Sublime places
From The Art of Travel , a truly inspirational book by British philosopher Alain de Botton: "If the world is unfair or beyond our understanding, sublime places suggest it is not surprising things should be thus. We are the playthings of the forces that laid out the oceans and chiselled the mountains. Sublime places gently move us to acknowledge limitations that we might otherwise encounter with anxiety or anger in the ordinary flow of events. It is not just nature that defies us. Human life is as overwhelming, but it is the vast spaces of nature that perhaps provide us with the finest, the most respectful reminder of all that exceeds us. If we spend time in them, they may help us to accept more graciously the great unfathomable events that molest our lives and will inevitably return us to dust."
Note: The Rainy Day team is travelling. However, Movable Type has been primed and the Rainy Day sister in Limerick has been promoted to blog director. This combination of nepotism and world-class nano-publishing system will ensure that the site is updated regularly.
Diarist of the day: Alan Bennett, 8 September 1980" 'Las Vegas,' says my cousin Arnold. 'Then in November it's Mombassa.' We are waiting outside the crematorium at Cottinglye, where his father, Dad's brother, Bill, is to be cremated. He's telling me about his retirement, the package holidays he and his wife go on. 'I've lost count of the number of times we've been to Majorca.'
All crematoriums are built on the loggia principle; long open corridors, cloisters even, the walls lined with slips of stone printed with the names of the burned. 'Reunited', 'Loved', and in one case 'He was kind', which is the sort of thing women who don't like sex say of a forbearing husband."
