National Poetry Day
Writing haiku, inspired by the natural world around (and perhaps inside) Exeter Cathedral.
Blog
Absorbed in making
“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful” – William Morris
Knit one Perl one
Knitting is coding. Input, operation, output, storage.
“Der Luftschiffer” by Karoline von Günderrode
I have wrested myself free from earthly things, / recognized the writings of the stars above
“Der Panther” by Rainer Maria Rilke
To him it is as though there were a thousand bars / and behind a thousand bars no world.
“Wandrers Nachtlied” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
In all the treetops / you sense / barely a breath
“Osterspaziergang” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Everyone is gladly sunning themselves today. / They are celebrating the resurrection of the Lord, / because they are themselves arisen:
Five books that have formed me
I have a great debt of gratitude to Thomas Hardy, Margaret Craven, Rainer Maria Rilke, the author of the Cloud of Unknowing, Richard Powers, and many others.
Japanese Dogwood
When I moved to Exeter, one of the first things I did was to plant a tree. This year it’s gone ‘berserk’ and many of my neighbours have remarked on it… Which has led me to take more notice of it too.
Come dancing
I went on an expedition today, all the way to Middlemoor roundabout, for a picnic lunch amidst the trees and daffodils.
Why do I read?
To be entertained by a cracking yarn. To comfort me in illness or sadness. To experience the thrill of a new beginning, and the potential that I hold in my hand for unfurling life or explosive change.
If you can’t make art, make a bug hotel
I haven’t been getting round to making art recently. Which isn’t to say I haven’t been creative.
Nodding donkeys
The nodding donkey is a grotesque distortion of circular natural seasonal fecundity into linear exploitative extraction. The donkeys are nodding to capitalism’s exponential growth message, always looking down even when their head is high, never looking up to reality or the future.
Time and Tide wait…
This weekend was NASA Space Apps Challenge 2019, and I joined the Time and Tide team to play with slow visualisations of rising sea levels, and make a patchwork of contours.
What do we want? Climate injustice!
When do we want it? World without end!
For what are we shouting? With our voices? And with our actions that speak louder than words?
China clay in your hand
Many years ago I saw a TV segment exploring a china clay pit, and was struck by the infinite landscape and colours. I’d been wanting to see one with my own eyes ever since, and have finally had the chance.
Breaking SAD – Springwatch
Things feel bad. Spring comes, the days get longer and the weather improves. But things still feel bad. So the feeling of badness is not just because it’s winter. The feeling of badness is yours.
Migration can kill
Since my wander around St Loyes with Rosie King, I’ve been continuing to think about migration patterns. The daily migration of workers on Sowton Industrial Estate became particular obvious to me during “The Birds of Sowton Industrial Estate” as it emptied of cars at the end of the working day. How do we make this migration pattern less harmful? How can we persuade people out of their cars and onto their bikes/feet?
Catching the wind
Mucknell Abbey, Worcestershire, 10 March 2011 – The anticyclonic frost and cold of the beginning of March has become cyclonic bluster and low cloud. I take advantage of the force 5-ish sou’westerlies, and reach for my kite.
The wisdom of foolishness
Reflections on walking and talking and bouncing a tennis ball in the streets of Exeter.
The horrible histories and additional alliterations of St Loyes
As part of Working with Gold, I have been writing some nuggets about the area for the website. Here, then, are its Horrible histories, Ghastly geographies, Problematic politics, and Nasty numbers.
1D, 2D, 3D, Go!
This weekend I was back at the Met Office for the NASA Space Apps Challenge, and joined the 3D Earthlings team to play with visualisation of data on a 3D representation of the Earth. Historic meteorite landings… BOOM!!
25 pints
Recently I received through the post a small package from the Blood service: a letter, certificate and badge to mark my 25th blood donation. I didn’t expect to feel so honoured and proud.
D-Tour
My ‘thoughts looking sidewards’ about travelling the D bus route in Exeter, from the vantage point of my home office.
Breaking SAD
There are times for everything under the sun. Times for sleeping, times for waking, times for planting, times for reaping, times for getting stuff done, times for taking a step back.
My favourite pie charts
A bit of fun. Some of them are more favourite than others! Now with a second helping!
Axe-grinding and the morally compromised
The sound of axes being ground is deafening, whether it’s the right-wing press incensed that the UK spends any money on overseas aid, or the UK government seeking to undermine an effective advocacy organisation. UPDATE: If you would like to help the people who Oxfam helps, see the comment for points you can make to your MP.
What are the places that mean something to you?
What are the places that mean something to you? What three words…? started out as a coding exercise. I’d been learning Javascript, and wanted to put it into practice.
Game of Life videos
If there is a problem with loading any of the code in the “Game of Life” blog, this is a companion blog of example videos.
Game of Life
The Game of Life is a pretty standard coding exercise. But what if Life is no longer seen in black and white, and instead in shades of grey? Update: Or in technicolor? And what happens if we tweak the rules?
MOOCing around with Creative Coding
I had so much fun with generative poetry in 2017 that I wanted to continue with the coding, so I embarked on a FutureLearn course with Monash University. Here’s some outputs I did earlier.
Clare goes for a bike ride
Clare is seduced by the sunshine symbol on her weather forecast app into going for a bike ride around Exeter. She plans to drop in on the FLOW tree planting on Exe Mill Field and the Ziggurat painting on Paris St to see how they are getting on.
“Working with Gold” design
I’ve been having a play, and come up with a logo for “Working with Gold”, and I think a working design. Hope you like it!
Nudge nudge
Question: “Is it easier to forecast the weather, which obeys the laws of physics, or the economy, in which the actors are swayed by the forecasts?”
Grieving the future
“In this environment, the task of the prophet is not initially to lead a movement toward social renewal, but to lead the people in creative, artistic, public lament.” – Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination
Northbrook mouth to source
Twas on the day of the autumn equinox that Diana and I decided to walk the Northbrook from mouth to source.
What have taxes ever done for us?
For Creationtide 2017, Eco Church South West has produced a series of prayers and short reflections on the theme of ‘Inspiring Earth’. You can sign up to a daily email with ideas and resources each morning between the 1st September and the 4th October. I contributed one of the reflections.
Second Curve
I heard management guru Charles Handy speak at Greenbelt on the need for second, third fourth… curves to living a fulfilling life.
Clare and Rosie go for a wander
My ideas for an artist’s residency in St Loyes Exeter are gathering momentum. I’m close to putting in my first grant application, and on Friday 28 July Rosie King kindly joined me on a walk around the ward. It’s an area ripe for an artistic response!
Safety net
My map is a comfort blanket. Its grid lines are a safety net that give me the confidence to stride out. It gives me a sense of being in control.
Ultimate HOPE
Written for TEDxExeter 2017 “HOPE”: Reflections on death, and that even in the darkest places and the fiercest storms, there is always hope.
Imaging HOPE
Written for TEDxExeter 2017 “HOPE”: Images are extraordinarily powerful. Those able to see, see before we learn to read, and orient our world by sight. They can convey truth, and they can manipulate, so should we be hopeful or despairing?
A fortnight of HOPEful responses
Written for TEDxExeter 2017 “HOPE”: During 82 seconds on Wednesday 22 March, Briton Khalid Masood drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing and injuring more than 50 people; fatally stabbed an unarmed police officer in New Palace Yard; and was shot and killed by an armed police officer. Over the next fortnight, these were some of the responses.
Point sources of HOPE
Written for TEDxExeter 2017 “HOPE”: Hope can come from unlikely sources… What would be the most unlikely and surprising source of all?
Audacity of HOPE
Written for TEDxExeter 2017 “HOPE”: Sometimes it’s easy to lose hope, but sometimes hope can come from unlikely sources.
Voices of HOPE
Written for TEDxExeter 2017 “HOPE”: Music has played an important role in many social movements, bringing hope to millions, fostering community, and encouraging perseverance in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
HOPE and Joy
Written for TEDxExeter 2017 “HOPE”: The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu got together for a week to talk about the challenges of living a joyful life. The result was “The Book of Joy”.
Taking responsibility for our own statistics
A series of things that interest me which have a TED or TEDx angle: The data and statistics that are being collected about us reflect our selves and the way we see the world.
Now we have Trump
Armageddon outta here…
Introverted Leadership
A series of things that interest me which have a TED or TEDx angle: Reflections on Susan Cain’s TED talk “The Power of Introverts” and lessons from “Watership Down”.
A new HOPE
Written for TEDxExeter 2017 “HOPE”: What was the last line we saw Carrie Fisher (albeit a CGI-reconstructed ever-youthful Carrie Fisher) deliver in a movie before she died?
World Origami Day
In modern times, origami has been used as a beacon of hope. I created the origami “Soul Cube” to help me get past that powerful critical voice in my head and access the deeper nurturing wise voice that speaks words I need to hear.
Giving TED talks to know you’re not alone
A series of things that interest me which have a TED or TEDx angle: The benefits of collecting so many statistics on the number of times a talk is viewed and the related web pages are accessed.
Watching TED talks to know you’re not alone
A series of things that interest me which have a TED or TEDx angle: There are myriads of reasons why people watch TED and TEDx talks, and myriads of outcomes.
Who is my neighbour? Who is your neighbour?
An anonymous note from ‘A concerned neighbour’ and my response.
Five go to the voting booth
A series of things that interest me which have a TED or TEDx angle. First up, Brexit and young people and how to get them to vote.
Story of “Free Art Friday Exeter”
Free Art Friday is a worldwide movement that has existed for many years. I started Free Art Friday Exeter in July 2015, and collaborate with other artists in leaving pieces in public places to be discovered and taken for free.
God’s eye view
I’ve been working on a set of 21 images of flood risk around the south coast of England, from Sussex to Bristol. What has emerged is a beautiful forest of sometimes fragile, sometimes twisted trees.
Dream team
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: Even in football, it is possible to have dreams of community, to play as a team instead of individual starlets.
Dream location
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: How we can help shape the place we live, through local government and at the grass roots.
I have a dream
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: Martin Luther King dreamed of a better world, and he had been to the mountaintop. And yet it wasn’t about the mountain, but about the view over the mountain to what lies ahead.
Dreamtime
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: Some individuals have forgotten the songlines. They have become alienated from the land and cannot bear too much reality.
Technicolor Dreamcoats
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: What is your dream? Are you willing to let it upend your reality?
“Einstein’s Dreams”
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: In his dreams, Einstein imagines many possible worlds, set in the towns of his homeland, in the valleys of the Alps, on the banks of the River Aare
Dream world
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: When you wish upon a star, you’re a few million lightyears late. That star is dead. Just like your dreams.
Killing dreams
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: Tread softly because you might be treading on others’ dreams… or your own.
“Memories, Dreams, Reflections”
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: For Carl Jung, dreams were a window on the unconscious, enabling the dreamer to communicate with and come to know the unconscious, and tap into it as a source of creativity.
Dream succeeds dream
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: In the UK, the dream of suffrage has been succeeded by the dream of full equality for women.
First a dream
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: “All we need to begin with is a dream that we can do better than before. All we need to have is faith, and that dream will come true. All we need to do is act, and the time for action is now.”
Living the dream
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: An introduction to the series… Once upon a time, the Old English dream meant “joy, mirth, noisy merriment” or “music”.
Dreams to Reality
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: In 2016, we want to encapsulate the idea of movement… that grappling with humanity’s toughest questions requires first a vision, a dream, and then action.
The day I jumped out of an aeroplane
Hospiscare does amazing work in caring for terminally ill people and providing respite for their carers, and relies on the generosity of many people to continue this work. I have had a surprising number of connections with them, through friends, family friends, work, church, and singing. So I wanted to do something to help.
Taking the Long View: Further together
Written for TEDxExeter 2015 “Taking the Long View”: There’s an old African proverb that says “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Also a tribute to the wonderful TEDxExeter team.
Taking the Long View: Up the Women
Written for TEDxExeter 2015 “Taking the Long View”: From Clause 40 in Magna Carta to HIllary Clinton via the suffragists and suffragettes – the long struggle for women’s political rights, and a call to vote on 7 May [sigh].
Taking the Long View: If you go down to the woods today…
Written for TEDxExeter 2015 “Taking the Long View”: The short-termism of deforestation, and some hopeful examples of the long view of reafforestation.
Taking the Long View: Climate change and knitting
Written for TEDxExeter 2015 “Taking the Long View”: The Guardian’s campaign to keep fossil fuels in the ground, a Lenten Carbon Fast; and how I take the long view in my knitting and arts practice.
Didcot Power Station, art installation
Didcot Power Station dominated the landscape of my childhood. I am fairly sure that its looming bulk sparked my interest in energy, and possibly shaped my environmental interests and career. It has also generated a surprising level of artistic response.
Taking the Long View: The telescope
Written for TEDxExeter 2015 “Taking the Long View”: Taking the literal view of the Long View, a smattering of quite interesting factoids about the origins of the telescope and its name; the transit of Venus and Cook’s voyages; and the Interplanetary Scintillation Array and other more modern telescopes.
Taking the Long View: Magna Carta
Written for TEDxExeter 2015 “Taking the Long View”: The 800th anniversary of Magna Carta was the inspiration behind the 2015 theme. Why we chose that and not the 50th anniversary of the Sound of Music.
Rainfall as blessing
During Lent 2015, Eco Church South West is promoting a Carbon Fast, focusing on water. You can sign up to daily emails containing an action, bible reading and reflection. I wrote about rain as a blessing for today’s reflection.
“Particulart, or the art of knitting, chemistry, meditation and gentle protest”
Particulart is all about knitting. It’s also all about the Exeter Incinerator, which was inaugurated on 16th October 2014, and about waste management strategy, and monitoring emissions, and the environment, and health, and transparency, and visual impact, and chemistry.
Candlemas-ology
Today is the Feast of the Presentation of Christ at the Temple, otherwise known as Candlemas. Was establishment of the Feast linked to a volcanic eruption?
“Where have we put our treasure?”
I explore where our treasure lies in today’s world for the Bright Now Blog run by Operation Noah.
Culture vulture
It’s difficult to choose my cultural highlight of 2014. It has been a good year so far, and it’s not over yet!
BBC Bias
The complaint I made to the BBC for refusing to include the Green Party in the general election TV leader debates.
#BAD14 #Inequality
Today is Blog Action Day, and in 2014 the theme is Inequality. I’m afraid I’m going to cheat, and post stuff I’ve written earlier. Some is a bit dated (anyone remember Michael Gove?), but I think the core message is still relevant…
Petroleum
BP has been found “grossly negligent” in the lead-up to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. I wrote a series of haikus in response to the original event, and other oil-related events past and imagined,
Whatever dieting works for you
When one hits mid-life, one is obligated to have a crisis, right?
TEDxExeter 2015 – Taking the Long View
Introducing the TEDxExeter 2015 theme of “Taking the Long View”: asking about the responsibilities the past places on us, and how taking the long view into the future can shape the way we live and the decisions we make.
Information Without Frontiers
Written for TEDxExeter 2014 “Ideas Without Frontiers”: Access to the World Wide Web, being overwhelmed, information security, and is Google making us stupid?
#AnonymousCompanies
Those of you who are avid consumers of all things TED will know that the main TED conference took place last week. One of the many outstanding talks was given by Charmian Gooch, the recipient of the 2014 TED Prize. Gooch founded the organisation Global Witness in 1993 with two friends, one of whom happens … Read more
Research Without Frontiers
Written for TEDxExeter 2014 “Ideas Without Frontiers”: The value of focusing attention and how boundaries inspire creativity, as well as pushing the frontiers of knowledge and Interdisciplinary sparks.
Nature Without Frontiers
Written for TEDxExeter 2014 “Ideas Without Frontiers”: More about the reality of some physical frontiers, while pollutants do not respect national boundaries.
People Without Frontiers
Written for TEDxExeter 2014 “Ideas Without Frontiers”: More about pilgrims than immigrants, and how our planet is bounded whereas our imaginations aren’t.
Money Without Frontiers
Written for TEDxExeter 2014 “Ideas Without Frontiers”: Forex flows, international debt, tax avoidance, respiratory illness metaphors, and where there is a frontier that needs dismantling.
Zombie Apocalypse
“I would ask you to take a walk on your own (where and at what time of day is up to you) for at least half an hour. I would like you to walk ‘as’ the last human survivor of a zombie apocalypse.”
In search of pseudo-sacred spaces
Yesterday was the feast day of St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of the environment. So it’s appropriate that I spent the afternoon walking with Phil Mythogeography Smith in search of sacred and pseudo-sacred spaces.
Maslow’s hierarchy
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is 70 years old. Here’s my version reflecting the hierarchy in the UK and US.
Devon County Twouncillors
A list of the Twitter accounts of Devon County Councillors in Exeter wards.
Exeter City Twouncillors
I have been impressed in recent weeks at the usefulness of Twitter in engaging with councillors and other movers and shakers in and around Exeter City Council. Within limits, though, as you’ll be able to see from my list arranged by political party.
The quite interesting-ness of pillar boxes
Look up post boxes on the internet, and you stumble into a strange and fascinating place.
Response from Hugo Swire MP
Finally, on 3 September I received a letter dated 21 August in response to mine of 2 August. But I have some comments…
The questions will always be with us
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: Just a bit of humour…
“I have a dream” … for Exeter Bus Station!
I have a dream of a mix of local retail, local business, charities and social entrepreneurs, artists’ studios and housing.
No response from Hugo Swire MP
I’ve not yet received a direct response from Hugo Swire MP to my letter about the family from Clyst St George needing to walk 11 miles to Exeter Foodbank and back.
Exeter Library Square
How we name our streets and public buildings is a reflection of the values of history and our values today. It subconsciously and subtly affects our self-worth.
Letter to Hugo Swire MP
How is it that in a country as wealthy as the UK, more than 500,000 people are reliant on food parcels? Please represent your constituents, and do something to address food poverty, injustice and inequality.
Tewlwolow Kernow
It was a hot bright day during the 2013 summer heatwave. I approached from below through the gardens recently planted with exotics from even hotter climes. I passed through a circular seating space, an antechamber, through a narrow door into a low and dark space stoppered by light in front and behind, and opened out suddenly into bright height.
A lane of two halves: one year on
Last year, I did the first half of a walk down the 1800s route of Woodwater Lane. I managed the western half as far as the Retail Park, before giving up due to the rain. Exactly one year later, I completed the journey.
Site-Specific Exercises
OrganicARTS, based at West Town Farm near Ide, has done a lot of work with pottery using clay from the Farm, natural materials and dyes, and it has been an ambition to encourage writers too.
Wildflower whispers!
Now is the time when we most need our pollinators, and our pollinators need wildflowers to thrive. So I have been feeling sad over the last few days about the acres of wildflowers in the verges in Exeter that are being strimmed, and took it upon myself to protest a little…
Must. Not. Get. Sarcastic. Ach failed again.
Oh dear, I was writing about Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, then I was writing about modern criticism of the book, then I was writing about environmental regulation vs economic freedom, then I was quoting George Osborne, and it all went downhill from there. But I enjoyed the rant 🙂
Nuclear – a low-carbon low-cost energy-secure future?
In the 3 May edition of the Church Times, Bishop Anthony Priddis wrote an article extolling thorium: “Thorium: it’s green, nuclear, safe”. I have just sent a Letter to the editor in response, questioning his underlying assumptions.
Should I do the ironing?
My electricity monitor usefully shows how much I’m using, without me having to dig out the key in order to read the outdoor meter. I also want to know how I best I can use my lovely solar electricity.
Thoughts on living and campaigning
It’s impossible and unhealthy to live with heightened anxiety over a long period of time. And scaring people and making them feel guilty are rubbish motivators of behavioural change.
#turnedoutgreyagain, a Twoem
Blackbird perched precariously in pyracantha, picking at plentiful berries. #ventriloquismforbeginners
Living the Questions at TEDxExeter 2013
There are several possible origins for the word ‘religion’ and its modern senses. None of these need imply certainty and rule out doubt. I want to go back to the etymological origins of ‘religion’, and ask a few questions. In the spirit of the TEDxExeter 2013 theme of Living the Questions, I’m not expecting to answer them.
LtQ: If you could ask a stranger any question, what would it be?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: Self-explanatory, really.
A Guardian reader in the making
Like many, one of my most vivid memories of infant school was the ritual of drinking our morning third-pint of milk.
Pilgrim at the Northbrook
I intended to spend the morning re-reading Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, but instead spent the morning reading around it. So after lunch, I allowed the sun to call me out for a walk down by my very own Tinker Creek that is the Northbrook.
Living the Questions: How’s it going?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: Stop trying to solve negative things, and work with positive things instead.
LtQ: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: “The neurotic is a person who worries about something that did not happen in the past. He’s [sic] not like us normal people who worry about things that will not happen in the future.”
Living the Questions: Where am I?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: Throw away your satnav, experiment with deliberate lostness and reconnect with where you are.
LtQ: What if the Hokey Cokey really IS what it’s all about?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: You’ll just have to read it.
Living the Questions: Fancy a pint?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: OK, actually about climate change: why Doha was so important, how it has been forgotten, and what you can do.
Living the Questions: Who ate all the pie?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: Inequality – estimated, actual, and ideal – and what we can do about it.
LtQ: Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: Allowing Paul Gauguin to ask the questions, and invite contemplation of the meaning of life.
Living the Questions: What are we missing?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: Quite possibly one of the world’s best musicians on the street corner, or a myriad other things.
Living the Questions: Why is the sky blue?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: Moving from Rayleigh scattering to why children keep asking why, and why many adults stop.
Living the Questions: Who am I?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: Trying not to define myself by my job or any roles, the labels the world would like to slap on me, or any of my mind, emotions or body in isolation from the rest.
Synod and the unengaged majority
The Women Bishops Measure was lost in the House of Laity, by six votes. It might not be a rejection of women bishops, just the enabling legislation, but it sure feels like a rejection to me.
Surname migration
The Great Britain Family Names website allows you to find out where your surname comes from, and how many people share it. Bryden isn’t that common, but what interests me is the geographical spread.
The Power of We: Congo Calling
Blog Action Day falls within Congo Week, and “The Power of We” is beautifully exemplified by the Congo Calling campaign.
Buy this
Brueggemann: “the yearning for land is always a serious historical enterprise concerned with historical power and belonging. Such a dimension is clearly played upon by the suburban and exurban real estate ads that appeal to that rapacious hunger.”
Municipal-planting-rowan jelly
There’s a rowan tree planted beside the bus stop on Grecian Way, and this autumn it’s laden with bright red berries.
Autumn audit
In honour of Silent Spring, I spent two hours wandering around my neighbourhood and listening. Listening not just for birds, but for everything, including all those sounds we usually tune out.
Silent Spring
Today is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. In its honour, I am spending a couple of hours walking around my neighbourhood listening for bird song. In the meantime, here are three short posts I wrote a year and a half ago, reflecting on the book.
Richard Long woz ‘ere
Today was the first time ever, at least for years, that I’ve seen another deliberate blackberrier in Ludwell Valley Park.
Hanging out in Ludwell
It was late afternoon when I walked down to Ludwell Valley Park to pick blackberries. I’d just started, around a kink in the hedge and mostly hidden from the gate, when I heard lads’ voices.
Blue, the colour of home
A response to Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost and the BBC programme A History of Art in Three Colours, Blue.
Woodwater plants
The house martins were gathering and sporting on the wing, prior to departure for warmer climes, and Mark Lane from Wilderness Guide kindly popped over to see what plants we could find in Woodwater Lane in September.
Counter-tourism memories
Malbork Castle in Poland, built in the mediaeval period by the Teutonic Knights, is the largest castle in the world by surface area, and the largest brick building in Europe. I visited with a friend in 1992.
Smash and grab
I cycled to the dog-walkers’ field above Ludwell Valley Park. I found blackberries. I picked blackberries. I cycled home. I made blackberry water ice.
Mythogeography – a response
A response to Phil Smith Mythogeography: a Guide to Walking Sideways.
The not-knowing
Sometimes the mystery and the not-knowing are more satisfying and enjoyable than solution.
Olympic mythogeography
I’ve always had a problem with buses. Mythogeography tells me to get on a random bus, and see where it takes me for a set number of stops. But I’m able to end up here there and everywhere, even when I’m just trying to get home.
Summer fruits
I was away from Exeter for a couple of weeks, and when I returned (though I returned) I remained absent. It was several days before I remembered it was ‘high summer’ and there was free fruit to be had in Ludwell Valley Park and along the suburban margins.
Stone of St Loyes Chapel
Much of the stone used to build St Loyes Chapel looks as though it came from Heavitree Quarry, but there were many other types of stone there.
Heavitree quarries
When did the Heavitree quarries stop being worked? The old maps provide some evidence.
Mythogeography
Maybe I just wanted to be a mythogeographer when I grew up.
Quarry Lane
Seeing the stone in St Loyes Chapel made me want to walk back up Quarry Lane and look for evidence of the quarry.
St Loyes Chapel
It’s a pleasant little segment in Rifford Road, set in a garden surrounded with metal railings. There is a bus-stop in front, and it is very ease to miss St Loyes Chapel altogether if you don’t know it is there.
Maps
Once upon a time I saw a very old OS map of Exeter in the Treasures of the British Library exhibition. Now through the miracle of Google, I know that it was the Drawing for the first edition Ordnance Survey map of Exeter. 1801 Maps OSD 40.(3).
Schrödinger’s Lazarus
In Schrödinger’s famous thought experiment, there is no way of knowing the state of the system without opening the box. Hence to the outside observer the cat is both living and dead, smeared out in equal parts.
Woodwater by night
I spent a day immured in the office at the computer, feeling wintry-cold while it rained and rained. By night-time, I was completely frowstie at being stuck indoors. As the rain had pretty much dried up, I decided on some mythogeography. Going for walks at odd times, like 10.30pm, follows mythogeographical principles, after all.
In the ‘burbs
I found this marvellous book from 1892 in the Westcountry Studies Library, now Devon Archives and Local Studies.
Woodwater wander
As a birthday treat, I promised myself a walk down Woodwater Lane, from home to water to wood to home again. A satisfying experimentation in exploring the present day.
From wood to water
Yesterday, cycling down a section of Woodwater Lane, I noticed a corn cockle in the bank. It struck me that I have cycled down the lane many a time, walked down it occasionally, picked blackberries at that time of year, but I have never really paid attention to it.
Ludwell life
It was a happy accident that the house I bought when I moved to Exeter is very close to Ludwell Valley Park. It is my slice of countryside in the city, where I can wander down enclosed lanes, through fields of nodding purple grasses.
Dear Reader
I find writing a blog slightly weird. Well, not so much writing it, as thinking about who’s reading it. Something strikes me, I write a post and publish it. I’m just writing about stuff that interests me. It’s weird to think that this might interest other people as well.
Sonic branding and the Daily Office
I’ve been watching some of the highlights of the Euro2012 football tournament. The online clips, at least on the BBC website, all start with the flowery Euro2012 logo and a burst of five notes ba-da-ba-bup-ba.
The migrants’ return
This week I am happy because “my” house martins have returned. It happened on Tuesday. As I was sitting at my desk, suddenly there was a rush of gurgling and chuckling, and I looked out of my window to see madcap aerobatics.
Games people play (continued)
My post responding to Andy Robertson’s TEDxExeter talk was cut off. Here’s what I can remember of the rest.
Games people play
At TEDxExeter the talk I found the most difficult was Andy Robertson about “Sustainable Perspectives on Video Games”. But for that reason, it was the talk I thought I most had to re-watch and engage with.
Totnes, twinned with Narnia
Narnia is by no means a fairy fantasy land. CS Lewis’ stories include powerful myth, in the sense of narrative telling a deeper truth. Totnes is the cradle of the Transition movement, another powerful story.
Carbon irony
“We need to be able to see the cause of our problems in the landscapes of our lives”, because “it’s pictures that helps stories come alive”.
Science and heart
Last night, I heard Ben Bradshaw, MP for Exeter, speak about “The Church and Civil Partnerships”. He prefaced his talk with some science. But people don’t believe what they believe because of the science.
Sustainable Exeter
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Ten challenges, which if you accomplish them, would help make Exeter a more sustainable city.
Go on
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Volunteer your time to help some-one else get online and discover the web.
A voluntary for volunteering
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: “Research has shown that people who volunteer often live longer”, and here are some tips…
Harnessing crowds for energy
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Crowd-funding targeted at community energy.
Two’s company, three’s their source of crowd-funding
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Crowd-funding, or the ‘big society’ in action.
Streetbank-wise
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Signing up to lending and borrowing within a local network.
Solar powered data geek
On the day that the government lost its Feed-In Tariff appeal in the Court of Appeal, the guys from Sungift Solar started to install PVs on my house.
Both a lender and a borrower be *
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Neighbourhood sharing networks, enabling lending and borrowing of everyday objects, skills and spaces.
Sharing a lift
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Why not share your journey to TEDxExeter, and share your hopes for the day on the way there, and what most uplifted you on the way back?
I’ll do it, but only if you do it too
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Another website that connects people who have a desire to act.
If I ran the world…
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: More and more websites are being developed that are enabling people to share and work together. And the best are bringing people together in real life too.
Interconnected Exeter
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Exeter’s history is threaded through with interconnections, from local to international.
Growing together, closer to home
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: There are some great community growing projects in and around Exeter.
Growing together
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Connecting people who want to grow food but have no land with people who have land to share.
LETS do it!
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: How Local Exchange Trading Schemes can help you simplify your lifestyle, while connecting with your neighbours and local community.
Sharing stuff and working together
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: More and more websites are being developed that are enabling people to connect with each other. And the best are bringing people together in real life too.
Christmas Day
Evening meal; lunchtime walk around the Exminster Marshes, and the Exe Canal and Estuary around the Turf Hotel and Topsham
Reading to know we are not alone, part 2
The monastic practice of lectio divina allows us to open ourselves to God’s word. It can be loosely translated as ‘spiritual reading’, but does not just involve reading.
Reading to know we are not alone, part 1
I am pretty well read, in theory. In practice, I remember very little of what I’ve read. I read quite quickly, but even if I read slowly I still wouldn’t remember what I’ve read. Which means that I often get the pleasure of reading a good book twice, and I can appreciate the journey again.
On speed
On 29 September, Phil Hammond, the then Transport Secretary, proposed increasing the speed limit on motorways to 80mph. We may as well, mayn’t we? After all, Department for Transport figures show that as many as 49% of drivers currently flout the current 70mph limit.
The Big Society meets the Great Vowel Shift
The Tories dropped the Big Society into their 2010 Manifesto, but have never explained satisfactorily what they meant. Here are some possible interpretations…
Values going viral
People don’t make decisions based on rational assessment of facts; they make decisions according to how they fit with their values and identity. Psychologists classify values as either extrinsic, which concern status and success, or intrinsic, which concern relationships and benevolence. How can we make intrinsic values go viral?
Food #BAD11
Thoughts around the L of the LOAF principles – Local, Animal friendly, Organic, Fairtrade – and how you apply these principles when confronted by a bewildering array of choices.
Welcome to my new blog
It will probably be about things that interest me, related to my ponderings on where next… research? consultancy? kitchen gardening? writing? web design?
Music of the stars
Forget dendrochronology, there’s a new compound -ology in town: astroseismology.
My soul has taken flight
An experiment in a geo-located poem, August 2010.
Oh, my anguish, my anguish!
The stories coming out of Copenhagen and its aftermath led me to grieve business as usual, and start to imagine a new world.
