Matthew Manning’s Thought For The Week……Birds!......Could Orkney Learn From Venice?...... Stonehenge Tunnel - Again…..
by Bernie Bell - 09:23 on 01 January 2024
Matthew Manning’s Thought For The Week……
And maybe on-going…..
“Mistakes, often perceived as detours on the journey of life, carry important lessons that serve as stepping stones toward success. Take a moment to reflect and learn from errors, recognising their value in pushing you forward on your path of personal and professional growth. Today is an invitation to see mistakes not as setbacks but as invaluable opportunities for refinement and improvement. Embrace the lessons woven into these experiences, as you navigate your life’s journey with a newfound reservoir of wisdom and resilience. In doing so, you evolve into an even more capable and self-aware individual, strengthened by the transformative power embedded in your mistakes.
Wishing you a Happy New Year …. Matthew”
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Birds!....
Yesterday, around 1 p.m. we saw about 100 Redwings, 3 Fieldfares, one Greenfinch and about 30-40 Starlings in the sycamore trees in the 'jungle' at the side of our garden - watched over by a big Hooded Crow. If you provide a place, the wild things will arrive…
https://theorkneynews.scot/2017/08/14/bernie-bell-i-can-hear-the-grass-grow/
Kraak the heron was by the pond on-and-off this morning – he’s a jittery bird who scarpered when he saw us by the window.
https://theorkneynews.scot/?s=Kraak+the+Heron
On the subject of birds…copied from the Orkney Wildlife Facebook page….
“ORKNEY BIRD REPORT 2023 - PHOTO'S OF ANY BIRD SPECIES TAKEN ON ORKNEY IN 2023 ARE NOW BEING SOUGHT FOR THE NEXT BIRD REPORT. ANYONE WHO HAS HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGES OF ANY BIRD SPECIES AND ARE WILLING TO SHARE THEM FREE OF CHARGE FOR THIS PUBLICATION (PHOTO WILL BE CREDITED TO INDIVIDUAL PHOTOGRAPHERS).
There are only a set number of places in the Bird Report for images and we will not be able to use them all unfortunately.
Please submit to – Alamootie@yahoo.com
Please put your name, Species, Date and Location in the filename before sending to me.
Thanks very much in advance – Much appreciated.”
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Could Orkney Learn From Venice?...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67851201
One reason why….
https://theorkneynews.scot/2022/03/14/more-than-just-a-ditch/
And one of the reasons for that wear & tear…
https://theorkneynews.scot/2021/09/21/re-the-urgent-need-for-an-energy-transition/
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Stonehenge Tunnel - Again…..
I had an exchange with a friend about the plans for a tunnel near Stonehenge. I sent him the following, which was in m’blog last September….
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“Will This Make a Difference?...
Somehow, the significance of the site appears to be getting lost…
https://theurbanprehistorian.wordpress.com/2023/08/29/little-britain/
Yet, at the same time….
https://theorkneynews.scot/2022/03/11/more-than-a-catalogue/
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His response was….
“I sometimes think that visitor centres have become so all-encompassing that they are now an end in themselves to which actual sites start to become secondary.”
To which mine was….
“I’ve previously written along those lines….
‘Knock
“The biggest, most impressive building, isn’t necessarily what matters. I’m put in mind of a place called Knock, in Ireland. Sometime in the 18 hundreds, the Virgin Mary appeared at the gable-end of the church there ( I’m not saying what I make of this, I’m just telling the tale). She appeared to a group of children. This became a place of pilgrimage.
When I was a little girl, my Mum & Dad used to take me there, to drink the ‘Holy Water’, as I had Asthma. (I should mention that, by this time, the ‘Holy Water’ was dispensed from a row of taps, which were periodically blessed by a priest! Still, maybe that still makes it ‘Holy Water’ – who knows!).
At first, people could just go to the end of the church, and touch where Mary appeared. This was so for many years. Then, next stage, they built a big, glass box round it, with statues representing Mary, and the children, so you couldn’t touch it anymore, but people knelt and prayed at outside the glass box. This was also the case for many years. THEN……they built a whacking great Basilica, not really near the church, at all. It looks like a flying saucer.
They have non-stop masses going on ( seriously, one after the other). When you go in, you can walk round a covered walkway, (does that sound familiar?) so that you can ‘participate’ in the mass, without going in and disturbing people. The whole thing is pretty horrendous. So……what I’m on about is……..the huge, great, Basilica, is now seen as the main event at Knock. Possibly, people go there and don’t even go to the old church, may not know that the old church matters, at all! The Basilica has taken over, because it’s the most noticeable, impressive ( if you like that sorta thing!) building in Knock.
And New Grange - I know I’ve wittered at you before about how people go to the Visitor Centre, and I’m not sure if they are even aware that the cairn exists!
So, the massive big building, isn’t always the actual centre of what a place is about, it’s just what people have built, around what the place is about.
So, yes, the big building at the Ness, is hugely impressive as a Neolithic building ( or am I not giving them enough credit?) , but I’m not at all sure if it’s what the place is actually about, or if it’s actually peripheral, more to do with what the visitors wanted or needed, than the prime purpose of the place and area.
There you are. I’d say to go to Knock and have a look, but it’s really not worth it! except as a prize example of a secondary, man-made artefact, taking over from the basic spiritual presence. So it goes.”
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