New Year is a contractual, artificial date. It’s not associated with any particular change in nature or with an astronomical event such as a solstice or equinox. However, this is a good opportunity to summarize the last 365 days and to think about the forthcoming ones. Actually, the summary of the last year is the main content of newspapers, radio…
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“His birth was foretold by a swallow, and heralded by the appearance of a double rainbow across the sky over the mountain and a new star in the heavens”. Seventy years later his dead body was put into a glass coffin, like Snow White, to complement the grotesque life of a terrifying political leader of North Korea. On the other…
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The first signs of the approach of Christmas appeared the very next morning after Halloween; seasonal shelves in supermarkets had been emptied of scary masks and accessories, and had been filled with new items; their packaging had subtle but easily recognizable symbols on them: snowflakes, stars, reindeer, a white-bearded man’s face. A race for customers started that very day in…
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In the parish house in Buckie where I happen to live there is one window extremely inaccessible from the outside. Quite likely it hasn’t been touched since it was installed. For all those years dirt brought by rains and dust raised by winds covered the glass with a relatively thin but highly noticeable layer of filth. I’m not blaming the…
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The door bell in the parish house in Elgin had quite a delicate gong, hardly audible in my flat when the radio or music was playing. A couple of times I didn’t manage to meet people who had made an appointment with me; it happened for one silly reason: I couldn’t hear the doorbell. Personally I hate failing people I…