insomniac photography ( part 999 )

history ... out with the old ! ...

although it took me a month to get to page 573,

i wish i could have read this wonderful book in 1984 when it was first published

and it is a mystery why the labour government never got around to honouring the lady

... even though there is no mention in the text of the saltonstall wives depicted on the cover

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

... and in with the new - ish !

at the font, the suggested names of "lucifer parmentier" were greeted with perplexity

intolerable cruelty

Floating upwards from a night of dreams into voluptuous consciousness, just before dawn certain localized sharp movements and non-verbal vocalizations alert me to the loved one’s wakefulness, and so I venture to speak.

“I dreamed I woke up on my day off and someone made me a cup of tea.”

She whose given middle name is Sardonique, replies.

“That was only a dream.”

Chinese winter sports ... a mystery wrapped in a puzzle wrapped inside an enigma ...

Clearly, he thinks he's hard, but look at those nancy-boy gloves, and he's only playing against a bunch of women.

clearly modelled by the young george clooney

apropos de nuffinque a l'annee prochaine

oh, what a grey day !

there's no cure for my insomnia ...

all the world's a stage ...

a sunny sunday morning, and i'm refractorily olfactory and f-f-f-freezing !

Even on the coldest night, although they are blackened and are drooping up to their necks in deep frozen drifts of snow, you can still smell the lavender.

A shrunken old man, in freshly ironed clothes that are now two sizes larger than himself and wearing improbably shiny shoes, gets on to the bus … and he’s reeking of mothballs.

Hungry and returning from a freezing hour on the Common, walking through a wide empty space between some anonymous tenements, I am taunted by the smell of bacon being wantonly fried by invisible sociopathic housewives.

left out in the cold ... the car she forgot to buy me ...

let's get this party started

any resemblance between me and father christmas is purely superficial ..

brrr !

the last few weeks at work have been hectic and exhausting

and somehow, i failed to send a single christmas card

of course, each of you was top of my list ...

love and best wishes to you all xxx

from today's edition of the world's best newspaper ...

... had we known sooner, we might have sent one to each of our customers

certain companies can't get the staff ...

the view towards pilstye farm as you travel from cuckfield towards balcombe

some red lights heading towards clapham junction from queenstown road

sixty-one articles

folowing lucy's introduction to the topic, but without having studied the others' lists ...

http://box-elder.blogspot.com/2010/12/49-articles.html

1                  Let the people who matter know why they matter.

2                  Dare yourself to do things.

3                  Challenge yourself to understand things.

4                  Warm dry comfortable shoes and warm dry comfortable beds will make you happy.

5                  Violence and bombast are futile … I know !

6                  Don’t be a fashion victim.

7                  When in the slightest doubt, seriously consider getting advice or help.

8                  If anyone tries to intimidate you … ask them if that is really their intention.

9                  A spare pair of spectacles is often handy.

10                Clip those toenails regularly.

11                Stop and listen to that bird’s song. 

12                Education will never be as expensive as ignorance.

13                Experiments may fail, but your willingness to experiment is vital.

14                If you can’t write it, see if maybe you can sketch it.

15                You’ve only got one liver.

16                Articulate your ideas … you often won’t know what you think until you’ve said it out loud.

17                Music invokes virtues.

18                What is this life, if full of care we have no time to stand and stare ?

19                How many languages have you really listened to ?

20                Don’t be shy.

21                Seek to experience every kind of harmony.

22                Marvel at the human eye and brain.

23                Try to keep up with new ideas, even though you don’t have to agree with them.

24                George, don’t do that !

25                Get outside and smell that wood smoke.

26                Always kick off your shoes and wiggle your toes in the sand … that’s what they were made for.

27                Rest whenever your body or your mind tells you to.

28                Keep your sunny side up !  Up !

29                Join in sometimes, even if you really can’t dance.

30                Courtesy costs nothing.

31                Travel slowly where possible to explore and discover.

32                There’s often some method in their apparent madness.

33                A little polite scepticism will often be necessary.

34                May the best team win: because the game is more important than the players.

35                Can you articulate your values and your principles clearly and concisely for the benefit of people who won’t or can’t ?

36                It is never too soon to say sorry.

37                Know your weaknesses before others discover them.

38                Render unto Caesar …

39                Beware of slippery slopes, some are longer and steeper than you might suppose.

40                Even a little kindness will go a long way.

41                Beware of biting off more than you can chew.

42                Pilgrimage needn’t be religious.  It can be cultural or intellectual or spiritual or just plain hedonistic … the journey’s the thing.

43                Be slow to anger … count to ten, or some greater number if necessary.

44                Russell: Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.

45                Russell: Do not think it worthwhile to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.

46                Russell: Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.

47                Russell: When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your spouse or your children, endeavour to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.

48                Russell: Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.

49                Russell: Do not use power to suppress the opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions may suppress you.

50                Russell: Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

51                Russell: Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.

52                Russell: Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.

53                Russell: Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.

54                Never spontaneously argue with gravity, or with momentum.  When an irresistible force such as me meets an immovable object like you …

55                More haste will often result in less speed.

56                Go easy on the salt.

57                Your personal hygiene is never a private matter.

58                Help others to become themselves, for no one is complete.

59                Never be too proud to say “I don’t know !”

60                Wherever you go you will discover people who are more diligent, more caring, more talented than you can imagine.  Be prepared !

61                Let there be light !