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A very eventful stone clear to start the day, with a dog attack and a pincer move form the Stone Stasi, plus some specialist info about clearing stones in the frost and loads of medieval songs.
Listen here.
My son is scared of ghosts and zombies - last night he told me animatedly told me to shut the garage door quickly so that zombies couldn’t get in - and I hug him at night and tell him that ghosts and zombies aren’t real and that I will always be here and I’ll always protect him. Whilst I am pretty sure about the ghosts and zombies, I want the rest to be true but know that, whilst it likely will be, it might not be. We are so fortunate to live in the time that we do, in the place that we do and I can have reasonable confidence that things will remain safe for us, and yet know what most of life is uncontrollable and liable to go wrong and that due to the choices humanity has made, are likely to become more perilous in the decades to come.
Although films like Sliding Doors (which I love as you know) make us think that our lives pan out due to the decisions we ourselves make, I think that a sizeable majority of the stuff that happens to us is out of our hands and a result of the decisions and actions of others. It’s important to my boy that he feels like his dad will keep him safe (but his continual fears suggest that he’s not quite buying it and can tell the world is more random than that) but it’s a promise that, whilst I will do my best to keep it, I can’t be sure of. Accident, war, madness, bad luck, the foolishness of a stranger: there’s so many things that could go wrong. Even to a family like ours with a decent bedrock of financial security (in the short term at least).
He’s right to be frightened. Even if the things he is frightened of are just shadows and imagination and I am crazy not to be more afraid of this cold world where so many awful things happen: a helicopter falls on a kindergarten, a mafia boss kidnaps a rival’s 10 year old son and lets him slowly die - I’m not going to start listing all the things I’ve read about just this week or we won’t be able to finish the entry.
Humanity is amazing and terrible. All the stuff that’s been fought about over the years and surprisingly often the conflict is over an issue where both sides are wrong. Most opinions and beliefs, when it comes down to it, have to be wrong. And just because one is wrong, it doesn’t mean the opposite is right. Most of the time we’re arguing over ghosts and zombies. Or in the pursuit of something imaginary that only exists because enough people will it to be, like money and power and religion.
So I will do all I can to protect my son and his sister - it will probably mostly be to stop them punching each other and running into the road - and I remember my dad making me promises that he wouldn’t die and he’d keep me safe. He held pretty good to them- so far - but I know now (and maybe I suspected then) that there was a beautiful lie at the heart of the promise.
More RHLSTP dates announced at the Leicester Square Theatre in June and July - same deal where the first tickets are cheaper than the last 200 (the first 75 cheaper than the next 125 too) - we’re going to get great guests for all of them.
So book now.
