Musing

 Well I am not normally ahead of the game but today I am.  I have been listening to 'The Children of Ash and Elm.  A History of the Vikings' by Neil Price.  Last night unable to sleep I listened to a podcast about an upcoming film called 'The Northman' out on the 22nd April in which Price was the archaeological consultant.  That is the link if you want to go there but be warned it is savage and bloody, and I for one would not watch it. 

Neil Price's book is an excellent detailed piece of writing, the film will obviously centre on the cruelty and blood sacrifice.  As he said we only see but one facet of these lively people, or at least concentrate on the violence they wreaked on our coastlines and in the monasteries.

The scenery is supposed to be beautiful, some of it in Iceland but others around our own jagged coastline, the Orkney Islands being part of it.  What I love about these wild rugged times is the faith in their own storytelling that sustained them.  You will occasionally come across reused stones in our churches from that time, as their paganism hit the budding of Christianity in this country.  Especially round York which at one time was the centre of their world in England.

By contrast, watching the soothing  video of Colette at 'Beltaine Cottage' as she wanders round her garden delighting in the burgeoning spring, and I am left wondering how vegetation growth springs back to life given the right circumstances I suppose it always will. 

Though I know of course it is the movement of our planet as it whirls round to greet the sun once more. The birds sing, the bees leave their winter nests, light once more descends and shines on our own patch of heaven.