The End will remain My Beginning

For latecomers to this esoteric corner of the interweb please be aware that this blog has reached its natural conclusion - and this is the final entry. To be fully appreciated the complete narrative should be savoured from the beginning (which can be accessed from the side menu).Alternatively you may wish to discover what events led up to these blogocentric characters arriving in Gwair in the first place. To explore that mind-bending cognitive microcosm click here.

110 – The Final Post of Justin Lobbos – The End of an Era

Malvolio Claxendell, the new eminence gris of Gwair, stops at the Snatcher on the Wye, and has a drink with Justin Lobbos who explains the intricacies of the restrictive covenants that were applied to the Iatroclinic deeds. He grins as he admits to having originally penned them himself. Around the village the mood is optimistic. The festivals will continue, but the people will be consulted. Claxendell smiles as he trudges back to the Yifitsin Print Bookshop, now well-established as a hub of the community. Soon Samuel Quinine will wish to return to Hove with his entourage, and then perhaps things will have to change, but for now all is well.

109 – The Council Meets

Finally the parish council meets. Everyone is delighted with the idea of the village taking over the Iatroclinic, the strange building, with shiny blue windows.  But debate about the new-fangled cultural developments continues. The council must decide whether to formally allow the huge raft of festivals that has exploded over the last few months.The debate rages for seventeen minutes, until Kolya (who should be in bed) puts in a brief appearance. Everyone ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ as he recites some Oscar Wilde verses, and then a compromise is tabled by Abdul Hasib ibn Burd, the poet-philosopher. The Council itself will co-ordinate and oversee the Festival Programme. His proposal is overwhelmingly approved.

108 – Consipriation

Although both T.E.A.Barrie and (for different reasons) Emile Kirsipuu, the surrealist architect, are contesting the requisition of the Iatroclinic, when the Parish Council checks out the deeds of the land involved, the lawyers discover an unusual restrictive covenant that confers on the parish council the overriding ‘consipriation’ to agree any building, or change in usage or ownership. In effect this means that neither Barrie nor Kirsipuu have any right to the land or property. The council still has to make a reasonable financial offer, but that offer has to be accepted by the other parties. The Iatroclinic is therefore declared a protected village facility (and secretly Kirsipuu is quite pleased).

107 – Waiting for Ambivalence

So the Gwair Architecture Biennial ends on an uplifting note, and brings the current cycle of festivals to a close. But some less perspicacious voices in the community still agitate for no change. They want no more of these unholy celebrations of culture. Even Mrs. Hwybren Masterson still trembles when she recalls the conversation she had with Dame Katlyst Brough (emeritus chairman of the renowned publishing firm, Ducats and Winoth), and poor Myfanwy Detroit can't bring herself to mention the name of Melanie Grintclaw, the splenetic literary agent. But both ladies are ambivalent about the future, and opinion in Gwair is still divided. Crisp winter evenings arrive and everyone waits.

106 – Polychrome Interlaced Spandrels

The shaming of the sham doctor puts a shadow over the Gwair Architectural Biennial, but spirits are lifted when Abdul Hasib ibn Burd offers to give a talk about the development of Abbasid architecture (roughly 750 and 945) primarily in its heartland of Mesopotamia. He explains that the Abbasids inherited Persian architectural traditions in Mesopotamia, but evolved distinctive styles of their own, particularly in decoration of their buildings. 9th century Abbasid architecture had foliate decorations on arches, pendant vaults, muqarnas vaults and polychrome interlaced spandrels that became identified as typical of "Islamic" architecture. The Abbasid continued to follow the Umayyad rectangular hypostyle plan with arcaded courtyards and covered prayer halls. 

105 – Wrackham’s Razor

Wrackham demands that Kirsipuu cuts the house to half its planned size, and his conflict with the village dissolves. But Kirsipuu’s other project, the Iatroclinic, remains controversial. The Parish Council debates giving its permission late into the evening, but towards midnight news arrives that a fraud enquiry has discovered that T.E.A.Barrie is no doctor. His finances are being investigated. When confronted with his misdeeds he has a (relatively mild) heart attack. However this swings the debate in a new direction. If the soi-disant doctor has to sell, the village might benefit. Perhaps the council can purchase the nearly completed edifice, and the residents will have a brand new medical facility.