28th July 2026

Byland Abbey

Buried in the valley this English abbey reminds me of those lost temples in Peru. Hidden by dense jungle, only now such abbeys in this country as Rievaulx and Byland lie hidden in the North Yorkshire valleys.  Once home to a thriving community of monks.  Now vanished with time.  The good and the bad must have played out their stories in these buildings.  The 'greater glory of God' worshipped within the great stone walls.  Meike's blog reminded me of having never visiting Fountain's Abbey.  I owned a book once on the ruined abbeys of England.  It was by an American author, who had listed all the abbots in succession of the abbeys he had visited.  The usual attention to detail of 19th century writers.

What brings it sharply to mind?  Could be I was watching the tv drama 'The Rapture' yesterday.  A psychological drama, one of those weirdo cults, that every now and then comes into being.  The Rapture is of course, the coming of the end of life on Earth? (not sure about that) but anyway you are flown to heaven.  It is a nice cosy comfort story.

   

In the drama, heat temperatures have risen and the young are panicking about it, in other words it encompasses all that we fear today.  The restlessness amongst the young and the theme of the story, a young girl supposed to have killed her mother and now she beats herself against a window longing to be outside but she is trapped in a psychiatric hospital,  all very  reflective of our society today;

Change is happening, we all aware of that, it thrums in the air as agitation rises in  protest groups.  A battle is being fought, you maybe can't see it but fear stalks our young.  Capitalism is out of balance, it comes crashing into our lives, leaving us worried about food on the table and a roof over our heads.  Yes it is quite alright for some baby boomers, secure in their very expensive houses, paid up  mortgages  out of the way, but many of the young do not have this advantage.

So we once more look to a different guru to solve the problem (unsolvable).  There is a slow movement going back to the socialist fold but there is a fair proportion of the population following in the steps of Farage and asserting their rights to be who they are and (don't forget this) shutting down everyone else's rights.  The constraints of fascism are beginning to appear.

But I am old and heading for my place in the sky;) So I will leave you with a Japanese, sort of frittata omelet  and a foggy Yorkshire England.

North Stoke: fog (and notes)

North Stoke: Okonomiyaki cooked at the table

This was a Japanese restaurant somewhere near the British Museum and funnily enough the two sauces used to enliven the pancake is a brown sauce very similar to our brown sauce and a  Japanese mayonnaise.