Sunday, January 21, 2007

hanslope church ... the tallest steeple in buckinghamshire













it was too windy, and the long grass was too wet to set up the tripod ... i'll have to go back !


... "Created by the early manorial family, the Maudits, following the Conquest, a hunting park was established at Hanslope and by Royal agreement several stags were taken from Salcey Forest to fortify the stock. Eventually this was acquired by Basil Brent, by whom in the late seventeenth century the present mansion was built. In time William Watts, an ex governor of Bengal, in June, 1764, bought possession and his tomb may be seen in the local church. Whilst in India, William had been attacked by a rabid dog and he was only saved from a severe mauling, or worse, by the action of a bystander, who fired an arrow through the animal's paw.
As a sign of his gratitude William had the representation of a hound with an arrow through the paw incorporated in the family coat of arms, and on the top of Hanslope church spire the weathervane is shaped in a similar depiction!"

Friday, January 19, 2007

morning has broken ...


herstmonceux observatory













windmill hill near herstmonceux


a windy day at the office

fortunately the nearest man was just out of reach when this two ton steel gate was ripped away from it's restraining chain with such force that the sectional frame ruptured and bent at right angles next to the hinges ... the smallest man in the picture is about six foot four


Thursday, January 18, 2007

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

a modest proposal

an idea that might improve the sublime spectacle that is professional soccer

given david beckham's poor disciplinary record in the spanish league this season, and his imminent move to play in america, the question will inevitably recur ... "should football introduce sin-bins ?"

the answer is clearly "yes & no" ...

instead of a boring bench where a vexed player might sit for a few minutes, we need a coin-operated touch-line X-box confessional booth ... linked to giant screens ... virtual priests for ordinary matches ... virtual bishops for the european cup ... virtual archbishops for the world cup ... players may only return to the fray when they have been thoroughly absolved ... the element of suspense as the sidelined players grapple with their conscience will lift the game to new levels of stress

Saturday, January 13, 2007

another dark saturday in putney



















... and i don't have the heart to take down the last bit of christmas

Monday, January 08, 2007

aaargh !

this evening as i was sitting down to edit today's pictures, my phone rang

instinctively i stood up to answer the call, and yanked the usb cable, damaging the socket at the side of the camera

the camera has gone to sleep & i don't know if it can be repaired

woe !

a proper lunch break with laura and nic



















i was on my way back from an unexpected and urgent dash to banbury when i realized i could easily spend an hour with some friends who live near the motorway ... so i did !

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

fellini satyricon






















not a "nice" film ... but possibly a great film

after seeing it thirty something years ago i was troubled and haunted by it's violence and amorality

i wondered if it had been made with a subtext, such as ...

"fellow italians, we've been here before ! do you really want to go here again ?"

of course, i was fatuously wrong

i now know that life and art can't offer us an either/or scenario and fellini would certainly have known that !

people don't juxtapose the words sublime and ridiculous for nothing

bought at hartfield in ashdown forest, a gentle "your turn to make the toast" reminder for the loved one


Sunday, December 31, 2006

the three cats who guard our slumbers


a rambling sort of verse that has criss-crossed my life, first as an errant schoolboy, then as wandering van driver

The Rolling English Road

Before the Roman came to Rye or out to Severn strode,
The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.
A reeling road, a rolling road, that rambles round the shire,
And after him the parson ran, the sexton and the squire;
A merry road, a mazy road, and such as we did tread
The night we went to Birmingham by way of Beachy Head.

I knew no harm of Bonaparte and plenty of the Squire,
And for to fight the Frenchman I did not much desire;
But I did bash their baggonets because they came arrayed
To straighten out the crooked road an English drunkard made,
Where you and I went down the lane with ale-mugs in our hands,
The night we went to Glastonbury by way of Goodwin Sands.

His sins they were forgiven him; or why do flowers run
Behind him; and the hedges all strengthening in the sun?
The wild thing went from left to right and knew not which was which,
But the wild rose was above him when they found him in the ditch.
God pardon us, nor harden us; we did not see so clear
The night we went to Bannockburn by way of Brighton Pier.

My friends, we will not go again or ape an ancient rage,
Or stretch the folly of our youth to be the shame of age,
But walk with clearer eyes and ears this path that wandereth,
And see undrugged in evening light the decent inn of death;
For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen,
Before we go to Paradise by way of Kensal Green.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton