SHERINGHAM DIARY - When The Chips Are Down

To all of you for whom this is your first viewing of this blog, Welcome, and happy browsing. Thank you for your interest and visit.

April was the first month when this Cornucopia blog topped over 110,000 viewers. March got close with just short of 95,000. And it's been busier over the quieter months of Winter too. May last year was my busiest of that year, at 65,000. 2026 has exceeded that most months,  If it continues to follow that pattern then 150,000 may be feasible this May.  This upsurge in views over the last few years still feels slightly perplexing.  I keep posting the same sort of stuff I do normally, and though it's interesting to watch what happens each month, it does seem that this is nothing to do with me.

Advert Tag Line No 1 -Stop the leaks, Stop the yawns.

Having reached the statistically significant Benchmark of 100,000, Blogger has started to offer me Ad Sense, which is automated advertising on the site. There are days when the idea of earning money through the blog appeals, but mostly I feel reluctant -to very hostile against doing so. Ever increasing levels of advertising enshitify everywhere on the internet.  I am not alone in finding it irritating. My adding to this with my own blog would, hence, be hypocritical of me. Blogger says you can exercise some control over what and where. But I really do not trust that assertion. That this is a mindless automated algorithm, tells you all you really need to know. I like to approach my blog, however humble, as free of the constant pressure to consume or tolerate a sales pitch interrupting the moment you idly click on a site.

Advert Tag Line No 2 - Nature's Wrinkle Fighter 

Whilst we are on the subject of enshitification  The first thing You Tube does now when I click on it, is shove some random Short in my face, that it thinks I might appreciate. This can be when I've just got up in the morning. I am not in the frame of mind to tolerate any of this first thing. I become annoyed as I madly search for someway to make it bloody well stop. My tablet screen also appears to have become hyper sensitive to my fingers merely hovering over it. So adverts or other You Tube posts suddenly pop up whilst I'm perhaps deeply absorbed in a interesting video on prehistoric archeological anomalies in the Saudi Arabian desert. I kid you not. Take a look at these!

Advert Tag Line No 3 - A softer bit for every tot

Having recently spent a few days with friends in Southwold, we've realised a short break before the busy Summer season kicks in, is actually beneficial and an all round good idea. Whilst in Southwold we visited all the usual places we like, but spread these out in a more relaxed fashion across two days. On the third day we took a trip down to Aldbrough. My recollection of it was as a pretty seaside town with not a lot more to it. This was reconfirmed. It still has a fine beach sculpture designed by Maggie Hambling, but not much else. The shops are mostly middle brow art galleries that wouldn't scare any horses, it has three delicatessens, yes I did say three, plus the obligatory clothes, giftware and interiors shops. But, we looked at all the chip shops in the town, and not one cooked chips in vegetable fat. It was exactly the same in Southwold. 

Our friends had loaned us their year passes to The Red House, Benjamin Britten and Peter Pear's house, which boasted it had a cafe. We drove there in the hope of finding chips. It turns out the cafe has a coffee percolator and a small range of pre-packaged biscuits & cake. I'm only mildly interested in Britten, and Hubby hardly at all, so our desire to know more soon expired, or was perhaps near to none existent in the first place. So still sans the holy grail of chips we terminated our visit with extreme prejudice, and drove away.

Advert Tag Line No 4 - Relief could be as simple as a shower 

We then imposed our presence upon the small, but grubby, town of Leiston, whose sole remaining function is as a conduit that enables you to reach Aldbrough. Currently Sizewell C is in the process of being built. All the preparatory access roads to enable the largest project currently under construction in England, are presently being levered into the picturesque country idyll and the wealth stuffed backwoods of Suffolk. The fight against Sizewell C was lost, however much tooth and nail was expended. These same local campaigners have switched to fighting the horrendous heavy traffic load rumbling upon the quiet roads, greens and ponds of their villages. Evidently a battle royale is being fought over these 'Rat Runs'. As everywhere are placards and yellow cut out cartoon rats on sticks lining every verge and hedge alongside the roads. Whilst I sympathise with the undoubtedly hellish situation, I can't help but feel they are going to have to grin and bare with this, until the infrastructure is completed. In this context protest seems a bit of a self indulgent whim.

Leiston is the logistical nub of all this cacophony of heavy haulage. Did they have a non animal fat chippy, no they did not. We resorted to sating our hunger in the back of the local Co Op supermarket. Here a Subway franchise was crammed into one desultory unused corner. We had a baguette stuffed with various forms of highly processed protein vegetable matter with accompanying raw condiments. And once we tucked in, found it to be OK. But even though it had all these supposedly good healthy real ingredients in it, it still felt as though it was meant to be eaten by toothless babies. No one frequenting Subway is ever required to own a full set of teeth, just a firm gummy jawline. Having successfully parked our hunger, and to avoid hearing the details of the health and safety inspection of Subway that began as we left, we drove home without further distressing any locals.

In the local elections, Sheringham defiantly hung on to its very effective Lib Dem Local Councillor, Liz Worthington, whose stepped up to County level.  Quite an achievement when all around fell prey to the deceptive lure of Reform. Norwich City Council, which has in the past invariably been a loan red beacon of Labour in a sea of Tory blue, has now turned resolutely Green surrounded by the polluting sewage swill of anaemic azure.

Currently Zack Polanski, the leader of the Green Party, is having to endure the mother of all character assassinations. He made one critical misjudgment, a chink in his armour appeared, and the right wing press are now down on him like a ton of bricks. Having literally run rings around them for the last six months, they are now giving him the Jeremy Corbyn treatment. Followed in very quick succession by the Angela Raynor treatment. These they subject only to left wing politicians that looks too worryingly popular to them. Throw any old mud at them cos some of it will stick in the public's mind. It's not pretty, and it would be nice to think the sort of tittle tattle they are digging up was insignificant. But in the hands of the right wing media this is all about the sullying of publicly favourable perceptions consistently over time. Meanwhile the greasy ( gifted into being a crypto multi-millionaire apparently ) Nigel Farage, is left relatively blemish free, all unexamined squeaky and clean, nothing to see here.

Meanwhile I finished a decorative piece for the garden. We had a metal arched framework that once held a mirror until it inevitably broke. I've been intending to cut up an old metal lampshade and make it into panels to fill in random panes, plus casts in air dry clay and spray them white. Its not my finest executed piece, but it fills the space well. That's one less thing to think about and I can move on to the next job on my rolling to do list.

CHURCH LARKING - Aylsham Parish Church

Like many Norfolk towns Aylsham benefited from the prolonged boom in wool and cloth trading in medieval East Anglia. A priest was first sent here in 1066, and work on building a church began over a hundred years later. All that remains of that first church is the large Lady Chapel window tracery, the roof and chapel having been heavily refurbished in 1489. Some decorated roof timbers with an 'M' for Mary design, date from this period. This refurbishment undoubtedly brought it up to scratch with the north and south processional aisles that were installed earlier in this period. Viewed from the outside the window nearest the Lady Chapel looks abruptly cut off on one side. As most of the window tracery was replaced in the 19th century this might indicate there was a minor miscalculation in the window layout. 

Lady Chapel window and painted roof

Lady Chapel - 15th century Piscina

The remainder of St Micheal and All angels church, the tower and south porch are largely mid 14th century, built under the financial auspices of John of Gaunt, with the chancel being entirely rebuilt a century or so later. So this church was constantly upgraded to the latest architectural fashion, and there was enough surplus money washing around to finance that. 

As you look down the nave you can't help notice that the nave structure bows outward alarmingly. This may simply be a remnant of previously insecure foundations or the consequence of its original roof outweighing the ability of it's arches to hold. The remaining church architecture is largely unchanged since the small spire was added in 1600. Mostly it has been restoration work since the mid 19th century Victorian makeover by Rev Edmund Yates, who was an enthusiastic adopter of the Oxford Movement. But, it has to be said, this has been done with a degree of sensitivity. The nave roof though completely replaced, reuses most of the ceiling bosses from the original medieval roof. All the present pews installed at this time are in keeping, as were the several examples of fine stained glass you'll find scattered around the church, which are Victorian or later. Most are of a very accomplished quality, but you will find a couple of windows that were painted in enamels that have since deteriorated very badly. 

A deteriorated bit of stained glass

The very beautiful east window, with it's four evangelists, unfortunately ended up being partly obscured by the massively imposing reredos placed in front of it. This reredos is notable for two reasons. First, It was designed by John Repton, the architect son of Sir Humphrey Repton, the famous landscape designer, who is also buried in a tomb which rests against the outside chancel wall. Second, the reredos though it looks full on Victorian Gothic Revival, does very cleverly include some of the remaining upper structure from the original medieval roof screen, which sets ones imagination off reassembling it all in one's mind.

Sir Humphrey Repton's Tomb Memorial 

Medieval rood screen panels.

Aylsham has managed to retain all sixteen of the lower panels from its medieval rood screen. These portray all the typical saints you would expect. Unusually, they also include portraits of two Aylsham medieval wool merchants who paid for the rood screen to be gilded - John Jannys and Thomas Wymer.  The saint's faces have all been damaged or erased during the Civil War, but the original quality of the rood screen painting does however still impress. If you look up to the left of the screen you will find the blocked up doorway that would have provided entry to the rood loft itself. The rood loft, before the age of pulpits, was where sermons would be given, and in the absence of a gallery, where musicians might play. Behind the pulpit you'll find a locked gate and a small spiral staircase that still ascends to that doorway.

This staircase once led to a rood loft

15th century font

Wine glass Pulpit

Other pieces of church furniture to look out for include a rather fine 15th century font, with its carvings of the instruments of Christ's passion and symbols of the Evangelists. At its base are the coat of arms of John of Gaunt and Sir Thomas Erpingham. There are some worn medieval brasses set into the floor in the north aisle and the altar enclosure. Aylsham also has an extremely rare carved wooden wine glass pulpit from 1637 with its classically inspired panelling. This pulpit's staircase was entirely replaced in the 19th century. 

Altar sedilia with squint on the right

Through the squint towards the altar

Just to the right of the altar shrine you will find a squint in the wall that allowed you to view the sacrament. These are normally outside the church looking in, and are often referred to as Leper's squints. Was this squint originally outside, but is now inside. or was it conceived as an internal squint from the start? It is most likely a historical remnant from before the present wider chancel and aisles were installed. Otherwise one might be left to conjecture that Aylsham once had an anchorite cell, or an internal space set aside for ill people to view or take sacrament. Though there is no historical record of either happening here. 

For such a small town the church of St Micheal and All Angels, is a rather fine remnant of the medieval period, when it was truly flush with money,with a desire to use their patronage for status and prestige.

SCREEN SHOT - Our Land ( 2025 )

 

This documentary quietly reveals the level of privilege and self entitlement embodied in the English ownership of land. It presents the ideas of the group Right to Roam, that is campaigning to be able to roam freely and responsibly over the English countryside irrespective of who owns the land. This is a right already enshrined in law in Scotland.

The arguments against this from landowners varies. Some see it as almost their divinely given right to possess, bequeathed to them through sometimes centuries of ancestral ownership. Others that they are stewards of the countryside, and they are preserving and maintaining the countryside for our benefit. Irrespective of whether the rest if us can have access to it. Others recognise the need for people to have access to the countryside. To manage and accommodate that access, to limit, but channel the roaming through defined spaces and routes.

The Right to Roamers see land and having access to countryside as a fundamental right that has been robbed from the English people. Either handed to the French nobility by William the Conqueror, actively stolen from common land during the act of enclosure or bought with money made through slavery. Both campaigners and landowners both recognise the value of nature to them for their individual health and wellbeing. Some want access purely for themselves, whilst others want access to be for everyone.

Our Land - Trailer

The film endeavours to let the landowners state their case, but is primarily supportive of the campaigners argument. And in one landowner they found your archetypal posh - aristocrat who would seem a laughable caricature, until you realise he is a real person and this is what enshrined privilege really looks and sounds like. At root landowners tend towards seeing open access to their land as a fundamental assault upon their right to express their total personal ownership of that land. As one guy tellingly stated, they could have access to his land just so long as they were prepared to pay for it.

The Right to Roam make a quite simple request for responsible open access to the countryside. The landowners immediately turn this into an extremely complex issue, of checks, balances and qualifications. It really doesn't need to be that big a deal. The example in Scotland is that provided you make it clear to roamers how they are expected to behave as they roam, that people do respect the land  the animals and your requests. It's not difficult or hard unless you make it so, by resistance to embracing it as the positive thing it could be.

Ultimately this becomes a matter of the law, and what the government and establishment will support. Both sides claim they have rights on their side. Rights of ownership or rights of access. However, both of these are based on idealised moral assumptions, that these rights are in some way innate and inalienable ones in relation to human liberty. When in reality these can only be granted because the law allows this to be so. The law decides whether the right of access to roam is theirs to give, or ours to have.

As a documentary this laid out the broad case and what issues from that. It's cogency flagged by the end, as it started simply repeating previously stated standpoints. It didn't appear to know how to draw the documentary to an end, by either concluding its arguments well, or providing a telling image or statement. If anything this documentary felt too gentle, middle class and respectful. 

CARROT REVIEW - 5/8

2026 PLAYLIST No 10 - Focu 'Ranni by Rosalia

Rosalia is currently touring the world with her performance of LUX. To coincide with this, three tracks previously only available on the CD/Vinyl version have been added to the digitally available download. LUX - The Complete Album, is of course purely a marketing device. But putting that to one side, the three tracks Focu 'Ranni, Jeane, and Novia Robot are welcome additions. 

Rosalia - Focu 'Ranni

I can see why they might not make the grade for the first edition of the album. There are similar themes, some are great, some not quite great enough. After all LUX is a long album already, stuffed with 15 tracks clocking in at nearly 50 minutes. Could it bare three more tracks, making it over an hour in length, without overstaying it's welcome?  However. I have become rather obsessed with the track Focu 'Ranni, it's just such a beautiful melodic ride she takes you on, into which the startling exultation of a choir of treated vocals give you this unexpectedly invigorating chorus. 

Rosalia's voice is her weapon, that she pierces your heart with. It's such a joy to hear it being employed with all the soft delicacy and subtle nuance she is capable of, on Focu 'Ranni. I've had moments of being enraptured by it, her voice erupts from such depths of feeling into expressiveness. Focus Rani appears to concern the all consuming fire of love, and this can be interpreted either as a terrestrial or a spiritual love affair, which she's debating whether to entirely surrender herself to it. Continuing the religiously inflected intensity that runs through out LUX. It's a marvel.

CARROT REVIEW - 7/8

FINISHED READING -The Golden Road by William Dalrymple

The image we have of India in the UK, is of a third world country, one of our ex Empire colonies which the British civilised and brought democracy too. But this view is not entirely in alignment with what is known about its history prior to the British Raj, nor how it is today. William Dalrymple in The Golden Road, sets out a compelling case for India being one of the world's main civilising cultures, from which we have inherited more than perhaps we might wish to fully acknowledge.

India brought highly developed civilising ideas to Europe from quite early on, which Europe then took and developed further. India was a dominant trading nation even during the days of the Roman Empire. Hoards of Roman gold coins keep being found in India wherever there's an archeological dig. India was always a kingpin of the spice trade, luxury fabrics, minerals and gems. The Romans could never get enough, and sunken shipwrecks have revealed just how much their appetite for bling was being fed by Indian traders. It's estimated a good forty percent of all high ticket price goods sent to the Roman Empire, were being imported from India. And when the Roman Empire fell, and that trade dried up, the Indians swiftly changed their primary focus from West to East, to the economies of China. Korea. Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia and Japan.

Historians refer to the effect on Medieval Europe of trade opening up via the Silk Road. Even though The Silk Road is a modern concept invented by a German geographer in 1877. But for at least a millennia prior to that, India's Golden Road, as Dalrymple has named it, was a far greater influence on the development of culture and civilisations both east and west. This appears to have been a fact largely forgotten or brushed over post the age of Empires.

The rise of an adventurous entrepreneur Indian mercantile class was key, and with them they brought their religion, their culture and their mathematical prowess. As they sailed both east and west on favourable winds. And it was initially Buddhism they brought with them. Buddhist sutras contain many references to merchants and traders as converts. They were the early adopters of what was then a new and relatively fringe faith. Buddhism became the dominant faith in India entirely due to Ashoka's conversion and widespread promotion of it. In comparison to this, Constantine making Christianity the faith of the Holy Roman Empire feels a bit lukewarm, and more of a strategic than a heartfelt conversion. Ashoka just went for it big time, and the effects of his enthusiasm spread around the known world via its trading network.

There are records of figures like Amoghavara and Vajrabodhi, actively travelling around South East Asia spreading their Vajrayana message of tantric rituals and mandalas. Which in succeeding generations strongly influenced by them, built the temples of Borobudur and Angkor Wat, both of which utilise mandala ideas in the construction of their vast temple courtyard complexes. 

Buddhism and goods to trade, were only two things which they brought with them. By far the greater influence came through the practical and mathematical ideas that travelled with them. The creation of large courtyard universities centering around a library, as places of learning, similar to Nalanda, was one such idea that became embedded in European cities. The mathematical concept of zero, was a logical development from the Mahayana Buddhist notion of shunya. Indo-Arabic numerals, is another of its mathematical legacies to The Renaissance. The game of chess originated from India too. 

All of these, and more, arrived in Europe from India via Islam. The presence of Islamic Moors in Spain brought much of what the Arabs had learnt from trading and invading India, into the European sphere of its intelligentsia and cultural development. Chinese figures such as Xuangzang travelled to India, specifically to visit Nalanda, in order to copy Buddhist texts to bring back to China. His ten year round journey became so inspirational, because his return coincided with the ascent of Empress Wu, who was another active royal proselytiser for Buddhism. Even if her personal ethical practice we would think these days to be more than questionable, in how far it fell short of the ideal.

That the British East India Company came to India in the first place, was because India in the 17th century was responsible for 46% of all world trade, and they wanted a bigger slice of it. Which ended with the East India Company becoming the first corporation to hold its own standing army, in order that it could take over India and asset strip it. When that all went seriously pear shaped with the Indian Mutiny, the British dissolved the East India Company. Repackaging the Empire as a benevolent force for good, including making Queen Victoria it's Empress. And we know the rest. By the time it became independent India hung on to 4% of world trade. Since then it has consistently regained the trading ground lost during it's colonial years. And some would say India could well become the world's third largest economy before too long.

William Dalrymple, writes with incredible verve and love of the telling details. Which makes this a hugely enjoyable book to absorb the contents of. As he richly recounts the story of the Indosphere, and the quiet revolution that it brought to the world. This is a fabulous and revealing book, that begins to set the historical record straight.

CARROT REVIEW - 6/8

RISING UP MY DUCK PILE - May 2026

The book duck light has now been named 'Pickle' so my Book Pile, that became my Duck Pile, could be called my Pickle Pile. There are some new entries, and that old pile stalwart Poetic Diction finally got read, you'll be pleased to hear, so it is here no more. Ready to be released back into the world of second hand chances.

BERNARD McGINN - THE MYSTICAL THOUGHT OF MASTER ECKHART

In the realm of medieval Christian mysticism Master Eckhart is thought to be somewhat seminal. McGinn's book comes highly rated as an introduction to his controversial, but none the less influential writing. I am quite looking forward to getting round to reading this. But I suspect I will really have to be in the right headspace for it.

Christmas Present 

YUVAL NOAH HARARI - SAPIANS

Another book which I'm looking forward to getting around to reading. I've been impressed with the clear headed nature of his mind when interviewed. So I'm hoping he writes in a similar vein.

Waterstones

DIARMAID McCULLOCH - LOWER THAN THE ANGELS

McCulloch is always a really peachy historical read. This one is all about sexuality in Christian theology and how it's terribly oppressive response is not always supported by what you actually read in the biblical source material. I expect this will be regularly punctuated with his usual dry witty commentary.

Christmas Present 

RICHARD V REEVES - OF BOYS AND MEN

I've seen him being interviewed and he delivers a quietly eloquent and right on the ball explanation of what the masculinity crisis actually is. Without a hint of the casual misogyny or outright toxicity that can often accompany the discussion of subject matters such as this one, particularly on the internet.

Christmas Present

BELL HOOKS - THE WILL TO CHANGE
I've read a few books on the masculinity crisis written from a male perspective. I came across this book by the famous feminist Bell Hooks, and I'm interested to discover how she views it. It didn't look like this was a dismissive hatchet job.
The Book Hive - Norwich

REBECCA SOLNIT - HOPE IN THE DARK

This short book reviews the history of activism and social change over five decades. Subtitled Untold Histories Wild Possibilities, though written originally ten years ago, it offers us reasons for continuing to have hope even in the direst circumstances of 2026
The Book Hive - Aylsham

DAVID GRAEBER - THE ULTIMATE HIDDEN TRUTH OF THE WORLD
Came across David Graber through an interview with his frequent collaborator David Wengrow. Graber who died in 2020 was a social anthropologist and anarchistic thinker out of all the usual boxes. And I was intrigued enough to want to read something by him. This is a collection of essays on a variety of subject matters.
The Book Hive - Aylsham

LAMORNA ASH - DON'T FORGET WE'RE HERE FOREVER
I saw her being interviewed on The Sacred podcast, and thought she seemed really open and frank in her investigative writing. Here she is examining what a new generation of young people might be seeking from religion. That in the end became her own journey of discovery.
The Book Hove - Aylsham

WILLIAM DALRYMPLE - THE GOLDEN ROAD 

This is an early history of India, when it was the premier major trading country for centuries, from the time of the Roman Empire til it's peak in the 7th century CE. The sphere of influence of India, it's culture, intellectual and religious has been far reaching on the countries to the East and West of it. Dalrymple presents his case with a zest and enthusiasm that bounces off the page. The British Empire created a view of India as a backward civilization, that required our intervention, gifting them democracy etc. This could not be further from the truth. The British moved in to asset strip the resources and manufacturing, of India. At the time the British East India Company arrived India represented 45% of all world trade, which by the time the British left was reduced to 4%.

Currently Reading

Christmas Present 

CAROLINE LUCAS - ANOTHER ENGLAND
I'm currently really wanting to understand better the whole area of national pride and patriotism, and whether it is possible for these to be held in a healthy way, without it descending into xenophobia and much worse racial and cultural superiority and exceptionalism. Caroline Lucas offers up a few enlightening possibilities in this timely book. 

Currently Reading
The Book Hive - Norwich

KAZUO ISHIGURO - THE REMAINS OF THE DAY

I've not read any Ishiguro before. This is of course his most famous, and reputedly his best novel. I just saw it going for a pound in a Nottingham charity shop, so couldn't resist buying it.

Charity Shop

RANDOM SNIPPETS - NO 7 - Self Deluding Fibs

Everyday I wake up to a new aspect of bodily discomfort. This keeps me on my toes. I do what I can to ease my body from becoming too stiff or set. It is a battle I constantly lose the benefit of every night. I am just becoming better at applying a more effective balm to smooth the soreness. 

Through this is a way of side stepping the truth of bodily decay and decline, that we all do. We make it all appear safely manageable and contained. Then I can pretend it's not really happening. It's not that serious a concern. I'm not in the process of bodily decay, or even approaching dying. Because, I have so many things to do and to make. So long as I can remain productive, how could death even be close? 

And this is how our society thinks and behaves in relation to mortality, when all else fails distract yourself.  By not wanting any discomfort or mild inconvenience, that we don't already have a salve for, that we can purchase over the counter in a pharmacy, to make it disappear or diminish. There is, however, no medicine for our death, this is the blunt fact of our existential situation.

To an extent I am deluded. I am living and perpetrating a fib. Most delusions we tell ourselves, are fibs that we attempt to convince ourselves are true through repetition. That we can meditate ourselves into being Enlightened, or that reality is perfectible, that some things are permanent and will be eternally with us, that we can have whatever we desire, that oodles of money will bring us happiness. That I will not die for a while yet, is just one of those fibs we perpetrate and perpetuate. We like to cultivate a perception that we have all the time in the world, in which to thwart mortality for that little bit longer. These are the deceitful strategies by which we live. 

The extent to which I believe these deceptions varies. I know in theory that I cling to fundamentally incorrect expectations about the extent of my life span. Do I act in a way that demonstrates I've seen through these? Well, no, I do not. Though after the heart attack it has been much harder to maintain the blitheness of my ignorance. It's the sort of fib we unconsciously sustain, even though all the data is now well and truly in. You are gonna die brother.  

This is similar to the die hard MAGA supporter, who still believes Trump is sent from God, though it should be patently clear by now he never was any such thing. We cling to our fibs because admitting they are incorrect, will make our fragile ego look truly foolish indeed. Likewise, we may go to our deaths still trying to convince ourselves that this is just a little chest pain, that will soon go away. We shall all feel foolish when the moment of death arrives.

Taken from my Study Journal for April 18th & 19th, that has been edited and further adapted.

SCREEN SHOT - Rose Of Nevada

 

A fishing boat reappears in a once prosperous Cornish fishing village that is now in terminal decline. The Rose of Nevada was thought lost at sea twenty years ago. The original boat owner, after he gets over the shock of its return, decides to start using it again for fishing. 'Shall we try again' he says ominously. Recruiting an old sea dog he vaguely recognise as Captain, who then finds the enigmatic Liam, and employs Nick, a straightforward family man who just needs to earn some money to repair a collapsed roof in his home. Once out on the ocean they quickly learn the ropes of sea fishing, casting nets, gutting and preserving fish in ice, until the galley is full and they can return to port. But the port they return to is not the fishing village of the present day, but the busy active one of twenty years previous. Liam seems to quickly adjusts to the period and lifestyle, whilst Nick feels trapped, becoming increasingly desperate to return to the family he's left behind. There is a sense that something here, much larger than them, is wanting restitution.

Mark Jenkin's third film is a real feast for the eyes and ears. Brilliantly executed, it is the most confident and expressionistic movie he's made so far. At times it has the style, quality and visual poetics of Tarkovsky, with the highly amplified reverberating sound quality of early David Lynch, where even small natural sounds can become hugely foreboding. It also has some really stunning rough hewn cinematography and sharply edited sequences.  Beautifully constructed shots capturing the tough unyielding lifestyle of a sea fisherman, the orange crust of rusting machinery, the rumbling spindled colours of ropes, the creaking clanging noises of chains, wheels and cranks, the sounds of boots or fish landing heavily on deck. One of the qualities of Jenkin's film making technique, is that he is able to overlay the sound design on top of his hand cranked film. This he can then highlight and focus the ears on specific sounds, with greater clarity of purpose. Sound in this film, more than in any of his previous films, has almost a visually evocative quality. On this movie it's epic, managing to be both small and panoramic in scale. It does most of the heavy lifting for the storytelling. 

At the core of this film, are interrupted, if not shattered relationships, between parents and a son, between fishermen and their families, of lives and communities literally torn apart by tragedy. The sense of yearning and existential distress of Nick, is conveyed by some superlative acting from George McKay. His visible facial and bodily responses tell you all you need to know about his emotional state of mind. The dialogue in this movie is generally a secondary player, that gives away little about the story arc. The tale is told largely through sound and visual imagery. However, the final piece of dialogue at the end of the movie, from the mouth of Nick's wife that 'there is no time', does speak volumes. This is a film so rich in tiny but important details, that I dare say it will bare repeat viewing. An utterly captivating film, that left me feeling quite moved and exhilarated simultaneously. It is one of those films that continues to haunt your imagination afterwards.

CARROT REVIEW - 7/8

UNFINISHED READING - The City & It's Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami

I first read Murakami's Wind Up Bird Chronicle many years ago. And nothing I've read by him since has attained quite the same level of sheer inventiveness and batty bizarreness of that novel. IQ84, for all its voluminous length, proved a lot more satisfying read than I expected.  His collections of short stories First Person Singular and Men Without Women had moments that were very good. One of his best books remains Underworld, an exploration of Japanese culture in relation to the religious cult behind the Sarin attack, which is a superb piece of disturbing analysis. But that was resolutely a non fiction event. One suspects that the quality of Murakami's literary fiction has been erratic for a while. He maintains to this day a huge output. The experience of reading The City & It's Uncertain Walls makes me think that maybe he should do less, go out running more, anything other than write another novel with not a lot too it. This novel is just so lifeless and lazy.

The novel begins with a simple love affair between a teenage boy and girl. They dedicate their lives to each other. But she starts to spend time in another town and they seem to be drifting apart. In order to be close to her he moves there, but finds it's a place where there are no shadows, you have to forsake them if you want to stay their for long. The boy finds his girlfriend who doesn't really remember him. He takes work in the library as a Dream Reader in order to be near her. 

By this time I am ninety pages into a 400+ page novel and not a lot of real consequence has happened. The idea of a place where shadows are forsaken feels very 'Murakami Lite' to me.The sort of thing one of his many Japanese copy cat imitators would write. I've been waiting to be picked up and captivated by the arc of a story developing, and it's just not happening. In the past I would have stuck this out just in case it does finally all come together. But you know, I cannot be arsed to do that. l'm of the view these days, that life is  too short to persist with a novel you are developing no affection for. If it really doesn't hold any interest for you, feel free to move on. So I have.

CARROT REVIEW - 2/8