“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”
(As I haven’t much chat in me at mo thought I would let Albert Camus do the talking. Thanks to my mum for introducing me to this quote..it is her favourite and she manages to get it into a surprising amount of conversations and now it is a mantra of mine)
Hope you all had a good break and are having a joyous start to 2023 so far. ..
Some random observations to ease us into the year. No theme. Just moments in time. And plan to continue along these lines for a while so going to cut back on the chat for a bit too as still finding my feet (those damn elusive feet).
I am still more observer than participant in life so not much to report (apart from my condition and think we’ve all heard enough about that for a while) but I can still show you what I can see. And that way you can also come to your own conclusions about what you are looking at rather than have me banging on about it all the time. Sure that will be not only more mentally invigorating but a relief for all concerned…
There is a lot of high intensity activity at festivals, mainly in the form of dancing yer socks off for hours on end to your favourite musical acts but there is also a lot of milling and mooching and hanging about as you recover and decompress rom the night before and as you feed and fuel yourself before it kicks off all over again. To last the duration of the weekend you will need to park up and rest from time to time or else you might not make it to the finish line..and who wants to miss any of the action?
Yes, they actually do have a yoga class at HoughtonThis dude had a walkie talkie which is very clever as there was fuck all network coverage on site
It was seriously hot in the sun all weekend so a lot of the day is spent shade dwelling wherever you can find it which again Houghton considerately provides and made sure there were many areas to do just that, unlike say Glasto where there is literally no shade anywhere unless you are mebbe standing directly inside the Pyramid stage. In these scorchio times it makes a big difference if you can get out the sweltering heat. There are also a lot of hammocks around site which are just bliss places to recharge.
And if lolling about isn’t quite active enough for ya they also have a train which will take you on a tour around the site and to the sculpture park (which I have to confess I have still not made it to in 3 years). People get very excited when they see it.
And then before you know it is nightfall once more and it all starts again…
The woods in Houghton are a magical place and they make you feel you are somewhere enchanted. like a fairytale but just with a lot more techno. Think Hans Christian Raverson
During the day it was also a great haven from the scorchio ..and they had hammocks. And podiums..so you could chill or dance, all states of being catered for. Houghton is very accommodating like that. They want you to be happy. They want to facilitate you having a wonderful experience
And come the night it was a full on party amidst the trees in the whichever sound system you decided to park up in..my fav is Stallions, a smallish circular tent that always had a brilliant vibe no matter who was playing . And the beauty of Houghton is that the music is good everywhere so it does really matter where you are..
And then you could just wander the woods until you stumbled upon your next beat based experience…Houghton never stops so there is always something to go to..and no matter when it is..you are never late..that is a beautiful thing considering so many other festivals have such strict curfews..again, it’s all to ensure you are catered and cared for at all times…also a rarity at a lot of other events.
Last of the mask wearers this week…it is becoming more and more unusual to see people with masks on in this country. For most the pandemic is well and truly over yet for a minority it is still a concern who are still trying to protect themselves from the invisible enemy.
It was always invisible to the human eye which is which is one of the reasons it was so difficult for a lot of people to get their heads around but now that they have stopped releasing daily covid numbers it really is a case of out of sight out of mind.
We were never big on mask wearing in this country. Our gov was slow to recommend it and then when they did it never really cemented itself in the actions of the public like it did elsewhere. In fact, when people visit England over the last year or so from other countries they were shocked how little mask wearing was happening here. For some reason in the U.K it was a cultural a no no but I’m not exactly sure why.
We are normally very law-abiding in this country. Look at how we queue. And yet this face covering request was rallied against from day one by a giant chunk of the population. It brought out the rebel in everyone. And now you are not legally required to wear them anymore it has been dropped by virtually everyone. I am still wearing masks in shops and on transport and you now get looked at like you are the weirdo but I have been ill for 2 years so am still doing everything I can not to get it again, as are a lot of vulnerable people or those who are shielding for others. For us this situation has not gone away and won’t for a while longer. Maybe a lot longer…
But to be masked up is not the end of the world. It still makes me feel like a cool bandit/superhero/ninja warrior. And there are also many worse things you have to do in this life. Yes they’re a pain in the arse a lot of the time but they’re not trauma inducing. I just wish to fuck I could just once wear a mask with glasses and not have them steam up. I do not know how people do it. It’s like the dark arts or somit. You need to sell your soul to Satan to make that shit work I swear…
p.s if international readers are wondering why I’m doing a wrap up on a Wednesday it’s because it’s the Queen’s Jubiliee weekend and we’re getting a 4 day weekend starting tomorrow…whoop di whoop.
sorry folks, i’m gonna need to disappear again for a bit. Trying to re-incorporate everything back into my life has taken a toll on my recovery so gonna take a break and hopefully I will be back soon…
Large crowds gathered outside the Russian Embassy in West London over the weekend to show their anger and opposition to the invasion of the Ukraine. Most cars that passed along Bayswater Rd also beeped their horn in support which raised cheers in the crowd. Some guy in a red Mazda drove round and round the block just so he could keep honking. The entire front wall of the embassy had been graffitied in chalk with anti-war statements. Chants of ‘Putin is a murderer’ and ‘We stand with Ukraine’ echoed across the busy street.
It was an impressive turnout yet it was highly unlikely anyone inside the building was going call up Putin to tell him to end the assault but that’s not the point. We were all there because we wanted to be seen and heard and because protest makes you feel like you are doing something as oppose to nothing, however futile it seems.
And I am putting up these photographs not in the genuine belief it’s going to stop the war but because it’s all I can do. And all the other yelllow and blue posts that are now plastered across social media in support of Ukraine are not just empty token gestures. They are there so that they can see the world does care about them, and our government’s inaction does not reflect our collective desire to see them rescued from this tyrannical psychobully.
When you watch the horror and the misery of others unfold before you very eyes on the feed of doom you feel utterly helpless. In recent times we have had to watch atrocities committed against the Syrians, the Palestinians, the Uyghurs and Yemen’s Houti Rebels and in all those situations, like now, the international community has not got involved through fear of the aggressor. (Actually I say ‘not got involved’ but the UK actually sent arms to the Saudis to help kill the rebels so there’s that) And not that anyone wants us to be dragged into more wars but can we stand by and do nothing?
The Ukraine was convinced to give up their nukes in the 90s on the promise from both the West and Russia that they would never invade. They signed a friggin treaty on it for fuck’s sake and now that it’s happening we are reneging on that promise to protect them. I know we don’t have a good track record for interference. When we do go into places (Iraq,Afghanistan, Libya) we tend to fuck shit up worse and then just walk away and leave them to deal with the mess we created but Putin must be stopped. Because he won’t.
In hunter gatherer times if anyone stepped out of line or tried to take too much of their share or try to dominate they would immediately get knocked down. In action movies and superhero films, the good guys always go and defeat the evil bad guy. In the 20th century the west used to have this role. But what happens now? The heroes have to save the day but who and where are they? Why isn’t anyone stepping up? If we won’t do it, who will?
The world seems to be constantly at the mercy of dickless dickheads like Putin who need to chuck their weight around so they can be the most powerful. I know it’s primate hierarchy in action but can’t we get past it? Can’t we evolve? I am actually sick to death of these 20th century dinosaurs who favour destruction over resolution, war over peace, profit over people, fossil fuels over renewables. We have to remove them in order to find a future we can all live in. They will be the death of us all if we don’t.
I once wrote a b movie sci-fi story called ‘Planet Arsehole’ where they had been able to identify the ‘arsehole gene’ in humans and everyone who tested positive was banished to another planet. It’s a lovely thought but even if that was scientifically possible the leaders of this world would block it because they are, in fact, the arseholes and they know it. As I have said before we are sadly represented not by the best of us but by the worst of us, mainly because anyone that wants power isn’t someone you want in power. End of.
Truth is there is terrible shit going on all over the world all the time and even though you sympathise with the plight of the persecuted everywhere you cannot carry all the conflicts with you because you wouldn’t be able to get out of bed. But you are naturally more affected by those that are closer and ones you are personally connected to. I have been to Kyiv and it’s a beautiful place and met some truly lovely people there who are now all trapped inside this war zone and it is just horrific to think of what they are going through and pray for their safety.
A very good friend of ours lives in Kharkiv right on the border. This town has been heavily bombed since the invasion started and she has been hiding out in an underground car park. The city no longer has any power and a lot of it has been reduced to rubble. Buildings are decimated all around and the Russian troops are now marching in towards her. What was she doing a week or so ago? She was living a normal life, working, looking after her son, walking her fluffy white dog and baking fucking cakes…and now she is now on the run and fleeing for her life. And she is just one of millions.
Post, petition, protest, make a donation..do what ever you can. See link below which has lots of info on how to help and donate.
Pairs of tings this week. Why? Well to be honest I had planned to give you a random selection as still easing myself in but a pattern developed. Were they sub-consciously selected as a message to myself? I began to wonder. And then I wondered some more. And it dawned on me that every body needs some buddy. And it don’t matter if they’re your partner, parent, pal or pet..we are mammals and we were not built to exist in isolation.
Your successes in life will not be your career or the wealth you have accumulated or the car you drive, it will be the people you’ve chosen to have in your life. They will make you happy, they will get you through the storm, a convertible won’t. (which would actually be really shit in a storm). I guess this has dawned me as I have just been through a rather large storm (metaphorical rather than meteorological) and could not have navigated myself through it alone.
And if you are wondering why most of the shots this week are not of pairs of people it’s because I am still running a little slow and they’re just too fast for me to capture at present unless they are relatively still. Inanimate object’s inability to move make them ideal candidates for a sluggish photographer. Actually slugs I could handle…
Merry Holidays to y’all…I know it don’t feel super merry this year. More merry-lite instead of jolly jolly, more diet-merry than festive cheer but for those of us who are lucky enough we’re all still here. And that is much to be thankful for. If ever there was a year to appreciate what you have rather than what you don’t it is this one.
For my own part I am back from the dead and slowly re-introducing myself back into the land of the living where I am seriously hoping to become a permanent resident again. Please excuse my absence (I will at some point share all the gory details) but I have basically been down the very deep dark hole that is Long Covid for a ridiculously long time. I have just managed to claw my way out and am finally resurfacing, ironically just as everyone seems to be going back underground. I have returned to a world where the mood feels sombre to say the least but I am joyous. Compared to the hell I have been in this is paradise. Turns out the more shit your life becomes the happier you are when it isn’t. Who knew?
I’m not quite 100% better and not quite back to my previous self but I am back taking photos as you can see and my brain is working again enough to write so am hoping to resume some sort of service in the new year so see you in ’22!
