There are some aspects of religion that leave me completely baffled (Yes I am back on that hoary old subject, sorry.) Evidently on the eve of Yom Kippur some very orthodox Jews have a ‘wail’ of a time beneath chickens, swinging them around their heads and praying for forgiveness of sins, the chickens thereby taking on those sins! Chickens forsooth! Poor chickens. Some less orthodox Jews are objecting to the practice because of cruelty to the chickens. I would object to it as being plain daft but if there are those who can seriously believe in this sort of magic who am I to gainsay them?
An Imam has come up with a mosque in a box for those who can’t get to the proper thing. Actually all it consists of is three, what in theatre terms are called flats, nicely decorated and leaving the fourth wall open. I don’t reckon though that it is an easy piece to travel with as the unwieldy looking flats are wide and at least seven foot high. Try getting the airlines to take that without a hefty charge.
There should be a law taking to task those parents who give their children stupid names, people like Bob Geldof for example. After all, they aren’t the ones who have to go through life with these monikers attached. The latest is Jamie Oliver, the naked chef who as far I know has never appeared naked and possibly just as well, whose fourth child, a son, has just been born and is named – wait for it – no, seriously folks, wait for it -Buddy Bear! Okay, when you’ve stopped laughing his three daughters are named Poppy Honey, Daisy Boo and Petal Blossom. Terrific. Is this all part of fashionista thinking or the celebrity culture? The birth is recorded on the font page of the Mail complete with photograph. That is headline news? Journalism has sunk to its lowest depths, its nadir. It must be the silly season. Hopefully we’ll come to the end of it soon.
The Pope and the Vatican keep on making people angry. The Pope has equated atheism with Nazism much to the fury of humanists. It don’t bother me none because I take most of what he says with a pinch of salt anyway. The Vatican have put foot in mouth by saying the subject of women priests is a crime equivalent to child abuse or something like that, I can’t actually remember but child abuse is as good as any and they should know.
When I was young I sometimes wondered what it would be like to be old. Now that I am old, in my eightieth year, I sometimes have to remind myself that that is what I am; that I can’t do the things I used to do and that now there is no time to fulfil some of those cherished dreams. That is a cause for some sadness but also for acceptance.