Sometimes in our seemingly chaotic world it is a delight to run across things that give pause and hope for gentler things. Such wax a recent discovery on YT. The Salisbury Organist with his delightful pieces ticks so many boxes for me. A sense of the past, music, poetry, history, and wonderful locations in the England I yearn for in my old age. Who would have thought organs could be so fascinating, especially for someone such as I without an ounce of musical talent. Just sharing something that gives Mr so much pleasure in the hope someone else might find it so.

    The reasoning behind your post explains why I listen to Handel's Messiah with great frequency.  Or so I chose to believe...

Thanks, kentish. I needed a peaceful break today. Here are a couple of samples of the Salisbury Organist. Sounds great:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/--AkeZyITJM

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/up-2u6r2Fl8


Re yearning for England: All our old folks are gone now. I don't know my cousins very well and we're only in touch very occasionally. Too bad.

I find myself longing to go back just for the memories and also because I love Scotland as much as the little bit of England where my parents came from (around Aldershot and Farnham). I've had some lovely trips to Northumberland with Mum to visit one of her sisters and Mum and I had a lovely time in Inverness one summer. My job was to sample all the whisky around and about. One brand in particular soon saw off the crazy bad bug I caught on the train going up there.

Music has great power, in so many ways. Invoking memories is a good one.

I'm from Woking, just down the road from Aldershot, Nightingale. I'd choose Scotland every time ;-)

I guess that means you're from a Woking class neighborhood.

Indeed. My friend Ian (one of the funniest men alive ;-) says it is "halfway between wanking and poking" - with a broad Bristol accent.

A broad Bristol accent in Surrey? It sounds like some poking wankers—or is that wanking pokers?—immigrated at some point in the recent past.

All that to avoid taking a Bath. . .

Not in Surrey. Ian wisely moved to France in 1979 - where I met him ;-)

Oh, I see. Fellow expats in France!

I have a theory about British colonialism. Can't remember the details but it has something to do with food and climate. . .

Just a minor quibble: we both hate the term "expat" because it implies a link to the "mother country" which we both dropped when we left without any intention of returning. The word for that is emigrant (or immigrant, depending on where you're looking from).

We are emigrant immigrants.

Tom is correct. Expats remain connected to their native country. I would be classified as an expat, gladly.

Soft Machine Wrote:
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> Just a minor quibble: we both hate the term
> "expat" because it implies a link to the "mother
> country"

Understood. I now find myself wondering what other terms might work. . .

Non-pat?

Multi-pat?

Post-pat?

Neo-pat?

Franco-Pat?

SNL Pat?

Pitter Pat?

So many possibilities. . .

Yes, but are you Pitter Patter than your fellow escapee from Angleterre?

Soft Machine Wrote:
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> I'm from Woking, just down the road from
> Aldershot, Nightingale. I'd choose Scotland every
> time ;-)

Tom, one of my aunts lived in a lovely house in Woking where my parents and 4 sibs visited once when I was a shy teen. She and my uncle sat us in their formal dining room where we enjoyed a big spread, with their kids, my cousins who we had never met before. I hadn't seen my aunt and uncle since I was a small child so didn't recognize them at all. They were a bit "high class" so my "working class" dad whispered to us before we got out of the car on the way in "stow the gum!". My abiding memory for a long while after was that for some reason you're not supposed to chew gum in England.

Haha. The days of yore.

PS: I don't recall Woking at all, only my aunt's house. I guess we didn't drive around much.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2024 05:08PM by Nightingale.

Haha. Too bad about Woking.

How about Aldershot, where my dad's parents lived and where both my parents grew up? All I know is that Dad couldn't wait to get out of the place. We only visited again once as kids when we went back 10 years after my parents settled in Canada with me and my older sister in tow. They had three more kids in the new world. All four of my grandparents seemed ancient to me at the time. And I don't remember much scenery worth checking out around and about Aldershot but Farnham, where Mom's parents were, was pleasant.

What's amazing is that despite not knowing each other much at all I still always felt a connection to the family over there and I wrote to my grandparents often, although both Dad's parents died when I was fairly young. I knew Mom's parents far better and my maternal grandad and I wrote to each other often over the years. I've kept all his letters with his tiny little scribbles on his blue Airmail pages. It was an amazing bond between the two of us who only saw each other in person three times in my conscious life before he left us for greener pastures. He looked after my older sister and me when we were babies/toddlers but I don't really recall that - maybe just a hint of a fuzzy picture of him buying me sugar mice one day when I was 3.

My feelings about England are very much coloured by the fact that I was born there and much more, that all my extended family was, and is, still there.

I don't get much into the politics or other issues there. It's enough to try and keep track of that on this side of the pond.

I'm sorry you don't care much for the land of your birth, Tom. I certainly saw the drive in my dad to get out asap and can't complain about the country he brought us to. You sound very happy in Paris though so that was a good move indeed.

I'm sentimental for the old folks "back home" though. I'm glad that at least I got to meet them and forge those transatlantic relationships. It's kind of amazing that we just knew each other as if we'd always been together.

And on one of my trips back, as I've said, I spent a weekend in Paris and although I became ill and had to seek out an MD, not high on my list of great things to do in Paris, it was very worthwhile going. It's still a thrill to say I've been to Paris. Makes me feel cosmopolitan. Others can talk about the Eiffel Tower - I've been there! And despite my fierce fear of heights I managed to get myself up to the top and even ventured outside a step or two. It sounds so exotic. Moi, I've been to Paris! Even if since then I've stayed down on the farm, ha.

(Sorry - I still think of you as Tom, not Machine). :)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2024 05:25PM by Nightingale.

Obviously his pieces are around churches and hymns in the main but beautiful music can be enjoyed regardless of motivation. The ancient and often beautiful little churches he visits all have a sense of the many stories they could tell as they speak to an incredible continuity. So glad you liked them.