I was in Canterbury yesterday. I was there for a Lambeth Conference meeting with some of the people who are doing the organising. I had a chance to wander around the university campus where the conference will be held which was interesting and very pleasant on a warm February afternoon.

Later in the day I visited the former SPCK shop in the centre of the city. The shop wasn’t open by the time I got there, but I took a couple of pictures:

It was a shame to see it with the ‘closing down’ notice - a sad end for the Anglican bookshop in the Anglican city. As you can see there is no mention of reopening ‘after re-fitting and re-stocking’ as per the statement of February the 4th. The website is still openly promoted as spckonline.com.

I’m not sure whether the big image hanging over the upstairs window is St Stephen the Great. Perhaps someone who has a copy of ‘I spy… Saints’ could advise.

Whilst we are on the subject of the Canterbury shop - if anyone who has been involved in the situation is willing to speak to someone from the media please get in touch.

Posted by Dave at 4:46 pm on February 12, 2008 and filed under Save the SPCK, Photographs, Religion, Lambeth 08.

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As I have said before (hence the continued’) I love the idea of getting a folding bike. The picture above is me test riding a ‘Brompton’, the ultimate in folding bikes, at the Cycle Show. Bromptons cost about £600 once you have bought all the trimmings. As you can see I am blurred owing to my great velocity. The lady on the right is guiding the traffic as the test track is a figure of 8 - in other words it crosses over itself on a diagonal basis. This is to give an element of danger which adds realism to the test ride. The other lady on the right is the assistant to the lady guiding the traffic. I’m not sure what her job is, but it involves standing there. The figure on the left is a cardboard cutout for safety reasons as it would be too dangerous to have a real person there with all these test-cyclists whizzing around. This also adds a sense of realism for those who will find themselves regularly riding in areas populated largely by cardboard cutouts.

When I was in the supermarket yesterday I noticed that someone was advertising a folding bicycle for only £25 in the postcards. £25! Buoyed with enthusiasm I called up and made my enquiries. Unfortunately the man did not have the answers to my in-depth questions, like ‘What make is it?’, so I decided I had better go and see it.

I went on my folding bicycle inspection excursion this morning. Upon seeing the bicycle I instantly knew that it was not what I was looking for as it was a bit rubbish, so told him that I would not be buying it. I came up with a convincing reason involving the handlebars. He said that that was fine, not a problem at all. At which point in a moment of madness I said: ‘Oh, alright then, I’ll buy it.’

I am an idiot sometimes.

Unfortunately the bicycle really is rubbish. It is unique amongst folding bicycles in that it folds into a shape bigger and less convenient than the shape it started from. One popular folding bicycle website says this about it:

The Skoda of folding bikes - the Universal is still the cheapest folder available, but the Chinese are challenging. Made in Poland, the bike looks like a 1960s-vintage ’shopper’, which is exactly what it is. It’s heavy, it doesn’t fold very well or clip together, and the ride and handling are poor. Yawn, yawn. Long, long overdue for a replacement

Does anyone want to buy a folding bicycle?

To you - £25.

Posted by Dave at 11:31 pm on October 31, 2007 and filed under Essex Life, Cycling, Photographs.

7 Comments

We went on a splendid ‘roof tour’ at Lincoln Cathedral, which, incidentally, is the answer to yesterday’s little conundrum. This sign, which reads ‘DANGER - DO NOT TOUCH THE ROPES - BELLS UPSET’ is meant to indicate:

1. That the bells are in their upper ‘upset’ position, which means that if you pull on the ropes they will come swinging down into their lower ‘non-upset’ position.
2. That the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral will not be pleased if they hear any unauthorised donging, and will come running from their offices in an upset state.
3. That the people of Lincoln will be somewhat upset if they hear an unscheduled bell ringing, as it would probably mean that some great calamity was about to befall the city.
4. That any member of the tour party touching the rope would be fairly upset about being unexpectedly flung into the upper reaches of the bell tower, which would be the likely outcome of such a foolish action.

The photo is blurred because I did not want to use the flash in case a startled member of the party suddenly grabbed a bell rope in the ensuing confusion, thereby leading to even further upset.

Posted by Dave at 11:05 am on October 27, 2007 and filed under Utter nonsense, Photographs.

13 Comments

This is a holiday snap from our recent trip to here and there. As you can see it is taken from a great height in some sort of an ecclesiastical building where sitting on the right is more popular than sitting on the left. Either that or the person who is employed to put the chairs out on the right was working a bit of overtime.

A small commotion is taking place at the front, whilst at the back a seated man talks to his neighbour, who happens to be standing on a chair. And why not.

I will not tell you the location of these peculiar goings-on immediately so that people whose speciality subject is ‘views of ecclesiastical buildings taken from a great height’ can have their moment of glory in the comments section. There will not be a prize in any real sense.

So, what has been going on since I’ve been away? Tell me something about your life or the world in general to improve my post-vacation morale.

Posted by Dave at 6:19 pm on October 26, 2007 and filed under Mundane, Photographs, Religion.

18 Comments

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Posted by Dave at 11:10 pm on July 13, 2007 and filed under Photographs.

8 Comments

More photos from London last week:

1.

2.

Posted by Dave at 11:51 pm on May 13, 2007 and filed under Church, Photographs, Religion.

9 Comments

This is a scene from my Tuesday night portrait painting class. The model is reclining, and the painting is midway through the first of four two hour sessions. The medium is oils. Viewers with eagle eyes will perhaps see a thin brush poised on the easel.

I don’t know how people model for art classes. I tried it for ten minutes and found myself wanting to laugh at nothing in particular. I think it is because the tutor has to explain to each pupil why they have not quite got your chin right and that your nose should be longer etc.

I have been enjoying this class - even more than the still life oil painting course I did before it. The people who paint portraits are more sociable than the ones who paint still lifes (or should it be ‘lives’ - I don’t really know). I find it relaxing because with painting one does not have to think up as many ideas.

I don’t know whether I will do another course in Leigh on Sea next term. On Tuesday some youths in a car pulled up as I was walking back to the station and started to ask me questions in silly voices. All very funny, but intimidating when you are on your own armed only with a sketchbook, a small tube of burnt umber and a nearly empty bottle of turps. This is the third incident involving threatening groups of youths in cars in the twenty five weeks I have been going. I do not feel that safe in this part of Essex after dark, but perhaps I need to toughen up a bit. I’m sure it is very safe compared to many places in the world. And armed with my tube of burnt umber I could probably take on most adversaries anyhow.

Posted by Dave at 11:56 pm on May 3, 2007 and filed under Art, Photographs.

9 Comments

I have been overwhelmed by the immense level of interest shown in our new cats by those in certain sectors of the internet. People have been e-mailing in, and other people have been writing blog posts about them and everything.

Here are some more pictures:

The answer to a question that a lot of you have on your minds: Yes, we are thinking of home schooling them. Originally I had imagined we might get them up to A level General Studies sort of level, but I think to be honest they are more gifted at practical subjects rather than anything involving too much thought and analysis. Our first lessons have mainly involved a stick with a yellow and green bird on a piece of string.

Sorry not to give you any drawings or anything today. I was suffering from low morale, but am over it now and feel ready to take on the world.

Posted by Dave at 10:51 pm on April 19, 2007 and filed under Essex Life, Photographs.

11 Comments

These are our new cats.

They have been here two days and have brought much joy thus far, but cause me stress during the day as it is my responsibility to ensure that no-one is escaping or doing things that they should not do.

Above: Cat sitting in pepper plant pot (yes, these peppers, which still survive and produce continual peppers).

The cats are 6 months old and came from the Cats Protection people. They are called Matins (Mattie) and Evensong (Evie).

Posted by Dave at 10:35 am on April 17, 2007 and filed under Sundry posts, Essex Life, Photographs.

15 Comments

I enjoy looking out of the window whilst on the train and taking pictures of things that seem interesting to me. I can sit there for 5 hours or more with my camera poised, whilst my wife and all the other passengers occupy themselves with reading or puzzles or whatever they like to do.

The only problem is that my camera takes a photo about 2 seconds after you press the button, so I have a fine collection of things seen from the train 2 seconds after we passed something interesting.

Just occasionally it works quite well though, as in the case of these terraced houses seen near Durham on Saturday.

For every one of these I have 20 pictures with subjects such as ‘field obscured by telegraph pole’, ‘house with blurred railway trackside equipment’ or ‘trees accidentally photographed at speed’.

Anyway, we are back from being away and in Scotland. We had a lovely time and got to see lots of interesting things and people, mainly in Edinburgh, but also for one day in Glasgow where we went to see Jack the Lass and the Glasgow School of Art.

So, now I am back and will be doing drawings once I find my desk. I also have some extra duties to attend to, about which more later.

Questions for study groups
1) What have you seen out of the window on the train?
2) How does this tie in with all the verses in the Bible?

Posted by Dave at 9:22 am on April 16, 2007 and filed under Mundane, Art, Photographs, Religion.

17 Comments

Photograph taken in Bournemouth on Saturday:

The little additional sign and the quotation marks both made me happy.

If you enjoy unusual uses for quotation marks you will also appreciate this post by Little Red Boat.

Later on I will explain why were were in Bournemouth.

Posted by Dave at 10:48 am on March 26, 2007 and filed under Art, Photographs, Signs.

7 Comments

This is a palm tree which I helped to plant in a field in Surrey at the weekend. In this picture it is half way up. Neither up nor down.

Now, before I go any further, I know that some will say that I should have been resting at home with my feet up. The problem is that the choice was either to stay at home on my own watching TV, not speaking to anyone and slowly going out of my mind, or go to Surrey and help erect a palm tree. There were no other options. I’d also like to point out that I played the slackest of parts in the palm tree work party. I was very much the person who made suggestions or went and fetched a special palm tree buckle. I did not really do any of the difficult jobs like hauling on ropes or driving tractors.

Continued apologies to people who are expecting an e-mail of some sort from me. I will try to do a bit more catching up later.

Posted by Dave at 3:48 pm on March 19, 2007 and filed under Sundry posts, Photographs.

9 Comments