Remembering Henchard’s Act of Violence…

February 14, 2019 David Hurley 0

Back in June 1981 I was revising for my English Literature and Communications A-Levels. One of the books we’d been studying was The Mayor of Casterbridge and one of the quotations I learned by heart back then has stuck with me ever since. The quotation is: Henchard’s act of violence [Read more…]

English Conversation MASHU Up!

February 3, 2019 David Hurley 0

On Friday evening one of my English teaching colleagues picked me up at Itsukaichi station and drove up the hill to her clients at the Inokuchidai MASHU hair and beauty salon. The idea was to give her students a one-off 60 minute English conversation session with a native English speaker, [Read more…]

Alan Watts on Candlemas

February 2, 2019 David Hurley 0

The day after Saint Brigid’s Day is Candlemas, which is the day on which all the candles which will be used in the ceremonies of the church for the next year are blessed and at the same time it is the commemoration of the Purification of the Virgin Mary, forty [Read more…]

Brigid Whom The Poets Adored

February 1, 2019 David Hurley 0

The first of February is Saint Brigid’s day, or Imbolc, the Gaelic festival of the beginning of spring, sacred to the goddess Brigit, many of whose attributes were later attributed to Saint Brigid of Kildare. One of her attributes is that she can turn water into beer, presumably without going through [Read more…]