The music of Tudor England has been my companion this week on my travels. The sacred works of Byrd and Taverner still fill me with wonder. Dark days those but sublime music in a time of religious and social change and upheaval.
We live in pretty dark days if we were to only look at the headlines of the last few months. Religion is once again a place of conflict and division. Not religion in the sense that most people take it. Religion is about peace, tolerance and a belief and relationship with a deity. That some corrupt it is age old but not welcome now.
It has been another tragic week in which innocent people coming back from prayer in Ramadan were mown down by a fanatic. Who knows what this man believed but attacking innocents is heinous. That a perverted form of revenge was meted out was only a matter of time. When will it stop? I can't see it happening any time soon.
Against this backdrop and that of an unprecedented heat wave we celebrate the summer solstice on the hottest June day since 1976. It was hard going in my office. Goodness knows what it is like for those fasting for Ramadan. A Muslim student of mine reminded me that it ends at the weekend and we can go for our cup of coffee as planned next week.
Hard to believe that six months have passed since I posted on the winter solstice. I'm getting older each day. As my friend Mike often cynically says no wiser. But I think I am. I have yet to get a happy medium of term time chaos and holiday time boredom. That hasn't changed in the last decade. This month marks the 10th anniversary of my momentous train journey to Hatfield one sunny morning that led to me being where I am now.
So on Wednesday opera night, sweltering despite the windows and doors being open, I march on to the sound of Handel, the taste of Hoisin glazed chicken and D H Lawrence awaiting. Thunder may well end this period of my life. It promises to be cooler tomorrow and given that I have to address a conference in the morning I will take that.
I Heard a Voice.
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