musings 67

That Roof

2009-06-29T15:30:00.000-07:00

There has been much talk of the new roof over the Centre Court. Its purpose is to allow Centre Court matches to continue even when it is raining, and the question was, "Who was going to be the first lucky user?" Today it has been used for the first time. Initially it was towards the end of a ladies' singles match, which was followed by THAT GREAT BRITISH HOPE (unless he loses, someone said, and then he's that Scots fellow), Andy Murray. He and his opponent celebrated the occasion by making the maximum use of the roof by playing a five-setter which lasted just under 4 hours. This is the view of the roof from the outside at 10.41pm just after the match had finished. It reminds me somewhat of a headless cockroach, but no doubt daughter number 1 could confirm that.

Let the Herring Gull(?) Speak

2009-06-01T05:35:00.000-07:00

Oh no, there's another tourist in camera position. Will take the nonchalant pose...

...Then turn the beady eye upon him, as if to say 'who d'you think you're looking at?...

...followed by a loud yell, 'Well, are you satisfied?...

...and return to nonchalant as-if-I-cared pose.

Let the starling speak

2009-05-12T12:08:00.000-07:00

Dear Mum, My London Holiday

Dear Mum, This is me in the plaza or whatever you call it next to the Tower of London, looking down at the wonderful old castle with another tourist. We do look a smart pair, don't we? (Actually the local lingo would say something more like 'we're a right pair, innit!')

Dear Mum, I thought you would like to see your smart-looking son all on his tod. I am sooooo sleek and suave, don't you think (innit)? I don't see why being a tourist should mean looking a complete mess. like so many humans do. I certainly tried to look my best for the photographer. I never once looked at him, you know. Just stood there looking as if I was about to fly away any minute. Keep 'em guessing, that's my motto.

Dear Mum. This is still me - but then you'd know me anywhere! I decided that the celebrity pose had been done enough and just turned my back on the photographer. I didn't look, but I'm not sure he was pleased. Anyway it presented another perspective on life. There's only so much you can enjoy, and he'd enjoyed my company quite long enough, I reckoned. I flew off after that.

Oh well; when duty calls...

2009-04-28T14:08:00.000-07:00

...one has no choice but to obey, and after the thunderous demand of the adoring public that the blog should continue, so that they can continue to see photos and work out puzzles, it seemed best to satisfy what is evidently a deep need... In this case it is to work out which is the correct bridge out of the following list: Westminster...Lambeth...Vauxhall...Chelsea... Albert...Battersea.
(I'm sorry , but the individual pictures can't be enlarged for some reason.)

So Long, Farewell, Adieu

2009-04-15T11:32:00.001-07:00

And (if you read the above title), Auf Wiedersehen - or should that be Auf Wiederbloggen?! Anyway this is to inform any of you who have so (im)patiently waited for the next rivetting blog to emerge that there will not be one as it will be going on a lonnnnnnnnnnnnng sabbatical. Some long years ago after a long period of having our doorstep milk being constantly pinched I told the milkman that I did not want to receive it from him anymore until further notice.Over 20 years have passed and that notice has not yet - nor will be - rescinded. And why am I taking this step? Well, mainly because I lack anything remotely worthwhile to add week after week, and it is sooooo unfair on people to be always looking (says he, giving people the benefit of the doubt that they do actually keep looking) to see what is new. Maybe they've already stopped in which case this notice itself will be unread - and I've told Giulietta. So that means probably only the fair daughters will be the readers. I am sure your lives, dear girls/ladies, will never be the same as a result, but there you are, bear yourselves up bravely, shoulders back, look the future full in the face and say, "Isn't life wonderful?" So, Byeeeee folks!

2009-03-25T13:58:00.000-07:00

I have been walking along the Thames Path in order to photograph all the bridges from Tower Bridge to Walton-on-Thames. It has been very interesting, not least for the other pictures that I took as I went along, of aeroplanes going into or out from Heathrow, and various birds both static and in action. The days have been generally cloudy and cold, but hey, it's art!! One reason I have been doing this (and exercise has been a very useful by-product!) has been to be able to recognise them when I see pictures of them. As a start see how you get on with matching these bridges. They are not in order, but somewhere in there is Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Cannon Street Station Bridge, Southwark Bridge, Blackfriars Station Bridge and Blackfriars [Road] Bridge.

Scenes of the Heath part 1

2009-03-07T12:45:00.000-08:00

2 angles of a thrush, though I don't which kind it is. Haven't looked it up yet. He didn't see me and was busy prodding away at the ground for food.

The curious case of the jumping. barking dog

This little chappie was a mite difficult to snare in the lens and this is the only picture which shows him reasonably.

Scenes of the Heath, interlude

2009-03-07T12:42:00.000-08:00

Heather, do you remember this lovely tree?

Scenes of the Heath part 2

2009-03-07T12:33:00.000-08:00

This is the viaduct, a rather grand structure yet one which merely separates two ponds, the one on the other side being rather smaller than the one on this side.

This fellow was giving me 'the look'; maybe he wasn't at all sure if he should not be asking for appearance money. Anyway he just stood there without moving a muscle. Most obliging of him.

Malcolm's - or rather Smiley's - pavilion. Enlarging will reveal the gold pin and maybe the muddy grass.

This is taken with the sports facility as the fellow, or fellowess is running - demonstrable by noting the slightly blurry right leg.

2009-02-13T08:21:00.000-08:00

This was our view of the moon.

long shadows

2009-01-27T08:29:00.000-08:00

I, too, have a long, indeed, a very long shadow!

First Impressions

2008-12-27T04:24:00.000-08:00

Two new DVDs (or is it DVD's?) have entered the house this Christmas. The G.L. received, by request, a copy of 'Mamma Mia' and yours truly received, unrequested., a copy of 'WALL.E'.

This morning I came into the room and found the 2 ladies ensconsed with M.M. The angle of the TV meant that I could not see the film properly, because it favours those on the couch, but that did not matter. As an ABBA fan I was quite content to listen to the music, even though I did not follow the action too well. However I did find it strange not to hear the real ABBA sound. I look forward to watching it properly - as long as I can bear the high - pitched screaming and excitement of the almost all-female cast. I bet the gents of the film crews enjoyed themselves!

As regards WALL.E I had never heard of it before, and had missed Dunadan's review of it. It was provided by Evie who had loved it herself ( and probably got it for herself via me, if the truth be known.) She said that because I like Japanese-style cartoons I would like this one. However the style was completely different, although there was one similarity -- the sparseness of action and dialogue. Simplicity however does not mean that it was lacking detail, and there was enough to keep one's attention- after the first half-hour.

Yes, it took me that length of time to really appreciate what was happening and where it was going. That said, I did not understand the ending. The earthlings returned to a desolate earth with no skills, no physical condition, no knowledge, to try and reclaim the planet. Considering how difficult the early settlers found it to start colonising America, one is left wondering at the likely survival rate. However it will be worth watching again, and seeing what I missed on the first viewing.

December 2008 London Lights

2008-12-22T09:18:00.000-08:00

Top 2: pouring rain for the London City Mission Carol Singing. Next 2: Oxford Street, with NEXT store having it all wrapped up! Last one: Regent Street. (Hopefully you can click on each one for a larger view.)

Did he know?

2008-12-18T02:06:00.000-08:00

Did the pilot know what he was going into? Would there be a TfL congestion charge awaiting him, or one of the Islington traffic wardens lurking round the corner, ready to pounce?

The new school

2008-12-06T14:34:00.000-08:00

Alberto, your Scottish MIL thought you might like to see the work in progress on the new buildings of your old place of work, so I snapped a few photos today. I hope they give you an idea. Notice you don't see the old building from these angles. I started from Baalbec Road, and then worked down Highbury Grove and finally round into Highbury New Park.

Motley puzzlers

2008-11-28T15:00:00.000-08:00

After the last blog with its view of the countryside from a speeding train, we are a little less rushed this time. The first picture is of a building on the Northumbrian coast which I have not been able to identify yet. Is there anyone out there who is chancing to read this blog, who can? If there isn't I wonder how many imaginative guesses one could come up with?
I am just a little sad that the background isn't darker, then I could have passed this off as a rather fiercesome fly or cat in a rather dangerous mood. As it is, it is ...?

Agreed, these are not railway lines, but any guesses as to what is on show here?

Now was this really the spaceship that picture number two came from, or something less prosaic?

Well, at least they're different!

2008-11-22T14:18:00.000-08:00

Berry- alternative pads..

2008-11-22T13:34:00.000-08:00

What better way of greeting a long lost family member on her return from foreign shores...!
In the meantime, sleeping on the floor under the printer may have had its points, but sometimes a bit of height is enjoyable too. Especially with the radiator right below...!

Today from Hayes to Paddington

2008-11-06T14:58:00.000-08:00

The title is correct, but Blogger is showing the pictures in the reverse order from what I wanted, so start from the bottom and work up.

Berry's new sleeping area over the past several days

2008-11-06T14:47:00.000-08:00

Thames & Autumn in Richmond, Surrey

2008-11-06T14:35:00.000-08:00

2008-10-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

God's wisdom is rightly unfathomable, but sometimes that of bureaucracy comes a close second. Why? Well, 2 incidents today may explain my comment.
The g. l. is wandering off abroad tomorrow for nearly 3 weeks, so I thought I would help her on her way with a cash injection of euros. Thus off I went to the Post Office. I told the cashier that I wanted to draw out a certain number of pounds in euros. No problem. I then asked her if I could pay for them with a credit card or did it have to be a debit card. She replied that either was permissible, but I would need to show either my passport or driving licence - even though it was not I who would be spending the money. No matter, I did not have either with me anyway. "In that case draw the necessary out from the little box by you and we'll be ok". Says I, "I thought it was only for travellers' cheques you needed a passport". "Ah", says she, in a conspiratorial manner, "some of our competitors demand that you produce a passport even when you're paying with cash!" It seemed strange to hear the P.O. speak of competitors.

Later I went to the Bank to inform them that the g.l. would be drawing the odd bit of cash out of our joint account whilst in foreign places. This required a phone call, but on eventually getting through I was informed that this could not be done unless she was with me, or else did her own phone call. "OK," says I, "What will she need to have when she makes the phone call?" "Oh, just the joint account sort code, and account number." "But I have them here...!"

However to be fair, to show there's more than one idiot in the world, this also happened. I came out of the Post office and turned into the Tube Station next door. Immediately I saw a big notice detailing the closure of most of the route for Saturday and Sunday. I thought oh dear, I had better work out another way to go to the West End. I collared a nearby official to ask if the route was open towards Walthamstow. He said yes but the rest is open too. But I argued the notice says Saturday, etc etc. So he replies ."That's right, but today is Friday!" When I apologised, he said not to worry, as I wasn't the first and wouldn't be the last!

Time for Reflection

2008-10-15T08:42:00.000-07:00

During the walk described in the next blog I sat down for a break beside Monken Hadley's pond. I once heard that one is not supposed to feed bread to ducks, which was what was happening near me. But it certainly provided an excellent photo-opportunity!

A Walk along the Great North Road

2008-10-15T07:16:00.000-07:00

For many years I thought that the A1000 was the Great North Road. In fact the great North Road was simply the name given to the road that for centuries led from London to Edinburgh. Last century saw bypasses built at certain places and the whole length was designated the A1. The section between Welwyn and Highgate was designated the A1000.

I started the walk at Woodside Lodge, one of the entrances to Hatfield House. Along this road (pic 1) would Bill Sykes have come on his flight , and from the opposite direction would have come Oliver Twist from his workhouse - see previous blogs.

The crossroads (pic 2) sees us crossing the Great North Road as it begins its diversion around Hatfield Park.

The rough looking track of pic 3 is an unmade road leading to a farm. It is the original route which is now blocked off and one has to make a diversion.

Soon we return to the A1000 (pic 4) as it disappears northward, still a busy road, but I managed to get pauses to photograph in.

Coming north out of Potters Bar (pic 5) looks dramatically steep, though I didn't notice it at the time!

I then crossed the SE-NW road between Southgate and South Mimms (pic 6) and nowadays leading to the M25 and A1 motorways).

Eventually I reached Monken Hadley, a mile from Barnet. Here is an obelisk (pic 7) set up by one Sir Jeremy Sambrook in memory of the death of the Earl of Warwick . This gentleman died around here in 1471 at the Battle of Barnet between the Yorkists and Lancastrians - also known as the War of the Roses (White v Red).

The sun was still bright but for fun I toned the ensuing road down (pic 8) which is where I imagined Oliver sitting all hungry, weary and depressed when the Artful Dodger comes along.

Finally we come into Chipping Barnet. The little terrace of small shops (pic9) must, I am sure, have been there in the first half of the nineteenth century. I did once see an old photograph of them but I cannot remember where in order to verify this.

A lovely day and a lovely walk - and my legs feet the effects of it still!

Oliver Twist and all that, extra

2008-10-02T23:37:00.000-07:00

After this blog comes a further four tracing the movements of Bill Sykes from Charles Dickens's novel 'Oliver Twist'. I wanted to include these pictures in the blogs but Blogger allowed only four instead of five for some reason, so I have put them here as a taster!
This shows the section of the original road into Hatfield which now is part of the Hatfield House estate. Halfway along the lefthand side is a bend in the wall...
...where the original road has been blocked off and made into a private memorial garden.
You will see other pictures of the 'Eight Bells' pub where Bill Sykes ended up, and this is another view.
Evie in her blog talks of how she accompanied me on the outing, and this is to prove it, taken on the street leading down to the 'Eight Bells'.

Just think, when 'Oliver Twist' was written, cameras had only just been invented, car windows were a long way away, and the time and opportunity to do such an outing were beyond the ordinary person's dreams. And what's more to get there we travelled by train, which also were in their infancy. Bill Sykes walked over 20 miles. It says he was tired out. He had walked more than that straight 20. 'Tis more than I can do to do a quarter of that without resting!

Oliver Twist and all that, part 1

2008-10-02T22:57:00.000-07:00

Oliver Twist is an orphan who coming to London becomes ensnared in the clutches of Fagin and his gang of child pickpockets. He has various adventures and scares until he lives happily ever after. Two other main characters are the thief Bill Sykes and his girlfriend Nancy. Towards the end of the book, believing Nancy has betrayed him, Bill kills her and flees London. After wandering around Hampstead Heath for some time, acompanied by his dog, Bullseye, "at last he got away, and shaped his course for Hatfield."

Hatfield is some 20 miles from London, and is reached by the Great North Road. The first picture shows the road passing in front of Hatfield House, featured in the second picture. This is because the road used in fact to run through the estate. A section by-passing it was opened in 1850.

The final section of the road as it came into the village of Hatfield. The map leads you from the trees into the town, showing the old route and coming down into Fore Street, the location of many shops and businesses.

Oliver Twist and all that part 2

2008-10-02T22:28:00.000-07:00

"It was nine o'clock at night when the man...turned down the hill by the church of the quiet village..."

The church is that of St Etheldreda's and has parts dating back to the 13th century. The house in front looks late 19th early, 20th century. In the third picture you see the gateway into the Old Palace of Hatfield, a medieval house for the Bishops of Ely. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII it came into royal possession. Elizabeth I was living there when she heard of her accession in 1558. James I swapped it for Robert Cecil's house, Theobalds, near Cheshunt. Robert pulled down most of it and replaced it with the current Hatfield House. It mostly comprises flats now.

Bill Sykes would have passed by its frontage and turning by the church he would have seen a street of shops, this being the main part of Hatfield at the time. These disappeared when the Great North Road was re-routed and business dried up.

Oliver Twist amd all that, part 3

2008-10-02T21:53:00.000-07:00

"...the man, quite tired out, and the dog limping and lame from the unaccustomed exercise, turned down the hill..."

You can just see the pub Bill Sykes went into in the second picture. Notice the height of the door of the thatched house. Even though you step down to it anyone over five feet nine at the most will need to stoop.

Oliver Twist and all that, part 4

2008-10-02T21:30:00.000-07:00

"...and creeping along the little street, crept into a small public house, whose scanty lights had guided them to the spot."
O

"There was a fire in the tap-room, and some labourers were drinking before it. they made room for the stranger, but he sat down in the farthest corner..." On the other side of this fireplace is a broader fireplace which would serve the context better but I could not photo it due to people near it.

Clearly the pub is somewhat smarter than it was in Dickens's day. There has been some rebuilding of the street and the tall yellow section is a later addition to the 'small public house'.

2008-08-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

I should have included this in the previous blog. It is a scene from Parliament Hill, looking North at 9.57am! It has been been lightened up slightly and looks even better than the one below at Alexandra Palace, which was taken at 13.17, looking South.

2008-08-25T08:42:00.000-07:00

Giulietta and I were on the 4th floor Coffee Place in John Lewis Oxford Street when we saw a great view directly up Harley Street towards - well we could not decide whether it was Primrose Hill or even Hanmpstead Heath, it could be either. We took several photographs. Mine were rubbish because of the white sky - see below - but I was happier with these two where no sky intrudes. I have tweaked them in Picasa's tuning chamber , whose Colour Temperature facility has made made the brown building look browner and given more detail to the dormer windows.

I have been trying to be a bit more creative, tuning-wise. I particularly was fed up getting all white where there should be fluffy clouds and so spent Saturday am and pm in Hampstead Heath and at Alexandra Palace going through the whole range of options to get a decent cloud scene - the land bit was incidental on this occasion - and this one is one of the best with a little touch of Colour Temperature. I think I am getting there, don't you think, though not as near as I would like.

Pour Ezair en Guadeloupe

2008-08-18T07:57:00.000-07:00

Just to show you the creative use we made of one of your nice red paper tablecloths!!

Museum of Life, Lincoln

2008-08-17T15:00:00.000-07:00

Giulietta mentions here that we visited a Victorian schoolroom in Lincoln.
In her rightful place at the teacher's desk, looking appropriately stern.
Giving what looks like a cheeky wave to the photographer.
Desk lids were always something useful to hide behind!
Somewhere around here is Guadeloupe, but these are only the British territories...
And here is Cape Town, which is where Evie is now.

Lincoln, a non-touristy view

2008-08-14T12:49:00.000-07:00

Our room was on the first floor. We looked down onto a lawn dwarfed by this very big and spreading willow. It has to be drastically pruned every four years as it is too well fed by underground springs. Behind it is the main road from which you can neither see nor enter the hotel it. Hence the lack of a photograph of it.
The same, at night.
On Friday evening I watched the sun set and took a number of photographs marking its development. It peaked with this blinding effect...
...and then settled down with this glorious colour. The smoke is from one of the chimneys of the distant power station. It drifted up and then broke away, forming different patterns as it did so.
Coming down the street to the hotel the previous evening we saw the black clouds and an electric storm. Unfortunately I was unable to capture the scene as it had stopped by the time I had got the camera out and ready - as ever!

Hi Ruby!

2008-08-12T12:01:00.000-07:00

August 10th was our 40th (Ruby) Wedding Anniversary. Time to go away for a long weekend to celebrate. Giulietta is looking very happy at the prospect, just as she did 40 years ago when we left the Reception to embark on our new life together.
A tunnel leads us out of King's Cross as we head northwards. Tunnels are an experience of life but fortunately there is always a light at the end of them, even though it can seem like an age to get to it.
Out of the tunnel into the open and the train quickens its speed and away we go. Through those 40 years there were such times when things were going along very nicely indeed, and there were times too of reflection, looking in on one's self and assessing one's own progress.
At Newark we have to change for a Replacement Coach Service due to railworks. Thus ahead is the A 46 and the driver's head. He has a game of allowing his seat to go up and down rapidly and it looks as if he is bouncing so much he will suddenly go through the roof... The road is straight here and wide but not everywhere. So our 4o years have seen all sorts of roads and we have met amusing people on the way.
Arriving at the Guest House on top of a hill we can look out and see far into the distance for everywhere around is relatively flat. The white spot in the centre of the picture is a white truck on what is probably the A46 still, for it acts as a Ring Road. Beyond it we are be able to see at least 2 other roads. A 40 year marriage sees us on different roads, or sees us having to question which of many roads to take. But the high view is useful to get everything into perspective. And who better at providing that perspective than our Lord himself, who has helped us so much along our journey.

Oh, in case you are wondering - we went to Lincoln. A town we knew nothing about but now know plenty. Full of history - I may put some features on board next time.

Dunadan: Familiar scene?

2008-08-02T20:21:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the who? what? where? and when?

Ezair: Nostalgia for Eurostar Waterloo!

2008-08-02T19:45:00.000-07:00

Ah the scene of so much goings and comings, of meetings and departings,
Of new life expectancies and old life renewed.
Away from Blighty, let us see Paris
for fun and gaiety
and the odd crepe or two.
Now all is past.

Where there was movement there is now stillness.
Look over the balcony and what do you see?
The check-ins have made their last move ,
spiders will have it all their own way.

Where is the cafe? An empty hole now marks the place for discounted coffee and sarnies.
No place even for a respectable railway mouse there now.
Nothing on an escalator that leads from and to nowhere,
Below all is is bare,
Above is boarded.
Ah, the irony!
for that is the only sign of any boarding in this once so busy axis.

Time has truly stood still.
Just at the point when midnight, or even midday would strike, it ceased
Finally to move no more
Finito - all is over
It is time...

...to bring in change, for a new perspective.
Terence Cuneo sits there with his back to the past and looks out on the hurrying, scurrying present, just as his predecessor had done,
Palette in hand he watches to mark the new day,
the new life,
the new comings and goings of the island -bound peoples around him.
No tunnel,no sudden realisation of a new land.
Just England...
Dear old England...

Time to get over to St Pancras, I think!

Specially for Giulietta

2008-07-31T11:34:00.000-07:00

Here are three pictures to satisfy any curiosity you might have had re my photographic amble yesterday. This one does not in fact show a stone age site of standing stones surrrounding a mystic tree but are the rather cool border of a path.

Which bridge is this over the Thames? I did put the chimney more upright in Picasa but it has not transferred.

"The Bee and the Buddleia". Enough said.

Hellos...and Goodbyes

2008-07-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

It's Hello to Giulietta's country - or rather, Scottish - cousin, who has come to brave the muck and grime of the great metropolis for a few days, leaving behind the pure, clean air of the Clyde Valley.

And it's Hello to the voice that spoke in my ear as I was preparing this shot at 7.03 this morning. Now whom do you expect to see that you know at that unearthly hour? Only the youngest son, Dunadan himself, on his way to work out at the gym BEFORE WORK!!!

And it is Goodbye, la famille Erulin!

Well, it's off a-Gwada'ing for the Erulin family after a hectic few days and a nice mini-cab driver who laughed at Granny's jokes (Surely beyond the call of duty, innit?).

I puzzled over this photo as I could not see Joel anywhere. I am however reliably informed that he was in the buggy (why do they not call them push chairs anymore? Is there a significant difference?). Although Charis appears to be sitting in it, she is actually standing beside it, thus shielding the wee mite.

Mum was not as worried as she appears, I believe; she seemed to be having a friendly enough chat with one of the staff.

Shortly after this baby JoJo was frisked at the security desk to make sure he was not carrying suspicious packets in his nappy. (Any packet in the nappy is suspicious - Mum will always say, "Have you got a dirty nappy?" in the most incredulous tones.)

And finally, it is Goodbye faithful iron.

There was I, placidly doing some ironing, when a suspicious smell and an unexpected light prompted me to look down, and behold, the iron was on fire, just where its lead emerges from the protective tubing, and within micrometres of my hand. Hurriedly I stood the iron on its stand and switched off at the socket. I watched the flames - fortunately few in number and low in height quickly die away. Phew!

Later, as I entered the Tube station, I received a text from elder son. The following exchange occurred:
E.S.: Re the iron - Shocking!
Me: A flaming nuisance!
E.S.: Hot under the collar are u?!
Me: Let alone hand! (Going underground precluded further interesting comments.)

Yesterday's news

2008-07-17T03:27:00.000-07:00

I picked up this charming little piece (I refer of course to the book) at a church bazaar recently, the location of which may serve as a blog in itself. It makes most intriguing reading and even though it was published away back in 1897, there are some surprising modern touches to it and I am barely a quarter of the way through it.

Opening statement: 'Can anything in the world be nicer than a really nice girl? She is full of contradictions and often "set with little wilful thorns," but where would her charm be if she were plainly to be read by all comers?'

Page 2. 'The happy girls of the century-end have not such good reason for wishing to be boys as their mothers, and more still their grandmothers, had in their young days.'

Page 4 ['The girl of to-day], very often ignores the needle of ordinary life, and her thimble knows her so little that it will not come when it is called. ..[On the other hand] the best and the nicest of our ...girls can use the needle quite as cleverly as they can wield a pair of sculls or handle the reins or manage a bicycle.'

Watch this space for more gems!

Thank you

2008-07-14T09:08:00.000-07:00

A very warm and satisfied thank you to Heather and Malcolm for organising This lovely treat.

white spaces

2008-07-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

A little bird has informed me that my last blog was hard to read because there are no white spaces.

I am reading a book about Web-building and it emphasises the importance of white spaces to facilitate reading.

This is because reading online is much harder than reading in a book.

However since my blog page has no white background anywhere it will be impossible for me to provide any white spaces.

Insted you will have to put up with cream spaces, as I don't feel like changing the design at present.

Anyway I only heard about it in a roundabout way, but I hope that others of you (if there are any) who have had reading difficulties will be able to cope with this current arrangement.

a little musing

2008-07-05T14:22:00.000-07:00

The Independent had a headline on Friday declaring that Moslems in Britain feel alienated. They feel that they are ignored and unwanted. Whilst I did not read the article I can appreciate their problem. It is because of the First Law of the English - everybody is under suspicion until they have been living in the village for at least ten generations, and then one might deign to say hello. Is there anywhere else in the world where there is a word for the outsider who has come to live in a county from outside. There is in Devon and Cornwall. It is I believe the word Grockel. The Moslem leader who made the accusation has clearly not lived in the country very long and the insular attitude of the average Briton is a very deep-rooted one. It is not so long ago that no-one moved from a village unless circumstances enforced it. It is the reason why we are so poor at speaking foreign languages - our tongue is the best and it is the only one that is valid. And by that I don't mean our English language, but our local version of it. The Geordie, the Scouser, the Brummie, the Devonian, the Cockney, the Essex lot - each will say to all the others, "You talk funny". If this be the case among people of our own particular race, it is not surprising if those of a foreign extraction feel the sense of opposition. It is not that anybody else is abhorrent (except to the BNP), but rather that as an individual the average Brit feels him/herself perfect in comparison. There have been Moslems living here quietly for several generations, but the great and varied influx of immigrants from all corners of the globe hide them and make people tar everyone with the same brush. That some elements seem to be on a terrorist campaign does not mean all are, any more than disaffected knife-wielding teenagers form the majority of that age-group. However our inbuilt prejudices can provoke or exacerbate a situation which would not otherwise have arisen. Above all everyone who declares he or she is a Christian should be totally innocent of any such attitudes - yet in history regrettably it has often been the Church that has been at the forefront of promoting such attitudes. We have much to repent of.

Justin Case, that enigmatic fellow

2008-07-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

Just in case you have been missing a new entry... I was walking down our street when I came upon this work of art. a man was loading up the lorry with branches from a cherry tree. All were cut to the same length of six feet, and laid in orderly tiers in the forward half of the lorry, up to a a height of some eight feet. It looked so neat and impressive, that I said it was a pity it was all going to dumped in the recycling centre (the Dechetterie as Giulietta and I always like to call that place from its French equivalent). It should have been preserved and entered for the next Turner Prize. Was there any significance that the man working on it was an East European? Certainly I have never seen anything like it before. (I am sorry about the over-exposre of the r.h. corner - I haven't mastered the art of eliminating it yet.)
Another time I passed the Blairs old church which has a lovely artistic feature which I will show sometime. Meanwhile the tower by the side of the main body of the building just looks like an enormous sharpened pencil, and was positively crying out to be viewed in a slightly different perspective(no offence intended to Dunadan and his friends). I was actually lining the tower up with the viewfinder gridlines.
On a second visit to a new hairdressers I sat by an open window and spotted that below passed the Overground Railway, so out came the camera and waited a short while. As they say, have camera, will snap. Looming over the local swimming pool at our local park is what looks like a giant effigy of Gandalf, or could it be Treebeard - or his cousin perhaps?

Eagle eyes

2008-06-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

Have any of you wonderful readers been as clever as Giulietta who observed a particular feature of the train photograph? It is that the three flowers on the left hand side represent the colours of the photograph, but in reverse order (though you do have to stretch your imagination a little to fit brown into the train engine and carriages). Thus do art critics earn their keep, but we get it for free!

re H F D!

2008-06-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

What can a proud father say when his two daughters come up with such beautfully phrased blogs - see Going Gwada and evie's blog - other than to show the additional card which Evie sent, not from Hawaii,but through a kind friend who remembered to post it in good time, though I did not open it till today. Inside it Evie says that she made it with me in mind, I presume in memory of the times I came south to St Pancras in the days of steam. Ah, them wurr the days!! Many thanks to the pair of you - and the occasion made me think of our wonderful Father in heaven who gave his only Son so that we might not perish but have everlasting life (John 3: 16).

further to buses and things

2008-06-13T14:56:00.000-07:00

The g.l. has a blog of her own under Giulietta - now isn't that sweeter and classier than 'the g.l.'! After reading the blog below 'of buses and things' she said she had expected to see a picture of the Manchester Ship Canal. So this seeks to fill in that gap (and to get you to read that blog if you have not already done so).
So courtesey of penninewaterways.co.uk we see first a pleasant view...
then some modern buildings, apartments I would think. I really wanted to get pictures of the old houses showing a ship passing by the back garden, but none seem to be available - maybe none did! - but I thought these cows grazing by John Reynolds (pbase.com) might feel the experience, especially if Geri the Inquisitive Cow is among them. (I wonder where he is these days, and if he thinks back fondly of those mind-boggling chats with dunadan.)
Rather more dramatic is this view of the 'Arklow Rock' sailing - go to the top of the class anyone who can work out whether it is going E - W or W - E - up/down the Canal. (shipsofthemersey.co.uk, the work of someone called Alan.) Finally a lovely view of the Detroit swing bridge at Salford. (manchesteronline.co.uk, from Aidan O'Rourke.)

Of buses and things

2008-06-11T12:18:00.000-07:00

Our kitchen window looks out on a roundabout at a four-road junction. We see cyclists and pedestrians, lots of cars and from time the blaring police cars or vans, as in the picture.
We are on a one-bus route - the 236, as seen in the next picture - an important link for Finsbury Park Station with its tube and mainline connections and buses to further north. But major roadworks have affected certain routes, and we now find ourselves on a 4-bus route, a diversion route for 3 bus routes, like the single-decker number 393. Blogger would not give me space for its picture, but it travels up the road past our window like this 236, at this point going in the exact opposite direction to its normal route, which it will pick a quarter of a mile away!
Here is the number 19, heading like the 236 for Finsbury Park which makes for a pleasant alternative to the 236, when waiting at our usual bus stop.
This number 4 passes near Finsbury Park on it way north to Archway where the Goinggwadw family reside which is also extremely convenient, though regretfully they will have gone to Gwada before these diversions have ended.
The sight of these double-decker buses passing the kitchen window - I still haven't got used to them - makes me thing how surprising it must have been for people living in houses near to the Manchester Ship Canal suddenly seeing these great ocean-going ships pass by after it was built.
(But not as surprising as it would have been if they had passed before it was built.)

saffron hill revisited

2008-06-07T12:38:00.000-07:00

Looking up Charterhouse Street from Saffron Hill
Within Saffron Hill looking back at the entry steps on Charterhouse street.

Today Dunadan and Arathorn met in a cafe in Oxford Street and chatted about this and that over cups of tea and teacakes. Dunadan had been to Ely Place - see his entry - which is a side road off Charterhouse Steet, which itself leads off Holborn Circus. This is the 5-road junction just before the Holborn Viaduct. Showing off his new-found knowledge, Arathorn said that just down the road from Ely Place there is a side street (pedestrianised and stepped entry point) called Saffron Hill. It was the street where Fagin, of 'Oliver Twist' fame, had his 'den'. It was, Arathorn solemnly declared, in O. T.'s day (1837)) an area off much ill-repute, being the home of drunks vagabonds and thieves, indeed the worst of society. It then struck us that , being a stone's throw away from the City financial institutions, the area hadn't changed much, for all that they are clean modern-looking buildings...

Spelling or speling

2008-05-27T15:30:00.000-07:00

i red a hedline in the paper the other day that sed that harf of londoners cahnt spel. but who counted them, and what dus it matter. After all if inconsistent speling was good enuff for shakespeer then who are we to fuss. It didnt stop him being famus and he had servral ways of speling his naym anyway. And i bet you hav understud every word that i hav written so fah. i was very good in skul at thre things - spelin, tabuls and ireggular french verbs. mi lak of understanding evrything els has not been of toooo grate a hindranz. we used to talk about area and the only area i no anything about is the one around our house which has to be cleened up from time to time. I new french verbs and cud make a reesonabul attempt at speking the french langwidge but all the french verbs in the wurld cudnt help me to understand what they prattled on in reply. It was a gud job the g.l. cud. however i am puzzld by won thing. the shops abound with puzzul buks and crosswords and things needing you to be abul to spel to get the ansers rite. if so many peepul are bad at speling how cum they sel al theses buks, eh, tel me that, wise guys. or is that why sudoku is so popular becos it has no words - but then how many are good with numbers...arent we suposed to be even worse with them.

for Dunadan and his friends

2008-05-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

"Williams faces historic choice, says Vatican" blazes the major headline in the Catholic Herald, and continues, "The time has come for Anglican leaders to choose between Protestantism and the ancient Churches of Rome and Orthodoxy." The Vatican spokesman is one Cardinal Walter Kasper, the President of the Pontifical Council of Christian Unity (don't they like their long titles). What rubbish! The man clearly has no understanding at all of the nature of the Anglican Church. It has for ever in my lifetime (some 67 years) been a monument to the broad-mindedness of the British people. The Orthodox, Roman and all other Protestant churches follow a clearly prescribed and essentially prescriptive path - and that is not meant as a censure but as a truism. Ever since the Victorians came up with the Oxford and Tractarian movements the Anglican path has been available to all and sundry. Consequently "are you a huntin, shootin, fishin, third son of the gentry? then it's the Church for you me lad, and no arguments" -#1 was the heir and #2 went into the army. Either side of these poor chaps were on the one hand the Low Church Evangelicals and on the other the "hey man, we're not going to bow down to no Pope, and we want to be married too" High church reverends. As for theology , well every possible doctrine and liberal thought is part and parcel of the whole set-up. The very essence of Anglicanism is such that one might as well say we had to choose between sushi and the ancient culinary delight of fish and chips. Come on Wally, there is room for all in the Good Ship CofE, and don't deny us our little island idiosyncrasy - and let their noble reverends have their little 20 minute chat over tea and biscuits or whatever. Come to think of it, how many major decisions have ever been made in 20 minutes? Actually, probably most marriages, and without the tea and biscuits.

Especially for Heather

2008-05-12T15:38:00.000-07:00

As you hinted, so here is an offering of...
Bill leading everyone in a joyful rendering of 'Happy Birthday to you' where 'you' of course actually refers to 'him', if you get my drift...
a happy family group where all is peaceful and quiet, for a few minutes at least (and there is a baby there somewhere,I believe)...
the Scottish ladies, Wilma and Juliet, displaying patriotic and sisterly linkage and solidarity...
Alberto, who is normally no shrinking violet, holding forth on the mysteries of the Guadeloupe language in a seemingly clandestine manner...
while the woodland floor lies motionless and silent, yet what stories it could tell if it could speak...!

2008-05-09T15:39:00.000-07:00

Welcome back camera! Evie these were all done on Auto. First a lovely rhododendron bush some 10 feet high at its highest point, I reckon.
Next a sculpture by Barbara Hepworth whose only merit is to provide a frame for photographing more r. bushes and Kenwood house...
...as it is in, almost, full visibility...
...and Kenwood through its 'keyhole'...
...and then away from it to look at light and leaf effect.

Check this out

2008-05-02T21:13:00.000-07:00

A small observation: I went to the polling station and fulfilled my duty and went thome thinking no more about it. On Friday morning I was on the bus when a couple of elderly men were passing the odd comment to each other. One of them said that he had put his cross on the ballot paper... I thought, "I didn't put a cross on the ballot papers (we had 3 different ones here in London to vote on), I put ticks! For all my voting life I have always put a cross as I am supposed to do. Whatever made me put a tick? I can only think that all that one does on computers is to 'check the box' and that results on a tick being entered. So there in the polling booth my brain, what's left of it these days, said to itself, "Have box, will tick". What do you think? Apparently the voting papers were counted electronically, all 6 million of them Did the machine distinguish between a tick and a cross, I wonder?

Try this for Size (part 2)

2008-04-26T06:43:00.000-07:00

Here it is again - I appear to have deleted the photograph of the last entry!

Still learning

2008-04-22T12:58:00.000-07:00

I have done this to show that I am still learning, having discovered from the new daughter on the blogging block about Collage. However I am intrigued that it has a certain limitation. I selected 7 photographs and it came up with 9, having repeated the first two!!?? Of interest they might be they are not the best of the bunch but why the extra anyway and how is it prevented?

Try this for size

2008-04-22T12:54:00.000-07:00

It was a wet day when I took this and the other photos in the collage above, but there were clear spells. However it started raining again when I did this one. This photograph does enlarge when you click on it - and my it does look impressive! - the view, not the photo particularly.

Did I say the view looks impressive?! Where on earth has it gone????

Sunset time photos

2008-04-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

The camera is in dock for up to 3 weeks. The lens cap fits on to a little ring round the lens cap. This ring should be firmly fixed. Somehow it has worked loose, and two days ago when I was out photographing in the setting-sun light this ringy thing went AWOL. So the camera has returned to its maker to be fixed (is there a sermon here?). Meanwhile, except for the first photograph, here are some results of that unfortunate expedition.
This is an earlier study in Pink - in getting the right exposure for the deep pink of the g.l.'s Tote, or Scrapbooking bag, a marvellous invention that enables the serious Scrapbooker to have very many tools required at hand. I like the contrasts of the whites and yellow, too.

Evie's influence is shown here because I first took some conventional distance shots, but she's always saying,'Get close-up' and I thought the lamplight made it all the more interesting.

This is a first time use of the Wide-angle facility. The camera playback shows 2 places where it is over-exposed. Can you work out where these are?

The sun was behind me here, all but a small fraction of it hidden behind a house, its light striking the leaves horizontally.

An attempt at mystery! Who's lurking behind the bush, watching the bridge for whoever and whatever?? Agreeably the setting is right, putting the bridge in focus while the nearer bush is slightly out, though I am not quite sure how I managed it!

This pretty little water feature is part of the New River Walk setting of most of these photographs. I did a short movie of it as well which looks clearer than this.

Back home I caught this unusual view of Berry. He is normally to be found high up - on couch, chair, bed, table, box, not on the floor, even if it is by the warm radiator. Soon afterwards he did go to the couch. This dark photo is on Auto ISO 800. I tried manual lighter touches but could not get anything satisfactory. The leaves shot is on Auto ISO 80, but the rest are all on manual at ISO 100.

Can anyone suggest why these pictures do not respond to the click that is supposed to enlarge them?

London etc part the second

2008-04-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

My system doesn't let me put up more than 5 photos at a time - or if it does I don't know how -so officially this is the second batch, but of course it has come up at the top of the blog. It's rather like some films which have prequels. Anyway, these flowers are in St James's Park and they make a friendly little grouping.

You might think I have a strange imagination, but these seemed just like the Formula 1 cars belting off at the start of their race or even the start of the marathon. It can be surprising what you see creeping imto the public toilets!
These poor Horse Guards soldiers are just marching off from having been inspected by an officer in the full gaze of the public. To the right off-screen were two mounted soldiers whose horses were also given the look-over. You couldn't hear if he was pleased or not!

London through the new camera

2008-04-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

I know, this is not London, but I thought it was an interesting view - and he did not fall off!

This is name the flower time for those who know about these things, which I don't, but I like the
colour and shadow. The red flowers are supposed to be in the centre.
A famous landmark separating the Mall leading up to Buckingham Palace from Trafalgar Square.
I din't notice the angle until I put it on here by which time it was too late to edit it, but you get the idea.

Does anyone know...?

2008-03-26T15:01:00.000-07:00

For once a blog with no attendant photograph...!

Doctor Foster went to Gloucester in a shower of rain.
He stepped in a puddle right up to his middle
And never went there again.

The man in the moon came down too soon
And asked the way to Norwich.
He went to the south and burnt his mouth
By eating cold pease porridge

Does anyone know any other Nursery Rhymes which feature the name of a town?

new camera

2008-03-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

This picture shows where we celebrated after I bought a new camera, as a result of pressure from the daughters, one of them thinking I was getting better and should have a better one (!?), and the other wanting my 'old' one so that she could start her blog - 'going gwada', q.v. @ blogspot.com.

Queen Vic at Holborn Viaduct

2008-03-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

I have been doing some research into Victorian London and came across this delightful ' common man's take ' on the opening of the Holborn Viaduct in 1869. It had been a noble and very expensive project which had taken 6 years in the making, but was very appreciated by all and sundry. Holborn Circus - where the clock tower now stands - was separated from the Old Bailey (though it was actually the site of Newgate Prison originally) by the valley of the Fleet River. The river had been covered over in the eighteenth century, but the banks - Holborn Hill - formed notorious steep climbs which the coaches and horses of the time, and also pedestrians, found very difficult to negotiate. I hope you can and do enjoy reading it - it is at the maximum size I could put it at on the blog.

It was printed by H. Disley, Printer, 57, High Street, St Giles, London. The Source of the document is: Curiosities of Street Literature, London,Reeves and Turner, 196, Strand, 1871. The web site is noted for each verse.

The New River

2008-02-28T14:36:00.000-08:00

The New River is not so new. It was a canal built in the 17th century to bring water from near Ware to London, but its last few miles have been culverted since the nineteenth century. A small section has been made by Islington following near to its original course to make a very pleasant walk alongside a small stream. These photographs are from that. I was out yesterday looking at reflections and the first photograph is quite a dramatic design, even if I haven't quite got the colour right, probably because I was looking a little too near towards the sun.

Further on I had the delight in capturing something I would not have succeeeded in doing had I worked for it. The mallard drakes were arguing over a female and I was recording some of the action. No easy task. But in this photograph, the action is in the background, and none too clear, but the drake in the foreground has been caught in mid-quack, which I think is rather cool.

Valentine's Day surpise

2008-02-14T12:54:00.000-08:00

There was great fun in the household today in regard to Valentine's Day celebration. The other week I was in a local park taking careful photos when I spotted a couple of lovey doves ( or pigeons or something ) and stopped to take a hasty photo of them.

I was only just in time as they flew off almost immediately afterwards. Then, during the family trip to Whitstable last Saturday, beautifully recorded by Evie on her blog, her sister, the young Mum of 2.9 children, said she liked a certain seat. So I took a photo of the same.

Strangely enough I am not sure that she actually sat on it, but that's neither here nor there...
Back home the g.l decided to show yours truly how to send that photo via email, but somehow managed to send the photo of the two birds instead. After some mystification and bemusement the error was later corrected.

After careful thought on my part I decided that the same birdy photo would make a suitable subject for a Valentine's Card for the g.l. and managed last night to put it together, and left it on the kitchen table for her to see this morning for she would be rising before me. This she did and later I came up to make a cup of tea. To my great astonishment I found that the g.l. had left me a Valentine's card - with the two little birds as its main design!

Someone's comment was to the effect that that is what comes from being married for nearly 40 years! Why did I mention the seat/bird photo mix-up? Well the g.l. was doing the Valentine card around the same time, so we may have here a rare example of a Freudian photo slip, or not...

meme at dunadan request

2008-01-31T12:15:00.000-08:00

What on earth (or in heaven or anywhere else for that matter) is a meme? Split it and it looks very self-centred ( me me) and I'm bad enough there already! Or is it an acrostic -'make every memory exciting' (that would be fun!), or perhaps, 'most Englishmen marry Engishwomen' -(though I happily married a Scottish girl). However the dunadan in a recent blog challenges(?) me to go to page 123 and perform a task, so for what it is worth, here it is:

St Pancras Station by Simon Bradley

"Communication between storeys was by means of speaking tubes, set likewise alongside the service lifts. All these facilities were grouped vertically, like the service cores of modern steel-or concrete-framed buildings. There was also a sealed shaft for 'dust', which would have included ashes from the hundreds of fires, and even a tube for the stream of outgoing letters: the usual method of public and private communication in the days before telephones, when the penny post within central London would normally achieve delivery later the same day."

Post the same day? Them were the days!

USA Election

2008-01-12T15:11:00.000-08:00

Following on from our esteemed dunadan's example I tried out the Electoral Compass and ended up with the same result as he -nearest to Bill Richardson and furthest from Fred Thompson. Which is just as well as apparently it puts me in the traditional camp and that's where I'm solidly based. Mind you I did not understand the significance of the figures relating to each candidate so it is just as well they said where I stood - or sat.

2008-01-04T07:35:00.000-08:00

This is a still from a camera movie in which the time-honoured tradition of 'Piling the Cream' was observed. The objective is to pour out as much cream on the spoon as it can possibly hold before its contents are spilt onto the Christmas Pudding below. Members of the family have aged and matured and it has been left to the two unwedded members to keep the fun alive. Does that mean only they know how to enjoy themselves in a ridiculous fashion? Does marriage really stop one letting one's hair down? Deep mystery indeed. On this occasion the prize went to the member pictured here on her second attempt. Has any reader got any custom which they indulge in to the merriment of all.

2007-12-14T15:48:00.000-08:00

From a galaxy far away...

...comes a host of seemingly rapidly
moving objects, undeterred by the
Doppler Effect. Are they daleks...
spaceships...ET's ON MISSION?

2007-12-07T12:45:00.000-08:00

1. 2. 3.

One of the characters featured here has returned to the family home.
Could it be #1 who is saying, "This is what I am having, what are you going to have?"
Or is it #2 who are saying, "Life is just a larf, innit?"
Or is it #3 who has a very limited vocabulary, so must be a teenager.

2007-12-05T06:19:00.000-08:00

This fierce, in-your-eyes looking creature called Berry is really a softie, some might say, a wimp, who it has been discovered rather likes his creature ( I use the term advisedly) comforts. He likes things to be without change or alteration. 2 days ago he was sleeping in Evie's room and the window was open for him to be able to go out into the garden for whatever reason. In due course of the day he did this. Later I happened to go into the dunadan's room next door and there this same Berry was on the window sill as usual waiting to come back in. "I always come in this way," he seemed to say, " so don't be trying to fob me of with the other window even though I know it is open." Cruelly I ignored him and returned to the open window of Evie's room and called him. He did deign to come, but honestly what can one say? Then yesterday a new bed arrived for Evie, to await her return to the family home, and there it stood with no bedclothes on it this morning. Outside the room a rather wet Berry loudly complained about something though it wasn't immediately clear what. He got a bit of tlc in our bedroom until it was necessary to stop as he got his claws out. I went to the bathroom and on exiting discovered him hovering around Evie's room, casting meaningful looks at the new bed. I couldn't believe what I was beginning to suspect, but I had to test it out. Sure enough as soon as I put the quilt, a couple of pillow cases and a bathtowel over the quilt since he was still damp, Berry immediately jumped up and curled up there for the rest of the morning. Now we know why he runs away from the streetwise black and white cat which periodically comes into the garden and at the sight of which he flees rapidly, usually back into the house. That one is not the same as the other black one which has twice come into the dunadan's room, and a couple of days ago came and mewed at my feet upstairs in the kitchen as he stood by Berry's feeding bowl. Whether it was already empty or he had just emptied it of Berry's remaining portions I don't know. So no wimp there. But Berry - you just gotta believe it!

Sing for your Supper?

2007-11-30T11:59:00.000-08:00

Isn't this a cute Menu board? Spotted in the cafe section of the London City Mission's new arts centre in Limehouse. It does beg the question as to what you get for other numbers!

A runway?

2007-11-22T13:43:00.001-08:00

Does this not look like a runway to you? I think it does, and in one sense it is. It is of a certain station which shall remain anon. at which we were told kindly but firmly that taking photos with a flash ain't allowed. I had already taken this one before hearing that moratorium but later the camera let me down and decided to break the regulations which is why we were then so advised firmly but kindly. And in what sense do I think the aforesaid is a runway? Well, simply that I took the photo and then had to run(a)way, except that we didn't but calmly made our way elsewhere. (Well, what can you expect from a Dad joke?)!

Correction of Correction

2007-11-07T14:10:00.000-08:00

Re that blog below, you click on the 'bekayem' link.

Correction

2007-11-07T13:58:00.000-08:00

By mistake I have written a blog on my other blogsite 'Misky' instead of this site. Could I prevail you, dear reader, to click on to it as it was intended to prompt a bit of thought and debate.

A Fairy Castle?

2007-10-20T12:36:00.001-07:00

Did you know that you can see a fairy castle in London? Well, here it is with all the essential ingredients of turrets, roofs, multi-complex stories and a lovely colour tone. It is a shame it is slightly blurred, but then it may mean that Queen Titania had cast a spell to ensure no-one was able to get an absolute perfect copy to sell on ebay and so encroach on her privacy and relative laws.

Miss Leading Headline

2007-10-19T11:50:00.000-07:00

The other day I was intrigued by an Evening Standard billboard which announced 'SKUNK FLOODING LONDON'. In my pedantic mood I thought, 'Shouldn't that read 'Skunks flooding London'? Even so it seemed a strange sort of phenomenon, which would be made much more of if it was really true that there were thousands of the darned critters galloping around the Metropolis. So then I thought, 'In that case can it mean that a sole specimen of the species has a very serious bladder problem?' The imagination boggled at this and I left it at that. The light dawned a day or two later when I saw the word used in an American detective novel in the context of drugs! It must be a very smelly drug!

('Thank you' to Wikipedia for the photograph)

2007-10-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

Is this another stairway to heaven?

John ends his gospel with the declaration that he supposed the whole world could not contain all the books that could be written about the many things that Jesus did. I feel a little that way when going through London with the camera. I see so many things that one could take a photo of but surely there is a limit to the number of photos that the computer can take, even after editing, that one must surely need to keep buying new computers to take them all.

Today I was looking at buildings in Oxford Street and Soho Square, and the lighting display in The Plaza Shopping Mall. In the Square there is great variety for such a small area.

Whatever one says about London it is not at all boring!

A local feature

2007-09-30T07:01:00.000-07:00

No guessing for this occasion! This picture is of the clock tower at Highbury Barn in Islington. I like it as as a structure and I think it bears some similarity with one of Evie's latest photographs, viz. that of Blackfriars Bridge, in its construction or materials and painting.
During the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 (Wat Tyler and all that) when the peasants of Essex and Kent and elsewhere rose up against the Establishment because of their hard lot in life and went a-rampaging around London, some of them came upon the manor house situated behind the houses in the background and burnt it down. The place then became known as Jack Straw's Castle, after the London leader of the revolt. In the 18th century a new house was built, which has now also gone. Then the area became a place to rest and take the air and a Tavern providing entertainment called Highbury Barn was built to the right of those houses and a few yards up the road. Rather like modern-day comedy programmes this went from gentility to scurrility and was closed in 1871. Nowadays the entertainment (genteel or otherwise) and the revolts and suchlike are provided by the local football team, whose ground was once called Highbury, being only just down the road but now is much a little further away.

3 Bridges

2007-09-16T15:11:00.000-07:00

I feel I am getting quite classy with this view of three bridges. All the more remarkable for the fact that the viewing screen on the camera was dark and I was standing not that far from Blackfriars Bridge at the time so this was on maxizoom. There was an unusual amount of river traffic, a little of which you see here, due, I am told to the Thames Festival. The boat photo above was intended to appear after this text but didn't and I don't know how to make it.

2007-09-11T15:09:00.000-07:00

So where can this be, apart from not very far from the previous mystery building?

more of the same

2007-09-10T03:57:00.000-07:00

This is another view of the previous photograph. By the way, the picture of St Pancras got on site by mistake before I had edited the script. As I wrote then Iam still trying to get the hang of this procedure.

a London landmark

2007-09-10T03:47:00.000-07:00

2007-09-09T09:41:00.000-07:00

I have taken to the road in the local area and ealswhere in London again to capture the odd view or two, but try not to comapare the quality of the results with those like Evie and the dunadan witht heir superior efforts untill I have got the hang of it

new skill 2A

2007-08-24T14:30:00.001-07:00

As you see I failed to achieve what I set out to do yesterday, which was to put two pictures on to the one blog. For some reason once I had done the first picture I was unable to return via the image icon to call up the next picture, and instead have had to do a separate blog to put what is referred to in the 'new skill 2' as the 'second picture'. Any suggestions on what I should have done will be welcome.

new skill 2

2007-08-23T11:52:00.001-07:00

This time I have looked at the art of putting more than one picture ( or image as the blog technical bods call it) on the blog and here is the first. It follows on from the Beresford Road picture in providing a new view of what once was a familiar scene when our little cherubs were at Primary School. And equally follows on from Evie's 'when we woz young' photo theme. I say familiar but in fact the trees will be decidedly bigger than when they knew them, but I do like the way they frame the entrance.

The second picture has no character or merit at all that I can see. It shows the site of the other half of the Primary school where the big boys and girls went. What you see is, believe or not a block of flats. The original building was demolished and the new school is actually underneath these flats, and is reached by a totally different entrance. No playing on the roof in this school!

A new skill

2007-08-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

We have a new skill - if skill is what one calls it. I had this sudden inspiration to take photos of our area which are associated with our introduction to London life. So today I took some photos of buildings and streets we became associated with soon after we moved here in 1970. The featured photo is of a road which leads away directly from the first house (or rather flat in a house) that we lived in. When we arrived the houses in it were selling for £7,000. I doubt whether they will be going for much less than £750,000 now. We now live at the other end of this road. We often come down to this end particularly to cross the road for buses and despite all the times we have done this and looked across at the street we have never seen how the trees in the foreground have made an arch. It also wasn't till recently that I discovered it has a gentle gradient up to the roundabout at the other end which is quite taxing when you are either ill or extremely tired and carrying/pulling a heavy case.

As it has been a long time since I wrote I hope that if any of you have been patiently dropping in at the blog to see if there is anything new will not be disappointed at what is breaking the cyber-silence!

change of circumstances

2007-07-13T14:48:00.000-07:00

I started writing the blog as a place to comment on The Times news and letters . Although I did not do as much as I expected, it may now be impossible for me to do any. Why? Because the newsagent from which we had the paper delivered has closed due to some leasehold problems. They may or may not open again. The paper lad enterprisingly fixed up a job with another newsagent and we can continue to receive papers from this source, but since we are going to be away it would not be worth starting up with them until our return. In the meantime we are not missing the paper! It means I can't waste so much time after breakfast before I start moving, what with reading it, doing a crossword, a sudoku, and they've just introduced Codeword, another puzzle. I do puzzles from a book anyway. The g.l. has expressed her decided opinion - she does not miss it either. Sons 1 and 2 have not mentioned its absence (have they even noticed it?) So if this blog manages to crawl along it will be from other inspiration, which has been sadly lacking lately - everybody say, "Aaaah!" Meanwhile them as're going on holiday, pack your suncream AND your wellies and parka and furboots, it can get a bit nippy in Blackpool this time of the year, I'm sure.

e.x.p.m.blair

2007-06-22T11:51:00.000-07:00

What a legacy! the now ex pm blair is reported in the Times as saying he faces greater danger of assassination in England than in Baghdad where he went a-visiting without body armour. What a legacy from him whose electoral catchphrase was 'tough on crime and on the causes of crime' and who once told a hoodie to pick up some litter he'd just dropped on the street (but with the Special Branch chaps looking on it wasn't so brave really), and his new home is to be highly secured apparently, much to the disgust of the neighbours! Tell it how it is, Joe, we face that every day.

Challenging walks

2007-06-20T12:38:00.000-07:00

Have you all been missing me? If so you've been very silent about it. No inspiration comes from the Times Letters - the original spur to this blogging affair. But have been trying to obey Doctor's orders and get walking more so it's often up and around Hampstead Heath smartly, without the good lady as well as with her. The last 20 yds or so up Parliament Hill is real steep, but then along comes daughter and pushes buggy with two Toddlers on board and makes easy weather of it...! I used to think I walked fairly fast at times, but find lots of young, and not so young ladies pass me with the greatest of ease - just as they used to when I went swimming, yet their effort seemed effortless. Oh well, anno domini and all that.

If you live anywhere near London, like walking and want a real challenge, then I know just the thing. The G.L. and I are going out most weeks to do something we have completed already, the 'London Loop'. This is a walk of 150 miles which follows very roughly the outer perimeter of the capital, a sort of ramblers' M 25. As I said we have completed it twice, following the guide book published for the purpose. This third occasion is the challenge - we are doing it in an anti-clockwise direction which means following the instructions in reverse. I assure you with every honest breath I can muster, that 'tis no easy matter; even though we've done the route twice before, we are seeing it from a different perspective and it's not always recognisable or signed, even with the help of the guide book.

Essex calling

2007-05-30T10:40:00.000-07:00

La famille Erulin kindly provided the transport, driver and company for Grandma, Grandpa and Tati Evie to visit the area nearest to my ancestral connections. This is a tiny village in Essex near Walton-on-the-Naze called Kirby-le-Soken. My nearest confirmed ancestor, Great-Great-Grandfather John was born there in 1810. However he was in Colchester by 1840, but until then our ancestry were sons and daughters of the soil, ie agricultural labourers. Our invaluable photographer Evie took some useful photos. We looked for buildings recognisably earlier than 1850 and found at least two, one 1700s, and its neighbour 1600s, which despite makeovers particularly showed their age in their roof and chimneys. The pub we patronised, the Red Lion, and which kindly let us use their car park for a picnic lunch as the weather was inclement, was also of that era. As one of the church musicians I was particularly impressed by the stained glass windows triptych in memory of the honorary church organist for 17 years, and whose surname is mine, though as he lived only in the 20th century his connection may be remote. But they are fine windows of two singing clergy and a muse of music, possibly Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music, and two organists of 19th and 18th(?) century respectively. He had a smart grave also near the entrance to the church! The local Forge allowed us to take photos of a map of the village as it was in 1923, and it did not look as if it had changed much from 1823 comparing it to an older map I've seen. After a brief detour to Walton to show granddaughter number 1 (number 2 was asleep) a very cold, grey North Sea we returned home to beautiful sunny weather, as is always the case!

future slightly less bright

2007-05-27T08:39:00.000-07:00

Re blog below, dunadan told the good lady (see comment) the dryer is making funny noises! Yeoow back to it! It's because it has this habit of shedding its drive belt or something from time to time, the time seemingly always around a holiday, as it is tomorrow, so delaying the call-out for the engineer to come for the nth time - he knows the route well. It and the washing machine have well justified their annual breakdown cover fees over the years, the only appliances for which we have taken the provision.

new era

2007-05-26T10:01:00.000-07:00

Musings 67 recorded a blog on May 16 sorrowing over the passing of certain useful pieces of equipment. It inspired one anonymous donor to wax poetic, but hopefully amused others. The new era sees us with another second-hand piano provided in exchange by the kind Chappells of Bond Street ( though they are now located in Wardour Street, also off Oxford Street and once the home of Ivor Novello and worth going into just to see the architecture, especially the first floor piano showroom) and that for the same price as the original despite being more in the shop; a new fridge-freezer after extensive research and bought not from a big retailer but a little Turkish shop in Chapel Market (for those who know Islington) with very friendly service; and a new printer that actually works courtesy of Argos. I don't usually go to Argos for electrical goods so will be interested to see if the good lady's choice is spot on and we will all lead a pleasant and fruitful life together. So far the future looks very good.

technology is wonderful...isn't it?

2007-05-16T12:44:00.000-07:00

Technology is wonderful...isn't it? Its creators persuade us so easily that there is nothing better for our lives, to make them easier, smoother, satisfying...And in great measure they are right, until the stuff breaks down. And why is it that they all do it at the same time? So now we are printerless, freezerless and, almost, pianoless! The printer has hassled us for months and now has just given up the ghost completely (We bought it early last year but lost all proof of purchase. What a bummer!). The fridge freezer has given what one supposes must be dutiful service for 7 years and now the freezer part has packed up after sounding as if it has been uttering a death rattle for several days. I bought the second-hand piano from Chappells in February and now their chief piano technician recommends we change it because of several major problems that have come to light only through playing it, so it's prayer and charm offensive time!

A Paradox

2007-04-29T14:38:00.000-07:00

Now here is a Paradox, furthering 'are edukayshun diskushun wot we've bin 'avin'. It is said often and loudly, not least by the cultured presses that people to-day (or is it today?) can't spell good. This may be so. But what is paradoxical is that there are (or rather is, number being singular though common parlance tends to use the plural form, perversely - or higgorantly) a large number of puzzle books and crosswords around for which a perfect ability to spell is a must requirement, if they are to be satsfactorily completed. That they exist is a sure testament to the fact that the editors think they are worthwhile. The only exception is the morning London Freebie the 'Metro', which dropped its crossword despite protest a year or more ago. So somebody out there can spell, even if it's not you.
Hwvr dnt wrry snc th grks cldnt spll prprly. THY 'CTULLY WRT WTH CPTL LTTRS LK TH JWS DD WTH HBRW, and even iffe I vandaleyes the llangwidge yu can stl undestand watt im wrighting and aparently shakespeer had sevral wais o' speling his nam and itte didde notte doo himme eny harme.

barking mad

2007-04-28T15:47:00.000-07:00

Another item in to-day's paper - in addition to the alcohol one. A young man in Newcastle was being told by the local bobbies not to use bad language when he turned to some nearby barking dogs and growled at them instead. For this he was arrested, found guilty of upsetting them (the dogs, not the cops) and fined. The sentence was quashed on appeal. It reminded me of why I never never bark at dogs. As a young man myself I was doing the christmas postal round in a village on my bike. I passed a barking dog and barked back at it. I tell you I was tormented, chased and barked at by that dog for several minutes until I eventually managed to shake him off. I did not dare stop - and I was going up a long steep hill too.

under-age drinking

2007-04-28T15:32:00.000-07:00

An alcohol charity, Alcohol Concern would like to see parents prosecuted for giving under 15s alcohol to drink due to the rise of over-drinking in that age group. Naturally government says it not a good idea as all systems are in place and society has turned a corner. Was it Newton who stated that for every action there is a reaction? There are indeed two sides to every argument. My own parents drank but in moderation and to put us off it they gave us three children a swig to drink at around the age of one! Sister and brother said yeuch, but yours truly licked his lips and said more. In the end after the age of 18 yours truly hated the stuff which he had had occasionally over the years, whereas bro and sis were content with the odd pint. Then as parent myself we had no drinks in the house and now all four children like their occasional (?) tipples - and for all I know their topples too - but only since they were 18! So who's right and who's wrong?

Ancient History

2007-04-27T13:05:00.000-07:00

The powers-that-be are seriously considering dropping Ancient History from the curriculum. I can't understand the thinking behind this. The decision-makers have clearly forgotten that for a teenager (the group targeted) anything that happened yesterday and earlier is ancient history. So to drop it would cut quite a large slice out of the process of historical research.

royal action

2007-04-27T12:56:00.000-07:00

Royal Action - or not, as the case may be. Poor Prince Harry. Works hard to train to do his bit for the country and there is a doubt whether he should be allowed to do it in the hot spot for fear of death, kidnap or undue extra attacks. Apparently it's ok for the poor squaddies so to endure. Meanwhile if they don't do anything so dangerous as stick their head above the parapet the royals are fair game for paparazzi to hound them and editors to have a go at them for their wasted, luxurious lifetstyle.

more on suspicious packages

2007-04-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

Readers with good memories will recall that on Feb 28th I wrote of my wife and I seeing a package on a tube train and wondering whether to report it or not, with the risk of great disruption or a loud bang. Well today we had our answer. On the Tube again on a different line the driver announced that a suitcase had been left on the train and it had been reported, and an inspector would collect it at the next station (name given). So two minutes later we drew into the station, the rail official came into our carriage, took up the case by the handle and trundled off with it. The train then proceeded on its journey. No delay, no evacuation, no loud bang, no disruption, no bomb squad. Trouble is, I worry too much.