on southsea beach ... look on ye mighty and despair

sunbeams

morning has broken ... elsewhere

http://www.yosemite.org/vryos/TurtlebackCam.htm

one of the joys of the internet thingy is that, just as the sun is about to set in putney, you can watch the dawn eight hours away in yosemite valley

testing, testing, testing .... olympus have repaired my camera ... i'm overwhelmed with happiness ... and gratitude

a bracing promenade ... but i'll stay in my nice warm cab

unkommon kritturs

seen near the arundel estate

maybe ...

http://www.thebeefsite.com/breeds/beef/61/english-longhorn/overview

bird talk

As I drove in to Ockenden Manor at Cuckfield on a dark day there was a commotion of a dozen blackbirds around the lovely high-walled lawn. They had gathered to harass a stranger, but seemed rather hesitant in the face of his/her own ebullient aggression. The only difference between them and him/her was colour … instead of being feathered purely in black, he/she was spectacularly piebald. I’d never seen a pied blackbird and was first startled and then enchanted. Sadly, my camera is away for repairs and I can only show you these vague images captured through a smaller lens … but you get the picture.

last saturday morning on clapham common ... there is an appeal for funds for tree planting

some stars, some stripes, chez micawber

this morning i was standing rarther listlessly at the kitchen sink trying to conjure up a suitably motivational role-model ...

hawthorn, yew, and some well camouflaged cherubs ... in fittleworth churchyard at sunrise

crossing clapham common with foxy

taking all the fun out of bath nights ...

a frosty morning

between cowfold and bolney, although the sky was clear and bright, my thermometer dipped to -9.5 degrees centigrade.

during the half hour or so of the school run, between making deliveries at christ's hospital school and at cuckfield, i stopped and pulled over to the side four times to give maximum space to oncoming vehicles whose windows and windscreens appeared to be impenetrably frosted.

by coincidence, each appeared to be driven by a woman with children in the back.

economy

all this week i've been driving with the fuel consumption display on and trying to stay light on the accelerator

during that time, i've got my average mileage per gallon up every day

at the start of the week it was about 14.6

today it was 18.2 which is not bad for a small truck

two kinds of swans trapped in the ice at southsea

the old bridge at stopham

near chelwood gate

about five cc of undiluted torres diez is burning a hole right through me

du temps recherches

on Sunday, instead of going out to do some casual work and even despite needing the cash-in-hand, i stayed home to read the last 250 pages of proust, starting in the wee small insomniac hours, and after a few diversions and interruptions, finishing just a little after bedtime

whew !

i'm very glad to have read it because there was much to entertain, enthuse, inform, amaze, and delight me, and even to stretch my less-than-elastic mind ... but there were times when he seemed "to go on a bit" and so i wished he'd hurry up and get to the point on several occasions ... however, overall impressions can be summarized as "hurrah, very well-done, and thankyou, a thousand times, dear marcel !"

99.9*% empty

the fancy dress store at clapham junction

glass from ellen

one year on ... shaun's leaving present remains his pride and joy

lovely ... skies in motion

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap081231.html

clapham common ... foxy encounters, and is subsequently stalked by, mister curiosity crow

does anyone have the phone number for insomniac photographers anonymous ?

happy new year, pussycats ... everywhere !

peering through the window of a chandelier shop in dorking

delight yourselves at dulwich picture gallery ... now !

http://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/exhibitions/now_on_show/what_are_you_like.aspx

http://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/exhibitions/now_on_show/saul_steinberg_illuminations.aspx

honestly, i really did mean to send you one ...

breakfast is served, m'lud

just messing around

many thanx to my excellent brother dave for this photograph showing ...

an unknown lady, billy wheadon, the reverend arthur beaghen, and michael ramsey, archbishop of canterbury, in the churchyard at malmesbury abbey

http://emotionalblackmailers.blogspot.com/2008/12/doh.html





















i suppose that it was mr beaghen who was responsible for the renovations that destroyed the interior of saint mary's church, where thomas hobbes' father once officiated, and possibly it was he that binned the parish records, too, yet he always seemed to be the personification of kindness and goodwill

mr wheadon had a little hairdressing business in the south-west corner of the cross hayes or saint dennis's lane and i was taken there once or twice for a brutally quick trim that brought tears to my infant eyes

on the wall of his dilapidated salon was hung a pre-war photograph of him cutting a friend's hair in the lions' cage of a visiting circus

it is more than fifty years since he cut my hair, yet in all those years, and amongst all the really wonderful people i've encountered, it would be hard to think of two with as much life and good humour as messrs wheadon and beaghen