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I found myself writing about noise…

We went away on holiday, an hour inland from the French west coast, and found ourselves near peace, nature, space… for just a few days.
It’s true one man’s heaven is another man’s hell, but it’s also true that heaven can be a place on earth.
Marais Poitevin; a glimpse of a peace, the only sounds, the wind, birds, and goats…
Home-grown tomatoes, French cheese, black pepper, and honey… beer and strawberries.
It’s not polished, it’s not packaged, not in the brochures, just simply there..
We were thankful.

Peace? The absence of noise?
“Well what’s noise?” says the wife “I can hear the wind…”
“Clutter…” I say.
No clutter, to hear just the wind, briefly, the breath, the spirit of the moment… without reserve…
“I thought you were reading your book?” she says…
I can’t. There’s too much peace. Pacifique. I think I read books to distract me from the noise. To give a little shape to the chaos. So, I can’t read right now… it’s too quiet.

However, the silence is accompanied by the ever-present tinnitus. The still waters hide the invasive American crayfish; toppled trees lie as memorials from past storms. And it’s hotter than hell in paradise. I drink another bottle of water after pouring a glug of it over my head.
An orange butterfly flits between the verdant vegetation. An otter breaks the surface and scuttles across the river. A small deer has been standing still as a statue until I see it, and as he realises I’ve seen him, he bounds away. Dragonflies and kingfishers…

‘The noise hides the silence. It does not destroy the silence.‘
Charles de Leusse

The clutterful noise will return, have no doubt. I guess it’s our response to noise that might make the difference.

Three days later we were sat overlooking the sea, pondering the je ne sais quoi of the French joie de vivre. It all just seems a tad more beautiful. The French reply “d’accord” where we might reply “OK”, the local way seems just a little more harmonious. Accord means “agreement”. When used in a musical sense, it means ‘harmony’; chord. I agree, in harmony. Our ‘OK’ seems just to mean ‘OK’.

Taking time away from our noisy habits and routines can highlight different ways of being. We’re grateful for ‘time out’, to notice ‘rests’ and the spaces between the noise.

True peace is just too big to explain; it’s too small a thing to pinpoint and fully grasp.

As is so often the case, we return again to Mr Keats;

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
    Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,
    Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone…
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,”—that is all
        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

Bruit
‘Le bruit cache le silence. – Il ne détruit le silence.’
Charles de Leusse
‘The noise hides the silence. It does not destroy the silence. ‘


Très bon café
Un jour parfait.

************************************
On another note, some noise:

To cut a long story short;
We have had a great time in France; countryside, coast and city. But halfway through, the car broke down. Taken away by breakdown service. Over two days in the planned hotel, we are told by the ‘Breakdown Agent’ that the car will not be fixed by the time we planned to return on the ferry. Hire car provided. But still, no, the car will not be fixed in time. Anxious few days, discussions with ‘breakdown agent’ about leaving car in France, repatriation(?), returning by train to collect car at a later date! LOL! Taxi to Caen and foot passenger with significant luggage on ferry, train from Portsmouth to Leicester… brain was in clutterville! To say the least.
Up steps one of the nicest blokes I’ve had the pleasure to meet. A French friend that we know lived nearby. I phoned him. “Ne vous inquiétez pas!” he assures us we’ll sort it. Somehow?
The breakdown agent still repeatedly says the car will be fixed in 8 days; we travel back in 3 days. In short, we travel to the car at the garage with our friend to empty it for a taxi return home. Our friend has a 15-minute mediation to explain the complications of the 8-day delay. They say we’ll see what they can do, but can’t promise anything. On the day of our planned return, we plan to sleep over at friends, rebook a new ferry, etc, hoping that 8 days become 3…
Friend calls the garage. Against all expectations and odds, they have fixed the car.
Oh la la!!!. We drive to Caen!
We can’t thank our friend enough for the calm, friendly, beautiful way he helped us in our time of need. Belle humanité!
That’s the short version!

I’ve said before, it’s not all about the performance…

It’s about the act of singing, together.

This Sunday morning I had an opportunity to talk about Global Harmony Choir on a local radio station 103 The Eye in Melton Mowbray.

Sincere thanks to Steve, Patrick. and Christine, at 103 The Eye radio. You can listen to my attempt at summarising the joys of the choir here:

Radio Interview on 103 The Eye Melton, with Steve Kent

And if you’re free, Global Harmony, has a concert, this Friday 26th June in Melton!

But, it’s not all about the performance; it’s about the act of singing together. The whole thing’s bigger than the sum of its parts. Singing with these fine folk is a privilege.

Global Harmony choir sings a dynamic variety of world music in a fun, friendly, informal environment; songs that celebrate diverse cultures and the joy of singing. Exciting rhythms of Africa, stirring Eastern European harmonies, songs from around the world. More here: www.globalharmony.org.uk

So my tyres have given up after ~10,000 miles! That’s a tad over their expected ~5000 miles estimate. But take a look, I have ridden them to the limit!

The Schwalbe Road Cruiser Plus lists as “a highly durable, eco-friendly commuter and hybrid tyre”

• Green Compound, uses renewable and recycled raw materials without compromising on quality
• Puncture Protection: Features a 3 mm thick TwinSkin: An additional rubber coating on the sidewalls to protect against unsightly cuts.
• They are lighter, and cheaper, than the top of the range Marathon Plus.

These tyres have lasted me 3.3years – that’s almost 10,000 miles.

New shoes…

I ride 75 miles a week. 41 weeks/year, that’s ~3000miles/year. My cycle.

It’s worth mentioning that for the last few years, I have used Tannus Armour inside my tyres. They have served me very well. Only one puncture in 2 years, from an award-winning shard of glass. The Armour will be refitted inside my new tyres.

Read about my past experience here Tannus 

So new shoes for the bike. Onwards!

Simple idea found here: Butterfly Business Card

A little engaging tactile thought reinforcement for our Intervention Hub Scholars:

I’ve said it before; ReproGraphics

Repro; copying and reproduction of documents and printed material.

Graphics; creating imagery and visual material to communicate significance. 

It’s more than just repro…

It’s been a while since I made notes about my bike use. So here’s an update.

It’s been three years since I moved to e-bike after more than ten years on a regular bike.

I sold my car back in 2012. Since 2011 I have cycled roughly 45,000miles over 15 years.

This week the e-bike’s odometer clicked over 9000 miles. 

E-bike; 3 years: 9000 miles
Cycling; 15 years: 45,000 miles

I have written extensively about bike use, so I’m not going to waffle on again.

I’ll just repeat what’s been said before  

Riding a bike:
You will save money.
You will get fitter and be healthier.
Over time, you will start to see the world differently.

You can read more here: my cycling experience

I will reiterate one of the reasons I cycle: it saves money.

Read more here: commute costs

Commute by Car 29mins, £14/week +costs,
Commute by Bike 34mins £1/week +costs. <20p electric*.
Commute by Bus 55mins £25/week +patience.

With current fuel costs in April 2026:
7.5 miles @ 7.5mpl,
£1.93/litre, costs £1.93 each way,
That’s saving £19 / week.

Happier commuting! NEVER CYCLE

My usual daily activity, ‘graphic repro’, in secondary school, sees me juggling quantities and deadlines, and is quite reliant on certainties* and specifics. Design new branded pages for page 1-7, change all the words ‘cheese’ to say ‘chocolate’ on page 21, replace questions 4-7 with the attached, and produce 10 sets of 33, A3 folded to A4 saddle-stitched booklets, delivered to Room 2.12, for 5pm tomorrow.
It’s good to have a break from the certainties.
*Having said that sometimes a little mind reading is required #YouKnowWhoYouAre 😁 It’s all good.

I’ve recently read a few good books, and we’ve also seen a few good films. The stories drew me into their worlds, their characters, their relationships and emotions. Things resonated, and maybe caused perceptions to shift a tad.

It is said ‘To tell a story is to cast a spell…’.

“go, said the bird: human kind cannot bear very much reality.” T.S. Eliot

We all love a bit of certainty, where would we be without it?

It’s been said before, we seek patterns, routines, shapes, forms, to make meaning from the ambiguity around us. Spells. Just words will do. Two words will form an idea. A harmony and a rhythm will shape a feeling. “April, in Paris, they said nothing, but ascended, pivoted, and pirouetted… with minds and hearts full…”

Yet… the ever-present ideas, tintinnabuli, reverberating in our consciousness are rarely enough, the resolutions are just glimpses of certainty… we do need to make space for the ambiguous gaps in between, the pauses, the still points, the unsignified, the reality.

To quote a line from a recent film, “serenity is something you get when you stop wishing…” ‘Sound of Metal’ 2019

And a line from a recent book, “His decision to live small made him larger than life.” ’Theo of Golden’ by Allen Levi

Here’s to a little ambiguous incertitude.

But, yes, I’m seeking the next good story.

Ancient texts say, “the young will have visions and the old will dream dreams.”

I recently had a vivid dream about the old days; days before Canva*(argh!), before Adobe CC, before QuarkXP, before Pagemaker, before desktop publishing, yes, before computers! Back when I trained as a print studio artworker, we did it all with a scalpel and hot wax.

In the ’80s, lick-n-stick was the phrase that described what we did. Using hot wax, we compiled type and graphics on art-boards, juggling scalpels, type-gauges and temperamental typesetters, we spec’ed photo transparencies, and mastered PMT.

We measured in picas and ems. We specified every item needed on the page before it was realised. It was all created in black and white, and CMYK & Spots were specified via overlay. I recall repetitive photo-mechanical transfer in the dark room, the stress of pleasing Gina and Linda, the typesetters, or making do with insufficient Letraset. Ah… Poppl Exquisit, it’s all coming back to me!

There was an art to pleasing the pre-press print planning department. Who dared to ask KT and his sunshine band of planners to compile a dozen vignettes or graduated tints? Dare we ask him for a 85% tint? “Bloody 80 or 90 will bloodywell do ya boy!” Ah, what fun.

I remember the apprehension and nerves as we ventured into the Creative Director’s lair, expecting our labour of love to be discarded with a mumbled comment about the “Seven Sacred Principles of Design”. Spectrum Design and Print, St. Ives; they were good times.

This was all before desktop publishing as we know it. The only computers in the building were in accounts and the typsetters. 

A lot has happened since then. I emigrated from Cornwall to England and discovered creative jouissance, post-modernism, and ‘The Lodge’ in Alsager, Manchester Metropolitan University’s country playground. I graduated in 1995, I moved to Leicestershire, and life took over.

Since then, we’ve been through Aldus Pagemaker, QuarkXPress, Adobe AI, ID, PS, etc, Creative Cloud in its many forms, and horrifically, we now see the delights of Canva*.  

It was a more physical analog time. I greatly value learning about the essence of it all before computers took over and automated things.

The skilled jobs between the print designer and the lithographer are now extinct. I fondly remember; Designer* Cathal, Artworker Tim, Typesetter Gina, Proofreader Brian, Film-separation Karl, Platemaking Ken… all can now be ‘done’ by anyone, on their phones. *Unfortunately, you really can tell when the ‘design’ step has been automated.

In 2016, I moved from working directly in the print/publicity industry to working in secondary schools in Leicestershire. It’s been 10 years, I’m 57 years old, I’m still learning, and dreaming.