A very warm welcome to new subscribers and to all who are regularly joining me here. I am afraid this is not really a post, but an apology. My planned post today will appear next week, as I was floored by Covid last week, and I am still finding it difficult to string words together, so please bear with me. I am on the mend, but I am still feeling rather weedy, and didn’t quite know how else I would let you know.
I want too to say a big thank you to
, my lovely erstwhile neighbour here in Diss, for featuring my Substack, it was a lovely surprise and it brought great cheer. Those few of you who aren’t acquainted with his work, you have a treat ahead, and do please take a look!My dear Alan, who disgraced himself, at Tom’s.
Something I missed
Last time I mentioned Ronald Blythe and I forgot to include a link to a series of interviews he made. They are 40 in total each just a few minutes long. They are fascinating viewing, covering his work, and writers and artists he knew, including Cedric Morris and John Nash who he mentions here.
There is also a much more lengthly interview with Sarah Cook, who tirelesly reintroduced Morris’ irises here.
Something to watch and read
I have been seeking comfort watches and reads this week and I found a gem. It was mentioned in a piece by Annalisa Barbieri and was a series that brought her great solace as a child and, as I knew nothing of it, I was intrigued. I managed to find the whole series on YouTube. “Kizzy” was made in 1976 and is a dramatisation of Rumer Godden’s children’s novel, “The Diddakoi”, the tale of a young gypsy girl who, through changes in circumstance, has to adjust to a fixed life in a village and is forced to adapt to her new boundaries. It unflinchingly portrays the sense of anger and impotence of a child’s lack of agency and the bullying that results from a lack of cultural understanding. But there is great kindness and humanity too and I can understand why it had such an impact on a young mind. I will now certainly now seek out the book. I can also highly recommend her novel “An Episode of Sparrows” (also published by Virago) which is an uplifting, hopeful tale of Blitz torn London and beginning again. There is also a gardening connection, but I don’t wish to spoil it!
I look forward to seeing you all again soon and thank you, as always, for your company here.
Sending you much healing. X
Thank you so much for finding Kizzy on YouTube. The Diddakoi by Rumer Godden was one of my favourite childhood books. In fact I love all her books - Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, Little Plum, An Edosode of Sparrows, The Greengage Summer and more! I don’t have Covid but I am exhausted after preparing for and helping to organise the first art exhibition I have ever taken part in and this was a perfect way to spend the evening. I do hope you feel better soon and thank you again for all your lovely recommendations.