Leviticus 230/84: Technology Day today ... my top priority today is Hidden Hearing

Third visit to Hidden Hearing this very day … .. could not be more appropriate as my hearing aids are probably my most significant recent real tech items. No longer any need for a sound trumpet. We started reviewing what's made the most difference around the house in our lifetimes and agreed it had to be washing machines and driers whether spin or tumble. They, as with mass production of refrigerators, transformed the productivity of our lives at home. Add to that aeroplanes, affordable tv, and computers. Then there are our mobile phones …. and the internet and all it carries and everything powered by nuclear energy. We can be in lockdown but still know what's happening without waiting for the Town Crier to appear. But as we've said so often. the pandemic and its acceleration of our use of digital magic to stay visually and audibly in touch has highlighted the true human condition and the ever present desire to meet and touch others and to relish our senses of smell and taste. So amidst all the projections and Delphic revelations for AI and augmented and virtual reality surely we'll see a majestic and at times frenetic comeback … my dream of the Roaring Twenties.

Yes, today the Christmas Tree came down … and all the decorations too; it's what we do on 12th Night, the Feast of Three Kings or Epiphany. Epiphany is the Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God incarnate as Jesus Christ. In Western Christianity the feast commemorates principally the visit of the Magi pictured to the Christ Child and thus Jesus' physical manifestation to the Gentiles. Eastern Christians on the other hand commemorate the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River seen as his manifestation to the world as the Son of God. The spot pictured marked today by Qasr el Yahud in the West Bank and Al-Maghtas in Jordan on the east bank is considered to be the original site of the baptism of Jesus and the ministry of John the Baptist.

20 + C + M + B + 21 It's perhaps a religious chronotope, spatial and temporal indicators fused into one carefully thought-out concrete whole. [Steven Poole p75]. Certainly Rev. Arwen Folkes is determined to rekindle a messaging from medieval times when families chalked on their front doors to commemorate the Magi. She's pictured here in the porch of St Peter's in East Blatchington where she is Rector. As many as fifty homes around her parish have done likewise - all in chalk so readily removable! The 20 & 21 of course represents the years, the letters the names of the Three Kings - Caspar with gold, Melchoir with frankincense and Balthasar with myrrh. The letters CMB can also represent the latin Christus mansionem benedicat. The carnations were my gift to Avril at home as the decorations came down.....
Sorting through latest Government support in Scotland for closed businesses. Mathew and Sylvia and Calum have spent the day trying to come to grips with not only the latest support offered, which seems to be a one off of £6,000 for the Gothenburg and £4,000 for the Battle Trust but also the support that could have been sought for the yoyo business restrictions since the initial major grants in March 2020 of £25,000 and £10,000 respectively. Much but not all revolves around the Business Rateable Values and he who pays those rates when collected needs to be making most of the claims.

Finally, it's National Shortbread Day. It's universally recognised as a Scottish speciality known to exist in the 12th century but brought to prominence evidently by Mary Queen of Scots in the 16th century - whether that was when she was in France as a young wife to the Dauphin and later as Queen of France, back in Scotland as a turbulent monarch there with a poor taste in men, or finally in exile in Northamptonshire at Fotheringhay Castle where she spent much time with her embroidery before her execution in 1587 we'll never know! Walkers holds a massive brand share in export and tourist markets.
P.S. Trump to play golf in Scotland on Joe Biden's Inauguration Day? Rumour has it that The Donald who owns a golf course that's still open close by Prestwick Airport is contemplating a trip for a spot of golf there on the eve of Joe's Inauguration. Nicola Sturgeon was quick off the mark to suggest he would be in breach of Covid19 Regulations/ Laws in Scotland if he came. But remember his mother was from Lewis he can claim Scottish matrilineal descent! Results in Georgia's two rerun Senate seats with Democrat wins giving him control of both Houses of Congress augurs well for Joe. The Donald's final throw of the dice with the gigantic rally at both the White House and Capitol however makes clear that there truly are issues that a victorious Joe cannot overlook across America and many of the strategic vectors Trump took on China with rehoming of manufacture to the US, on North Korea and the Middle East have great merit.