Wednesday, September 07, 2005


in memoriam at mereworth, gor blimey ! Posted by Picasa

too early for confession ...


mereworth church, clumsily ostentatious, proto-gothic-revival ? Posted by Picasa

the cheese man pauses at mereworth church in kent

1831 Topographical DictionaryMEREWORTH, a parish in the hundred of LITTLEFIELD, lathe of AYLESFORD, county of KENT, 5 miles (S.E.) from Wrotham, containing 711 inhabitants. The church, dedicated to St. Lawrence, was rebuilt by John, Earl of Westmorland: it is a very handsome structure, with a fine Corinthian portico, and surmounted by a lofty spire: the whole edifice is constructed of different sorts of stone, and the eastern window is of painted glass, collected for the purpose by that nobleman. The grazing land in this parish is supposed to breed the largest oxen in England, some of them having exceeded three hundred stone. This parish is bounded on the north by the Hurst woods.

Monday, September 05, 2005

chocolate cake with ganache icing and piping - a public announcement

it's no use begging; the cake in yesterdays blog has all gone !

boord street gas works in greenwich; the pillars are of uniform thickness, as are the concentric rings, but the diagonal ties or reinforcements get thinner towards the top ! weren't the engineers clever ?Posted by Picasa

Sunday, September 04, 2005


sheila evans, linda crabb, and roy hewish, not in the least bit hung-over ! Posted by Picasa

sheila's cake for tristan ... i know what you're thinking ... and you're right again ! Posted by Picasa

Monday, August 29, 2005


one of wandsworth's many cormorants Posted by Picasa

sunken boats and a wary heron in wandsworth's river wandle


wandsworth's river wandle Posted by Picasa

Friday, August 26, 2005


george and lea, two very sharp madrillenos Posted by Picasa

Thursday, August 25, 2005


the red cranes are in at battersea power station Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

an unsignposted diversion

sometimes chance provokes what i like to call "an unsignposted diversion"

having set out unusually early for kent, and seen the sky colouring up quite psychedelically, instinct commanded that i drive half a mile away from my regular route to the waterside at greenwich

alright, i know pink skies are two a penny on the internet, but i was very happy !

dawn at greenwich Posted by Picasa

looking over towards canary wharf from greenwich Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, August 23, 2005


a surprise just inside the m25 to the north of reigate Posted by Picasa

no need to photoshop, some workaholic has hand-painted it ! Posted by Picasa

a daily glimpse on my way home Posted by Picasa

pub tiles in wandsworth Posted by Picasa

Sunday, August 21, 2005

in the sunday silences between jumbos

i really don't mind being right on the noisy centre line with the two parallel heathrow runways because i love the grace and precision of airplanes/aeroplanes and will always marvel as they circle and swoop down after their ten-thousand mile leaps of faith

so in the early light i stand at our window in my posh blue pyjamas and admire three identical british airways giants crossing the space above us in succession

outside our window is a lush triangular green lawn about sixty yards by fifty by forty with nineteen trees where fifteen wood pigeons are foraging in the short grass, a squirrel scavenging in a rubbish bin at the far side, and the most elegant and athletic young black cat who pads lightly across the green from left to right and through the trees with his sharp eyes already on the squirrel who sits on top of a steel door munching a large piece of stale bread

the cat instinctively hides in a shadow beneath a car for a minute, possibly hoping the squirrel has a short attention span, and then moves to another shadow beneath a wheely-bin only about ten feet from the squirrel's perch where he crouches for another minute

the squirrel chews thoughtfully until the cat trots towards the door and then the squirrel launches himself out into neutral territory, at right angles to the cat's approach, the bread still in his mouth, and races in a tight curve around the back of another car and then makes a straight line towards the trees which the cat came from two minutes ago

there are twenty yards to go and the cat catches up fast and the gap between them shrinks from fifteen feet to five in about two seconds but then the squirrel makes a wonderful leap about four feet up the tree trunk and scrabbles up into the branches leaving one disappointed cat sitting ten feet underneath, back arched, tail swishing and twitching, but then calming down and sitting and waiting

the squirrel finishes his bread at leisure and then climbs higher to the outermost branch, steadies himself while it sways and bends before leaping far away into the next tree

game over

later, as the loved one emerges slowly from her dreamland, i suggest that if she really loved those fluffy little squirrels then she'd already be knitting their socks and mittens for the coming winter

no coherent or printable reply is forthcoming

Friday, August 19, 2005

unpridicktible wever

when i woke, at three-thirty, the rain was rattling down mercilessly, but it eased off as i began to pedal to work and, a half an hour later the roads in nine elms were dry and the night-lads had come out of their refrigerated warehouse to snatch a few minutes sleep on the comparitively warm pavement

on the way down to worthing i passed through a couple of squalls but it was only after my first drop at the cheeseman's quayside warehouse on shoreham harbour that the sky began to lively up

by the time i drove by the promenade at hove, people were stopping to gape at the colours and i leapt from the van just in time to take this view of the approaching storm ...

the storm approaching hove actually Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, August 17, 2005


eric ravilious looking up ... Posted by Picasa

eric ravilious looking down ... Posted by Picasa

eric ravilious serendipity

one of the best birthday cards that i had yesterday came from the loved one, showing a painting by eric ravilious of a third class train carriage interior with a view towards the westbury white horse.

a most appropriate choice for me because i'm a wiltshire lad,
because i have happy though vague early memories of travelling in similar carriages during the early nineteen-fifties,
and because train journeys still occupy a significant portion of my dreamspace

this morning i went image searching on the net and the first ravilious painting that i found was the "corresponding" view from "up on top" of the white horse, looking down on the train!

when you've finished looking at eric's work, do go and find some of the images by james, his son, a most wonderful photographer

us old grammer shool boys is easily distractid



don't let's get tecnikle ... is your quirk as well thumbed as my fowler ? Posted by Picasa

Monday, August 15, 2005


mister natural Posted by Picasa

nearly smiling !

i'll be 56 tomorrow !

i'd better shave, i guess !

The Lone Swimmer's Companion Posted by Picasa

Millionaires' Row Posted by Picasa

A lucky mistake

A despatcher's mistake took me back to Brighton this morning, a day sooner than expected, and the sea was luvverly an' blue. After my drops were complete, I went down to the rocks ( by the white houses I call Millionaires' Row ) for a quick swim, and was delighted to find some hard working birdiez down by the water line who were hungry enough to ignore me. Its a struggle to get clear shots of birds with a small wobbly camera but this one seems OK.

Thursday, August 11, 2005


sometimes it's not the scenery, it's just the light ! Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, August 10, 2005


mermaid bait Posted by Picasa

raw chairs, before they get the sandi blake teatment Posted by Picasa