built for comfort

a shopper's friend in the markets at padua

a great city for bicycles ... it is pretty flat and there are thousands of students and easy-riding shoppers

built for comfort

a trader's old friend in the fabulous market at padua

 

fabulous flora

the orto botanico di padova claims to be the world's oldest surviving botanical garden in any university

whatever !

it is a delight

allegorical figures of spring and summer in the ancient botanical garden at padua

 

an early birthday present

from the magical collezione minici zotti in padua

 

stencilled ? in padua

 

you don't need a weather-MAN to know which way the wind blows

 

good night, sweet ladies !

 

not fade away

 

handled with care

 

scratchy-feely door at the pescaria

 

you keep a'knockin, but you can't come in !

 

flavour of the month

the italians love concrete almost as much as olive oil or pasta

 

a little bit of ambient colour improves the taste of your muesli

 

chimbley pot and italian flag

 

iconography questions again

who the hell is this ?

 

a venetian woman's work is never done

party time on the north side of the basilica

 

il redentore

carnival time ... do go, if you ever get the chance

 

i'm sorry ! this seat is taken

what's a cat to do between fish courses ?

 

venetian design classic

venice's floating bus stops present a unique set of problems to their engineers

the bus stop is designed so that it rises and falls with the tide

every approaching water bus will necessarily collide with it and then be tied up

millions of people use them without falling over or off in all kinds of weather

someone somewhere must be taking good care of an unsung solution to a complicated problem

 

niche habitat opportunists

brighton has had a problem with homelessness for some time, as do all towns around the world

there have been a number of settlements of new age travellers in buses and vans around the city's boundaries for years

i have the impression that new age travellers first multiplied at about the same time that the poll tax was introduced and when people in local and national government tacitly agreed to stop building enough council houses because it was thought that market forces would allow the problem to solve itself

so-called travellers frequently park their glossy fleets of expensive caravans and vehicles on the city's playing fields & brownfield development sites ... this week there is a huge encampment at patcham place by the london road

tents are harder to site because individuals are more vulnerable to harassment and vandalism, but a few have appeared on this little unwanted triangle of pebble beach next to the marina

it can't be much fun living in a tent

is this a symptom of this government's inability to deal fairly with the poor ?

perhaps being new labour isn't the same thing as being a socialist

southern hawker ... r.i.p.

 

firewood

someone has been stockpiling treetrunks on the quay at shoreham harbour next to the new gas fired power station

you can see only about half the length of the pile in this picture

perhaps they are expecting to run out of gas

 

current reading material, long delayed

it is better than tristram shandy ! no, really !

i wish i'd read it years ago

i might be a couple of chapters further on by now but i couldn't get comfortable on that iron bench by the river in wandsworth park ... why can't they make one in my size ?




lionel trilling & nabokov on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldpj_5JNFoA