oops

must remember to blog...





street art in Brighton, July 2009

time

Our clocks changed last night, so having slept till 8am (old "summer" time), I was then reminded of the time change and realised that it was now only 7am (new "winter" time).



I spoke to my sister this morning. She'd not been too impressed with waking at 5.30 am (new time) - far too early for a Sunday morning.

Well maybe that serves her right for being so organised as to change her clocks ahead of time and before going to bed.



I, on the other hand, was quite delighted to realise that my morning had an extra hour in it - it feels like an unexpected free gift.
Though maybe there will be a cost to pay later this evening....


Ah well, I guess I'll need to take my bike lights for cycling home from work tomorrow.

traffic

NYC cabs, August 2008



I'm boringly busy i'm afraid and hence not very sociable, blogwise.
I shall endeavour to do better soon.



Theme Thursday

Climate Change

Collected thoughts.




The Thames Flood Barrier is just down the road from where I live and I regularly cycle past it.

Its a constant reminder of the possible / probable consequences of global warming for London.



Last time I cycled past it the barrier was up for its regular testing. "Gates" slide up from the river bed between these "towers", forming a solid barrier - 30 metres tall at the highest point. It looked eerie and portentous - a wall across the river.

I can't help being glad that I live on the "right" side of the barrier, and also up a hill.



I'm not proud of that fact (the being glad, rather than living the right side....).

I found it sobering though not surprising that James Lovelock - one of the early prophets of the green movement - thinks that we have left it all too late.



I also sometimes wonder if our concern with ecology isn't ultimately self-centred and self-absorbed, another symptom of our anthropocentrism - we care about the consequences of our actions because they affect us not because they affect the earth. The earth will not be bothered if we expire from those consequences. The earth will adapt, and survive, and continue without us.

I enjoyed very much Margaret Atwood's book Oryx and Crake which presents some interesting projections about our use and abuse of science and the environment. Some of the ideas and images have stayed with me. I plan to read the "sequel" (-ish, not quite apparently) Year of the Flood.



A Theme Thursday post
also see Blog Action Day - Climate Change

I will be away this weekend and so it may take me a while to get around and visit your blogs... sorry, I'll try and catch up with you soon.

silent sunday

oops just realised I've already posted before the photo I put up this morning.

So here is a different one....






Fern in the Glasgow Botanic gardens.

Collection

Not so long ago I confessed my button habit - one of my favourite collections.


Another favourite is stones. I cannot CANNOT walk on a beach without picking up stones and I still have stones which I collected on family holidays as a teenager. I have a chunk of marble and pyrite which I remember picking up and carrying on a long hike up Ben Lomond and back down again, in Scotland ....
(sorry short of time, otherwise I'd post a photo of it, it is particularly beautiful)


Some of my stones lie in little places around the house


But most of them now have found a home in the garden



around my girl shed.


The granite stones with marble stripes and patterns mostly come from Jersey, the Channel Islands. Though some of the marbley ones come from childhood holidays in the Lake District. I could tell you which are which too.... Memory is bizarre sometimes.




The stones with holes in them come from beaches on the East and South Coast of England - especially Bexhill and Brighton.



The girl shed is looking a little autumnal and slightly neglected now and I've not seen any frogs in the frog pool for weeks.

But the stones will be there all winter, being lovely.




Theme Thursday - Collection

leaf love

I was working in the kitchen last week - loading or unloading the washing machine I think, its a constantly hungry beast - and with a little breeze, this came fluttering through the open door.

I think maybe someone I love was thinking of me.

Flight

Flight or falling? Whats the difference?




Neither is possible without letting go.



Coming or going?






Sometimes the only way to see the view is from the air.








And here are some other flying things.

Bats in the South of France - my friends house was right on their flight path.
I think my number one super-power of choice would be teleportation - but flight would come a close second.



Apologies to those of you who have seen this 2nd video before - though it was some time ago. The action starts just after half way through....



Starlings preparing to roost under Eastbourne pier.



a Theme Thursday post