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June 2025

You are currently browsing the monthly archive for June 2025.

Come on you Bath!

June 28, 2025 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

Those who know me well – and who have perhaps followed these jottings for a while – will doubtless be wondering why I have made so little comment of late on the subject of Rugby Football. The fact of the matter is that I have tried to be careful not to bore the gentle reader; recognising that rugby does not inspire the same passion in everyone.

Also, I could not help but notice that my missives were tending to follow well worn tracks – celebrating (on occasion) or bemoaning (more often) the successes and failures of the teams that The Girl and I follow. Scotland find themselves these days with a decent team of worthy internationals, yet still they show little sign of winning any of the competitions in which they ply their trade.

Since our visit to Twickenham back in 2015 (the year that we came to Canada) to watch Bath lose the Premiership final to the unlovely Saracens, the club’s fortunes have been mixed… to put it mildly! A couple of years back it was only the organisational after-effects of the Covid pandemic that saved Bath from relegation.

But since then!… what a turnaround… what a revelation…!

Two years ago Bath recruited Johann van Graan as their Director of Rugby. Johann set about rebuilding the famous Bath side of old – recruiting such luminaries as the captain – Ben Spencer – and the mercurial Scottish fly-half – Finn Russell. Bath’s results improved immediately.

In the Premiership final 2024 (van Graan’s first season in charge) Bath narrowly lost to Northampton. This year they finally (once again!) hit gold. They topped the Premiership by 11 clear points with three rounds to spare. They won the Premiership Rugby Cup in March – beating Exeter 48:41. They won the European Challenge Cup – beating Lyon 37:12 in Cardiff in April. Finally they beat old rivals Leicester for the Premiership title itself – winning 23:21 at Twickenham in June.

Well! It has been a very long time since such celebrations have been in order. Congratulations to all concerned and many grateful thanks from long term Bath Rugby enthusiasts.

Come on you Bath!!

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Winds of Change

June 25, 2025 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

Things might appear to have been a little quiet on the Anam Danu front of late – since the release back in October last of our fourth album – ‘Euphoria‘. Well, that’s the way it might look, but in actual fact there has a constant stream of activity that will eventually surface as new releases, new directions and new developments.

As a case in point we are about to release a new single!

‘Winds of Change‘ is a song that was written back in 2019 and which appeared on our eponymous first album. As part of our general re-working of songs for potential live performance we decided that the track was even more relevant now than when we first wrote and recorded it – and that we should re-visit the song.

This we have duly done and we hope that you will agree that it has come out rather well. Herewith the notes that I wrote regarding the track back in 2019.

“I was watching a documentary on the TV (I forget now the exact subject!) but something in it reminded me of MacMillan’s ‘Wind of change’ speech, The phrase not only stuck in my mind but immediately turned itself into a melodic motif. Within a couple of days it had grown organically into a complete song.

‘Winds of Change’ started with the now familiar image of the haze of smoke in the air from the wildfires that are these days a feature of North American summers and grew into a protest song – not just on behalf of the climate but also encompassing the West’s apparent inability to conduct its political affairs with any degree of decorum or dignity… or competence“!

‘Winds of Change‘ will be released to the usual download and streaming sites on July 11th, but if you just can’t wait until then you can find it now on Bandcamp here.

Do let us know what you think.

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Brian Wilson

June 13, 2025 in Life as we know it | Permalink

Brian Wilson
1942 – 2025
RIP
Takahiro Kyono from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Whenever I post one of these messages lamenting the loss of one of the great figures of my (or the adjacent) generation(s) I do so with sadness but also with gratitude for their influence as ‘hero’ figures throughout my formative years. My aim is to compose something that captures their personal importance to me.

Sometimes, however, no words can be found truly capable of expressing the extent of the loss.

To those of us who reached the age of majority in the late sixties and early seventies and who harboured ambitions to become songwriters, Brian Wilson was – and will always remain – a seminal figure. Should the gentle reader be unaware of his greatness all that he or she need do is to listen to the music.

I need say no more…

Rest in peace

I may not always love you
But long as there are stars above you
You never need to doubt it
I’ll make you so sure about it
God only knows what I’d be without you

If you should ever leave me
Though life would still go on believe me
The world could show nothing to me
So what good would living do me
God only knows what I’d be without you

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I don’t have TB…

June 6, 2025 in Life as we know it | Permalink

A month or so back – as chilly March gave way to marginally less intemperate April and the end of what may well prove to be my last term of teaching fast approached – I received an email from one of the international students on my course… asking for an extension.

This is by no means unusual; the rapid approach of final exams increases the pressure on individual students, some of whom start to regret not having managed their time more effectively earlier in the term. Desperation starts to creep in.

In this instance, however, the student was definitely unwell – and a simple request for extra time rapidly turned into something rather more extreme as he was admitted to the Royal Jubilee Hospital here in Victoria. A forwarded letter from the doctor there soon revealed that the student had somehow contracted TB and was unable either to sit the final exam or to finish the outstanding coursework.

Now, I had thought that TB was a thing of the past – and that may well be so in many parts of the world. I gather that children in BC are no longer these days inoculated against TB. I certainly was as a youngster back in the late 1960s. There was a BCG program delivered through schools in the UK and I was duly vaccinated when I turned thirteen years of age.

I was a little taken aback, therefore, to receive – a few weeks after the student’s original request – a call from the Royal Jubilee TB clinic. I (and, presumably, others from the student cohort concerned) were requested to attend the TB clinic twice in a three day period – to be checked for infection and to have applied the necessary measures to stamp out any possible outbreak.

Now, I didn’t expect to have been infected – even though my vaccination was a very long time ago. The likelihood of my having been exposed to a dangerous contact was also extremely slim, but I still had to make the trek into the city – to find a place to park (always non-trivial in hospital car parks) – to twiddle my thumbs nervously whilst awaiting my turn for the brief but effective consult… and then to do it all again two days later.

Anyway – the thing that I am sure the gentle reader really cares about…

…I don’t have TB!

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