just what the doctor ordered ...

there was no evidence of human sacrifice when i approached the sacriligious artefact ...

... there was a slight delay ... they had to deflate it after vainly trying to re-join the two halves ... and then there was happiness all around ... and there's a nice new cafe in the newly landscaped park, too ...

http://festival.london2012.com/events/9000963231

http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/461/a_to_z_of_parks/1293/burgess_park/1

http://www.southwark.gov.uk/downloads/download/1053/lda_design_for_burgess_park

going underground ...

... on my way from clapham common to burgess park

i'd been agonising over what to wear during the olympics ... until i saw this !!!

kat's kradle ... from the always interesting "feuilleton" ...

http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/steinlen04-big.jpg

stonehenge spectacular

http://festival.london2012.com/events/9000963231

nature morte

amen to this ... a exquisitely succinct rant by the poet taylor mali

http://vimeo.com/3829682

you might say i was fond of music ...

3BT

Wages are credited to my empty account.

I turn off the engine in the dairy farm yard and sit quietly watching the resident swallows flying around only six inches above the concrete.

I stop the truck and switch off the engine once more in a narrow country lane as seven schoolgirls squeeze by on their nervous ponies, and I try not to smirk as I recall those Thelwell cartoons.

michael nyman and jane campion on getting the music right ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jul/30/how-we-made-the-piano

a challenge ... how long can you look him in the eye ?

insider view of the creative team for this year's olympic opening

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/29/frank-cottrell-boyce-olympics-opening-ceremony?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Fcommentisfree%2Frss+(Comment+is+free)

a change is gonna come ...

in the limden valley between stonegate and ticehurst

... in response to the question you don't often ask yourself ...

"what makes truck drivers content with their lot ?"

a whitby boat mug .... the last one in the shop ... a nearly birthday present from the loved one

... of course it might take a year or two to settle on the right shelf

banksy is our darling

http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/index.html

no more lon chaney nights !

... that nice doctor frankenstein up at the castle says the package-deal lobotomy with free personality transplant should come in to effect well before the next full moon

whoops ! ... oh dear !

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/greenland-melt.html

i was adamant ...

... but after much tearful argument with older and wiser heads in the drivers' rest room, i have reluctantly conceded that these ladies are neither

a) royalty

nor

b) star players in england's olympic hockey team

picture taken at five o clock this morning opposite norbury nick

lost in the post

a few months ago i bought, piece by piece, here and there, a set of tunnicliffe's four "what to look for ... " ladybird books

i posted them to spain for some small boys whose father was english

they never arrived

i've assembled another set now but i'm photographing every page before i post them

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Tunnicliffe

silent passions found in translation ... via metafilter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUt4W8sE8Ns

masonry, masons' marks, and modern repairs on the aqueduct at Avoncliff

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoncliff_Aqueduct

loquacious after a good lunch

some corner that is forever ... nah ! forget it !

bob babbitt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01-2pNCZiNk


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Babbitt

elliott school in putney

... is a bit of fifties architecture that needs to be knocked down because the fabric is so grievously dilapidated, but it is to be conserved as an example of design from that period

they are going to sell half their land for 34 million ( they hope ), and then spend most of it on the restoration

its a nice idea BUT ...

whilst the work proceeds they will need temporary classrooms and so they will stack them up right outside our kitchen window

and we shall lose our distant prospect towards the low slopes of the chiltern incline, beyond the edges of london

they say the buildings will be temporary ... three years only ... because the space they occupy must be made available for a play area

hmmm ! wasn't hadrian's wall temporary ?

http://www.elliott-school.org.uk/_files/66D14D277842D144432DA00E5A121604.pdf

disturbing and distasteful

spanish fire fighters protesting against the new conservative government's economic policies in the city of la coruna

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=497299180296666&set=a.313419795351273.96563.248513638508556&type=1&theater

deeply serious but highly recommended ... the "script" is beautiful

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jul/15/nostalgia-light-chile-pinochet-astronomers?INTCMP=SRCH

http://www.bfi.org.uk/news/sightsound/patricio-guzman-extended-interview/

after the rains ... new flowers, new leaves

a word of warning ... don't buy her prosecco from valdobbiadene ...

... she'll only want to drink it again !

busking by stealth in sabadell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBaHPND2QJg

Seid umschlungen, Millionen! Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt! Brüder, über'm Sternenzelt Muss ein lieber Vater wohnen. Seid umschlungen, Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt! Freude, schöner Götterfunken Tochter aus Elysium, Freude, schöner Götterfunken Götterfunken!

Be embraced, you millions! This kiss for the whole world! Brothers, beyond the star-canopy Must a loving Father dwell. Be embraced, This kiss for the whole world! Joy, beautiful spark of the gods, Daughter of Elysium, Joy, beautiful spark of the gods Spark of the gods!

their prosecco is very easy to drink but not nearly cheap enough to do so frequently

remember lads, on her birthday, the only right and proper thing ...

... is to buy her a fitch

anton chekhov wrote ...

I am neither liberal, nor conservative, nor gradualist, nor monk, nor indifferentist. I would like to be a free artist and nothing else…. Pharisaism, dullwittedness, and tyranny reign not only in merchants’ homes and police stations. I see them in science, in literature, among the younger generation. That is why I cultivate no particular predilection for policemen, butchers, scientists, writers or the younger generation. I look upon tags and labels as prejudices. My holy of holies is the human body, health, intelligence, talent, inspiration, love and…freedom from violence and lies, no matter what form the latter two take.

great heavens, holmes ! the ruthless devious cunning mastermind has installed her own plan chest ...

and she's just written out the labels for the drawers ...

"rule the world in easy stages, one to six ... "

never went in to a charity shop and found this dress ... YET

i suppose its easy when you know how ... oscar peterson and count basie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3drqJ1bUmEA

euro soccer latest ... italians martyred again ... back to the drawing board, lads !