David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :
'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)
(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.
.Victoria's savage fire season continues. Five days ago it visited upon this district too, with an outbreak at Musk Vale, 5 kilometres south of Daylesford. This grab from
The (Ballarat) Courier shows the initial plume as it rose over Daylesford's former projection-house, The Rex.
In a few hours it grew to more than 2000 hectares. Only by the Herculean effort of the many teams of firefighters, including aerial water bombers and fixed wing spotters, plus a great number of support bodies, was the fire officially contained before the predicted return today of another peak weather event.
It is now Friday night. Five days of 24 hour-a-day preparations have proven successful: so far today there have been no breakouts from any of the ongoing fires. The photos below show the window display of the Daylesford Pharmacy (to the left of the NewsAgency shown above) and the all encompassing THANK YOU that so many, including yours truly, very gratefully endorse.
