Moments of Brilliance

Three days in a row at 7am.  The silver birch behind our yard's macracarpa hedge is as good a barometer as any!
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. The lighter the bark - the warmer the day.

R.M.W. Turner would have captured this post flood sky brilliantly. The Cam, muddy from recent floods. The rowing boat sheds and playing fields on the opposite bank took the over flow.

Drudgery is a word that summons grey, repetitive thoughts. Its season would be winter and its cure is hope.
After a mild (the ice scraper still seems an exotic tool) but clammy winter with long dark days, hope presented itself.

On Sunday the clouds were chased away and the Cambridgian landscape glowed with the promise of summer. The marathon runners complained of the heat and dehydration was the subject of concern when the mercury hit a balmy 20 degrees C.

Around every corner were little bursts of brilliance that brought forth a surge of hope. The pantomime at the front door as coat, hat, scarf, gloves and boots are hauled on and tugged off may soon be in the past. Sydneysiders suddenly understand why spring is so celebrated, the lifting of the clouds carries the spirit.

We ventured out to The Orchard Tea Gardens for a cream tea, it was so crowded with sun addled crowds, clumped in deckchairs, much like the bulbs they came to celebrate, that a walk through and a promise of a return visit was all we managed. Driving through winding Grantchester roads we passed a sign to 'Byron's pool' and stopped at The Lord Byron - a pub with a sunny garden in which to enjoy the bubbles of our lemonade.

Banks covered in daffodils and empty everyday corners are filled with cheer.
'And then my heart with pleasure fills And dances with  the daffodils' - Wordsworth's poem about storing beauty in the mind for when in a 'vacant or pensive mood'.  http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/daffodils/ for the whole.

Quite a few citizens of Cambridge have had moments of Brilliance, here are four.

"Lord Byron was admitted to Trinity in October 1805 as a Nobleman, which gave him privileges beyond those of the ordinary undergraduate. In his first year he was most unimpressed by the College: "This place is wretched enough - a villainous chaos of din and drunkenness, nothing but hazard and burgundy, hunting, mathematics and Newmarket, riot and racing." He resolved not to return after the long vacation but discovered that after the publication of his first poems he had become something of a celebrity and stayed on for a further year, when he was able to develop the tastes that he so abhorred in his first. It is from this period that the story of his keeping a bear in Cambridge emanates." (Image and quote from the Trinity College website)  His statue - commissioned by friends, was banned from the Poet's corner in Westminster Abbey and the Chapel at Trinity because of his licentious reputation but has found a home in the Christopher Wren Library at Trinity.

A moment of Byron's brilliance - "Glory, like the phoenix 'midst her fires, Exhales her odours, blazes and expires."

WB Yeats described Brooke as 'the
handsomest man in England'.
An Edwardian pin up - no wonder he
enjoyed his escapes to the Orchard.

The Orchard Tea Gardens was also the haunt of Rupert Brooke and his friends (including Virginia Woolf) after he graduated from Kings. They became known as the Grantchester Group. Brooke died at 27, of blood poisoning on the way to Gallipoli after fighting in Europe in WW1.  He penned these words not long before which became a spark to light the depths of grief, for a generation of people battling the insanity of wasted lives.

"If I should die, think only this of me;

That there's some corner of a foreign field

The Hospital behind 
image from the Cambridge News

That is forever England."

He was buried on a Greek Island where a monument marks his little bit of England. Seeing his 'home' makes his poem poignant. Find it - www.poemhunter.com/poem/1914-v-the-soldier/

The house Brooke was rented rooms in beside the Orchard, is now owned and lived in by Dame Mary Archer(scientist, awarded honours for her services to the NHS) and her husband, novelist Jeffery Archer. After a road to Cambridge's Addenbrooks hospital was named after her, complete with new title, her brilliant quip was 'Just waiting for a graffiti artist to change the e to an n.'

http://www.thetimes.co.uk

Comedy is built on flashes of brilliant insight. Michael McIntyre has become my 2nd favourite English comedian, mainly because of his contagious smile and springy hair I think. But he does have a way of observing the ridiculous in our everyday lives and manages to find humour without belittling or offending - quite an achievement. On the first airing of his new chat show he pointed out that 'c' is just an accidental kiss. Considering this is how I finish most of my txts, as it is my initial, I am glad that only those near and dear ever receive them! He has not studied or lived anywhere Cambridge but it starts with c! (very tenuous link)

Moments of brilliance are usually experienced after extensive exploration or create hours of investigation. The concept of gravity began with an everyday observation, Newton saw an apple drop and developed the theory. From 1979-2009 Stephen Hawking held the same chair(Lucasian Professor) as Newton at Cambridge university. He developed mathematical evidence that demonstrates the part gravity played in the birth of the Universe and to predict what may happen in the future.

Stephen Hawking
www.hawking.org.uk/index.html

Since learning of Galileo and the reception his revision of Copernicus'  long held theory that Earth as the center of the Universe, there seems to be four groups of mindsets in our species.
The first is like Galileo - discover the truth and you will find God.
The second is like the Pope in Galileo's time - God is in what we have always believed, science is the enemy of the literal translation of the Bible. The third are those that go along with whoever makes their life most comfortable.
The fourth are those who use new findings to prove their own point of view. Of course those who prefer 'proof' to 'truth' would argue that the first is merely a subset of the last. If we believe anything it will be what we choose to believe.

Image taken from Russell Duncan's Sydney backyard and copied - with permission - from his FBk post.
The Beautiful Rosette Nebulae

In Hawking's film - 'Stephen Hawking's Universe'(Discovery Channel) great visuals help to explain how light didn't exist before the explosion of a point smaller than an atom that was so dense it's expansion spilled out all the stuff of our universe. He goes on to say that if there hadn't been a bit more matter than anti matter then nothing would have existed. He also asserts that gravity pulled matter together and when the elements mixed, stars and other bits formed.
Prof H. points out that the chances of life forming on our rock at exactly the right distance from the right sized sun that slowly burns at the right pace for long enough and the fact that we have no idea where the point of the universe originated might point to a designer.  He keeps his options open though and also says that life would only form in precise circumstances so is it a wonder, considering the hydrogen based materials of our universe, that it did happen on our lucky planet. I have no way of proving or disproving his theories because my math competency stutters well before Uni level! God seeded nothing and here we are, shining, small and unique. Mr Hawking also thinks that it is reasonable that somewhere else, maybe in our Universe, maybe in another, there is life other than us. The physics community seem to be in agreement that Hawking is it's greatest member since Einstein - brilliant.

Buds of March

Spring brings with it many physical moments of brilliance - the bird song is jubilant, the water of the Cam is flowing slowly with barely a ripple and reflects all the light to the underside of the willow making the fresh green leaf buds glow. The air smells clear and sweet and suddenly pedestrian's faces are visible again. This is not because of dense wood smoke or fog in the winter but because people are holding their heads up and looking around instead of trudging home following their feet. Hoods and scarves have been dropped as folk lean back on park benches to soak up the light.

Mini Kayak water polo played around enthusiastic self punters. The wedding cake(St John's student accommodation) glows.

While punting on the Cam with the visiting Browns from Newbold the river was alive again.  Good to share the sun with friends.

Crowds line the bank at Magdalene bridge waiting for their 45 mins on the Cam.

So much to try in only 2 yrs. Moving too fast to grab the lollies - a blur of selection!

Hubbabubba pops scared the ducks!

Even the big girls like a sweetie now and then

A visit to the famous sweetie store to fill the pockets before the punt - our Cambridge tradition!

Looking for those pesky ducks!

Just because they are beautiful

When hope becomes impractical:
a discarded glove is needed the next day. 11:50am!

A willow that didn't make it through the winter storms
and the new growth of its neighbour

It would be wonderful to share news of a birth with this talk of spring but instead, on Tuesday my eldest uncle was buried and memories of his life celebrated. It is only the passing of the seasons yet those who loved will have grey days even though their hope allows the warmth of the Son to seep through. These memories will be kept alive by his many children, grand children and great grandchildren. It made me think of our role changes through life and how hard those of childhood are hit when a parent dies. The dilemma of Middle age - if we are fortunate.

Kaleidoscope

Plunging, rolling, a riot of colour, rarely still

In the middle twirl down the barrel of our will

The young peering in with bright focus and innovation

The old leaving bright jewels of discovery and dedication

Both we humour, liberate and condemn,

Struggling to compress our own dust to gems

Stretched we spin

Twisting we curl

Floating and falling

To the turning of the wheel

Bruised and battered

Mesmerised, ecstatic

When the brilliant patterns fade, do we step up

With hearts ready for the gold beyond or

Grovel at the base of our ever moving world

Reading Now:

http://www.amazon.com

Stephen Hawking  My Brief History: a Memoir  Bantam Press 2013 (I have stolen M's Christmas Pressie)

"I was sure that nearly everyone is interested in how the universe operates, but most people cannot follow the mathematical equations.  I don't care much for equations myself.  This is partly because it is difficult for me to write them down, but mainly because I don't have an intuitive feeling for equations.  In stead. I think in pictorial terms, and my aim in the book (A Brief History of Time) was to describe those mental images in words, with the help of familiar analogies and a few diagrams." p95

"I believe that disabled people should concentrate on things that their handicap doesn't prevent them from doing and not regret those they can't do.  In my case I have traveled widely.  I visited the Soviet Union seven times. The first time I went with a student party in which one member, a Baptist, wished to distribute Russian-language Bibles and asked us to smuggle them in.  We managed this undetected, but by the time we were on our way out the authorities had discovered what we had done and detained us for a while." p123

"My early work showed that classical general relativity broke down at singularities in the Big Bang and black holes. My later work has shown how quantum theory can predict what happens at eh beginning and end of time.  It has been a glorious time to be alive and doing research in theoretical physics.  I am happy if I have added something to our understanding of the universe.' p124-125

Would like to get:

A bigger time/space conundrum was solved this weekend when M was able to realise my vision of laundry organisation within the dictates of no wall fastenings as per the tenancy contract.  Now that is a stroke of mundane brilliance.  Thanks M!!!