Friday, September 13, 2013

simon verity's gravestone for john betjeman























... and, as far as i could see, he never signed his work

Sunday, September 8, 2013

brainstorming new ideas for alternative energy sources ... treadmills for toddlers ( part ii )















this looks like the ideal site

i'm not completely happy with my previous visualizations for this project

the idea of remote creches where there is plenty of scope for fresh air and noise abatement is important

i once thought of franchising THE NATIONAL CRECHE in the Outer Hebrides but didn't take the idea further because every project needs a little more capital than i could access

maybe we can start up some pilot treadmill farms so that the kiddies can pay for the cost of their own daycare

i'm certain we can rent land off The National Grid adjacent to their existing power stations and distribution sub-stations

in fact the treadmills could be set up INSIDE the barbed wire ...

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Monday, September 2, 2013

try a little tenderness ... well, am i the lucky one, or what ?

















dennis perez, who i am lucky enough to see for a few minutes most days whilst we check in the delivery at alpha/faraday road at six in the morning, has just brought me some

Pimientos de Padrón from his mother's native village of Herbón 


... and a special galician wine from the neighbourhood


go on ! click on the links ...

http://spanishfood.about.com/od/seasonalspanishfoods/a/padronpeppers.htm

http://spanishfood.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=spanishfood&cdn=food&tm=23&f=00&su=p284.13.342.ip_p830.11.342.ip_&tt=2&bt=5&bts=83&zu=http%3A//revista.consumer.es/web/es/20110901/actualidad/informe1/76081.php

http://www.terrasgauda.com/#terras_gauda/terras_gauda


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 être 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

Friday, August 16, 2013

3BT ... no ! 4 !!!























Four swallows shoulder to shoulder on a wire

A blackbird feeding her enormous squeaking fledgling

In the back of the bus, but not together, four smart young wimmin with freckles and ginger hair

Lastly, lots of cards and texts and e-mails for my birthday ... thanxxx you'all

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

The question of ... what was the question ?



















Yesterday afternoon, at the end of quite a long and unnecessarily physical shift, I parked the truck and took the day’s paperwork up to the office.  Then I hung the keys of the truck on a little hook in the keys’ cupboard.  

Finally, as if somnabulent, I neatly hung my own set of house keys on the adjacent hook, and went home without them.  Hmmm !   

Today, a customer named Paul recommended the services of an organization in Switzerland named Dignitas.  

I could see his point.

It’ll be OK, I told him, as long as they have nice curtains; you know the sort of thing …

We thought a little motto embroidered on some fancy scroll-work might look nice ...

"Diende tempore felicius"

she's just got back from belgium ...