A selection of writings, speeches, photographs and events as well as some of my favourite literary passages.
Monday, 19 May 2008
Chengdu and the Sichuan Earthquake
Visiting the Chinese Embassy in London to sign the book of condolence
The loss of life and and terrible suffering from the great earthquake in Sichuan is tragic, but the Chinese people are dealing with the disater with great efficiency.
I visited the area once several years ago and this photo is of a tea shop I went to in Chengdu with friends. Below is one of the great Leshan Buddha at the confluence of three rivers - the Min, Qingyi and Dadu Rivers - nearby. I do hope the earthquake has at least spared that. [Update - it did - see here]
Nevertheless, here is an article in the IHT on the destruction of many other temples and historic sites nearby
Friday, 16 May 2008
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
A Decent Haircut
If you are a man of mature years and rather tired of having hung-over teenager girls trying to cut your hair, this is the place for you. I was once a regular, but was inconvenient for the City unless one could factor in lunch at the Mirabelle opposite, which put the price up somewhat. Having been butchered once too often, I ventured back again and was treated to a timeless experience - a full cut-throat razor shave and a classic haircut with lots of 'I think I can manage to get it back into shape' from a sound chap with a steady hand. In response to my query 'should I be putting anything on my hair', the admirable fellow said ' nothing at all, sir', despite the shop being full of expensive ungents for just that purpose.
The front of the shop has a beautiful 19th century facade (it's been going since 1875) and inside there's a counter laden with 'men's toiletries' of great style and no little expense and the smell of eau-de-cologne and bay rum hang in the air. I left feeling refreshed and pleased that it was still possible to find a hairdresser that does not expect to chat about their last holiday and doesn't play the cashier's favourite awful music at high volume while trying to give you a 'footballers' haircut'.
Sunday, 4 May 2008
Favourite Music
Like many people, I have always loved Irish instrumental folk music. There is some wonderfully evocative stuff in 'Titanic' but otherwise good stuff is surprisingly hard to find. However, 'Ashokan Farewell', which was written in 1982 by an American to commemorate the flooding of a valley (the Ashoken) in Upstate New York, is a beautiful piece. It has subsequently become famous as the theme music for a series on The Civil War. This recording is not the best; that is one made by the Band of the Royal Marines, but it's not on YouTube (though you can download it from iTunes)
Tuesday, 22 April 2008
A Favourite Book - The Night Land
To the North-West I looked, and in the wide field of my glass, saw plain the bright glare of the fire from the Red Pit, shine upwards against the underside of the vast chin of the North-West Watcher--The Watching Thing of the North-West. . . .
Beyond these, South and West of them, was the enormous bulk of the South-West Watcher, and from the ground rose what we named the Eye Beam--a single ray of grey light, which came up out of the ground, and lit the right eye of the monster. . .
There rose the vast bulk of the South-East Watcher--The Watching Thing of the South-East. And to the right and to the left of the squat monster burned the Torches; maybe half-a-mile upon each side; yet sufficient light they threw to show the lumbered-forward head of the never-sleeping Brute.
And, so to tell more about the South Watcher. A million years gone, as I have told, came it out from the blackness of the South, and grew steadily nearer through twenty thousand years; but so slow that in no one year could a man perceive that it had moved.
Yet it had movement, and had come thus far upon its road to the Redoubt, when the Glowing Dome rose out of the ground before it--growing slowly. And this had stayed the way of the Monster; so that through an eternity it had looked towards the Pyramid across the pale glare of the Dome, and seeming to have no power to advance nearer.
And, presently, I was come upward almost to the top of the hill, the which took me nigh three hours. And surely, when I was come that I could see the grimness of the Lesser Pyramid, going upward very desolate and silent into the night, lo! an utter shaking fear did take me; for the sweet cunning of my spirit did know that there abode no human in all that great and dark bulk; but that there did await me there, monstrous and horrid things that should bring destruction upon my soul. And I went downward of the hill, very quiet in the darkness; and so in the end, away from that place.
Monday, 14 April 2008
Thursday, 10 April 2008
Wednesday, 9 April 2008
Drapers' Almshouses Teaparty 2008
The Drapers' Livery Company maintains three almshouses in London for almost 200 residents who live in wonderfully quiet and safe cottages built especially for the purpose. An annual teaparty is given at Drapers' Hall for them.
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