Life Observed

Once again Phoebus has finished his journey south. We're in a dark place at the moment... A sunset over Christchurch bay at 4:11

I am mighty impressed the sea can lift this gravel two meters and dump it all against the beach huts. After all it's only salty water. It doesn't have a mind or anything. I'm just as impressed that the council will come and put all the gravel back eventually.

He'd had enough :)

Don't drop the Key to the Castle.  You might injure a servant...

Kingston Lacey, wallpaper made of silk. Like you do...

Don't leave your mobile phone on the windowsill at this monastery. That's probably why the monks don't have mobile phones.

Imagine sitting in a bath of cold water all day long, and then all night as well. 

The sun always shines at thirty five thousand feet, even in October. Below us, just rain and gloom.

Greek Orthodox churches are beautiful and new inside. They generally look like they were repainted just last year. Perhaps they were. However, there's always an exception.

How often have we heard this one. God of underworld bursts up out of the earth in his chariot and carries off daughter of goddess. This surprisingly scary wall painting was done thousands of years ago.  Excellent.

Reflections from the Mediterranean sea of a Greek fishing boat. Location, Kavala.

Douglas Adams was right. You can suspend an item in free space entirely by the power of art.

Some years ago I posted an opinion that context is all important in a picture. If you go abroad and take a picture of a cat, it is just a picture of a cat. However, a picture of a cat in front of the Acropolis is a completely different animal. Well, we just came back from a trip to actual Greece and while staying in Athens I tried quite hard to locate a cat with the Acropolis in the background, but all the moggies I spoke to charged far too much to be in a picture. So here is an alternative. A cat in an Amphitheater. PS. What is it with Mediterranean animals? Every archaeological site has cats in it. And all the associated coach parks have a sleeping dog. Is it a job creation scheme?

It turns out we have bees under our summer house. It turns out that this is a Good Thing because bees are important and under threat. It also turns out I don't know why they are called Bumble Bees.

Industrial strength coffee is very much the order of the day in post hipster Britain. It has become so strong that conventional pouring methods no longer work.  Your local barista is likely to use this high pressure coffee pump for your quad shot day-starter.

In high winds, if no-one notices, these points get blown over and all the trains end up in West Bromwich. No, really

Don't know about you, but I find this very moorish. PS. Disadvantage of being Queen of everything and Empress of India. One gets all sorts of stuff given to one.  One's poor cupboards!

Our new house build is going slowly. The builders turned up in the afternoon, lit a fire and made a cup of tea. Then it was time to go home.

What were those medieval carpenters smoking* when they set about work like this? I mean, what is this illustration supposed to be telling us?  Next time you get a chance, check out your local miserichords. They are usually rather fantastic. *Well, it won't have been tobacco in pre-Columbus Europe. Or potatoes.  

Out beyond the Needles. More ghosts on the horizon. Some of them dance above the horizon like distant castles in the air.