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Ramblings

Lustleigh Gate - The Hall of Einar - photograph (courtesy of) David Bailey (not the)

The gate at Lustleigh Cleave

I’m a big fan of farmers. They’re an endless source of resourcefulness. Whether it’s emergency repairs, using recycled materials, or simple engineering …

Ludlow Castle - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Ludlow

I’ve wanted to visit Ludlow ever since reading AE Housman’s poetry in A Shropshire Lad when I was 18. It’s taken a …

Boomtown Fair - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Boomtown Fair portrait #2

Here’s another of my photographs from the immersive music festival Boomtown Fair, held in Hampshire. I love the energy of the place, …

Boomtown Fair - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Boomtown Fair portrait #1

Boomtown Fair is an immersive music festival and more. I loved attending, espceially since there are so many paid actors and performers …

Cobbles at Park Bridge - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Cobbles at Park Bridge

As a child I remember walking alongside the cobbled streets of Oldham. Some streets had been roughly covered in tarmac and I …

Chadderton Hall Park - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Rochdale Canal

Britain is full of decaying infrastructure. Whether it’s disused railway lines, abandoned after Dr Beeching’s report, or stagnant canals filling slowly with …

Hartshead Pike - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Hartshead Pike

Hartshead Pike is a familiar landmark to anyone from Oldham or Ashton. It’s a monument on top of a hill with commanding …

The Lone Kayaker - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

The Lone Kayaker

The Lone Kayaker is the name of Rupert Kirkwood’s blog about his life kayaking around the coast. It’s well worth browsing because …

Atlantic Puffin - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Artificial Rubbish – part 4

I decided to ask Chat GPT to give me a summary of my blog. According to an Artificial Intelligence summary provided as …

Remembrance - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Refusing to change tense

I was searching for a Yellow-Browed Warbler in a local copse when I came across this bunch of flowers tied to a …

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Rubbish – part 3

There’s more artificial intelligence swamping Facebook at the moment. At least the page Nature’s Symphony lists itself as a “Digital Creator”. Other …

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Rubbish – part 2

Facebook isn’t the only social media platform overwhelmed by Artificial-Intelligence-produced content. Threads is full of it, too. Here’s one user who is …

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Rubbish – part 1

Here’s an eye-catching photograph for you from Z F photography from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It has over 41,000 likes and over 1,000 …

HMS Medway - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Dazzleships

HMS Medway is off Dartmouth after its latest mechanical problems and the indignity of being towed back to the dockyard in Gibraltar …

Neanderthal - The Hall of Einar

Neanderthal

I’ve been fascinated by the genetic research into the presence of Neanderthal genes in modern humans over the past few years. Neanderthals …

I made a film

I’ve been busy. I’ve got a camera and I’m going to use it. I made a film here in Orkney for a …

Piazza San Marco - Venice - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

It’s a carefully laid trap

Each of these seats is a carefully laid trap. It’s a system which has evolved to take €18 off each tourist who …

Scala Contarini del Bovolo - Venice - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Scala Contarini del Bovolo

Six floors, eighty steps, 28 metres and €9. That’s the spiral staircase named after snails, ‘del Bovolo’, in Venice. The Palazzo was …

Venice - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

The gondoliers

Gondoliers in Venice appear to earn a top salary of €100,000. For that I’d expect some adherence to uniform standards. We saw …

Venice Bridge of Sighs - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Bridge of Sightseers

A tale of two bridges. One is the Ponte dei Sospiri, the Bridge of Sighs, built in 1600. It’s the bridge between …

Venice gondolas - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Pink lamps

It’s a foggy early morning in Venezia and the low cloud gives an eerie feel to the place as we wander around …

Venice gondolas - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Asymmetric Gondolas

On a recent trip to Venezia (Venice) I was fascinated to see that gondolas lean. They all have one side much larger …

Adult human female - The Hall of Einar

Adult Human female – the sequel

I was delighted when someone commented on my blog post Adult Human female with a thoughtful and opinion-filled reply. In my original …

Giant Fennel - Matera - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

The Enchanted Shirt

I’ve enjoyed John Hay’s poem, The Enchanted Shirt ever since I bought a slim volume of his poetry, Pike County Ballads, printed …

Paul Nash - Equivalents for the Megaliths

Equivalents for the Megaliths

Paul Nash’s painting, Equivalents for the Megaliths, from 1935, is in Tate Britain, and I was thrilled to get a close look at it.

Rose Finn-Kelcey - The Magpie's Box

The Magpie’s Box

We were at Tate Britain in London a month or so ago when my eye was drawn to this exhibit, mainly because …