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Morning Puja?

This morning was a very normal morning. Overcast, mild, a normal ride in down very normal back streets with very normal people…

I have recently been reminded to be aware of people*.

This morning I breakfasted with my young family; a fraught affair with spillages, tantrums, laughter, worries, sharing and hopes.
(I have been remined every supper with them – even just a bowl of cornflakes – is precious beyond all telling. Check Frederick Buechner’s reflection.)
During breakfast I found myself smiling inexplicably at the dog, he was just causing me to smile involuntarily – those of you that know me will know that I don’t smile inexplicably, not inside at least.

Halfway through my 7 mile trip into work, riding down a normal Leicester backstreet, I passed by an elderly lady in Asian (Hindu) dress, sari & the like, she was outside her front door, holding a small brass or copper coloured pot** up to sky, from the pot she was pouring water steadily onto the pavement…

Tweet: ‪#‎leicester‬ normal back street, Asian lady pouring liquid from copper pot** holding up to the sky… Inexplicable laughter, smiles and tears.

Harrison Road Leicester

All I can say is as I rode on, physically i felt utter joy, inner smile, warmth, brightness welling up inside me. I smiled, i audibly laughed and tears welled up as I continued.

The day was still grey and the bin lorry ahead was trailing musty decay but the bin men smiled and life or something inexplicable filled the air.

There had been no preliminary hysteria, psychological practice, no hypnotic stimuli, no music, no interaction, it came through a grey normal, regular, routine, moment.

Could I capture this thing that was passing? No. Google it***; but you won’t find it.

I toyed with the idea of returning and taking a picture of the lady… but it all passed… moments later I was in a different place, the world settled back to another street, cars, people, metal, stone, colours, smells, routine – normality … but stained with the taint of something bigger.

Have a good day.

*People who:
– who serve us in shops
– who make the things we use and enjoy
– who cook and serve when we go out for meals
– who clean the toilets at campsites, shops, restaurants, motorway services etc
– who grow, transport, prepare and sell the food we eat
– who build the roads and buildings we use.
– who teach our kids
– who look after us when we’re ill…

PS: I am reminded of Brian Draper’s unconscious simple steps; Stop, Relax, Breathe, Smile.  Reach out to grasp {glimpse} eternal things… 

** Kamarwiki/Lota
** Puja

*** Woman Pouring Water During Morning Puja

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Escape and the wild…

StIvesBayEscaping; can you and I make a difference? Construct or constrict?

I was talking with someone recently about people’s vulnerabilities, accepting and opening up to ‘others’, and how perhaps space that might allow our essential selves to simply breath ‘with others’ is increasingly less available in our current culture.

We build mechanisms, we wear uniforms, we sedate and stimulate ourselves, we clothe ourselves; to fit in with cultural norms.  Essential feeling and thought can be built on, weighed down, swamped, suffocated, buried or sealed in with synthetic habits and routines. Perhaps.

wackyracesOne could describe a ‘rat race’ is an endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit.

Perhaps similarly the 1970’s entertaining ‘Wacky Races’ stories see numerous characters racing against each other hoping to win the title of the “World’s Wackiest Racer.”

A recent spate of TV ‘entertainment’ programmes have focused on escaping to ‘the wild’ and nature.

Kevin McCloud in his ‘entertaining’ Escape to the Wild (Channel 4), talks about the “Crazy hamster wheel existence… there’s a bigger world out there…”

He suggests that at some level we all seek escape, beauty, paradise…

AutumnAtSeaThe program follows people ‘resilient’ and ‘prepared’ to pursue a pared down existence… in pastures new.  It highlights various people quitting wacky/rat races, often for a much wilder, more natural existence…  People moving towards a ‘wilderness’; the wilds, an uncultivated, uninhabited region?

While the human mind is significantly shaped by our culture, perhaps it must also be inspired by the wild natural world.  One could argue; we cannot understand ourselves without including our relationship with a wider natural. As Emerson said, “The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.”

But what of the ‘civilisation’ that we try to escape from? The people that we love, the people we hate, the people that have helped provide our education, our nurture, our bread, water, our trophies and treasures. What of the meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly shadows we attempt to leave behind.

We are essentially breathing, when we stop, we die. Perhaps when we just forget about simply breathing we also die a little. Perhaps our natural breath is all around us, both in the sunshine and the shadow.

It seems to me we often focus on the natural to see outside of our (constructed) selves… We can be like Beckett’s Hamm and Clov and pine that “Nature has forgotten us… There’s no more nature…” or perhaps we have forgotten the natural and just need to find it once more?

I recently watched Maidentrip, Laura Dekker’s truly inspiring film about her decision to pursue her dreams and to sail alone around the world at the age of 14!! Intriguing – lots of questions!  http://www.maidentrip.com/

A choice; construct or constrict? Only you and I make a difference.

 

Kevin McCloud and Escape to the Wild (Channel 4), can be seen here: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/kevin-mcclouds-escape-to-the-wild

Ben Fogle and New Lives In The Wild (Channel 5), can be seen here:
http://www.channel5.com/shows/ben-fogle-new-lives-in-the-wild

Arthur Williams and Flying to the Ends of the Earth (Channel 5), can be seen here:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/flying-to-the-ends-of-the-earth

Laura Dekker’s truly inspiring story Maiden Trip can be seen here: http://www.maidentrip.com/

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Bike Uncategorized

People on Bikes! Shock horror!

I recently had a few days in France and shock horror there were….  people riding bikes! Not a bike event or anything special, not ‘cyclists’ fuelled by Aldi Specials and Nutri-bars etc, just people going about their daily lives riding bikes! Shock horror! UK take note!

PeopleOnBikes

A joy to see.

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Why did the chicken cross the road?

As I say above, I {often} know not what I do. But occasionally stuff resonates, things seem clearer and we might sense a simple beauty that seems right, clean and bright.

Why did the chicken cross the road? Who knows?

I recall as a child enjoying a book: ‘Why does the glow worm glow?’ by E R Laithwaite.

I also recall, at about age 20, one evening in The Wig and Pen pub in Truro in Cornwall, an emotional alcohol fueled exchange about ‘the paralysis of analysis’ (do you remember that CS?).

yellowRecently, after a few weeks soaking up a je ne sais quoi in the Vendée region of France, stuff seems brighter.

It’s one thing to ‘be aware‘ and police one’s habits and routines, (and yes, instinct can be flawed) but beware of PofA, a dearth due to dissection.

Yes, ‘Wake up‘ by any means but don’t stop living in the hope that you might find life in all it’s fullness elsewhere. The birds don’t stop singing to find true life.

TheWarmthOfTheSunTo catch the sun’s rays a plant needs to open up.

Marvelously, glow worms simply(?) glow, especially in the darkest moments.

Dare I say, in the words of the Queen of Arendelle “let it go“?

Or preferably in the words of Van Halen “Jump!”

The children beautifully sing… tomorrow, tomorrow, the sun’ll come out…

Alluneedislove222The faithful simply sing… one day at a time…

And he packs his lunch in a sunblest bag,
the children call him Bogie…
and never thinks to mutter…

All you need is love?

My children and wife often display a simple beautiful unconditional love to me and I am most proud of them.

xJumpingInFranceSmall

 

Why did the chicken cross the road?
Perhaps simply, because ‘she loved’ the other side?

Go in… Jump!

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Damsel…

Damsel

 

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Natur-al

2015-06-25 19.35.23-2
an east-midlands sky…

i do wonder do u …?

I recall, at about 7 years-of-age, from my bedroom in west Cornwall, looking up out of my window at the sky.  I remember it as a significant moment where I perhaps first consciously pondered ‘stuff’. But as often is the case when in proper Cornwall, it was my perception of the ‘natural’ that I was in awe of.

I looked out again last night, 40 years on, at a similar sky, from our bedroom in north-east Leicestershire (“A cloud is a cathedral without belief”. Mark Strand). Again, nature enchants me both in its fruitfulness and its aimlessness.

Something eternally elusive about the immaterial mesmerism of life and a sense of biggerness.

It puzzles me that (it seems to me) the dominant forms of what is wonderful or beautiful is the ‘natural’ – Nature.

From traditional religion through modern-day spirituality and current mindful psychology, glory is found in our perception of the sunset, the bud, the delicate, and the magnificent, natural world.

Human efforts to build on nature’s tapestry can sparkle and excite but often they fade, or fail or are tainted with underlying pretension and oneupmanship.

Am I wrong? Generally, it seems ‘stuff’ (art & craft, song & dance) created to celebrate ‘goodness’, rarely involves human achievements and or activities?

Being-Alive-2If a spirit of go(o)d exists, empowering human goodness, why do we not more frequently see celebration of this?

  • Religions routinely celebrate all things beautiful, bright, resonant and mystical.
  • Infotainment celebrates “The Blue Planet” and “The Magical Forest”.
  • Visual Art celebrates our relationship with waterlilies, mountains, high seas, light, water and flesh.
  • Entertainment might play with the human condition and our constructs might have moments where a hysterical hand-clapping and synthetic mirth-laden joy cause ecstatic behaviour but more often than not “Beautiful Day” is followed by “how long must I sing this song?”.
  • ….perhaps it’s only in physical theatre and dance that we see celebration of human endeavour? I digress…

It seems to me we often focus on nature and the natural to see outside of ourselves…

As Emerson said, “The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.”

Margaret Fuller writes of Thoreau “He says too constantly of Nature, ‘she is mine.’ She is not yours till you have been more hers.”

Beckett’s Hamm and Clov deliberate “Nature has forgotten us… There’s no more nature … “

I long to see more than nature but alas…  “Is it not time for my pain-killer?”

**************************************************

A few days later I find a hint of the type of thing i am thinking of…

 

 

 

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Bike Uncategorized

On yer bike! Go on, you know it makes sense!

If you’ve followed my witterings about riding a bike to work, you’ll know it’s been 4 years now – through sun, rain, laughter and pain (well not so much pain as occasional f*$pp&*# exasperation).  It’s taken me 4 years but I have found, or rather eventually acknowledged yet another way…

  • In March 2011 I started riding a bike to work.
  • Back in August 2012 I considered Another way. I said then that the “new route has poor, fractured, token cycle lanes”
  • In November 2013 I was asked by the BBC “Did I think cycle infrastructure was a good idea?”
  • Last year April 2014 – we clocked about 9000 miles and in April this year, it was 4 years of bike instead of car.

Perceived “near misses” they may be but ask someone who’s been hit or injured by an un-miss and the bike rider comes off worse, often much worse.
I’ve decided it’s not worth it and taken the decision to ride an even more insouciant route – the alternative’s not worth the hassle.

wackyracesThe realisation that riding a bike is NOT the same as driving a motorised vehicle does take a shift in mindset. It’s not just a decision, it take a realisation.

We are brought up from the word go to experience the phenomenon of travel by motor vehicle.  Who remembers as a child, peering out of the window as parents drove to wherever and pretending to drive yourself?  Yes, at first opportunity I purchased a car.  A VW Beetle, after that I got another VW Beetle, then a Ford Orion, then a Mazda 626, a Ford Escort, then a Toyota ‘Sportif’, and yes I now after a year of going without, we are a two car family again and our run around is an old Ford Ka called Dotty (used about once or twice a week).

But thankfully I remember (with thanks) walking to school in the rain and getting drenched – remember the 1980’s Parka coats that took all day to dry – character building?  I remember fondly the paper-round where seasonal puddles came & went like clockwork.  Then the weekly summer rides to the beach on the bike with walkman and ironically the Beach Boys‘ Little Deuce Coupe in my ears. I digress…

Moving to riding a bike without the mindset or instinct of a ‘motorist’, (god is that what we are when we drive? Motorists? No, no more than a person on a bike is a cyclist! I digress again… ) Riding a bike as a human being without the trappings of cultural expectation and reaction is not easy.

Back to the point of the post, I have now moved off the main roads even more and it’s nice.

For a long time I’ve been using the first half of the route below, I’ve now adopted the second half…

Approaching Syston there’s a reasonable shared path…

After wending your way negotiating motorised traffic through syston (after the mocking white line on the road that suggests you should ride through the drains, debris and gutterage) there’s a shared path past Roundhill Academy…

After Roundhill and the Thurmoland roundabout there’s a good shared path around Thrummy.

Now the bit that takes some patience and tolerance – I wonder if the Council have plans to encourage people to cycle more? hummmm?

After Thrummy there’s a very poorly surfaced and disjunctive cyclepath(?) to Troon Way.

After Troon Way there’s a horrendous surface of the cyclepath(?) down Melton Road past Rushey Mead School.

After a wiggle through the park (which is nice) we have the community laden Harrison Road all the way down to rejoin the fun and frolics that is Catherine Street – don’t get me started on Catherine Street’s repeated daily illegal and dangerous driving, parking and speeding.

This new route takes negligibly longer than the previous weave through Rushey Mead, Gleneagles Drive and Catherine St.

As I say – I’ve decided it’s not worth it the risk – each to their own – for now I’m taking a more insouciant route – the alternative’s not worth the hassle.

Who’s up for a ride? Go on you know it makes sense!

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Some recent doodlings…

They come in waves… “can you do one of your of your eye-catching posters, I need them next week!”

In my 30 year’s of producing artwork for print, it’s more often than not “needed next week!”, if not tomorrow!

However, I’ve just produced these posters and flyers for various folks who, to give them their due, didn’t give me quite as tight a deadline.

RecentPosters


ManinaliftLRAlas creative colour theory, post-modern typography, artistic imagery, playful context, advanced semiotics, unorthodox layout etc is often prohibited when working for many utilitarian clients.  Despite advice and ambition often clients “know what they want” and heaven forbid if you veer from their desires. Of course the fine folks above just wanted a quick poster and that’s what’s been done.

What you’re trying to do with any visual medium is to generate an emotional response, a connection, a fascination, an engagement, an association, an excitement and hopefully a response.  All this can be achieved to various degrees with graphics, images, text, typefaces, colour and considered content.

It may seem easy – yes, making a cake is easy, but creating something that can be served to a host of guests and strangers; that will leave the desired lasting memory, that will generate a desired response, a decisive acknowledgement, and reciprocation… this is a tad trickier.

Community Poster Flyer
Posters a Flyers for Special Choir Concert
A0 Poster for Building Front
Posters a Flyers for Special FREE Choir Concert

 

If I can help you out, just give me a shout.

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Bike Uncategorized

Gr8 Walking App

Gr8 new walking app, well new to us anyway.

We’ve been tracking our walks etc with Strava ‘cos that’s what I used to use on my bike. But we recently wanted to follow a preset GPS (.gpx) route already mapped by derbyshirewalking.

A quick google and we found www.viewranger.com which can display routes, track your GPS position and track your movements.

cragg

Fantastic! Our android phones easily displayed the imported route, and an occasional quick check of the phone on route displayed our exact GPS position – even on a craggy outcrop (we were in the right place! 🙂 ) We have yet to play with it properly but it did the job on a quick jaunt around Bunster Hill.

Screen Shot 2015-05-29 at 09.40.31

Oh, and recommend this short circular walk from derbyshirewalking.co.uk– a bit of everything.

 

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Enchanted by star dust…

Enchanted by the je ne sais quoi I like many others ‘liked’ and was somewhat enamored but the image.

MoonLevelsjpg

I’d taken the dog outside for a tiddle in the back garden at 10.30pm and the moon was resplendently erumpent in the night sky. In today’s culture we feel drawn to capture something of the moment and I had to get my camera and see what i might capture. I guess in days gone by one may have sketched a picture or written a verse but the popular habit is of course to snap a pic.

I am aware that a more wholesome habit is to savour the moment and yes i did a little savouring and a little mindful of the trees, the sounds the lights and my place in things I moved on to play with shutter speeds etc and went back inside to see what i’d snapped.

Pleasantly surprised with the image, (I took 6) I proceeded to sharpen and adjust levels and settings, i masked the ‘light’ and adjusted the background and again I was surprised but what appeared!

I guess we’re loaded with cultural baggage about stars, light, and the wonderment of the firmament? Or is it a more inherent sense we have about the night sky, the unknown? I don’t know. But I do know that my initial reaction was one of wonder and wow and some kind of appreciative je ne sais quoi. As did many others on social media; we ‘like’ and ‘favourite’ the image with a natural(?) appreciative reaction. Of course we also had the delightful references to cheese, pasties and farley’s rusks 🙂

And then the dust settled and we woke up.

It seems the ‘stars’ are perhaps digital noise from the original picture; it’s been amplified by the software. As our friend and more importantly science-writer Sophie rightly pointed out “how does the star field fill in under the moon – the stars aren’t in front of it, and you’d think the moon’s sphere would block the starlight from behind?” And she’s right.

Moon

The enchantment somewhat dampened we are left with the original picture. Still quite engaging itself it perhaps is a lesson in perception, smoke and mirrors. All is not necessarily what it seems, even if the author of the material, opinion, facts or truths means well and truly believes in ‘twinkle punk’ at the bottom of the garden, we may have been mislead somewhere along the line by noise!

I’m all for enchantment but be careful out there dudes, in space no one can hear you scream!

🙂