Last January, I wrote about how I keep track of ideas for topics to write about. I said, when I have an idea, I create a “ticket” a bit like a “bug ticket” in a software development process, to keep track of it. What I didn’t say, though, is something that applies to writing ideas just as much as to bugs: it’s important to be descriptive. Things you think, now, are always going to be seared in your mind, will be over and gone in a few hours. Unfortunately, when I create a “writing ticket”, I will often only write down a few words and rely on my memory to know what the post was actually going to be about. When I come back to it later: baffled.
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Keyword noise: Sweden, Stockholm, Norrström, metaphor, Mälaren, water.
Or, the mountains and the lowlands
Published at 5:12 pm on March 2nd, 2021
Filed under: Dear Diary.
When I was younger, when most of the books I had were ones The Mother had bought from the local library’s “Withdrawn Stock” pile, one book she bought me was a 1960s beginners guide to going camping. I probably still have it, somewhere, although I’m not sure exactly where. It didn’t assume you would be going purely for the sort of camping we did, where you stayed on nice regular smooth green pitches, oh no. It covered the whole gamut from that sort of camping to wild camping, cycle touring, canoe camping, mountaineering, any sort of camping you might imagine. From it, I learned tips I’ve never come near to trying in real life, such as how to light a petrol stove,* or how to cook meat by strapping it to your car’s engine. I learned that in Scotland, you may have to sign the Poisons Register at your local chemists in order to buy meths, and that if you’re worried about camping near wild animals you can buy a tent to pitch on top of your car’s roof. One factoid from this book has stuck in my mind ever since, because of its gnomic inscrutability.
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Keyword noise: Cymru, Wales, water, dŵr, afon, river, Afon Ebwy, River Ebbw, mountains, mynyddoedd, camping, gwersyllaf.
The combination of being back at work, and the ongoing pandemic situation (particular disastrous in this misgoverned country) means that photography at the moment is limited to things we can photograph whilst walking-for-exercise (if it was walking-for-fun it would be strictly forbidden, of course). Luckily, there are enough interesting views within walking distance that it doesn’t have to be a completely fallow period. Last weekend, when it was cold, I took the camera out and have already posted here the photos I took of Ridgeway Park Cemetery. However, as it was such a cold and icy day, there were plenty of others too. Being an inner city area, we naturally have dystopian motorway overpasses…
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Keyword noise: photography, Bristol, Easton, Eastville, Eastville Park, winter, water.
In which we stare into a big hole
Published at 10:10 am on January 15th, 2009
Filed under: Dear Diary.
Following Monday’s post about a burst water main: I should probably point out that someone did turn up, the following day. A whole team of contractors turned up, and dug a rather large, and deep, hole across the road. They pumped out gallons and gallons of dirty water, filled the gutters with silt, and then the water stopped flowing. Presumably, they fixed it.
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Keyword noise: Bristol, hole, leaking, roadworks, strata, water.
In which we photograph the deep blue sea
Published at 9:32 am on November 14th, 2008
Filed under: Photobloggery, The Family.
I grew up not far from the sea. I didn’t go down to the beach or the seafront very often, but I was close enough that you could see out to sea from the top deck of my school bus. I’ve always felt good by the sea.*
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Keyword noise: art, boats, Carrick Roads, Cornwall, Falmouth, feedback, fishermen, genealogy, Gyllyngvase, harbour, holiday, Pete Dolby, photography, Porthminster, sea, smugglers, St Ives, summer, water.
In which we enjoy ourselves on the Baltic
Published at 6:21 pm on February 14th, 2008
Filed under: Dear Diary.
In which we stand by the riverside
Published at 8:40 pm on February 8th, 2008
Filed under: Photobloggery.
“Water” was the title of a photography series I did back at school, back when I was 17 and in the darkroom, wearing torn, fixer-stained jeans,* and getting my Art GCSE. I spent the February bank holiday travelling round the Pennines with the parents, taking photos of waterfalls; then augmented it with studio shots of dripping water against a dark background.
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Keyword noise: photography, Richmond, river, River Swale, water, waterfall, Yorkshire.
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