Wednesday, August 28, 2013

at robert & edwards butcher shop in oxted, chris is the man in charge ...

















... no doubt there are tongues in oxted that might benefit from pickling ...

Sunday, August 25, 2013

what are friends for ? rock the pueblo, jorge !























http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpZjvbSC9_M

a quote from walter benjamin ...

To historians who wish to relive an era, Fustel de Coulanges recommends that they blot out everything they know about the later course of history.

There is no better way of characterizing the method with which historical materialism has broken. It is a process of empathy whose origin is the indolence of the heart, acedia, which despairs of grasping and holding the genuine historical image as it flares up briefly. Among medieval theologians it was regarded as the root cause of sadness.

Flaubert, who was familiar with it, wrote:

‘Peu de gens devineront combien il a fallu ĂȘtre triste pour ressusciter Carthage.’*

* ‘Few will be able to guess how sad one had to be in order to resuscitate Carthage.’

The nature of this sadness stands out more clearly if one asks with whom the adherents of historicism actually empathize. The answer is inevitable: with the victor. And all rulers are the heirs of those who conquered before them. Hence, empathy with the victor invariably benefits the rulers.

Historical materialists know what that means. Whoever has emerged victorious participates to this day in the triumphal procession in which the present rulers step over those who are lying prostrate. According to traditional practice, the spoils are carried along in the procession. They are called cultural treasures, and a historical materialist views them with cautious detachment. For without exception the cultural treasures he surveys have an origin which he cannot contemplate without horror. They owe their existence not only to the efforts of the great minds and talents who have created them, but also to the anonymous toil of their contemporaries.

There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism. And just as such a document is not free of barbarism, barbarism taints also the manner in which it was transmitted from one owner to another. A historical materialist therefore dissociates himself from it as far as possible. He regards it as his task to brush history against the grain.

Ennit ?












to quote more than one dearly departed friend ... i am NOT an addict ! i can give it up ANY time i like !


Saturday, August 24, 2013

i fancy a swim in dorset before summer's end ...


creatures of habit ...

















long before sunrise, there is a minute's disorientation and delay whilst i am preparing Her-indoors' first cup of earl grey ... her old porcelain mug with the chintzy roses has been given the elbow and i have a sleep-walker's blind spot for the new one with lickle birds ... and i, being born a creature of hard-to-break-habit, will never ever ever be able to throw out my old tea-stained velasquez ... eventually the tea gets made and the new cup stands cooling in the near darkness besides her sleeping shadow





Thursday, August 22, 2013