Preliator

I was watching Time Team this evening (unusual for a Saturday), and they were uncovering a Norman castle which had been attacked when Stephen and Matilda were battling over the throne of England. I remembered I’d actually learnt a bit about that battle in my first year at university, and it brought home to me the fact that I’m actually starting to forget some of the things I learnt there. Memory loss is something one normally associates with old age, but I don’t think it’s quite that which I’m experiencing here. I recall learning about things when I hear about them again, when the memory is triggered by something I see or hear, or even touch or smell.

If I think about a smell triggering a memory, what springs quite vividly to mind is a trip to Yorvik I went on eleven years ago. There was a part of the museum, I think, where you got into a cart, and “went back in time” as they put it. The cart took you past all these displays of how people lived back when the Vikings were invading York (or didn’t live in some cases), and the overriding thing I remember about the ride was the smell. I think, I can’t be absolutely sure, but I think the smell was burning peat. Of course the Vikings were famous for their burn-rape-pillage approach to visiting other countries, but the burning of peat (if that is indeed what I remember) would have denoted proper settlement. Some Vikings did settle, as did Romans, Normans and Saxons.

I apologise if this is reading a bit like a History lesson, I didn’t really mean it to be. My aim was more to see how my memory reacted when I drew from the metaphorical well that I consider to be my knowledge of History. Sadly, the well isn’t as deep, nor as full, as I would like it to be. When I hear about these events that shaped the world as we know it today, I want to know more about them, to understand why things happened the way they did. Some of the things left behind by our ancestors I find both astonishing and fascinating, and I can’t help but wonder – what will our legacy be? I wonder this, but I’m not sure I really want to know the answer.

I saw a film recently called Origin: Spirits of the Past, wherein what we know today (cities, skyscrapers, a sea of technology) has been swallowed up by nature. It’s a sort of post-apocalyptic world in which humans are forced to co-exist with nature in harmony. They can’t actually get something as simple as water without asking nicely for it. The film is incredibly similar to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, but in Origin we see more of what used to exist “pre-apocalypse” as it were. Oddly enough, the world doesn’t look too shabby, and some people even see it as a playground that they can go exploring in, finding hidey holes and uncovering new things. It seemed strangely idyllic, and I found myself thinking when I was watching it that it wouldn’t actually be a bad place to live (ignoring the huge city outside the forest which belched out smoke and fumes and looked like a giant steam-punk mess that had just been thrown down at random in the vain hope that somehow it would just work).

I Can’t Explain

Not strictly true, but continuing on the theme from my blog title, post titles will also be named after songs, whichever I happen to be listening to at the time. Anyway, welcome, sit yourselves down, pour some tea and make yourselves comfortable. If you’re not sure what it is you’re being welcomed to, don’t worry, I’m sure it won’t be an isolated case. What will follow over however long I manage to keep this blog going will be a series of pretty much whatever comes into my head as I’m writing. I’m setting out here with no real plan nor agenda save to simply have some record of my thoughts in a vague and/or vain attempt to make sense of them.

It’s increasingly dawning on me just how much I miss university; the people, the atmosphere and, yes, even the work. I enjoyed learning, enjoyed being busy most of the time. The saying “you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone” has so much truth to it. I’m also slowly beginning to realise just how much of my life has been in academia. A visit from a plumber brought it home to me. He said he’d left school at 14, went straight into work. And though I inwardly scoffed at the notion, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. The man had been left with the impression that university is pointless. I admit having done a degree in Philosophy doesn’t put me in the best place to refute that claim, but refute it I do. Vehemently. Universities are havens for academics such as myself. They are, I believe, an invaluable part of society, which is why they’ve been around for 800 years. Not just places to pass on knowledge, but wisdom as well. Strange though it may seem for those who have never experienced it, those who have will know the truth behind the statement.

The philosopher in me at the moment is screaming at me to stop bandying about words like knowledge, truth and wisdom, for such words need careful and clear definitions. Since such definitions escape me at this time, I shall continue without those words… or try to.

So, I’m currently looking at Masters courses, as well as trying to find a job in the meantime to fund things such as travel, transport and future expenses. I’m sorely tempted to either carry on my philosophical journey or quench my thirst for history, but as I’m finding out, such qualifications in the current economic climate aren’t as helpful as, say, a qualification in IT would be. Which has led me to look for IT Masters courses which require little or no prior experience. Such courses are thin on the ground, but there are some out there, and some of those actually manage to sound interesting. History and Philosophy will sadly have to wait for another time I feel. A shame.