A sceptic's take on being human – or should that be virtuous?
Yes – that’s a hand saw
In case you thought that we at that Potwell Inn did nothing but sit around debating obscure philosophical points, here’s part of this afternoon’s session on the allotment. Our gigantic pumpkin (var. Big boy) was sitting in the greenhouse taking up a lot of room, and so Madame sawed it up with a hand saw and, after keeping some for ourselves, we managed to give some more away before consigning the last bit to the compost heap. I was still wheel barrowing wood-chip down from the pile to refurbish the paths.
While we were there we also transferred some sprouted onion sets into 5″ pots – another experiment. We intend to make the most of the next few days of sunny but cold weather with a long list of jobs to do.Doesn’t the inside of the pumpkin look like something from Alien!
I've spent my life doing a lot of things, all of them interesting and many of them great fun.
When most people see my CV they probably think I'm making things up because it includes being a rather bad welder and engineering dogsbody, a potter, a groundsman and bus driver. I taught in a prison and in one of those ghastly old mental institutions as an art therapist and I spent ten years as a community artist. I was one of the founding members of Spike Island, which began life as Artspace Bristol. ! wrote a column for Bristol Evening Post (I got sacked three times, in which I take some pride) and I worked in local and network radio and then finally became an Anglican parish priest for 25 years, retiring at 68 when I realised that the institutional church and me were on different paths.
What interests me? It would be easier to list what doesn't, but I love cooking and baking with our home grown ingredients. I'm fascinated by botany and wildlife in general, and botanical illustration. We have a camper van that takes us to the wild places, we love walking, especially in the hills, and we take too many photographs.
But what really animates me is the question "what does it mean to be human?". I've spent my life exploring it in every possible way and the answer is ..... well, today it's sitting in the van in the rain and looking across Ramsey Sound towards Ramsey Island. But it might as easily be digging potatoes or making pickle, singing or finding an orchid or just sitting. But it sure as hell doesn't mean getting a promotion, beasting your co-workers or being obsequious to power, which ensured that my rise to greatness in the Church of England flatlined 30 years ago after about 2 days. But I'm still here and still searching for that elusive sweet spot, and I don't have to please anyone any more.
Over the last 50 or so years we've had a succession of gardens, some more like wildernesses when we were both working full-time, but now we're back in the game with our two allotments in Bath.
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