I think it was T. S. Eliot who said, "I'm sorry to inform you that I cannot attend your Poetry Slam on the day specified since I find I am meeting the Archbishop to discuss decoration of the Abbey for this years Harvest Festival. Please be advised, however, that you can read my Four Quartets online. I hope this may prove to be of some consolation for my absence from your event."
Meanwhile ...
With the exception of traditional Czech folk music transcribed for piano, there is no more beautiful sound on Earth than the BBC Shipping Forecast.
A litany of strange, evocative names pronounced in precise, clipped tones; Fair Isle, Fitzroy Sole, Fastnet, Biscay, Dover Wight, Viking, Humber Thames, Cromarty. Mysterious areas of ocean known only to long distance trawlermen casting a nervous eye towards the lighthouse, and marine engineers drilling on distant, lonely North Sea Oil Platforms.
"Low 300 miles west of Sole 998 moving slowly northeast, losing its identity. New low expected North Spain 1016 by 0100 tomorrow."
Listen to it at BBC Shipping Forecast
It's so much better than NPR or college radio.
Comments