Normal Life

Bruay la Buissiere, France

2006-12-12T05:05:00.000-08:00

I just spent a very pleasant, sunny weekend in northern France. A friend bought a small house in Bruay near Bethune, about one hour from Calais and a few friends and I took the ferry across the English channel and arrived there late morning just in time to help get lunch ready. Because it is not in one of the usual tourist areas very few of the locals speak English so one is obliged to try a little French. This led to incomprehension on all sides but also to lots of humour.
Bruay is in the area which was devastated by the First Word War and is one of the poorer places in France. However, it is a very interesting place and the local inhabitants are very friendly and welcoming but puzzled why an Englishman would want to live there. Alex's house is a refurbished miners cottage at the end of a terrace opposite a local butchers and a small bakery. France still has very many small specialist food shops as supermarket penetration is much less than in the UK. Even in ordinary working-class areas there are cheese shops, wine shops, pattiseries and independent boulangeries. We went out early on Sunday morning to buy fresh baguettes and croissants which were baked on the premises. They made a superb breakfast with fresh orange juice, coffee and a slice of Port Salut and mimolette cheese.

My Heroes (22) Bob Dylan

2006-11-28T06:04:00.000-08:00

Bob Dylan was born in Duluth, Minnesota and came to New York in 1961 partly to pay homage to his idol Woodie Guthrie, who was dying in a New Jersey Hospital, and partly to make his name on the Greenwich Village folk scene. Since 1962 he has produced a never-ending stream of music that, more than anything else shows his genius as a song-writer. His latest CD, ‘Modern Times’ made him the oldest living artist to top the album chart at the age of 65. It is a magnificent recording which owes nothing to current music styles and, in a way, sounds like the past 40 years didn’t happen. It’s a remarkable tour de force that I have played endlessly for the last three months.There is a whole industry of Dylanology that has grown up around him; people have written books attempting to analyse some of his more inscrutable lyrics and examining the entrails of every segment of his life, both private and public. The dubious ‘science’ of rummaging in the contents of star’s household garbage, to get details of their habits, began with Dylan. However, he has always kept his silence and maintained an air of mystery; he hardly ever speaks on stage and has always denied his interest in being a ‘protest’ singer and says he never wanted to be in that position. There is no denying that, throughout his career, he has cleverly positioned himself in the most advantageous position for the furtherance of his chosen profession.

Click here for a Dylan discography from Rollingstone.

Guess what this is!

2006-11-27T16:45:00.000-08:00

Clue one: Picture taken fifty years ago.
Clue two: Object weighs over one ton.

I will post the answer in a day or two!

My Heroes (21) June Tabor

2006-11-23T22:00:00.000-08:00

June Tabor is an English folk-singer in the traditional style with an instantly recognisable voice. Here are some comments about her from various places:
"Tabor has used her amazing voice to reinvent and experiment with both contemporary and traditional songs"
"Anyone who has heard June Tabor sing isn't apt to forget the experience. Her voice is one of the few genuinely unique vehicles of the folk world: haunting, powerful, and with a deep feeling for the song, it has won praise and admiration beyond the confines of 'folk'."
"I prefer her traditional and more traditional-soundings songs to her contemporary pop-ish stuff, but will listen even to songs that aren't really to my taste for the wonder of her voice--she is a masterful interpreter of all kinds of songs. She might be an acquired taste because she's not for the easily depressed--her material is usually deep, soulful, painful, though she does some wonderful, lively, funny traditional material, too."
If you would like to hear some of her music click here to go to a brilliant site where you can scroll down to listen to some of her wonderful interpretations of some songs about The Great War. I recommend 'No Man's Land' & 'And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda'. They also have the beautiful versions by Eric Bogle, who wrote the songs. This site happily lets you know that you may download any of these songs in MP3 format, free of charge.

However, I warn you that you need to be in a mellow, introspective mood to listen to these songs. They are extremely moving and, if you have any sensibility, you will need to wipe away the tears. Dona Nobis Pacem.

Twenty Heroes

2006-11-18T00:59:00.000-08:00

I have made links to the first twenty of my 'My Heroes' series.

1) Andres Segovia, 21st June 2006
2) Paul Cezanne, 22nd June 2006

3) Bobby Moore, 9th July 2006

4) Albert Einstein, 14th July 2006

5) Sigmund Freud, 28th July 2006

6) Charles Darwin, 1st August 2006

7) Aung San Suu Kyi, 6th August 2006
8) Michael Johnson, 14th August 2006
9) Michel de Montaigne, 20th August 2006

10) Sir Winston Churchill, 24th August 2006

11) Homer Simpson, 26th August 2006

12) Antoni Gaudi, 29th August 2006

13) Andrew Marvell, 30th August 2006

14) Fiona Pitt-Kethley, 2nd September 2006

15) Maya Angelou, 10th September 2006

16) William Shakespeare, 13th September 2006

17) Richard Condon, 24th September 2006

18) Woody Allen, 29th September 2006

19) Richard Dawkins, 3rd October 2006

20) E. Annie Proulx, 22nd October 2006

Coming soon!:

Bob Dylan, Walter Matthau, Sebastian Faulks & more!

The Costa Del Sol, Spain

2006-11-12T22:25:00.000-08:00

The Marina at Puerto Banus

I just got back from three full days on the 'Sun Coast' of Spain. We had three days of unbroken sunshine with temperatures in the mid 70’s (24c). Marbella (pronounced ‘mar-bayer’), in the province of Andalucia, is the classiest resort on that coast. We parked our hire car between a Lamborghini and a Maserati without shame! Puerto Banus is the marina area of Marbella and is the kind of place where lots of people-watching goes on. Although not officially a part of the ‘beautiful people’ set me and my gang did get some looks – mainly opened-mouthed disbelief. ‘What are these people doing here?’ kind of looks. Although the town is dripping with money and is the resort of choice for starlets, millionaires and the richest of all Britons, soccer players, there is still a down to earth side of town. Orange Square in the old town has a 16th century Town Hall and lot’s of small good value restaurants.

The 16th c. Town Hall in thePlaza de los Naranjos, Marbella.One of the many fine beaches and promanades in Marbella.

Quiz Question (4) Heart of Darkness

2006-11-09T06:02:00.000-08:00

Heart of Darkness is a novella by Joseph Conrad first published in book form in 1902. It tells the story using a device known as a frame: one, unnamed, character is relating a story told through another narrator, while the two of them are waiting in a ship anchored in the Thames Estuary. The book is very well written and, incredibly, Conrad is writting in his third language, English. His first two were Polish and French. His skill with words is nonetheless amazing, as he tells the tale of a company agent who steams three hundred miles up an African river to seek a rogue company man. The themes of the book are the evils of imperialism and an examination of many forms of 'darkness', both physical and mental.

What famous Oscar-winning film was based on this story?

Dona Nobis Pacem - the Peace Blog

2006-11-07T05:45:00.000-08:00

Super Blogger Mimi has gone to extreme lengths to make sure that there are loads of bloggers, all over the world, posting this Peace Globe today. So here is my contribution!

Computer Problems!

2006-11-01T23:45:00.000-08:00

I expect my posts to be a bit limited for a week or so while I sort out some computer problems. I do hope to be able to visit most of my favourite blogs though. See you there!

Cockney Rhyming Slang

2006-10-28T01:21:00.000-07:00

The true definition of a Cockney is someone born within the sound of Bow Bells. That specifically refers to the bells of St. Mary-le-Bow church in the East End of London, however it’s a term generally applied to indigenous working-class east enders and sometimes, loosely, to any working-class Londoner. The word itself originates from fourteenth century English meaning a cock’s egg; a term used by country folk to refer to town’s people. I imagine the implication was that town-dwellers, being unwise to country ways, would not know that hens, not cocks, lay the eggs!
Cockney Rhyming Slang (CRS) is not a language because all of the words used are clearly English, neither can it be called a dialect because those who use it are perfectly capable of not using it. Here’s how it works: Words, usually nouns, are substituted by a pair of words, the second of which rhymes with the original word – but, usually, only the first word of the pair is used. Confused? Read on.
The best way to illustrate the above is by example. The CRS for stairs is ‘apples and pears’, so the word used is ‘apples’. “I’m just going upstairs” becomes “I’m just going up the apples”!
Here are some other CRS words that are still in common use:
Arse= Khyber (Khyber Pass) so “Stick it up your khyber.”
Mate= China (China Plate) so “ How are yer, me old china?”
Phone= Dog (Dog and Bone) so “ I’ll give him a dog tonight.”
Look= Butchers (Butcher’s Hook) so “Take a butchers at Tom’s new jam jar [=car].”
Things can get really obscure sometimes when a double link is used. For example, Arse (again!) can sometimes be Aris. This is from Aris being short for Aristotle, which rhymes with bottle for which the rhyming slang is ‘Bottle and Glass’ and glass rhymes with arse! There are no rules!
If you are new to this try translating the following and I will post the answers in a couple of days:
1) She’s got beautiful minces.
2) She may be his skin and blister but she’s nothing like him.
3) I can’t see. Where’s me gregs?
4) I bought a new whistle for me wedding.
5) What a lovely pair of bristols she’s got!
It’s a living culture and new slang for modern words appear all of the time.

My Heroes (20) E. Annie Proulx

2006-10-22T03:41:00.000-07:00

Annie Proulx (pronounced 'Proo') is a writer of wonderful fiction. Her densely written, observational style is packed with lots of detail and a very strong sense of place, such as the unfashionable parts of Newfoundland, Wyoming and Texas. Her descriptive writing always reminds me of John Steinbeck's work due to her obvious affection for the places and kinds of people who are not usually the heroes of modern fiction. She has a Dickensian knack of naming her characters in an outlandish way that very soon seems to be perfectly natural.

For example “That Old Ace in The Hole” (2002) features, among others, Jerky Baum, Pecan Flagg, Blowy Cluck, Coolbroth Fronk, and Waldo Beautyrooms. It’s the story of Bob Dollar, hired by Global Pork Rind to buy up small farms, in the Texas panhandle town of Woolybucket, so that they can be turned into hog farms under the guise of buying land for luxury housing. The book touches on the larger issue of pollution and depletion of the water table as a background. The story is fairly thin on plot but rich in character and anecdote.
“Accordion Crimes” (1996) lovingly tells the story of a succession of owners of an accordion. Annie Proulx is a dispassionate observer of life but she does not shy away from unpleasant scenes and can be brutally honest in her depiction of those who are the losers in life’s lottery.
“The Shipping News” (1993) is a magnificent novel that demands a lot from the reader, whose attentiveness will be richly rewarded. At the start of each chapter a picture of a different type of knot is shown and this turns out to have a metaphorical reference to the content of that chapter. It was turned into a successful movie with Kevin Spacey in 2001. In a similar way “Postcards”(1992) showed a drawing of a postcard at the start of each chapter with a message that was sometimes directly relevant to the story and sometimes just added background colour. In 1997 she wrote a short story which was published in a collection of her work called "Close Range: Wyoming Stories" (1999) which was filmed in 2005. That was the very successful "Brokeback Mountain", in which she typically tackled a subject that had hitherto been taboo in mainstream literature.

Marwell Zoological Park, Hampshire, UK

2006-10-19T07:40:00.000-07:00

Zebra and Ibex share a large open space together

Marwell Zoological Park is near Winchester, Hampshire in southern England. It is run by a Charitable Trust and is especially concerned with animal conservation and is involved with the protection of British species as part of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. The park is laid out over a very large open area with great access to all of the animals.

The meerkats are always popular with small children.

A beautiful eighteen month old tiger

An unco-operative rhino who wouldn't look in the direction of my camera.

American vs. British English. Part, the second

2006-10-16T07:56:00.000-07:00

The huge number of words, phrases and expressions that differ between US, British, Canadian, Australian and Indian English can lead to misunderstanding, confusion and, best of all, lots of humour. Some common words that differ are (US first): faucet=tap, sidewalk=pavement, pavement=road-surface, broil=grill, diaper=nappy, soccer=football, apartment=flat, elevator=lift, fries=chips, chips=crisps, jello=jelly, jelly=jam. This list could go on for many more words; it's a wonder we can understand each other at all!

Here are some common spelling differences: favorite/favourite, color/colour, analyze/analyse, memorize/memorise, enrollment/enrolment, catalog/catalogue, check/cheque, plow/plough, tire/tyre, leaped/leapt, strove/strived.

Also in the US it is common to say "You have gotten much better at doing that" while in British English you would say "You have got much better at doing that". (Also what they were actually doing would probably be different too!)

I would be interested in hearing from other English speaking nations about their own differences.

Quiz Question (3)

2006-10-14T03:03:00.000-07:00

The name of which famous literary work is contained in the completion of this short item. It was originally a prose piece but is now usually presented as verse:

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manner of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know......

Bournemouth, Dorset, UK

2006-10-11T18:02:00.000-07:00

The pier houses amusements and a theatre

What a surprise! Bournemouth turned out to be warm and sunny all weekend. It’s full of leafy avenues lined with tall pine trees which allow dappled sunlight on to the streets below and good quality hotels staffed by enthusiastic young people from various European countries such as Poland, Lithuania and Spain. The houses are mainly Edwardian and make creative use of red brick as a building material. It’s a classy seaside resort with the minimum necessary amount of the usual blights of the English coast-line such as ice-cream parlours and tea-rooms. The demographic profile of England’s south coast always used to be that of a disproportionately aged community, full of retirement homes, convalescent homes, residential nursing homes and sedate, expensive hotels. But that has changed considerably in recent years and, in Bournemouth at least, there is a university, an Art college and lots of language schools which attract thousands of young foreign students. Consequently there is a thriving night-life with lots of restaurants, bars and entertainment.

These tiny beach huts, facing the sea, fetch a premium price and there is a long waiting list to obtain them. The road in front of them is free of all traffic.

In Bournemouth For The Weekend

2006-10-05T07:20:00.000-07:00

I am going to Bournemouth, on England's windswept and rain-battered south coast, with a big family group for a long weekend. I hope to be posting again by next Tuesday. I wish everyone who stops by here a peaceful weekend!

My cowboy friend is going away too!

My Heroes (19) Richard Dawkins

2006-10-03T07:26:00.000-07:00

Richard Dawkins is the author of 'The Selfish Gene' and 'The Blind Watchmaker'. The subjects of his books are evolution and genetics and he is a devout atheist, which is not the reason he is one of my heroes. He makes the list because of the way he writes and manages to make a difficult subject accessible. For example, it has long been a staple arguement of creationists that something as complex as the human eye could not have 'evolved'. Dawkins meticulously and patiently explains how some lowly life form would have, by chance genetic mutation, have created a single cell that was slightly light-sensitive and this gave it a tiny 'edge' over it's competitors because it could hide from predators when it detected their presence via the light-sensitive cell. Thousands of generations later this advantage would have spread through the population and then a second mutation would have produced another light-sensitive dot on an animals surface and two light-sensitive spots gives you a knowledge of direction of light source through stereoscopic 'vision'. It's a slow, bit by bit, progress over millions of years but eventually - the eye!

Dawkins was also the originator of the idea of the meme a kind of cutural gene that passes through the population and grows if successful and dies if not in an exacly parallel way to the gene.

Most genetic mutations kill their host but the very rare ones that benefit the host are passed on through DNA to the next generation and slowing spreads through the gene pool if it is advantageous.

Banbury, Oxfordshire

2006-09-30T22:06:00.000-07:00

Banbury Cross, Oxfordshire. This one was erected in 1859,

one hundred years after the famous nursery rhyme (below) was first known.

Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross,

To see a Fyne lady ride on a white horse.

With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,

She shall have music wherever she goes.

The delightful Oxfordshire Market Town of Banbury is in an area that has been inhabited for well over 2,000 years. In 2002 Iron Age workings dating back to 200BC were discovered but the town was not really developed until the 5th century when the Saxons developed the town. Then, in 913AD, the Vikings ravaged north Oxfordshire, but they were traders and they established a number of market towns and Banbury actually benefited from the Viking 'input'.

Today, it is one of a large number of English towns that are full of history, which is best shown through it's range of buildings. The Tudor property shown above is in superb condition and now houses a modern retail shop. Below, I have shown a Victorian-built public library, which is a typical example of minor public buildings of that era.

My Heroes (18) Woody Allen

2006-09-29T01:41:00.000-07:00

"My one regret in life is that I am not somebody else"

I adore the films of Woody allen He has been making about one movie per year for the last forty years and his output is probably better received in Europe than in the USA. Some are better than others it’s true but very many of his fims are classics. My personal choices would be Manhattan, Annie Hall, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Small Time Crooks & Bullets Over Broadway.

I love the sequence in Bullets Over Broadway where a gangster is keeping an eye on his boss's talentless moll (who has been shoe-horned into a part in a play) and while he sits in the stalls at rehearsals he gets interested in the play and begins to suggest improvements and eventually takes over the direction to the dismay of the author John Cusack. Another great sequence is in Small Time Crooks; a gang takes over a bakery shop next to a bank. They plan to dig a tunnel over a long period and rob the bank. The robbery fails but the bakery is an enormous success and they become millionaires! Great stuff!

There are several strong distinguishing features and recurring themes in Woody's films. Some are obvious and well-known such as his often repeated portrayal of a nerdy nervous New Yorker who always seems to attract beautiful women and the way he often portrays himself, or his leading man, as a writer or film director. The credits to his films are always white on a black background and non-rolling and he favours the technique of using long and medium shots to film a conversation instead of the more usual chop and edit style cutting from one speaker to another.

The films often have minor characters caught up in a sub-plot where a couple have a very dysfunctional love-life and his technique of turning to the camera and addressing the audience directly was best shown in this sequence from Annie Hall:

MAN: It's the influence of television. Now, now Marshall McLuhan deals with it in terms of it being a, a high-- high intensity, you understand? A hot medium--

WOODY ALLEN: What I wouldn't give for a large sock with horse manure in it.

MAN: -- as opposed to the truth which he [sees as the] media or--

WOODY ALLEN: What can you do when you get stuck on a movie line with a guy like this behind you?

MAN: Now, Marshall McLuhan--

WOODY ALLEN: You don't know anything about Marshall McLuhan's work--

MAN: Really? Really? I happen to teach a class at Columbia called TV, Media and Culture, so I think that my insights into Mr. McLuhan, well, have a great deal of validity.

WOODY ALLEN: Oh, do you?

MAN: Yeah.

WOODY ALLEN: Oh, that's funny, because I happen to have Mr. McLuhan right here. Come over here for a second?

MAN: Oh--

WOODY ALLEN: Tell him.

MARSHALL McLUHAN: -- I heard, I heard what you were saying. You, you know nothing of my work. How you ever got to teach a course in anything is totally amazing.

WOODY ALLEN (To camera):Boy, if life were only like this.

I cannot count the number of times that I would have liked to have my own 'McLuhan' to produce whenever neccessary and I always recall that scene.

I've been tagged by Gem!

2006-09-25T18:27:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged by my blogger pal Gem with this here book meme: also for today (Tuesday) this blog is awarded Bestest Blog of The Day!

1.One book that changed your life - the hardest question first.
Richard Dawkin’s ‘The Selfish Gene’. It is a book that explains genetics in a way that only religious fundamentalists could object to. (And they do). Dawkins is a virulent and uncompromising atheist but I believe there is still a place for religious belief within evolution and genetic study, although it’s not for me. This book changed the way I percieve the world and I have told the author as much.

2. One book that you've read more than once.
‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This was my introduction to the genre of magical realism and I was knocked out! Fortunately it has a family tree printed on the inside cover because the names of the characters are all so confusing one needs to continually refer to it. The opening sentence of the book is this:
“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.” Note the inbuilt contrast between ‘fire’ and ‘ice’. Garcia Marquez is a master and this book has stayed with me for twenty years.

3. One book that you'd want on a desert island.
If there’s a book called ‘The Boy’s Own Annual of Escaping From A Desert Island by Using Coconuts and Seashells’ then that’s the one. However, if not, I would want ‘Palgraves Golden Treasury’ particularly the copy that was awarded to my mother as a school prize, which I already possess.

4. One book that made you laugh.
‘The Third Policeman’ by Flann O’Brien. If you don’t know this book or only know it through a strange reference to it in one episode of the TV series ‘Lost’ you will be in for a surprise. Whatever you think it may be – it isn’t! For example, how often have you come across the phenomenon of a man who is slowing exchanging molecules with a bicycle so that he and the bicycle are gradually changing into each other. No, I thought not! The book is surreal, satirical, complex, surprising, very funny and one of a kind.

5. One book that made you cry.
‘Schindler’s Ark’, the book on which the film ‘Schindler’s List’ was based. (It may have been published in the USA as ‘Schindler’s List’). Explanations unnecessary.

6. One book that you wish you had written.
‘Essays’ by Michel de Montaigne. You might think this to be a dull and dry collection but it is far from it. He wrote on every topic with insight, reason and humour and, for me, he represents humanism more than any other writer. Here are some of his quotes that I would have loved to have written: “Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out.”: “My life has been full of terrible misfortunes most of which never happened.” And finally, the quote that makes me think that he would have been a brilliant blogger: “There is no pleasure to me without communication: there is not so much as a sprightly thought comes into my mind that it does not grieve me to have produced alone, and that I have no one to tell it to.”

7. One book you wish had never been written.
‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ is a rabid anti-semetic forgery that has been conclusively and continually exposed as such, notably by the Times of London in 1921. However, it is constantly reproduced even as recently as 2005 in Syria. Thousands of naïve and innocent minds have been corrupted by its falsehoods.

8. One book that you are reading at the moment.
‘Kalookie Nights’ by Howard Jacobson, almost too brilliant for words. I will be doing a post about it eventually. I’m reading it slowly because I never want it to end.

9. One book that you've been meaning to read.
‘Finnegans Wake’ by James Joyce. Joyce is reputed to have said “This one will take the professors a thousand years to unravel” so I might wait a bit.

10. Five others that you’d like to do this.

I nominate Rob, Serenity, Jim, Slaghammer & Vive42 . If any of the nominees don't want to play, that's fine, no offence will be taken. Also if you would rather I posted your list because it doesn't fit in with your blog's style - that's OK too!

My Heroes (17) Richard Condon

2006-09-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

Richard Condon's most famous novel, published in 1959

Richard Condon was born in New York in 1915. After working briefly in advertising and publicity, his second novel, The Manchurian Candidate and the first movie of the book, made him famous. His books are hugely enjoyable and very readable. Although entertaining and funny, they have satirical targets and connect subjects such as US politics, the fast-food industry and the Mafia as a part of the same interrelated truth about the madness of the world. Other novels of his have been filmed; these include Winter Kills, transparently based on the Kennedy assassinations, A Talent For Loving which, at one time, was going to be a vehicle for The Beatles and re-titled Eight Arms To Hold You but it never happened. In 1985 a very successful film was made of Prizzi’s Honor with Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner. The recent remake of The Manchurian Candidate with Denzel Washington was, for me, a big disappointment, particularly when compared to the wonderful original with Frank Sinatra, Lawrence Harvey and Angela Landsbury.

Although it was never made into a movie, one of Condon,s best novels was An Infinity Of Mirrors. The action of the story takes place between 1932 and 1944 in Paris and Berlin where a beautiful young French Jewish girl and a Prussian officer meet and fall in love. They marry and move to Berlin just as Hitler is rising to power and their tragic story begins to unfold.

Richard Condon died in Dallas in 1996. Many people consider Thomas Pynchon to be the natural successor of Condon's trailblazing style.

RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk, England

2006-09-20T18:11:00.000-07:00

I took this photo from about a quarter of a mile away

I'ts a F-15E Strike Eagle from the 492nd Fighter Squadron based at Lakenheath

Royal Air Force Lakenheath is in the English county of Suffolk, about 70 miles north-east of London and is a huge complex that is leased to the US military. Suffolk is the perfect place for an airbase as it (and the whole of East Anglia) is the flattest part of England. To give you an idea the 'East Anglian Mountaineering Club' is an excuse to meet in the pub for a drinking session. There is hardly a hill in East Anglia, let alone a mountain!

Lakenheath is the home of the US air force's 48th Fighter Wing also designated the Statue of Liberty Wing which makes it, uniquely, the only Wing to have both a name and a number. There are around 5,700 military personnel plus 2,000 US and British civilians on the base.

Although I am not usually a militaristic kind of person I found it strangely stirring to be there. The thought that struck me at the time, and the reason I am posting this, is that everything seemed to be so 'open' and non-secretive. I took the above photo from the well-sign-posted visitor's car park and there were no restrictions. Also, all of the factual information in this post comes from the internet. In fact from the US Air Force's own Lakenheath web-site! I believe that is the kind of freedom they represent. Could you imagine any other country being so transparent about it's military?

This photo of a trio of F-15E’s was downloaded from the official website. It was taken last month and if you look closely, just below the nearest aircraft, there is a small circle on the ground. That’s Stonehenge, one of the world’s most mysterious Neolithic structures. Stonehenge is not far from Lakenheath - if you are travelling by jet-fighter.

If there are no posts from me in the next few weeks, it means the military police have come to take me away and I was wrong about all that 'non-secretive' stuff.

High Flight

2006-09-17T21:16:00.000-07:00

John Magee was born in Shanghai, China where his English mother and American father were missionaries. He was educated in England, became a US citizen and learned to fly in Ontario, Canada. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and was sent to England before the USA had entered the war. He became a Spitfire pilot and his love of flying is abundantly obvious in this poem which makes me feel as though I were flying when I read it. It was written on the 3rd of September 1941.

High Flight by John Gillespie Magee Jr.
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, --and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of --Wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air...
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew --
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

The poem is derivative of several earlier works by other writers but nevertheless stands up as a masterpiece of a decription of flying. Three months after writing this poem, in December 1941, he was killed in his Supermarine Spitfire in an accident over Lincolnshire, England. He was nineteen years old.

Running On Empty

2006-09-16T07:06:00.000-07:00

The album Running On Empty by Jackson Browne can genuinely claim to be unique. With two exceptions all of the songs were new and had not been previously recorded but it's not a studio album; every song is a 'live' recording. They were recorded on stage, backstage and even in hotel rooms. One of the songs begins with a backstage recording and seamlessly segues into an on-stage performance. The song 'Rosie' was recorded with all the roadies and stage-hands standing round Browne's piano and that's how it's now performed on stage. The theme of the album is the life of a band on the road.

All of the above, though, is not the most remarkable thing about Running On Empty. What really makes it stand out is that the songs are so very wonderful. My own favourites are 'The Road', 'You Love The Thunder' and, of course, 'Rosie'. You gotta love 'Rosie'. If you love yourself don't let too much more of your life pass by without knowing these songs,

Quiz Question (2)

2006-09-14T08:08:00.000-07:00

Can you complete this children's rhyme with the 'literary' last line?
(Of course you could Google it, but you wouldn't do that, would you?)

Vintery, mintery, cutery, corn,
Apple seed and apple thorn;
Wire, briar, limber lock,
Three geese in a flock.
One flew east,
And one flew west,
And .......?

If you need a clue I have posted one in the comments and will post the answer there in a few days, Bazza.

My Heroes: (16 ) William Shakespeare

2006-09-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

My 'Heroes' series is not in order of merit. The reason Shakespeare hasn't appeared until now is that I've been working on it and, even if nobody reads it, I don't want to get it wrong! Shakespeare was born, appropriately enough, on St Geoges Day in 1564. (He also died on St George's Day). As I get older my appreciation of his genius still increases and I see him as not merely one of the two or three greatest Englishmen who ever lived but as belonging to all English-speaking peoples, even to the whole world. His abilities, I will try to show, go far beyond simply being a great writer. He had great psychological insight and pre-figured many later Freudian and Jungian findings. He added countless number of words and phrases to the English language; so many, in fact, that our everyday speech is very much shaped by his creativity. The range of his influence is too great to cover here but I will say that Hamlet is probably the greatest piece of written drama the world has ever seen. His work includes tragedies, comedies, histories, the unclassifiable Tempest and the sonnets and poems.

I learned the following sonnet by heart and often recite it to myself. I recommend doing this because the effort will be repaid as many times as you care to recite it.

Sonnet XVIII.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou growest:

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

Stamford, Lincolnshire

2006-09-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

Stamford is a beautiful town in eastern England full of lovely buildings with interesting architecture and attractive scenery. In this post I am letting the pictures speak for themseves.

This view is from a bridge in the centre of town.

My Heroes: ( 15 ) Maya Angelou

2006-09-09T21:27:00.000-07:00

Born: Marguerite Johnson, 1928, St. Louis, Missouri

Dr. Maya Angelou is 'Renaissance Woman', being a poet, playwriter, author, director, producer and Civil Rights activist and my personal suspicion is that America in general, does not give her due recognition. She is, naturally, an icon to the African-American cummunity but she deserves recognition beyond that. She has been bestowed with scores of honourary degrees. My own favourite work is one of several auto-biographies, 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' and I recommend it as an introduction to her work. She grew up in a rural southern town that was so segregated that she wasn't sure that white people actually existed! The book is an extremely frank account of her early life and can be seen as a useful parallel to 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. A persistent motif throughout the book is that of strong black women who resist rascism in their lives.

Incidentally, she acquired her name Maya from her older brother who could not pronounce Marguerite and called her 'Mya Sister'. As an adult she chose to be called Maya.

Old Amersham, Buckinghamshire

2006-09-08T19:04:00.000-07:00

The King's Arms, Old Amersham

The outside of this pub was used to depict 'The Jolly Boatman' in the film 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'. It is now an up-market hotel and conference venue.

Known as 'The King's Arms', it was built in the 14th century as a coaching inn. Pub names like 'The King's Arm's', 'The Queen's Head' or 'The Crown' were given to demonstrate allegiance to the monarch of the time. Although the inside of this place still has lots of original features such as old timbers and beams, the hotel is very modern. Old Amersham is only about 20 miles from Heathrow airport.

Another pub courtyard in Old Amersham

Old Amersham is in the low-lying Chiltern Hills to the north-west of London. It is a charming place with lots of good restaurants and quaint shops. There is a 17th century market hall and many old and interesting buildings. The community was mentioned in the Domesday Book, nine hundred years ago.

Secret Nuclear Bunker, Kelvedon Hatch, UK

2006-09-07T11:13:00.000-07:00

This sign is about ten miles from my home and although it gives everyone a great laugh it is, of course, meant to do just that. It is a genuine bunker just outside london that, apparently, the government could evacuate to during war-time. It could hold 600 personel who, supposedly, would have taken control after a nuclear war. It is now a museum and you could even hire it for functions. (I posted this specially for Jim!)

London Bridge

2006-09-04T07:53:00.000-07:00

The present London Bridge

Here's an interesting fact:
If you search for 'London Bridge' in Google images you get lots of pictures of Tower Bridge! It's a common misconception that Tower Bridge is London Bridge. It ain't!
But there is a fascinating story about this misconception. Firstly some brief but interesting history. The so-called Old London Bridge was opened in the year 1209 on the site of a previous bridge that had been destroyed. It remained the only bridge across the Thames until the mid-eighteenth century. 'New' London Bridge was built alongside the old one and opened in 1831 when the old one was dismantled after more than 600 years of service!. 'Modern' London Bridge was opened by Queen Elizabeth in 1973.

Robert P. McCulloch of McCulloch Oil paid nearly $2.4 million for the previous bridge and shipped it, brick by brick, to Lake Havasu City, Arizona where it is now Arizona's second largest tourist attraction after the Grand Canyon. The rumours, which have always been strongly denied, are that McCulloch thought he was buying Tower Bridge but you would be hard-pressed to find anyone in London to believe him!

London Bridge, Lake Havasu City, Arizona

Anyway, Lake Havasu has had the last laugh. There is an enormously successful 'English Village' there with mock-Tudor buildings and charming shops creating an atmosphere of medieval England, although I don't think radio station KBBC was around in those days!

My Heroes: (14) Fiona Pitt-Kethley

2006-09-02T01:44:00.000-07:00

Who? Well she's a feminist poet whose work I used to buy in the 80's and who, now, like so many poets, can't get published even though her books sold in large quantities and were well publicised at that time. Doesn't sound promising does it? Her first successful collections were Sky Ray Lolly (1986) and Private parts (1987) and I have reproduced one of her poems below. She writes novels now, I think, and has gone to live in Spain. She managed to be funny, incisive and serious, sometimes all at the same time.

Headaches

Men are the ones that have the headaches now.

Back in my mother's day, when girls said no

most of the time, they were after it -

or so they said - in pain with their erections.

But now we call their bluff by answering yes -

the truth is out - they want it less than us.

Most of my female friends are on the pill,

willing, good-looking too. What do we get?

Men who can't quite make up their tiny minds.

The bastards are all Marvell's-mistress-coy,*

perhaps insane, certainly undersexed.

What can the problem be? Are they afraid

of pregnancy or rape? Or is it just

that men fear sex is like a driving test

where they must get every bit right or fail?

Two men fell laughing through our chemist's door.

One said he'd like some pills, something to give

his friend. 'What's wrong?' the chemist asked the man.

'He hasn't had a girl at all for weeks.'

'That's normal, sir!' Too right it is, I thought.

From 'Private Parts' Chatto, 1987

*See my earlier post about Marvell

American vs. British English (Part One)

2006-09-01T00:13:00.000-07:00

Since I started blogging I have been reminded, several times, of the quotation used by Churchill but originated by George Bernard Shaw, that "America and Britain are two nations divided by a common language". I keep finding myself wanting to explain, in paranthesis, that, for example, in the UK humour is spelt/spelled thusly. I wonder, is this necessary? I suppose/guess that I don't want to appear to be illiterate.

The bigger problem arises when different words and phrases are in use and I often need to refer to this dictionary. Because of the dominance of American culture I think most British readers would be familiar with Americanisms but not the otherway round. Elsewhere I have commented that when my cousin was living in the US he discovered that "Keep your pecker up" and "I want to bum a fag" have very different meanings in the States!

I invite readers to comment with any funny or interesting differences they have encountered/come across (Blimey!)

Alexandra Palace,London

2006-08-31T12:13:00.000-07:00

The Palm Court of Alexandra Palace

Alexandra Palace is, jointly with Hampstead Heath, the highest point in London. It is the place where the BBC started the world's first television service from in 1936 and it remained the BBC's main transmitting centre up to 1956. The original building had been destroyed by a fire just 16 days after it opened in 1873. It was rebuilt in under two years but burnt down again in 1980. The current building mainly dates from 1988 but the section where the BBC operated from dates from 1875.

Alexandra Palace from the air.

It is now an entertainment complex with exhibition halls, an ice rink, concert halls and a fun-fair, although it still has a transmitting mast. The most spectacular views of London are to be had from there and the whole complex is set in 196 acres of beautiful parkland which is protected by an Act of Paliament that guarantees it's use for the general public.

The tall buildings in the distance are in the City of London and there are similar views in most directions.

My Heroes: (13) Andrew Marvell

2006-08-29T18:22:00.000-07:00

Andrew Marvell 1621-1678

Marvell is included in this series because of one fabulous poem that he wrote. If you would like to know more about his interesting life click here. However my personal admiration is based purely on this, his most famous work which I have reproduced below. Don't be decieved by the language of this poem; it's message is 'Get your knickers off. Now!'

To His Coy Mistress

Had we but world enough, and time,

This coyness, lady, were no crime.

We would sit down, and think which way

To walk, and pass our long love's day.

Thou by the Indian Ganges' side

Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide

Of Humber would complain. I would

Love you ten years before the flood

And you should, if you please, refuse

Till the conversion of the Jews;

My vegetable love should grow

Vaster than empires and more slow;

An hundred years should go to praise

Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze;

Two hundred to adore each breast,

But thirty thousand to the rest;

An age at least to every part,

And the last age should show your heart.

For, lady, you deserve this state;

Nor would I love at lower rate.
But at my back I always hear

Time's winged chariot hurrying near;

And yonder all before us lie

Deserts of vast eternity.

Thy beauty shall no more be found,

Nor in thy marble vault shall sound

My echoing song; then worms shall try

That long preserved virginity;

And you quaint honor turn to dust,

And into ashes all my lust:

The grave's a fine and private place,

But none, I think, do there embrace.
Now therefore, while the youthful hue

Sits on thy skin like morning dew,

And while thy willing soul transpires

At every pore with instant fires,

Now let us sport us while we may,

And now, like amorous birds of prey,

Rather at once our time devour

Than languish in his slow-chapped power,

Let us roll all our strength and all

Our sweetness up into one ball,

And tear our pleasures with rough strife

Thorough the iron gates of life:

Thus, though we cannot make our sun

Stand still, yet we will make him run.

My Heroes: (12) Antoni Gaudi

2006-08-29T09:22:00.000-07:00

1852 - 1926

Antoni (sometimes known as Antonio) Gaudi was an architect most of whose work is in Barcelona, Spain. As a child he suffered with severe rheumatism and had to ride on a donkey to move around. Because he consequently moved rather slowly he became very observant of nature and developed a keen interest in it. It is believed that this strongly influenced his architectural style, which is generally categorised as being Art Nouveau but it is really rather unique. Art Nouveau is characterised by flowing lines as found in nature and a kind of anthropomorphic look in architecture. In Great Britain it is exemplified by the works of Charles Rennie Macintosh and Aubrey Beardsley. In the United States Louise Comfort Tiffany is probably it’s most famous exponent

La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

His most famous building is La Sagrada Familia (The Holy Family) Basilica in Barcelona. It is a huge church, not a cathedral, and it was Gaudi's last great work and his masterpiece. It was concieved in the nineteenth century and work began in the 1880's and it continues to this day. When I saw it a couple of years ago many parts were covered in scaffolding. It is the most amazing sight which is visited by many hundreds of thousands of people every year - the detail is remarkable and it's humble architect, a devout Catholic, spent his last years working on it. He was run over by a tram in 1926 and died a few days later. He had been taken to a paupers hospital because he was dressed in rags.

St Pauls Cathedral, London

2006-08-27T06:47:00.000-07:00

Since 604AD this is the fourth Cathedral to occupy this spot overlooking the City of London. It was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and built between 1675 and 1710 after the previous building had been destroyed in the Great Fire of London (1666). There are many existing London churches built to designs by Wren who had started his career as a mathematician and scientist and finished it as an astronomer. The most fascinating thing about this buiding is the dome, which weighs 65,000 tons and presented an engineering problem for Wren because a dome will exert tremendous outward as well as downward pressure. The 'secret' of how it stays in place is a huge chain around the outside of the dome (covered in Portland stone, the building material of the cathedral) which grips the dome to restrain outward movement.

Inside view of the dome.

The Whispering Gallery - the most famous of the galleries and the only one on the inside, has been described as one of the most amazing acoustical oddities in the world, because if you talk in a loud whisper facing the wall on one side you can be heard clearly on the diagonally opposite side.

St Paul’s is the cathedral of the Diocese of London and is the nations spirtual focal point. The funeral services of Nelson, Wellington and Churchill were held there as was the celebration of Queen Victoria's Jubilee, Charle's and Diana's Wedding and the memorial service for 9/11.

Sir Christopher Wren is also buried there, in a very plain grave. On the wall at the head of his tomb is a plain inscription, in Latin, arranged by his son. It translates as If you seek his monument, look around you. Wren himself had not wanted a memorial at all.

My Heroes: (11) Homer Simpson

2006-08-26T09:58:00.000-07:00

Well, OK. Homer isn't exactly the hero type but I want to celebrate The Simpsons in general and Homer in particular. As Bart Simpson once said of Krusty, it's "funny on so many levels". The Simpsons seems to be a format in which it's creators can super-impose all sorts of pastiches of popular culture but you can still watch an episode in ignorance of that and enjoy the humour that is both visual (cartoon slapstick) and cerebral (dialogue). There is a huge company of background characters that can be bought out as required to suit any situation. Krusty the Klown, serves as the stereotypical cynical showbiz type and the Comic Book Shop Guy is the sarcastic self-delusional nerd but Homer is the real star. I think there's a little bit of Homer in every man's character. Blimey.

Will you tell him or shall I?

2006-08-25T04:53:00.000-07:00

If you don't know what this post is about click here

My Heroes: (10) Sir Winston Churchill

2006-08-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

"Commeth the Hour, Commeth the Man"

Churchill was surrounded by many myths during and since his long career. He did make all of his speeches himself (not, as the myth has it, via the voice of an actor). He produced possibly the greatest piece of oratory of all time, when, in only his fourth speech to the House of Commons, at a time when Great Britain stood alone against the German axis. The Members of Parliament were sceptical about Churchill. He had been seen as a bit of a political maverick up until that time and he needed their support. I do not usually produce long posts, believing that shorter ones are more effective but on this occasion I am reproducing a chunk of that superb speech. It will be a hard man or woman who is not moved by it. The speech opened with a factual account of the French collapse and the evacuation from Dunkirk and he gave details of the home defense:

"...I, myself, have confidence that, if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves, once again, able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone "

At this point the House became hushed. He had their attention. He continued:

"Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous states have fallen, or may fall, into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the new world, with all it's power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."

He had stunned his audience, who then gave him a spectacular ovation.

The USA, of course, did enter the war but not until after Pearl Harbour, 18 months later.

Hold The Front Page!

2006-08-23T01:45:00.000-07:00

I've just seen on the BBC (so it must be true) that John Wells, Professor of Phonetics at the University of London, has backed up claims by dairy farmers that cows "moo with regional accents"! This was noticed by members of the West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers group, who put it down to the close bond between farmer and cow. Their claim that the cows mooed with a Somerset 'twang' has been verified. Prof. Wells said "This phenomena is well attested in birds. You find distinct chirping accents in the same species around the country. This could also be true of cows. In small populations such as herds you would encounter identifiable dialectical variations which are most affected by the immediate peer group."

My Heroes: (9) Michel de Montaigne

2006-08-19T23:46:00.000-07:00

MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE (1533-1592)

Montaigne was born in Bordeaux, France, the son of a wealthy Catholic landowner & lawyer and a Spanish Jewish mother who was bought up as a Protestant. He virtually invented the essay as a form of writing and he used himself as a subject by means of searingly honest introspection. His writings were originally seen as self-indulgent but he was a strong influence on Shakespeare, Nietzsche, Rousseau and particularly Descartes.

What really draws my attention to him is the broad range of subjects that he wrote about and the very modern style that the essays still seem to have. They are very easy and rewarding to read on topics such as "On the Power of the Imagination" which detours for an hilarious discussion of farting before returning to it's stated topic. (Added 27th August: He was classically educated and his works are peppered with Latin quotations and references, All translated, of course, but it is worth persevering.) He was modest and unassuming, even pondering at one time to consider whether or not, when he played with his cat, it was her playing with him. To give an idea of his scope here are some of his essay titles: "Of Drunkeness", "Of Cannibals", "Of Thumbs", "That To Study Philosophy IsTo Learn To Die", "How we weepe and laugh at one selfe-same thing" and so on.

Farningham, Kent, England

2006-08-16T07:59:00.000-07:00

A row of cottages in Farningham with one house almost hidden by flowers.

Kent is known as 'The Garden of England' being full of fruit farms, hop fields and garden centres. I came across this row of cottages today and the sight of it is overwhelming with one of the dwellings almost completely hidden by flowers. Farningham is a picturesque village not far from London and it has an interesting history. It's population was 561 in 1821, 1328 in 1901 and remains about the same as that today. It is on the River Darent and was a neolithic and, later, a Roman settlement. (See my post on St Albans.) Several Roman Villas have been excavated nearby and archeologists have identified a neolithic footpath that passes through the Darent Valley. Charles Dickens used to fish for trout in the Darent.

Farningham Parish Church. 13th Century

Farningham is mentioned in the Domesday Book which was compiled by William the Conqueror and completed in 1086. The church pictured above was started in 1240 with the tower being added in the 15th century. By the 19th century there were six stage-coaches per day stopping in Farningham which had become a thriving community. Many of it's present day structures date from the 18th and 19th centuries.

My Heroes: (8) Michael Johnson

2006-08-14T00:45:00.000-07:00

In 1996 Michael Johnson become the first man to win the 200m and the 400m in the same Olympics. In fact, no other athlete has won a 200m as well as a 400m Olympic Gold Medal. He was also the first man to retain the 400m title, at Sydney in 2000. He still holds the world records for both events and he had a spell between 1989 and 1997 when he won 58 consecutive 400m races.

He had an unusual, upright, running style with fairly low uplift and minimum arm-swing. Once when asked why he did not run in the same way as other athletes he said, "If I did I would be back there with them"!

Now he works as a commentator on athletics, mainly for the BBC where his knowledge, genial disposition and clear insight into all track events and competitors puts him, in my opinion, once again at the peak of his profession.

Adventure Island, Southend-on-Sea

2006-08-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

Southend-on-Sea is on the Thames Estuary in Essex about 35 miles from London and is east London's favourite place for a day-trip to the sea. I went there yesterday, with my daughter Ruth and her twins Jacob & Zack, to the Adventure Island playground. The boys were ecstatic and had a great time although they spent much of the time walking around with their hands over their ears because they didn't like the noise which was mostly generated by the screams of teenaged girls on the roller-coaster.

They are very well-behaved boys and always say "please", "thank you" and "you're welcome" but kids don't get that way naturally so it's credit to Ruth. They had terrific fun on the rides and were fascinated by the dodgem cars and go-karts. We all went in the Crooked House which has passages with sloping floors so that you find yourself falling against the walls. Before coming home we visited Rossi's ice-cream shop and sat looking out to sea and spotting the ships.

For me, it was paradise to spend a day with my daughter and grandsons and when Zack said, unpromted, "I love you Grandad" my day was complete!

The Twins and Gaia

2006-08-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

Zack, Gaia & Jacob

You can't beat a picture of happy children can you? This is the twins with their friend Gaia. Gaia is an interesting name, originally that of a of a Greek godess meaning 'Earth' and it is, of course, the name given by James Lovelock to his hypothesis that the Earth is a sort of perpetually self-repairing system.

St Albans, Hertfordshire

2006-08-08T09:27:00.000-07:00

Row of six Alms Houses in St Albans. Built after 1627.

St Albans was founded by the Romans two thousand years ago on the site of an Iron Age settlement. That's quite some continuity. It's Roman name was Verularium and it was the third largest Roman city in England. It is only about 25 miles from the centre of London.

These Alms Houses were built to house the poor by Roger Pemberton, High Sheriff of Hertfordshire. He had accidently killed a poor widow with a bow and arrow and this was his way of atoning. If you have good eyesight you may be able to make out an arrow sticking up above the doorway. (To get a perfect picture I would have had to stand in the middle of the very busy road!). In his will he bequeathed some of his land for these homes to be built upon. The amazing thing is that today, nearly five hundred years later, they are still being used to house the indigent poor. They are the oldest brick built dwellings in St Albans which is an extremely interesting historical town.

My Heroes: (7) Aung San Suu Kyi

2006-08-06T08:08:00.000-07:00

Aung San Suu Kyi. Born June, 1945

In 1967 Ms Kyi gained a degree from Oxford University in politics, philosophy and economics and lived in Britain as she was married to an Oxford professor untill, in 1988, she returned to her counrty of birth, Myanmar (Burma) to look after her dying mother. While there she was appalled at the poverty, corruption and lack of democrocy under the repressive military junta. She decided to enter politics under the strong influence of the non-violent philosophy of Mahatma Ghandi and when her party won 82% of the vote in the 1990 election the results were annulled and she was placed under house arrest. She was offered the chance to be set free if she would leave the country. She declined that offer and has spent about 10 of the last 16 years languishing under house arrest, but she is still defiant, refusing to step down from her comdemnation of the regime.
The government has stated as recently as July this year that “her days are numbered” and that she is “heading for a tragic end”. She was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1991 "for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights". It strikes me as ironic that the regime in Rangoon remains in power while the world’s flimsy efforts to free her permanently are thwarted by her own non-violent protests. Is the conclusion to be that only violence would bring down this dictatorial regime?

Cezanne Again

2006-08-04T20:27:00.000-07:00

These images are offered purely for the pleasure of it.

Arthur Lee (1945-2006)

2006-08-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

If you have never heard of Arthur Lee or his band Love it will be worth reading this post. In 1968 they released an album called Forever Changes. There had been releases before and after that one but this was something special; it should be ranked alongside other seminal sixties recordings such as Sgt. Pepper, Revolver and Pet Sounds.

It is both melodic and hard-edged, has exquisite lyrics, is full of inventiveness and the songs have a haunting originality that has stayed with me ever since it was released. If you listen to the album a few times the same thing will happen to you. It comes into the category of 'West Coast psychedelic' or 'Folk Rock' but neither of those labels really quite fit because Forever Changes is so much more.

None of the songs mean what they appear to mean at first hearing and it will gradually become apparent that you are listening to a work of genius. Arthur Lee was a very troubled man, personally, and you can learn more about him and the band if you Google 'Arthur Lee' or you could click here.

Arthur died of leukemia on Thursday 3rd August. For me, the sixties have finally come to an end.

Quiz Question: Beatles Lyrics

2006-08-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

The Beatles sang "money can't buy me love" but in another Lennon & McCartney song they contradicted themselves by singing:

"_ _ _ is the one thing that money can't buy" .

Name the song and the missing word.

(I have now posted the answer in the comments.)

William Morris House, London

2006-08-02T02:51:00.000-07:00

William Morris House, LLoyd Park, Walthamstow, London

William Morris, the founder of the Arts & Crafts movement lived in this house for twelve years in the mid-nineteenth century. Now it is a gallery and museum set into Lloyd Park in Walthamstow in London. The house is built in classic eighteenth century Georgian style. Georgian architecture is characterized by proportion and balance; as you can see this building is symmetrical. The ratio between the width and height of the windows would have been significant to engender the sense of harmony. Also it was usual to have features from one or other of the classical orders of architecture. You can't see it very well in my picture but there are two columns in the Corinthian style supporting the classical porticoed front door.

This garden is at the back of the house and is a part of Lloyd Park, now a public space but once part of the extensive grounds of the house. There is a garden hose-pipe ban at present in the Thames Water area around most of London. I think it would take a lot of watering cans to keep the lawn looking so good - compare it with the grass at the front in first picture!

This third picture is of the ornamental moat in the former grounds of the house. The bird near the top of the picture is a moorhen, easily identified by it's red and yellow bill. Just below her are two juvenile moorhens and in the foreground the ubiquitous Canada Goose. If you are interested in learning more about William Morris click here. I am sure he was a very worthy man but I find him, unlike his former home, rather dull.

Sonny Noah Glen

2006-08-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

Sonny is 18 months old and a very bright little boy. He laughs, chuckles and smiles nearly all of the time. This photo catches him in a rare (relatively) serious moment. He loves to sing and play with his toy cars. In fact he will play with anything and is capable of amusing himself with a cardboard box for half an hour.

He doesn't know that the world does not revolve around him and I don't want to tell him! His parents and four grandparents adore him and would not be the least suprised if he turns out to be a genius; he will probably play soccer for Spurs and England and win at least one Nobel Prize for chemistry and/or literature, probably both.

His heroes are: Bob the Builder, Noddy, SpongeBob Squarepants, The Fimbles and his daddy, Lloyd.

My Heroes: (6) Charles Darwin

2006-08-01T02:00:00.000-07:00

Charles Darwin 1809-1892

This post is not about the 'creationist' versus 'evolutionary science' debate but rather about Darwin himself and his personal qualities. Some will be surprised to learn that Darwin was deeply religious and as a young man studied at Cambridge University to become a clergyman but it is fair to say that as he developed his theories throughout his life his doubts continued to grow. Although he lost his Christian faith he insisted that he was an agnostic rather than an atheist, never dismissing the idea of a supreme intelligence over-riding creation. He was a sensitive and deeply caring man. His closeness to his children was distinctly un-Victorian in the way he dedicated so much of his time to them.

On the Origin of Species was published in 1859, many years after it was written, because Darwin was aware of what the reaction would be in Victorian England. He was right because public ridicule was the immediate reaction and the popular misconception that we 'are descended from the apes' is still an often-held view today. What he wanted to show was that we are descended from a common ancestor. That work is now considered the most important science book that the world has known.

Darwin was an unassuming and kind man who was pleasant and sincerely modest. For much of his adult life he suffered from an undiagnosed illness, possibly picked up during his voyage on the Beagle but he remained committed to the candid exploration of the natural and scientific world for the rest of his life. When he died in 1882 he was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Tower Bridge, London

2006-07-31T09:32:00.000-07:00

Not my photo this time. Credit: Lars P Mathiassen

Tower Bridge was opened in 1894 after an Act of Parliament decreed that a river crossing should be built to enable those living in east London to cross the river without having to go upstream to London Bridge. The Act also stated that pedestrians should be able to cross at all times, so an overhead walkway 143 feet above the water was constructed but it had to be closed because of the high incidence of suicide from the bridge.

There is a story that when Lake Havasu City in Arizona purchased the old London Bridge they thought they were buying Tower Bridge. (I will post about that interesting story on another occasion).

The bridge was constructed by building a massive steel frame and dressing it with Cornish granite and Portland stone so that it's appearance matched the nearby Tower of London. Each of the bascules (the part that raises) weighs 1,200 tons and is still raised by the original hydraulic system. It is now powered by oil and electricity but until 1976 it was still steam-powered.

The bridge is synonomous with London and it's iconic status ensures world wide renown. It is still a magnificent sight and a tribute to Victorian engineering skills and civic pride.

My Heroes: (5) Sigmund Freud

2006-07-28T06:51:00.000-07:00

Sigmund Freud 1856-1939

Most of the photographs that I have seen of Sigmund Freud show him looking straight back at the camera in a defiant manner. He was always confident of his theories and vigourously defended his findings. Although he was a ground-breaking pioneer many of his ideas have been superceded and challenged but that is often the fate of an original thinker. When he published The Interpretation of Dreams in 1900 he introduced the concept of the unconscious mind to the public and The Psychopathology of Everyday Life in 1901 dealt with the theory that nothing one said was an 'accident' but the result of the activity of the 'dynamic unconscious'; that is what we now refer to as a 'Freudian Slip'.

He went on to shock the world with his ideas on how the sex drive was the primary motivational force in mankind (and, later, womankind) eg. the Oedipus Complex. Whatever one thinks of his work now, and there are plenty of detractors, I admire the way he confidently published absolutely revolutionary ideas and generated a leap forward in understanding ourselves that others have taken forward and refined.

Hermitage Marina, Earith, England

2006-07-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

Hermitage Marina, in Earith near Huntingdon, England

I took this picture of this delightful little marina in Cambridgeshire last week. It's very small but exceptionally picturesque. Apparently it's for sale if you're interested! It's located at the confluence of three rivers in the middle section of the Great Ouse Navigation System.

Diss, Norfolk, England

2006-07-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

This Vespa was being photographed at Diss in Norfolk for 'Scootering' magazine. It is a direct decendant of the machine featured in the film 'Quadrophenia' in 1979. The original model was very popular in the 50's in Italy. This one is owned by a man from Lexham Insurance who, apparently, specialize in Scooter and other two wheel insurance. (I have no connection with that company. Just thought I'd give a friendly guy a plug). The ornamental lake in the backgound is rather nice and right in the middle of the High Street in Diss, a very lovely town.

Hammersmith Bridge, London

2006-07-20T10:34:00.000-07:00

I took this picture earlier this week crossing Hammersmith Bridge over the River Thames in London. The current Bridge was opened in 1877 using the concrete bases from the original bridge which was opened in 1827. It cost £82,117 to build. In 1870 over 11,000 people crowded on to the bridge to watch the university boat race between Oxford & Cambridge which alarmed the government who then commisioned the present bridge. It was damaged by a terrorist bomb in 2000 and was seriously weakened and consequently now has a weight restriction but the red double-decker buses can still use it. When it is lit up at night it is beautiful to see. If you would like to learn more click here.

Clacton-on-Sea, east coast of England

2006-07-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

I saw these communal flower gardens today in Clacton-on-Sea in Essex on the east coast of England. The intensity of colour that you see is not enhanced, that is exactly how they look. They are striking in appearance and so brilliantly coloured that I could not take my eyes off them for a good while. Fortunately I had thirty minutes to kill before a business appointment.

If I could not avert my gaze from these flowers imagine

the effect they would have on butterflies and bees! By the way, in the UK we spell colour with a 'u' in it!

My Heroes: (4) Albert Einstein

2006-07-14T09:55:00.000-07:00

1879 - 1955

Look at that fabulous photograph! It looks like an archetypical image of a genius who couldn't tie his own shoe laces; hairstyle courtesy of Van De Graaff Generator . A female aquaintance told me that I should not admire Albert Einstein because "he was unkind to the woman in his life". I don't know if that is true or not. It is certainly hinted at in various places but it poses an interesting question: Whom should we admire? Are there criteria?
I believe a person should be regarded on the quality of their merits because none of us are perfect. Should the acheivments of Churchill be negated because of his drinking habits? Or should Isaac Newton not be recognised for his 'genius' because of his caustic personality? Anyway, I digress. Back to Einstein.
The qualities that impress me most are twofold. Firstly he had the most amazing imagination ("Imagination is more important than knowledge" he once said). At the age of 16 he had tried to imagine what it would be like to ride on a beam of light. That was ten years before he published the Special Theory of Relativity.
Secondly I admire his humility. He thought of his work merely as a step toward the next big advance. He is quoted as saying: "When I am judging a theory, I ask myself whether, if I were God, I would have arranged the world in such a way."

Graduation Day

2006-07-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

Jacob (standing) and Zack (to the right of him) at their nursery school graduation today.

The twins, age three-and-a-half, were watched by both sets of grandparents as they received their 'prizes' at their graduation. All of the children marched in wearing mortar boards and gowns for the ceremony and looked very cute if a little bewildered. There was a Shabbat (Jewish Sabbath) table laid out and all the little girls lit candles and said the proper prayers and the boys 'broke bread' and said the appropriate prayers for that.

In September they will start the mornings-only reception class at their first proper school. They will be three and three quarters which seems, to me, to be very young. At that age the state pays for pre-school education in the UK.

After the ceremony they were joined by their young cousin, Sonny, who idolises them which they just about tolerate. Of course, they being very nearly completely grown-up, he seems to be just a baby to them! I just love them all so much it hurts!

Carvoeiro, Portugal

2006-07-09T09:04:00.000-07:00

We returned on Friday from nine days at a villa in Carvoeiro in the Algarve, southern Portugal. It was a great chill-out holiday spent mostly reading by the pool. The villa has a stock of around 200 paperbacks that were left by previous guests. The book I enjoyed most was the wonderful novel by Marina Lewycka called A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian.
The narrator and her sister, who have never got along, have to join forces to save their 84 year-old father from the clutches of a 36 year-old Ukranian gold-digger, whose huge enhanced breasts have mesmerised the old man.
The story is, by turns, comic, moving, tragic and revealing. What is revealed, to the narrator, is the war-time family secrets from which she has been sheilded.
A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian is, in fact, the title of a book within the novel that her father is writing.
I was trying to think of other novels where the title of the book was also the title of a work within the fiction; there are probably lots of them. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is one - please let me know of any others you can think of.

The lovely cool lounge of Casa das Palmeiras, where we stayed.

I also enjoyed reading a book by Simon Kuper clumsily titled Ajax, the Dutch, the War: Football in Europe During the Second World War. The fascinating subject, superficially, is soccer in Europe during the war years but the underlying themes that I found of real interest was Dutch resistance to the Nazis (or lack of it), anti-semitism, Nazi propoganda and the way Ajax was percieved as a 'Jewish' club. I found the book a little disconnected in the way it jumped from one topic to another with no obvious connection but it was, overall, an enjoyable read.

My Heroes: (3) Bobby Moore

2006-07-09T05:04:00.000-07:00

Bobby Moore holding the World Cup aloft in 1966

When England won the soccer World Cup in 1966 Bobby was the team captain. He was not only one of the very best footballers that Britain ever produced (arguably the best) he was also a great sportsman with a dedication to his chosen profession that is rare in any walk of life. In the classic 1970 quarter-final match against Brazil the legendary Pele sought out Bobby when the match had ended to congratulate him on his performance; they had formed a mutual admiration society. The mark of a great footballer is often said to be that they always seem to have time when in possession of the ball; they never panic. That was certainly a feature of Bobby's play.

He died of cancer in 1993 at the age of 51 after bearing his illness with the dignity that chracterised his playing career.

Two nice sights in Suffolk, England

2006-06-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

I saw this peacock today crossing the road in Stowlangtoft, a small village in the county of Suffolk. It was a real surprise but the bird did not seem surprised to see me!
A short time later I came across this thatched-roof house in Badwell Ash, Suffolk.
"The number of thatched buildings in England decreased from one million in 1800 to 35,000 by 1960 due partly to mechanisation and transport enabling other materials to be used. Today there are around 24,000 listed thatched buildings in England." (http://www.thatch.org/)

My Heroes: (2) Paul Cezanne

2006-06-21T15:01:00.000-07:00

Mont St Victoire

(Note: For technical reasons I changed this image August 2006. There are many others views of this subject that would have equally suited.)

Paul Cezanne painted Mont St Victoire, near Aix-en-Provence, tirelessly over many years, yet he would always find something new to show. I find this picture captivating, the range of colours convey an emotional impact that is rare in landscape painting. He 'saw' what others could not and it's possible to see the pre-figuring of cubism in the way he began to break the surface into shapes of a single colour.

Paul Cezanne 1839-1906, self portrait

Pablo Picasso called Cezanne "...the father of us all" and hence he is often described as the father of modern art. He came from a background of wealth but, although he worked in Paris for a while, he returned to his home town of Aix, always remaining a social outsider.

My Heroes: (1) Andres Segovia

2006-06-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

The last time I saw Segovia play was in the early eighties, a few years before he died. He was around 90 years of age at that time; he had fingers like a bunch of bananas. He was brilliant, spellbinding and charming.
Segovia was virtually single-handedly responsible for the transition of the classical guitar from a gypsy instrument to the elevated position it now enjoys in the world of serious music. He even encouraged the design of the instrument that we know today so that it became more suitable to play in the larger concert halls.

He commissioned many composers to write for the guitar or to transcribe their existing works. He transcribed many famous piano works himself, notably J S Bach's Chaconne.
His self-declared mission was to see instruction for the guitar established in every music school and university and he was a dedicated teacher himself.
The Australian-born guitarist John Williams was his pupil. Segovia famously said of his brilliant student, "God has laid his finger on his brow".
He was generous, modest and eloquent.
To me he is a hero of the first magnitude.

Saturday in the Park

2006-06-17T09:23:00.000-07:00

Jacob has now recovered from Chicken Pox but, big surprise, his twin brother now has it. I took Jacob to a Learning Alliance exhibition in Valentines Park this afternoon where his Mum, Ruth, has a tent promoting her Honeybee's Creative Play Groups & Parties.
There was a tribute band called The Beached Boys playing and they were better than good. The atmosphere was broken a bit when the singer announced, in a broad cockney accent, "OK, now it's abaht time to catch a wave!"

A Humid Tuesday Afternoon

2006-06-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

Who is a wise man? He who learns of all men - The Talmud

Yesterday the temperature in London was 32C/90F. Today unsurprisingly we have thunderstorms. As this is England we could have a prolonged cold spell starting, say, this Friday. Or a tropical heatwave.

I've just finished reading Affinity by Sarah Waters which I did not enjoy as much as Fingersmith or Tipping The Velvet. I think it a pity that her writing is sometimes labelled 'Lesbian Historical Fiction'; although it usually is that, it is good writing first and foremost. I believe her new novel The Night Watch is set in the 1940's and not in Victorian times like her first three books.

My favourite wartime-set novels are Birdsong and Charlotte Gray, both by Sebastian Faulks.

1932 Duesy/1989 Gatsby replica

2006-06-08T12:28:00.000-07:00

I saw this car in Ealing today. It is a breathtakingly beautiful Gatsby replica of a 1932 Duesy. It has a V8 5.7 litre engine and wonderful wire wheels.

Jacob, Zack & Sonny

2006-06-07T08:29:00.000-07:00

Jacob & Zack in good moods.

Sonny learning to drive.

Zack helping Daddy to build the decking.

Do you read blogs backwards? I do.

2006-06-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

Talk low, talk slow and don't talk too much - John Wayne

Isn't it odd that when you are trawling randomly through other peoples blogs you always read them in reverse chronological order?

Or is it just me? Someone please let me know!

Jacob (aged three-and-a-half)

2006-06-05T10:27:00.000-07:00

My eldest (by 10 minutes) grandson Jacob has got chicken pox. Strangely, he had a mild dose of it 4 weeks ago but the doctor said it wasn't enough to give him an immunity. I expect his twin brother Zack will develop it soon. This picture was taken about 8 weeks ago at the peak of good health.

Funny Story

2006-06-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

On Friday my in-law and friend, 'Hammy' made a delivery to a local Retirement Home. While there he asked if he could use the bathroom. When he had finished he absent-mindedly (his trademark!) flushed the toilet.
Within seconds half a dozen nurses and doctors were knocking on the door and starting to use their pass-keys to open it.

What he had taken to be an old-fashioned pull-chain was the emergency alarm which he had set off in error.

We heard that story today while gathered for a family birthday where Sonny, our youngest grandson at 16 months, was the star of the show. He loves an audience.

Narrow Lane

2006-06-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

If a man should conquer in battle a thousand and a thousand more, and another man should conquer himself, his would be the greater victory.....The Dhammapada

On Friday I had to drive from Aldershot in Hampshire to Storrington in West Sussex. The road (A281) was closed for resurfacing and a diversion was in place which went through some very narrow country lanes.

Unfortunately no one had bothered to check the width of the road and I was stuck for nearly an hour in the same place because a bus and a large farm vehicle could not pass each other.

All of the drivers and passengers got out and were talking to each other. Lorry drivers and little old ladies were conversing and groups of small children were skipping and playing football (soccer). It was like a party atmosphere and when we eventually moved on there was almost a sense of dissapointment!

First Blog

2006-05-29T13:08:00.000-07:00

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it - Winston Churchill

I started this blog because having read lots of blogs from around the world I have learnt that simply reading about other peoples lives is spell-binding. They don't have to live extraordinary lives - they just have to live!

I grew up in London, England in the sixties. My first musical interest was The Everly Brothers. I saw them in the sixties, I was at their reunion concert at the Royal Albert Hall and I saw them recently in that same place probably for the last time (they said).

I saw the Beatles play live when they weren't even top of the bill! I think it was Del Shannon & Chris Montez.

Now I have three little grandsons but I still feel like a teenager and still like that music plus a lot more.