Saturday Chaos and Nonsense

Hello my friends, I hope this week has seen you all safe and well.

The song which is stuck in my head this week is Solstice Bells by Jethro Tull. A wonderful Celtic sounding song which always makes me sing along and smile. I celebrate solstice and I am grateful to see it come around for many reasons.

I suffer from SADS a condition which many people here in the UK have. So when the shortest day of the year comes around I know it’s a game changer for me. The days get longer the nights get shorter and Spring is just around the corner.

I was intrigued and happy to discover a Cornish traditional winter solstice festival called Montol. It lasts six days and culminates in a fire torch procession around the town called The River Of Fire. A beacon at Lescudjack Hillfort is lit by the Lord Of Misrule and the procession then make their way back down the narrow lanes to the town. People dress up and there are many entertainments on show. I think this is one festival on my bucket list.

And of course featured is my favourite Mari LLywd is front and centre. ❤

Britain has a wonderful rich history of festivals and it is so imperative that they are kept going year after year. This year has brought a lot of heartache and fear so lets celebrate the coming of the light again after the darkness.

On a comedy note. I tried to make bread today. -shakes head- I didn’t have any strong flour but I did have Beremeal which is an Orkney flour made from an ancient grain still grown in the islands today. However, it doesn’t have much gluten and therein lies the mistake I made. It’s still sitting in the living room in a bowl covered with a damp tea towel and waiting for a miracle.

I had planned to end this blog post with another chapter of my Viking stories but we have just watched The First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon’s new Covid rules. In the UK we were to have a period of five days over Christmas with relaxing of the rules. This has now been rescinded.

From 12pm Christmas Day Scotland is in level four lockdown. Effective immediately is a travel ban to and from Scotland and England is against the law. Schools will be going into online learning again with only key worker children and vulnerable children going to school.

These restrictions are in place because of the rise of the new strain of covid. It is faster than covid and highly contagious. The figures for London and the South East of England are horrendous and there are a few cases already in Scotland.

Have a Happy Christmas everyone and please; stay safe.