Why do I do it?

A while ago a neighbour asked me to proofread a book he has written. It's the story of his life! Now, I don't know about you, but usually, I think that other peoples lives, like other peoples family trees are only interesting to them...but I said yes and 1 yr later we are on page 300(25 chapters) and the final 'proof' is sitting here on my table

It's a Bank Holiday weekend and I know what I'm going to be doing! He's done a lot of things, a lot involving cycling and golf!! Not my two favourite things but, well, I suppose each to their own...

Today, whilst waiting for the bus there was a young girl in the bus station with 2 kids, one of who was screaming and throwing a tantrum because he wasn't allowed out of the pushchair, now the bus station here is like an echo chamber and the noise was incredible, what is it about the pitch of some kids cries that goes straight through me? Yesterday at work was the weekly toddler storytime, usually a good laugh, yesterday however,after the story a cd was put on for a singalong, now the songs were good, don't know if you remember those 70's kids progs with the happy clappy sort of singalong a la Floella Benjamin and Brian Cant, well that was OK, but the intro to the cd was a sort of pipe thing which went right through me!!! Perhaps I'm getting old...

one of the guy's at work is trying to get me to ask him 'What time do you finish work tonight'?, so that he can say to the German girl we have working at the Library 'Nein' sic...

I want to go to Damascus, it is apparently the oldest constantly inhabited city in the world. It looks stunning with lots of good looking markets (souks) and lots of cafés with water pipes and Backgammon being played...my kind of place. This year it is the Arab capital of culture, I wonder if it's anything like Liverpool the European capital of culture for 2008. Ah well, back to the book.

Peaceful Sundays

I spent this morning doing those domestic things that just have to be done (eventually), washing, cleaning and the like, sometimes I wish I'd just got 'someone in' to do them, but with Classic FM the 'chores' today seemed less of a hassle. So, after a couple of loads of washing and some ironing it was time to make some photos of 'my' Tulips. It's been raining this morning, but now the sun has broken through and the tulips are responding to the warmth. These tulips are great they have wonderful colours and have done really well in the tubs outside my back door.

I'm crap at keeping in touch with people, time seems to fly by and I never seem to get the chance to sit and spend time with friends, everyone has a busy life these days, my communication with friends consists mainly to be via text, email or some other electronic medium. I miss a simple chat over a coffee or two and some cake (of course). don't get me wrong, all forms of communication can be a lifesaver, I remember once being in my little flat in Bristol and not speaking to anyone for 6 weeks, I must've been having a Garbo moment, when I did come to speak I'd almost lost my voice through inactivity, some may say that would be a good thing!! So, for all of you, you know who you are have these tulips as a virtual thank you for being there.

Spring sprang at least for a day or two

Those that know me will know that I'm not a gardener, I like flowers and the idea of gardening but my excuse is I'm too lazy. There is one thing though that needs no work at all, and I love them, Tulips. Last year I bought some bulbs back from Amsterdam from one of my many trips and planted them, I'd forgotten what they were, I love the mystery of planting Tulip bulbs and then throwing the picture away and waiting for the results, here are a couple of images.

I love photographing Tulips, I feel something approaching peace and calmness. I get the same feeling everytime I get to Amsterdam, as soon as I set foot on Dutch soil I feel a weight lift from my shoulder, no matter what is going on in my life I feel utter calm. Some have asked why don't I move there, the truth is i'm scared that feeling will go away if I live there. I think everyone should have somewhere they can go that induces the same feeling in them as I get in Amsterdam. Where do you go? Speaking of going...the first of my planned rangefinder camera's arrived this week, bought for £5 on ebay this little camera aptly named an Olympus Trip will be off on a tour of the UK, Europe and eventually Australia. The idea is to send it to friends, they keep it for a week or two, put their favourite film through it and post the results or send them to me to post...I'm going to have 3 of these doing the rounds 'a triplet of trips on a world trip'! not easy to say sober let alone after a few!!

If the 'Plums' Mr,Mrs and R, want to take part

let me know!

Quizzes,Games and life

Last night, we again won the Pub quiz, this week we won one of the rounds and the overall thing, the prizes, well 2 free drinks each and a game called 'Who is it'! There is still no sign of the Wii, but never mind one day it might appear, that is if we don't get banned for winning every week...I've noticed that there are quizzes and games everywhere, from old standards like Bingo, Crosswords and now Sudoku. My mum used to have at least one puzzle book on the go all the time, I keep finding them as I'm clearing out her stuff, my dad, well he had them too, but he also had computers everywhere,bits of computers a keyboard here a keyboard there, sinclair spectrums, zx80's, lot's of stuff...I suppose I should see if they are worth anything on the net, can I really be bothered though? It's been 2 years since they died and I'm still trying to sort out the house, let's not talk about the garage and the 'sheds'. I keep getting distracted. After my mum died, my dad 'gave up' and lasted 34 days, I utterly admire and am in constant awe at anyone who can love someone else so much that they cannot go on without each other. You hear about it a lot, but to see it is something else. I'm not sure I'll ever be like that, I've been told that I'm selfish, probably as a result of being an only child who knows, at the moment I am living on my own and missing a hug.


On a different tack, I spotted this a while ago in Amsterdam, why don't we have interesting things like this here, what a great tonic after a busy day, let's get together and have a phone throwing championships, nah we can't live without them can we?

In May we are having a quiz at the Library to 'celebrate' Europe day, I've been co-opted onto the 'boys' team, not fair, I want to be with the girls...anyway I spotted this the other day and just had to make a photo...

No, I didn't look at the answers or the questions...honest!!!!!!!!! Karen, Stef (aka Dave) and Nicole would kill me very painfully. Can you be killed without pain hmmm another time maybe.

Secret Messages

Recently a lot of these sticker images are appearing around town...are they secret messages (pointers to gatherings) or advertising or, as in Amsterdam a movement of underground sticker artists plastering the area with these stickers? Who knows, me, I think they look good, they add a little brightness and unconformity to the wall/door/space they inhabit. Are they just here or has anyone seen them where they live?

A couple of examples of sticker art in Amsterdam. I'm intrigued by this new 'art' that is appearing and I'm going to try and find out who is doing it, and what is its significance....watch this space...

On a totally different tack, I heard on the radio this morning that 'May' blossom is out and people have seen/heard the first cuckoo, here it's cold and wet...so, spring where are you, i'm waiting...

In Town with a camera

OK, so I didn't get to do any dusting or gardening, I decided to have a wander with my camera around town. Today, it's a town of two halves, the fun side and the sinister side. We have a new attraction for the kids, it looks fun, but as was pointed out to me earlier not so good if you have a hangover, mind you at that age you shouldn't suffer hangovers!! I've been trying to think of a nom de plume for my friend who say's if I write about her she'll "Leather me" so, as she puts it she's a "sometime good girl, sometime pisshead", if anyone can come up with a good name let me know! Back to the photo, when I were a lad they never had anything this cool to do...we were lucky at school if we got to hang from the wallbars for a PE lesson, what was it with PE teachers, I'm sure they used to go to a special training academy to become tormentors, these days they'd find a job in Guantanamo without a problem.

Town was reasonably quiet and I wandered around making a couple of images.

I was surprised to see that the BNP were out again in the town centre, this is the second week running they have set out their stall, this time I noticed that they had decorated it with the Welsh flag, I wonder what their policies are on the Principality? There is a little local controversy here at the moment as the BNP refuse to dislose the whereabouts of their distribution centre, all the other parties have published addresses and locations of theirs so come on BNP in the spirit of fairness and transparency where are you? It was good to see that this week people were walking by and taking no notice of the BNP Stall. One other thing I have noticed, I haven't yet seen any of the other Political parties out in town canvassing, it's about time they did, otherwise the likes of the BNP will be in and running the council.

At last it's the Weekend

What a week, busy plus awful weather. Thursday we had snow and today we have a wind that feels as though it is coming straight from Siberia. Today was the day that the Library decided to mount an event to attract new reader's and some of the 'girls' were outside standing at a stall they set up at the local farmer's market. Everyone was frozen, so come on people use the free Library services available to you, there is much more to a Library than just books...have a look for dvd's, music cd's and much much more, maybe then we wouldn't have to send the poor staff out to freeze.

Here are the intrepid 'girls' all wrapped up and waiting for the rush!

As I mentioned it's the weekend and I should be dusting, cleaning and cutting the grass, how much will get done, well let's just say I'm easily distracted!

Made this image on the bus on the way home, I love this brush of many colours, it may not be the Rolls Royce of brushes but it looks cool. Would it make me sweep the floor probably not, i'd be too busy making pictures of it.

Cultural Diversity

What does Cultural Diversity mean to you? For me, part of it is to be tolerant, celebrate and encompass difference difference, we are not all the same despite the advertisers trying to dress us alike and make us drive the same cars and eat the same food bought from the same supermarkets. Why do all High streets these days look the same, you could be in a Hotel in China and it will be the same as its equivalent in London, the 'corporate' look, yuk! In my view, we should celebrate our differences. For some people where I live their idea of Cultural Diversity is to have a Chinese or Indian Takeaway at the weekend, and they think they are living on the edge!! Oh for a time when we can walk down the street and see and smell the different cultures living contentedly together.

Picture made at the Santuary event last year in Cardiff to kick off Refugee Week. This year Refugee Week is between June 16th-22nd, for info on events near you check out the following:

http://www.refugeeweek.org.uk/Events/

Quizzes,

Last night I went to a quiz with some mates, it was a stange affair, the music round was delayed after 'technical difficulties' and some of the questions were OK and some were really difficult, mainly due to my complete lack of knowledge of 'modern' music...still, we won the first round, then we won the third round and the overall prize... we came away with a bottle of wine, a packet of Tesco 'value' biscuits and 2 rounds of drinks. So it turned out to be a worthwhile trot to the pub.The photo is of Rob, one of the team members, he looks well pleased with himself, and as of now we haven't seen the prizes since!

Yesterday was another very strange day at work, it's strange the kind of questions we get asked, I remember once being asked " Nelson visited here in 1802 have you got any photos?" Considering that it wasn't until 1841 that William Henry Talbot patented the Calotype process - the first negative-positive process making possible the first multiple copies. I had to explain that unfortunately there weren't any photos available of that particular visit. It was a busy day, lot's of books flowing in and out. I am at the moment working on a little myth busting excercise that will be on display in the Library during Refugee Week. I've been told many times by people who really should know better that Refugees and/or Asylum seekers get given Mobile phones, Leather jackets, council houses, car's...people have no clue do they? So, I have a little photo exhibit and some words to dispel those myths, I'll put some up here nearer the time.

Another idea I've been toying with is getting a cheap rangefiner camera, probably a Russian Fed or Zorki (manual and non electronic) from ebay and passing it around friends here and in Europe and Oz and asking them to put a roll or two of film through it and posting the results, it might be an interesting experiment, it's in the early planning stages at the moment but it should be fun.

Some Days

Some day's don't you just want to crawl into a sack and let the world go on without you. You'd think that working in a Library would be stress free, however there are 3 people off work with stress at the moment, and sometimes those who are left make everyone else so stressed that you can't wait for the shift to end. Today was one of those days. It got better when I was given a chocolate gateau by a friend on my way home. The cake had in turn be given to her by one of her customers (sssshhh don't tell), she's decided to go on a diet for an upcoming holiday, so lucky me I get to eat the Gateau. Why isn't life this easy every day? I've been told that if I identify this friend 'I'll be leathered' so all I can say is that despite the name on the side it's not Pat. I bumped into another friend earlier when I dropped a cd of the photos of Saturday's rally ( see above) in for them to see. I haven't seen this particular friend for a while and a lot has happened in her life recently. She has moved, got out of an abusive relationship and is bringing up a 3 yr old, I don't know how she does it, yet she does, and all with a smile on her face. If anyone deserved the gateau it is her, unfortunately I've eaten most of it... ho hum!!

This is what's left, ah well, it is, as they say, the thought that counts.

Hope not Hate

Today, there was an Anti Racism, Anti Fascist rally here in Wrexham.The BNP has tageted Wrexham as a place where they can win seats in the forthcoming Local elections in May. The have put up 9 candidates in the Borough, this is their largest number of candidates in one place in Wales. They have targeted Wrexham due to the number of Migrant workers here. Wrexham also has a small population of asylum seekers and Refugees. Whilst in town before the rally started I saw the BNP canvassing, it scared me that the people who were taking the leaflets and Literature were middle aged, my age, people who frankly should know better.

This is the moment the two sides passed each other. This is the time I noticed the pure venom on the faces of the BNP supporters, they're not interested in free speech, they are only interested in propagating hate. The usual myths are spouted by those who should know better..."...they get free mobile phones" ; "...they jump the housing queue" ; "...they're taking our jobs" ; "...they get a free car and a house", all these have been said to me in the past year, they are all obviously untrue, however people believe them.

Their newspaper says it all, it is all about setting the agenda, the BNP want us to believe that we are being over-run, they want to scare us, it suits their purpose to distort the truth and propagate the myths. Whatever happended to live and let live? Cultural diversity is a wonderful thing and maybe, just maybe, if we all live together and celebrate our differences we might just survive as the planet's inhabitants.

Kopstoot

This is a Kopstoot, the snow is not a requirement. Jenever, is the juniper flavoured and strongly alcoholic traditional drink from the Netherlands and Belgium, from which gin evolved. It is believed to have been invented by a Dutch chemist and alchemist named Sylvius de Bouve, it was first sold as a medicine in the late 16th century. In the 17th century it began to be popular for its flavour. Traditional jenever is still very popular in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Finally I have a little time to create and do the blog thing

Prompted by a friend and after reading her blog I've decided to create my own little venture. As I get older and have more and more 'senior moments' this could get interesting!!
I've just seen on the news that Baked beans could be the answer to all your dieting needs...good news for student then.