rex whistler

wake up, gels !

there's still time to get down to brighton for the magnificent rex whistler exhibition

early to rise

cycling down the wide empty pavement of west hill towards wandsworth just as daylight shows ...

the wind shaking the trees and my tyres cutting a crackling swathe through drifts of fallen leaves

a neglected field besides the A24 at warnham

 

is this giant hogweed ?

i think it is about eight feet high

 

in the hedge besides the A24

 

you can't blog the smell of damp sawdust in a wood

 

i cannot pretend to be vegetarian

we know a chap called inyaki who herds iberian pigs on horseback in the dehesa between oropesa and candeleda, he's a great tennis player and all-round naughty boy

buenos dias, senor !

WARNING: IT TASTES EVEN BETTER THAN YOU HOPE

sir john caryll and family at warnham church in sussex

 

sir john caryll's boys at warnham church in sussex

 

queens ... sheba and esther

at warnham church in sussex, to commemorate victoria's fiftieth anniversary

 

we'll go no more a roving

 

george iv looking unconscionably smug

 

one of my favourite lamp-posts

 

posh monogram on a brighton pillar box

 

we went to a tea party ... there were nice guests such as david and eejay, real bone china teacups, and real cucumber sandwiches with no crusts

 

pocket money

i remember when ...

it cost seven pence old money to get in to the athelstan cinema on a saturday afternoon

for which you saw

1. the trailers

2. if you were lucky, a western in colour starring james stewart or roy rogers or whoever ...

3. a serial, most of which were black and white pre-war stuff like flash gordon, and all of which ended with the clash of cymbals and the same words every time ...

"see next week's exciting episode !"

sometimes i dream that i'm playing soccer again ...

in last night's dream i was part of a village team that was assembling in a churchyard amongst the tombs and memorials

to our great discomfort it turned out that the opposition was going to be the italian world champions

we immediately sent the verger into the graveyard to create a few rough patches with a fork, hoping to even things up a little

but from the first moment of the match we played very badly ... and then i woke just as canavaro was about to shoot

window in memory of octavia hill at crockham hill church

inner and outer doors at crockham hill church

 

rusty and trusty at the back of crockham hill church

putney savannah

 

putney fisher women bring in their catch

 

the great blue yonder ... who can resist the water's calling

 

come now, watson ! it seems clear to me that the missing swimmer is a cheese driver ...

 

calvin thomas ...

... is an artist who lives in canyon de chelly, arizona ... actually in the canyon itself

we met him on a frosty spring morning, just after he'd climbed up a narrow path among the sheer cliffs

this piece of sandstone from the valley floor is painted with an unusual restrained palette, compared to most of the touristy stuff sold at the canyon's edge

calvin thomas himself was a very quiet person

we liked him very much

two's company

arthur likes to keep an eye on me whilst i'm up the ladder

lavender, beaten down by the rain

 

principles and cigarette packets

it would be interesting know if there are any british politicians who might essay a list of their guiding principles on the back of a cigarette packet

over to you, "yo blair"

sylvia's rose

i stopped to smell this rose in eccles road, battersea, this afternoon

my mother planted the same sort around nineteen-sixty

then the scent reminded me of apples

now it reminds me of her