Travels of a Fish Nut

It started with The Eichmann Show . It seemed a great opportunity to learn about a period of history I know shamefully little about. Yet as I watched I found myself feeling strangely distant, unengaged. Even with the horrifying footage shot in the concentration camps and the testimony of the survivors inter-spliced with the drama, I found it too easy to withdraw and pretend it was all a fiction. After all, here was Bilbo, and there was Anthony La Paglia, my goodness doesn’t he look old now, and there’s Rebecca Front – her accent seems pretty good to me but I wonder, how does it sound to Israelis? It was all to easy to think that the whole thing was a fiction. After all, it was so horrifying, so beyond belief, could people really exterminate their friends and neighbours just because of a difference in belief? Is seems unreal.

“Welcome to Nailsea, Free Parking” That’s what the signs into town used to read. It always seemed to me to be an odd sort of thing to advertise, as if Nailsea didn’t have anything else going for it. Given that the newer signs proudly announce that a decade ago we were placed in Britain in Bloom, that may well be the case. But free parking was a draw and it still is. Given that Nailsea has almost 1,000 free spaces available maybe that’s no surprise. It’s arguably one reason the town centre is still relatively vibrant, at least in comparison to many in the area.

Since I've moved home my brain has gone to sleep and my practical side has awakened. I've tidied gardens, decorated rooms and done DIY inside and out. I've done most of the stuff on my 'to do' list and my creative side has been looking for other outlets until the spring arrives and I can get out into the garden.  I've had a passing fascination with calligraphy for, well, forever. We've had a book on calligraphy in the family for years and I've often thought of learning but never got round to it. Well, I've run out of excuses and so I've decided that this is the year when I'm going to try my hand at this ancient art-form.