A Noble Quest

The witterings of a sorely deluded soul who enjoys debate with herself and others.

Wednesday 6 June 2012

Five People of Enthusiasm

Seeing the passion, enthusiasm and delight of others is utterly delightful. This seems to have happened quite a lot recently. On Monday, my Dad got incredibly excited about seeing the bubbles that carp produce as they feed on the bottom. When the elastic on the rod began to pull and lurch and cut through the water, the excitement leaked out of him. After deciding to watch Springwatch (I wanted to see the badgers, I like badgers), I instead ended up enjoying the passion of a scientist who talked about earthworms. Her life revolves around her passion for earthworms which is wonderful.

On another day of the Queen's Jubilee weekend, I watched the service at St Paul's Cathedral and I found it wonderful that out of everything I had seen her do recently, this looked like it meant the most. To see a monarch in prayer; that is remarkable. She truly looked moved and filled with emotion. The cathedral is a such a magnificent building, for it to be filled and reverberating with music and prayer makes the skin get goose pimples. She doesn't often smile but she did today. I do advise that you look up Christopher Wren if you don't know much about him. Oh, and the Queen looked beautiful as always and the bells sounded remarkable. Although I think four days and a tour of Britain may have been too much for an elderly couple and the Jubilee Concert was dreadful, as is the Commonwealth song Gary Barlow wrote for her, but I sincerely hope the church service and the planes (now they were cool) made up for it.

Yesternight (I enjoy antiquarian words), I ventured to BBC4 (undoubtedly the greatest TV channel) and became absorbed by the presenter discussing women in the 17th century. Lucy Worsley is fantastic by the way. Each week we get off to a bad start as she says the Restoration ended the Medieval Age of England, I say the Tudors ended it (all this of course to the television), yet at the end, I forgive her and just enjoy how interesting the programme is. However, I also enjoy how enthused she is, how gallantly she throws herself into her work, with such vigour and energy.

Lastly, I decided to watch The Sarah Jane Adventures this morning because I love Doctor Who and Elisabeth Sladen is just one of the most wonderful women ever. She adored not only Doctor Who and acting, but she adored her fans. Sadly, she passed away, but her spirit, drive, enthusiasm and determination live on, through her work and Sarah Jane. (I shall also say that those four words can be applied to Nicholas Courtney too.)

Ultimately, I have a lot to learn from all of these people because I spend too much time with doom, gloom and residing in a downcast nature. The stiff upper lip mentality of the Queen, combined with the vividness of the others, the desire to pursue a dream and to enjoy oneself, sounds gradely to me.

4 comments:

  1. I don't know any of the names you stated. I think it's not unreasonable to call all Brit women "Penelope Pinwheel" and all men "Nigel" to help me out, is it?

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    1. Penelope makes me think of Thunderbirds so I can roll with that. Is Nigel considered to be a very British name then?

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  2. Nigel or Basil. We're still on the first season of "Fawlty Towers" like you are with the "X-Files." I don't see alot of Brits named Lenchuria or Auune, maybe I'm going to the wrong places.

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    1. A reference to Fawlty Towers is perfectly acceptable. I don't mind being stereotyped with that show. I'm afraid that those names are not popular where I live, though I wouldn't be surprised if down in the south such names were used.

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