Friends, Romans, Countrymen, what were you doing this far north?

Stretching some 73 miles from sea to sea across the North of England, from Wallsend on the River Tyne to Bowness on Solway, Hadrian’s wall was built around 1900 years ago to mark the boundary between Roman Britannia and the barbarians in Caledonia. Although the centuries have taken their toll, this is still an imposing landmark, although nothing as menacing as the 12 foot barrier mentioned by the Reverend Bede in the 8th century. Much of the wall follows the equally imposing Great Whin Sill escarpment, the Romans taking advantage of the terrain like the expert engineers they were. If you ever visit the wall, expect it to be bleak, cold, grey, and wet up there ~ even in the height of summer. Which surprised my American friend somewhat.

Jack Collier

So, you want a really cool Gentleman’s Carriage?

If you’re not actually James Bond, and your budget doesn’t quite run to an Aston Martin DB5, then you could do much worse that to look for an MGC GT. This upgrade to the MGB was fitted with a more powerful, but much heavier, 3 litre straight six engine, which meant it was much better in a straight line than it was being hustled around tight corners on English country roads. Given that the MGC was much faster than its sibling the unwary could find themselves going backwards through a hedge if they pushed their nose-heavy car too hard. However, driven as intended, the MGC GT is a fine long-distance cruiser with decent luggage capacity for two. Given that only 4,457 of these fine grand tourers were ever built, it might also be worth looking at the even rarer and faster MGB GT V8, if you could bear having a car with a name that long. The fine car in the picture was seen at the recent Newby Hall Classic Car event.

Jack Collier

Ripon Cathedral founded by Irish Monks in around 660 AD

The pretty little market town / city of Ripon in North Yorkshire not only boasts a market square, winding medieval streets, and an outstanding racecourse, it also has a beautiful cathedral dedicated to St. Wilfred. Obviously the saint began his ecclesiastical career on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, as did most monks of that era. Part of the Saint’s original 7th century church, the underground Anglo Saxon Crypt dates back to 672 AD, and the magnificent East Window was carved by stonemasons in around 1300 AD. Ripon Cathedral has been a place of worship for some 1350 years, which makes it a lot older than most countries. If you like England then you will love visiting Ripon.

Jack Collier

We’re made for the light of a cave and for twilight. ~ James Turrell

On the North East Coast of England, just south of Newcastle lies Marsden Bay. There, at the bottom of a steep cliff there’s an 18th century smuggler’s cave, lately converted into a unique pub. Unless you know it, and happen to be in the area, it’s an out-of-the-way place to go for one’s fish and chips of a Friday. In honesty the food isn’t brilliant, the 130 steps from the top of the cliff to the pebble beach are steep and precarious, and the rickety elevator back up does’t fill one with confidence. Added to which, the prices are high, and the service is a bit slow. However, it’s not every day that one can say you had lunch in a 200 and more years old rum runners hideout. Just for that one boast alone, Marsden Grotto is worth visiting, should you ever happen to be this far to the very North and East of England. And have a local to guide you.

Jack Collier

When hospitality becomes an art it loses its soul. ~ Max Beerbohm

How far should a man living alone go when preparing to receive a female housguest? Obviously one should pick the place up a bit, but when is showing that you’ve made an effort start to look like you’re trying too hard? Going beyond the obvious like making sure your laundry isn’t scattered all over the place, that you have sufficient good-quality toilet paper, and the garbage cans aren’t overflowing ~ just exactly what does a manly man need to do to impress a woman visiting his place? Clean, fresh bed-linen perhaps? A set of guest towels? Suitable toiletries in case she hasn’t brought her own? Have a hair dryer even if you don’t use one? Clean out some drawer space, make certain she’s going to have space to hang whatever she needs to, stock the fridge and pantry with more then booze and snacks, get the drinks, snacks, supper, and breakfast she likes…? Or are we back to the real nitty gritty ~ scrub and shine the bathroom she’s going to use? All I know is it doesn’t stop with your place. She’ll examine everything else; your car, your clothes, your linen cupboard, your choice of music, whether your screen-saver is various shades of porn…. You know what? At the end of the day all a man has to do is to be himself, because if she’s coming to stay then she must like and trust you quite a lot just the way you are. Unless she’s an easy slut, and then you don’t care anyway.

Jack Collier

There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies ~ Shakespeare

Step 2 of Alcoholics Anonymous says; we came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity… There is no mention of a god in the second step toward recovery from whatever insanity you may be suffering from. In fact, some say that a 12 step program is spiritual and not religious, which is just as well because 12 step meetings are most definitely not a part of any defined church or religion. Spiritual means relating to the human spirit as opposed to material or physical things. You do not need to be religious or even believe in God to be spiritual. There is no theology there. Theology means the study of God, which is rather pointless because God is by definition and nature unknowable. Nevertheless, all the religions and churches make a good living from theology ~ which doesn’t make them spiritual at all, rather the opposite. For many people spirituality relates to the questions of the meaning of life, whether our individual lives have any meaning, is there any point to my own personal suffering or the suffering of all mankind, and a feeling for the interconnectedness of all things. Since I lost part of my mind due to a traumatic brain injury, I have come to believe that only a Power greater than myself can bring me back to this reality. If that isn’t spirituality then my search for the answers to the meaning of life may have no answers ~ but that doesn’t make my personal quest pointless, just endlessly difficult.

Jack Collier

my country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty

Congratulations on your 248th birthday, so proudly we hail your freedom in this dawn’s early light. Enjoy your parties and maybe think of what today really means.

Your flag still stands for freedom.

Over here in Blighty, in England’s green and pleasant land, we do not celebrate your Revolution, but then we don’t celebrate ours either. However, we too hold this truth to be self-evident, all people are created equal. What they do after that is down to them.

Jack Collier

Simplify and add lightness. ~ Colin Chapman

Over the last twenty years or so, almost all cars, trucks, and vans have got much bigger, heavier, more complex, and more expensive in real terms. Given that for much of its life a vehicle will be transporting one or two people around on fairly short journeys this makes no sense at all. Partly this is due to all the electric and hybrid cars out there which have a few hundred pounds of batteries shoehorned into their structures. There’s also the understandable business need for manufacturers to make their vehicles bigger, more powerful, and more expensive than before, and lets face it, people are bigger and heavier than they were in the last century. If you’re overweight and stand more than about five feet eight you’d struggle to get into the Lotus Europa pictured above. For reference that Europa weighed about 1,400 pounds whereas the new Tesla Cybertruck weighs in at a hefty 6,900 pounds. All that extra size and weight means the Tesla uses much more of everything to make and move around ~ so which one is the more eco-friendly? A good looking and pretty small classic Lotus Europa might cost you a premium $50,000 now, whereas your huge ugly Cybertuck would set you back twice that ~ (and then it might go rogue and try to kill you). As you may realise I am not a fan of modern cars, especially those driven by lots of complicated computerised electricity. But, as it goes, I’m not yet a fan of much in this century.

Jack Collier

If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself. ~ George Orwell

Do you keep secrets? From whom? Why? Do most people have secrets? From their colleagues, friends, families, partners, husbands, and wives? It it right that people keep some things hidden, especially from those with whom they are in a relationship? Is a secret the same as a lie, or do we lie to keep our secrets? As far as I know I have no secrets, but as a big part of my brain is broken, I cannot say with any certainty that there are no deep, dark, and disturbing things about me that I have not told to others. Or that it may be I have made cunning efforts to keep secrets that I myself have lost all memory of. My secrets may be hidden from myself. But if that is so, then that is no longer of my deliberate connivance. There may some burning mystery within that I would not share if I could, but if I would still lie to keep a secret, then I am not the honorable, honest, and open man I believe myself to be. Some say that a man is not what he thinks he is, but that he is what he hides. And, that nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets. All I know is that there are no secrets that time and tide does not reveal.

Jack Collier

Always do what you are afraid to do. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fear comes in many forms; from complete and utter terror of an imminent and obvious threat, to a vague existential dread. And, then there is anxiety and the worrying about something unknown that hasn’t happened yet and may never happen. Late last night it came to me that I am afraid, continually on the alert against the really bad things surrounding me, fearful of the unseen and unknown terrors in the shadows. I do not know if I have always had this fear, or if it came upon me as a result of the severe brain injury I suffered in February this year. I know this is genuine fear I feel because of the intense physical, mental, and emotional stress I am continually suffering ~ stress which intensifies if I need to make a decision, plan something, look into the future, talk to anyone….. My endocrine system is already completely screwed because of my brain damage, which means that I can experience inappropriate emotions in any situation, and that’s fairly distressing. This means I avoid doing lots of normal things ~ leaving the garret, for example, is only accomplished after a deal of mental, emotional, and physical preparation. Being an intelligent and able chap I know all the techniques to fight fear; but in the end there is only one answer ~ I must always face my fears and accept my fate head-on. The greatest fear of all is abandonment.

Jack Collier