Greater love hath no man

Quite casually, while commenting on a different matter, a fellow blogger  revealed elsewhere he had had a vasectomy. Not boasting or anything, an aside, if you like. Well if he can...

Why have I been so timid? After all, having one's vas deferens severed could be seen as the ultimate feminist gesture for a fella. But then with the v-op delicacy resides not so much in What? as in Why? I must be circumspect. Bet you thought that last word was going to end differently!

Let's get one thing straight. Tone Deaf pointed out the cataract op is a piece of cake. The v-op is not a piece of cake, more a piece of rock. One suffers: feminists take note. And if push came to shove you'd be hard pressed to explain the bruising. Lurid!

OK, OK. Childbirth’s worse.

Another thing. I'm reasonably stoic but the v-op found my tipping point. Up above was a huge light (I was all for it; wouldn't welcome a surgeon working in the dark) surrounded by mirrors. One mirror reflected - let's put this obscurely - the flash of the scalpel. An unpleasing view. They moved the light at my request.

Later, stitches were removed. The group of men - ludicrous in short dressing gowns – who’d shared the experience reassembled. We talked hollowly about forming a club. Later still, we were required to provide proof... hmmm, I see there are limits. Perhaps I was right to be timid. Or let's say English.

It all happened decades ago and I see a definite advantage. One RR is enough, no one I know of has clamoured for another. Go on, prove me wrong.

Note. This is a Works Well repeat, though more felicitous.

Heaven's bells, I suppose

It seemed like a stunt. But this was last night on BBC4, jewel in the corporation’s crown, and it was far more than that.

Charles Hazlewood, an orchestral conductor wondered if the sound of bells from two or more church towers could be combined for pleasure. He found three churches near Cambridge centre, checked the bells’ varying pitch, and saw that church bells don’t do tunes but are simply rung in changing sequences.

One church tower could do the first five notes of that beautiful and essentially English tune, Greensleeves. Using CCTV to link his signals to the three towers of bell ringers he let loose - to an appreciative crowd in the central square - first a stirring combination of changes to which all the towers contributed, then had the one tower repeat its “mini-Greensleeves” twice, switched to thirty hand bell-ringers in the square who did the tune properly, and ended with a “chord fest” from the towers.

It worked! I am not normally a bells enthusiast but this was music. It comes in many forms.

Pic: Great St Mary’s Church, one of the towers used.

CLASSICAL OUT? I appreciated everyone’s attempts to replace the detestable and elitist word “classical” applied to music. One or two conclusions. The replacement cannot be definitive (any more than classical is) otherwise it would have been already discovered. It must therefore be a label that carries some plausible overtones. It must not imply “classical” music is superior to any other form. A friend of mine suggested “straight”, which might distinguish such music from jazz and pop. Sir Hugh’s “posh” might work if it were knowingly ironic. “Mozart music” might limit the scope and be confusing. I will return.