jazzy_dave | Wednesday Wistfulness and Patriotism (Reply)

It will be July soon and yet the weather still feels like we are in winter as far as the rain and overcast days are concerned. Miserable declamatory days of thunder and occasional lightning too. Anyway, the one thing that did give an inkling of pride and succour was that England football game the previous night.

Watching the game, I felt a swell of patriotism. That is the good inclusive patriotism that sees the value and wonderful multicultural aspect of our country. This is diametrically opposed to the narrow nationalistic aspect of patriotism. That ugly side reared its head in booing the German team and also for those players that “took the knee” in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement on both teams. That is the kind of jingoistic claptrap that is still persuasive in some quarters and about time it should be stamped out. Yes, be patriotic, but also be critically patriotic. Know your country’s strengths and its weakness, and Its flaws as well, especially historically, and that as Billy Bragg once said, to become a socialist progressive patriot.

So, on this sodden damp day, I went out to Ashford to do another covert visit. During my visit to the town, I found that a new YMCA charity shop had opened up in the mall. I perused the CD shelves and noticed that I could get four for just a pound. I purchased four with one being a bit speculative, but out of the four for the quid I spent, I am keeping two and selling the other two. The keepers are a lovely collection of music by Benjamin Britten that includes the wonderful Four Sea Interludes, and the soundtrack to Adaptations by Carter Burwell. Carter Burwell is a soundtrack composer who has composed many movie scores for the Coen Brothers.

So, as tomorrow is the 1st of July, and it is Canada Day, I shall salute and give salutations to all my Canadian readers.