Boat for sale: licenced over the weekend...
Monday 31 May 2021
Sunday 30 May 2021
Saturday 29 May 2021
Great Dixter...
The gardens at Great Dixter, Northiam, East Sussex: licenced during the end-of-the-month flurry of sales…
Thursday 27 May 2021
McDonalds...
Another licence today for a branch of McDonalds by night... though my fee would barely cover the cost of a Big Mac, fries and a Galaxy Caramel McFlurry...
Tuesday 25 May 2021
Monday 24 May 2021
Is it rolling, Bob?...
Everybody else is writing about Bob Dylan - it’s his 80th birthday today - so I’ll take my turn too. The first time I heard him sing - or trying to sing - must have been in 1962, when I was eleven. My sister Kari had been given a copy of his first eponymous LP. I had a listen, but it sounded terrible. In 1964 I heard The Times They Are a-Changin’ on the radio. I was intrigued, though it sounded, at first, like a novelty song by some old American guy. It wasn’t until the release of Blonde on Blonde - the first double album, the first gatefold sleeve - in 1966, that I ‘got’ Dylan.
The first single I ever bought was A Scottish Soldier by haggis-botherer Andy Stewart. The B side was I Won't Go Huntin' with You Jake (But I'll Go Chasin' Wimmin). Blonde on Blonde was the first LP I bought: a distinct improvement in my musical taste. I cycled from Uppingham School to a record shop in Corby, and cycled back with the LP taped to the frame of the bike. I played those four sides on my Dansettle record player, one after another, trying to decipher the enigmatic lyrics (and the equally enigmatic album sleeve). I bought more Dylan albums, in reverse order. Like “Mr Jones”, on Ballad of a Thin Man (Highway 61 Revisited) I knew that “something is happening here but you don't know what it is”.
Now, all those years later, I’m listening to Rough and Rowdy Ways (his 39th studio album). Happy birthday, Bob, and thanks for the musical companionship. It’s not dark yet… but it’s getting there…
Maldon, Essex...
Midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum played his last game for Liverpool yesterday. "God", he said, “has other plans for me". Interesting. I wonder what alternative plans God might have for a Premier League footballer whose contract has expired. Will the Almighty find Wijnaldum another club? Will he help to negotiate the new contract?
Boats on the Blackwater estuary...
Sunday 23 May 2021
Saturday 22 May 2021
Friday 21 May 2021
Rowhedge...
Back home today after a very enjoyable trip down south, and making a start on editing the pix I took. This is the village of Rowhedge, and the River Colne, in Essex...
Thursday 20 May 2021
Wednesday 19 May 2021
Tuesday 18 May 2021
Lakenheath Fen...
Licenced this shot last week of Lakenheath Fen, an RSPB reserve in Suffolk. And I was there yesterday, watching fifty hobbies feasting on dragonflies. Amazing!...
Monday 17 May 2021
Saturday 15 May 2021
Friday 14 May 2021
Howden Minster...
Licenced today: an artwork in front of Howden Minster, a couple of miles from Asselby...
Thursday 13 May 2021
Wednesday 12 May 2021
Tuesday 11 May 2021
Goole...
New homes are being built at an astonishing rate, between Goole and the motorway. The town itself may be at its lowest ebb right now, but the reinvention of Goole as the ‘northern riviera’ is surely just a matter of time…
Monday 10 May 2021
Burgh-by-Sands...
Licenced today: the old rectory next to St Michael's, a fortified church in the village of Burgh-by-Sands, North Cumbria...
Sunday 9 May 2021
Saturday 8 May 2021
Country churches...
I see no contradiction - though others might - in an atheist seeking out old country churches. These two are new to me: All Saints church in Kirby Underdale and St Mary’s, Westow, an intriguing mile away from the community it serves…
Friday 7 May 2021
The Guardian...
Founded in 1821, the Guardian is celebrating 200 years of independent journalism. I just read an article about some of their mis-steps. When the Indian mutiny broke out in 1857, the leader column thundered that England must retain “unfaltering confidence in our right to rule over the native population by virtue of inherent superiority”. The paper sided with the Confederacy in the American Civil War. In June 1914, according to an editorial, “It is not to be supposed that the death of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand will have any immediate or salient effect on the politics of Europe”. Errors of scientific understanding resulted in a 1927 article which promoted the virtues of asbestos; another article, half a century later, warned of an impending ice age. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Retail therapy in Tadcaster...
Thursday 6 May 2021
Meltonby...
Read a story today, on the BBC website, about Essa Khan, a four-year-old lad who phoned the police on his mum’s phone, after she’d had a seizure and collapsed. He knew to phone 999, because the number was printed on the bonnet of his toy police car. Having traced the call, the police didn’t need to break the door down, because Essa passed them the keys through the letterbox (after checking it really was the police). Once treated by paramedics, Charlotte Khan was fine. “I am gobsmacked by what Essa did”, she said. “I just can't believe it”. The police will call again… to present the boy with an award.
Houses in Meltonby, this morning, before rain stopped play...
Wednesday 5 May 2021
Tuesday 4 May 2021
Monday 3 May 2021
Sunday 2 May 2021
Carlton Towers...
I had my first visit - this morning, market day - to Carlton Towers, one of Yorkshire's less impressive stately homes...
Saturday 1 May 2021
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