Jack Russell

When I was a little boy there was a playing field near the house next to a little church. It was there that I first experienced the sublime. For some reason on a spring day we were standing by the railing and I looked out onto the field and the grass seemed greener, the butterflies fluttered more delicately and the light seemed longer. I now recognise this as an experience of the sublime.

Throughout my life I have experienced the sublime. Sometimes in prosaic locations such as my garden and sometimes in dramatic places such as a mountainside or Sycamore Gap. I experience a sense of separation from time and a greater association with place even when it is time that is the source of the experience. Once whilst fossil hunting in Lyme Regis a rock I was examining fell apart in my hands and revealed a Benemite that shone in the sun like a jewel. The sun was a red sullen orb westering in the sky and I had a profound sense of the aeons of time that had passed since that Benemite had seen the sun and how I was the first person ever to see it.

As a child and indeed even now I am profoundly affected by music. Once I watched a documentary about the beginning of the world and the sound track was Aquarium from the Carnival of the Animals which made a profound effect on me. I would regularly get lost in songs and music to the annoyance of my teachers who complained that I didn’t sing, I was enjoying the song too much.

Today I want to continue my little series on An Inspector Calls. I will be looking at Shiela Birling who is the daughter of Arthur Birling and engaged to be married to Gerald Croft. The relationship between Eva Smith and Shiela is a fascinating one.

First their lives are similar in that they are dependent upon Mr Birling. They are dependant upon Birling in different ways but one feels that if Shiela were to defy him as Eva does he would deal with her as harshly as he dealt with Eva. Indeed both are infantalised by Birling and treated less as people than people to need to fit into neat boxes.

Both Eva and Shiela are conquests of Gerald Croft. He has a love affair with the first and is engaged to be married to the second. This should bring unity between the two women who are reduced by Gerald into objects who depend on him for their status, their provender and their emotional well being.

There is no unity between the two women, which is the point of the play. There is no class solidarity but rather a battle of status between Shiela and Eva over looks which Eva can only lose with damaging results leading her into Geralds orbit and then into prostitution.

Today is the Tolkien Toast. Tolkien fans across the world will, at 9pm, raise a glass of their favourite tipple and proclaim “The Professor”.

I think it is pretty obvious that I am a Tolkien fan. I am listening to Lord of the Rings whilst I write this. I am dyslexic and struggled as a child to see the point of reading. In desperation my mother read me the Hobbit which woke in me two things. A love of reading, books and literature as well as a taste for adventure. I was about six when I decided to go on my first adventure. This involved walking from our village to the next village. Armed with home made bows and arrows we set off and made it to Lostock where a passing Police car decided that a six year old, a seven year old and a four year old shouldn’t really be over two miles from their home and drove us home to the mortification of our parents.

Thankyou Professor for giving me a taste for literature and adventure.

Happy New Years Day! In Scotland you can expect to do First Footing. The first person to come to your door receives a present such as a lovely piece of coal. In my family it is traditional to eat roast beef with Yorkshire puddings and lovely roast potatoes.

Another tradition is to eat a nice big Pork Pie. I like mine with home made pickles.