Awen or Arwen

“Seeing the sun as it wants to be seen by ev'ryone
Melting the sky throw a hole in your eye where the magic comes
Turning your heads to the skies with the clouds in your eyes
'Cause you never know what you might find” 
James Alan Hull 
Yesterday, I’d listened to an episode of Mabinogi. It was here that I’d come across Awen, the flowing spirit of inspiration and mysterious life-giving energy. Today I sat in the car for ten minutes being buffeted by driving rain, sleet and snow before the skies cleared to give me time to head up the Dyne-Steel Incline for another wander on the hills above Garn-yr-erw, criss-crossed by old tramroads and pock-marked with pits from old coal and ironstone workings. The idea was to hoof it to the top as quickly as possible to get a better view to the north, for forewarning of the approach of any other squalls, harbingers of the approach of storm Arwen forecast by the weather forecaster. Whether by luck or judgement I made it to the top and the panorama was well worth it, and I could see far enough across Llangattock escarpment to Brecon beyond, to give me warning of any approaching squalls.
Another couch potato evening, but by chance I happened to check on the TV listing and was rewarded with the story of Alan Hull, founder member and songwriter with Lindisfarne, one of my favourite groups from my teenage years. I didn’t get to see them perform live then but I did see the Lindisfarne Story in Newport in 2015, performed by some of the remaining group, kicking off with one of my favourites – Clear White Light.