saturday) I intend to buy some Euros. I have about £80 in pound coins saved and I intend to use this £80 as 'petrol money' for Ireland.I will put it in an envelope to keep it seperate.

I will probably buy a few hundred quid worth of Euros for other spending. I understand that Ireland is an expensive place these days.

Letterbox

Following on from my visit to Caister-on-Sea and my fruitless search for Grand Da's grave I contacted the Superintendant of Great Yarmouth Municipal Cemeteries for some help.

I had a nice email from someone called George who tells me that he sent me a letter and sketch map of where to find William's grave. Unfortunately George tells me that he had his letter returned to him marked as "Not Known at this address".

For many, many months our Postman has been waging a remorseless campaign of terror whereby he puts the wrong letters through the wrong letter boxes. Gee, I guess it must be hard to be a postman with dyslexia. Today was a good example. When I got home lying on the mat there were a dozen letters: some were for number 4, one was for number 6, there were three for number 9. There was one letter actually addressed to me!  I delivered them all. Unfortunately some of my neighbours are not as bright or as neighbourly as I am.  They either open the letters anyway, throw them away, or mark them as "Not known at this address" and put them back in the post.

Yes, this situation has been reported. No. Nothing has changed. And you wonder why the Post Office letter deliverry service is a failing service?

Snouts in the Trough

The next time that you hear a politician say that they don't understand why the voting turnout has fallen and they feel lonely and unloved remind them of the debate in the Commons over this past week or so into MP's expenses and salaries.

Am I alone in thinking that the so called "John Lewis" list is nothing less than a scandal? Or the 'second home' subsidy (especially when some of us don't possess first homes)? Or the really specious arguement concerning MP's salaries based on the "equal work/equal reward" arguement. Lets be brutally honest with these men and women. Most of them make nothing, manage nothing, and are without any responsibility whatsoever. This certainly goes for all back benchers. They cannot equate themselves with 'senior' businessmen and executives. Absolutely no way. Professional politicians (and 99% of those who sit in the house are professional politicians in that this is the only thing they have done since they left University) are precisely that and have no one except themselves to compare with. My local MP claimed £110,000 in 'expenses' last year and he does very little for this constituency.

My breath was taken away this lunchtime when I heard a Labour MP (sorry, didn't catch his name) from South Wales justifying a large increase in salary and actually saying that the present 'John Lewis" list was 'very poor' and he wanted more. Lots more. He actually justified this by claiming that his constituents what want nothing less for him! Hubris! Yes you bet. Has this man got not one shred of humility in his heart? Now South Wales is a notorious economic blackspot. I wonder how many of his constituents are earning even the £13,400 a year which the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says is necessary for a single person to enjoy a near decent lifestyle? I am talking about families here, not single people.

I will be so bold as to remind these ladies and gents the reason why they are in Parliament. Its called public service and it usually requires sacrifice. Years ago most MP's and others who entered into the public service understood this. They would give up large salaries and the advantages of wealth in order to enter parliament or the civil service or judiciary to serve the people.

Sadly, todays MP's (of whatever persuasion) seem to think that being an MP is a licence to print money. They remind me of nothing less than pigs with their snouts greedily in the trough called public (taxpayers) money.

Hospitality Rocks

Last night I was the subject of something called "Corporate Hospitality". I was taken to the O2 Arena for dinner, drinks and the Duran Duran concert! Yes you heard right. Simon Le Bon and Duran Duran are doing a world tour and last night they appeared on their 'home turf' - London.

This was my first visit to the Millenium Dome and my first experience of "Stadium Rock". Yes, I confess that I have never had the pleasure/experience before.

Simon gave us a good show as they whizzed through the Duran Duran songbook. Dry Ice, epilepsy inducing strobe lighting, bright lights, coloured lights, lasers and very loud (VERY LOUD) rock music. Lots of strutting, wailing guitar solos and "guitar as substitute penis" stuff. People were up on their feet for most of the show, rocking and gyrating and waving arms about. Lots of men and women "of a certain age" reliving their youth (lets face it; Planet Earth, a big DD hit, was released in 1981). I have to say that Simon hid his age well and was almost athletic at times.

I never was a Duran Duran fan myself and I am not won over to their style of music today but it was jolly good fun. I could get used to Hospitality like this.