Sunshine for Valentine’s Day. Some comments on Valentine’s Day. Awards for athletes. And politics in art.

 Today began with blue sky and not a cloud in sight. It was, however, very cold: -3° according to my phone’s weather app. 

There was snow on the hills up towards Marsden, hills that have been hidden under cloud for the last few days.

If you paused in a sunny spot it actually felt warm; the February sun is getting stronger. In the shady places, however, it certainly felt like -3° and the millpond was frozen again! 

Here are some expressions about rain. In Wales they say that it’s “raining old women and sticks” and in various parts of England people will comment that it looks’ “black over the back of Bill’s mother’s”.  In Manchester they say., “If you can see the Pennines from town, it’ll be raining soon. If you can’t see them, that’s because it’s already raining.” Mind you, other places, as I have commented already, seem to be having more rain than we are at the moment. 

Variations on the Manchester comment exist: in Devon (“If you can see Dartmoor …”), Edinburgh (“the Fife coast”), Swanage (“the Isle of Wight”). In Spain they will tell you it rains jugfuls - Llueve a cántaros - and in France it can rain like a peeing cow - il pleut come une vache qui pisse. Here it’s just cats and dogs. 

It’s Valentine’s day. All the shops and cafes are decorated with hearts and flowers. I’ve seen advertisements for ‘gifts to give your children for Valentine’s Day’. Good grief! There was a time when Valentine’s were sent anonymously or one person would ask another, ‘be my Valentine’. Now it’s another excuse for manufacturers of cards and tat to make more money. Here’s a link to an article bemoaning the modern trend to decorate your house with seasonal tat. 

Here’s caroonist Madeline Horwath on Valentine’s day for city dwellers:

Love knows no bounds, except perhaps the morning commute.

I read this morning that President Zelensky has awarded the order of freedom to Vladyslav Heraskevych, the Uktanian athlete banned from wearing “helmet of memory” in the Winter Olympics. “Remembrance is not a violation,” Zelenskyy told him. “Ukraine will always have champions and Olympians”. Well, I bet that makes him feel better!

Writer and film maker Arundhati Roy, one of my favourite authors, is not afraid of speaking her mind. She has just withdrawn from the jury at the Berlin film festival in protest at Wim Wnders’ claim that films should “stay out of politics”.  She said Wenders’ stance was “unconscionable”, and that to “hear [him] say that art should not be political is jaw-dropping.”

It’s nice to have amusing, beautiful, carefully made films and other pieces of art but sometimes art should be more than that. If political comment was banned then works like Picasso’s Guernica might never have been created.

There you go.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!