Today we had a power cut. Not just my house, but quite some distance down the valley too (and possibly up the valley as well, for all I know.) The house was freezing cold, I couldn't cook tea, and it was quickly growing dark.

Now luckily I always keep (and use) plenty of candles, so lighting wasn't a problem. And I grabbed a spare fleece and cwtched up to Barney and Ben to keep me warm. We haven't had a power cut like that (it lasted over an hour) for years, and it was surprising how isolated it makes you feel. Luckily I wasn't on my own in the house, but even so, when it starts getting dark and there are no street lights, no phones (most of them need electrical power these days) it does give a glimpse into life years ago.

Was there really ever a time when there was no electric light, no TV, no central heating.....? Strange how quickly one can forget!

A poetic title for a poetic bit of folklore. In welsh mythology, Olwen is sometimes referred to as 'She of the White track' and closely associated with the Hawthorn tree which is also known as the Whitethorn, and in Pagan terms at least, regarded as feminine. (The masculine equivalent is the Blackthorn or Sloe.)

Anyway, it was believed that at the beginning of time, the Universe was completely empty, and Olwen walked across the heavens, leaving a trail of hawthorn petals in her wake; these became known as the Milky Way.

I just thought it was a nice story!

Yesterday BCUK was so slow I could hardly post. After a while it gets frustrating refreshing pages all the time and losing comments, so I gave up. But I'm a hopeful soul, so here I am today, trying again.... and again having more problems than I would like.

I'm just curious whether anyone else has noticed how slow things are these last few days, and whether they have any idea why this should be so? Is BCUK being hacked? Are we being spied upon? Am I paranoid? Should I be?

And there I was, going to do a nice sensible post about magical thorn trees...... ho hum