Patchwork keyboard (of the musical variety) cover

Keyboard cover

Patchwork keyboard cover, made from scraps of material.  I didn’t quilt this, just backed it with a plain fabric.

Installation, November 2011

I have just returned from a trip “oop north” to my hometown. Whilst there I was initiated as Inner Guard in my Lodge. As a relatively new member, this was quite a privilege (or at least I felt it was). Also, as I live 250 miles from the town, I don’t get the full benefit of visiting or any of the social events. I keep meaning to visit some London Lodges, but somehow it never seems to happen. I don’t have any Masonic contacts in London (not in ladies’ lodges at any rate) so it isn’t so easy really. Aside from the year I was being initiated, I have only attended four other ceremonies, so still feel I am learning the flow of the meetings. In fact, Saturday was only the second Installation I have been to – and I found myself taking an office. It was a late decision, as I had been asked to be a Steward initially. But people’s plans change and there I was….

I went down to help set the lodge up on the day before, and had a quick run-through. Yes, no practices for me, very much in at the deep end. I know what you might think; it’s an easy office, etc. Well, yes, it is I suppose, and I think I did ok – apart from having difficulty latching the door back, which caused the Grand Inspector to have to wait for me. Lesson learned – don’t listen to the previous incumbent, go with your instincts on your timing (and level of klutziness).

Until the weekend I worried about remembering my ritual. Now I can add to that the worry of remembering all my movements.

So, ceremony over, we all repaired to the festive board, drank wine and had a splendid meal. It’s a long day, because it seems that everyone is nervous, no matter how much experience they have, how many times they have been in office before. In a way, I find that comforting.

Monday involved a talk-through of the First Degree, while walking the dogs on the beach. Yes, no surprises to guess that I won’t get much practice before January’s meeting (assuming we don’t have too much snow and I make the journey up there). Fortunately, thanks to modern technology, the fact I mostly work from home and an understanding boss (also a Mason), I should manage to get to official practice the week before and also one during the week, as I will base myself up North for the week. No doubt I will get any remedial lessons that might be necessary also, though I’m hoping my performance will only need a few tweaks when it comes to it.

Greetings

Welcome to random thoughts from a random brain.

Hopefully in due course these utterings will start to find some form and a theme.

As it’s the first day the clocks have gone back in the UK, welcome back to Greenwich Mean Time. I note from the news that it seems someone has decided to resurrect the intention to remove GMT (or UTC if you prefer) from the general consciousness, with a “trial” of remaining at GMT+1 in the winter, possibly followed by GMT+2 in the summer. Various reasons are put forward – “lighter longer” and fewer accidents in the evenings being just two.

It won’t be lighter longer. The basic laws of physics provide us with the amount of sunlight we get. All we are talking about here is shifting this amount by an hour, or two. In the middle of winter there is possibly 7 hours of daylight, so let’s face it, staying ahead of GMT will not give people more daylight in the evenings. By the time you leave work, it will be dark. It will be dark in the morning on your journey to work. The only thing you will gain is that it will be frosty and cold further into the morning. That might reduce evening accidents, but will increase morning ones.

People say they want lighter evenings for longer in the summer. It doesn’t get dark until around 10pm in the summer. Presumably these people want to make that midnight…. Summer will be 2 hours ahead of the sun (making a mockery of the greeting “good afternoon”). To me that means additional summer heat until later at night and later daylight, resulting in disturbed sleep patterns.

I don’t know many people who stay in bed until it is light in the winter, or many who are able to stay up to midnight to enjoy lighter (and hotter) summer evenings. Most of us are up and out of the door some time between 5am and 7.30am. Those of us who work for a living seem to be spending longer and longer commuting, so it seems we will be doing that at even more unsocial hours, according to the natural rhythms of the day. Were this to go through, believe me my body will know very well that the 4.50am alarm is actually waking me at 2.50am – and it won’t like it!