Cruise control
Cruise control DM 25th January 2025 During a recent long road trip, I realized that I had never used the cruise-control function on the car. Not even once. The odometer is nearing 200,000km, and for all those long lonely miles, the little gadget that controls the cruise function has never once been engaged. The thought […]
Good looking
Good looking DM 16th January 2025 (With consciousness of C S Lewis’ famous warning that those who rail most against pride are usually the ones most guilty of it.) There are two interesting expressions in the Book used to describe a person’s attitude to others. One appears in a story that Jesus told about a […]
Blind spots
Blind spots DM 28th December 2024 I only read those articles about coffee consumption that work in my favour. The latest, for which I am truly grateful, and was quick to show my nagging offspring, was some research – I dare say, done by one of the world’s leading laboratories – that drinking three to […]
Just one!
Just one! DM 21st December 2024 How many Presbyterians does it take to change a tap washer? Two. One (my son) to have the necessary arm-muscle to rotate the ring-spanner to undo the bolt that was previously tightened by some protein-pill-popping-plumber; and two (me) to have the brains to suspect the hardware person who told […]
Clemency
Clemency DM 14th December 2024 Clemency seems to be the word of the month in the fading administration of the present US government. The whole concept, when delivered through the presidency rather than the judiciary, seems fragile, and even audacious when it involves family members. But the concept is not new. The Book gives many […]
The Greatest Kiss
The Greatest Kiss DM 30th November 2024 The cult-classic, The Princess Bride has many famous and memorable lines, including this one describing the triumphal lip-smack of the leading characters, Wesley and Buttercup: “Since the invention of the kiss, there have only been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one […]
Bloopers
Bloopers DM 23rd November 2024 Most movies have them. Even the best ones. Sometimes little anachronisms. Modern items caught in ancient places, like the daily newspaper at the café in the latest Gladiator movie. Sometimes little malpositions. Familiar things caught in unlikely places, like the sharks hunting in the Coliseum. Sometimes little word faults: malapropisms […]
Bloodlines
Bloodlines DM 16th November 2024 In that documentary, Who Do You Think You Are?, celebrities are invited to watch-on, and hold-on, as their ancestry is traced and the secrets of their past revealed. I’ve not watched a full episode, but only the promotional ads where the celebs express a range of emotions from horror to […]
Footprints (version 2)
Footprints (version 2) DM 9th November 2024 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a good-fellow when it came to popular poetry, but a strange-fellow when it came to religion. He belonged to the Unitarian Church, professing unitarian monotheism, not trinitarian monotheism; that is faith in God the Father, but not faith in God the Son nor God […]
Without guile
Without guile DM 2nd November 2024 I just meet Ehud’s wife. (Ehud was one of Israel’s famous judges – a left-handed assassin who knifed an oppressive king.) The location was the checkout at the local supermarket. I had a trolley full of groceries. She, the poor thing, had just one item. “Please go ahead,” I […]