Life Observed

Culture shock is the personal disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration or a visit to a new country, a move between social environments, or simply travel to another type of life

Take a break. Have a Cyprus coffee metrio . Sip it and watch the world go by . Don't add sugar, there is some already in it, and don't stir it whatever you do. There's a glass of water provided to make it a longer experience. Quite useful if you are using your metrio as an excuse to sit in the cool shade and do nothing. Alternatively, you could collapse in a gutter outside a bar. Maybe the waiter will bring you a low table and some wine.

My apologies dear reader, but we have been away at the foreign for a while. Never fear for I am back with a box of photo snaps to share and a pocketful of grumbles and observations to air. So: Here we have a meeting of cultures. A Greek Orthodox priest speaking to a young bar owner in Cyprus. She in fact is Russian. It turned out that many of the visitors to Omodos were Russian when we were there.  I wonder why Russians are attracted to the island, apart from the year round sunshine, the friendly locals, the relaxed lifestyle and the hard currency. Is it perhaps because the two languages share proportions of their alphabet? (Nice one Kyril) Anyway, It would certainly help to be able to read the signs in Cyprus* I took a dictionary for my smartphone, but the written word remained all Greek to me. *Politicians have been trying to read the signs in Cyprus for centuries.

"In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes". Unfortunately, I can't remember who said that.

We find ourselves in Burford, in 1987. Another shot for the record that had little significance then, but is a small historical document these days. The garage must have been one of the last with pumps on the high street dispensing petrol without all the safety measures we have these days. As you can see, in those days petrol cost 38 pence per litre (or £1.75 per gallon if you didn't understand this new fangled stuff). Fill up your Alfasud if there's a space.

Pictured in the parade at the end of a memorial service last weekend: This Para and his colleagues from other services. I get the distinct impression that you don't mess with this guy.

Continuing my Presteigne theme today, here is the Kings Head Book Shop. This is an object lesson in trust. there's on-one there. The door is open, the lights are on. It's full of old books. It's an Honesty Shop, you see. They trust you to take your money to the shop down the road and pay them. Houghton Lodge also operated an Honesty Parking and shop policy when we last visited the place. Honesty and trust. Perhaps that's a lesson for us all this Christmas.

Here is Presteigne, mid Wales. A splendid small border town stuck in the 1960s, and it is still just how country towns used to be. We've been here before and I am much impressed with the place. Here's the narrow High Street on a rainy day. Here you find Anne's Fruit and Veg shop , a mini supermarket, a Butcher, the Tourist Information shop and much more. It all on a human scale, the pace of life is slower. Free Parking for 20 minutes, no return within the hour. Many of the houses are wood and stone construction, and there's lots of little corners to investigate. Even on a rainy day it has a charm of its own. Worn out by the Christmas Shopping? Escape from the rain and have a leisurely late breakfast in The Coffee House right next to Albert Square while the world goes slowly by...

Here we are at the Saturday market in Wells, Somerset. Stealing the limelight are a pair of American indians, with their feather head dresses and ethnic clothing. East meets west, except in this case, Britain is East. What is odd is they are playing these Andean pan pipes over a synth and drum backing track and they are selling CDs in the usual manner. They sound quite a lot your usual high street Peruvian pan pipe band, and I thought they were of Inca origin.  So are they North or South American? Answers on a postcard please.

Coo. The things you see , eh? When I stopped for petrol at my local Total station I had this feeling I was being watched. I was right. This guy was looking straight at me. Yes. It's a Cardboard Policeman . He spends all day looking out over the forecourt.  I had to ask them why it was there. Apparently it is to deter drive-off fuel theft. So: What exactly does he do if you drive off without paying? Does he come to life, burst through the plate glass window and pursue you down the street. Or does he just wave back and forth slightly in impotent indignation?

Sometimes I see something that catches my eye and I try to capture an image of it to share.  In this case we seem to have something inexplicable going on. Actually we are late at a churchyard fair which is packing up for the day, so whatever this was will remain a mystery...

Now here's a rant for you. I wish to complain about the tide of company "tag phrases" or "mission statements" that decorate lorries and posters these days.  The key word must end in "-ing" and it seems to me that everyone is Delivering, Supporting or Providing these days and I've had enough of it. My attention was drawn to this last year when our local bus service had a makeover and a new livery bus appeared on the streets with the phrase "Delivering Transport Excellence" on its sides.   Delivering Transport Excellence?   It's only a bus for goodness sake, how excellent can it be? Once you start looking you will see there are other critical words that must appear in your mission statement. Thus in the spirit of this brave new world, I give you.. Snaar Photography: Providing Sustainable Connectivity for All

Here is Snaaman's quick guide to music.  Look no further because you will find all you need on these humble pages. We start with Folk. You can spot Folk musicians by their earnest and determined look. This genre deals with relationships, loss, separation (and the Navy if the lyrics mention ropes or heave away ). The songs tend to be a tad depressing. They sometimes sing with one finger in their ear and use strange language (if you hear Eng-er-land in association with Rolling Main , then you are probably listening to folk music). If you wish to make Folk louder then you ask the audience to join in because amplifiers are not encouraged by purists. Folk music often brings with it  Morris Dancing . Be aware that this in turn involves Beer and Beards.   Blues The first thing to realise is that Blues and Folk are not the same thing. Blues is nothing to do with Jazz because it uses a simple tune repeated all through the song whereas ...

Its Saturday, the shoppers are out and about, their pockets full of change. Now is the time to get your guitar out and wander into town and busk for money.   It looks like a lot of hard work. Do they do it for the money or the fame, or is it just that you can't stop a performer performing?

Well, as I reported earlier , the whole nation took a day off yesterday. I suspect a lot of us just sat in front of the TV, while others headed away from the commotion and ignored it all. Some of us had street parties ... Now the Street Party is a strange and infrequent thing in reserved British society. I don't remember going to one before, and it smacks a little of Empire and flag waving.  It is the sort of thing we used to do, but now seems rather quaint and at odds with the twenty first century. However, once the idea takes root and you get enough people involved (about eighty percent of our little street) then it works out well. We didn't quite have the jelly, cake and Union Jack street party from the 1950s, but we did get ourselves proper trestle tables and a real Silver Band. A nice tight focus shot of a  valve trombone. Even though it seems a slightly odd thing to do, it worked out well, the neighbours spent more time chatting together ...

The best camera is the one you have with you... It's no good having some super pro camera and lens set if it it too bulky or too heavy to take with you.  Having said that, it is a very dedicated photographer that carries a camera at all times... Anyway, here is a street shot that I was able to grab because I did have my camera with me at the time. (I will not be showing you all the great pictures I missed because the camera was at home...)

It's good to develop your powers of observation as a photographer. I am always on the search for odd stuff to snap. Problem is, what do you do with these wierd or just plain odd scenes. They don't make good wall furniture. So, dear reader: here are some for you to savour, together with my reactions at the time...  "OK, Fair enough.." "Yes, but what? Where? Erm, Toilets in the sky?? And - Garden Shed ?? No comment...

Here, for your consideration, are a selection of secret places I've found over the years. Some are pretty little towns, others are thought provoking corners of life's great pattern. Firstly we have Monpazier in France.  This lovely little Bastide town is well worth a visit, with its characteristic arches and shadows. Next we have Nicosia in Cyprus. These two pictures were taken just next to the green line, the U.N. administered division where the Turkish invaded north part of the island meets the Greek southern part. You find many reminders of the invasion and the war from forty years ago,  usually deserted and crumbling houses that have not been reclaimed or rebuilt. The division line runs through the centre of Nicosia and has itself become a strange tourist attraction. I suspect cafe Topsy last traded in 1974.  Its all rather sad. Here we find ourselves just next to the Plaza Mayor in Madrid. This was taken before ten in the morning, m...

Street photography is not really for me. I feel happier photographing landscape than I do photographing people . However, with the right camera or the right circumstances I sometimes turn up the occasional street scene. Here is the fruit and veg stand at our local market. I took this from the hip with my cheap FED50 film camera. Focus by zone, click and hope! I spotted this conversation in a square in Avignon some time ago. It was a grab shot of what seemed an interesting subject. This sepia tint image has had the Orton Sandwich effect added. I wonder if you have to get a signed model release these days to do this? That would have slowed Cartier-Bresson down eh? Here we have a lace maker on the streets of Omodos in Cyprus. I fear we did not buy any lace from her, though we did buy a tablecloth further down the street. Perhaps that counts. Street scenes. Hmm. Some folks do it effortlessly, I feel I need to practice more.

I have been visiting Halifax in West Yorkshire on and off all my life,  I can remember it when I lived there as a child. In those days we kids were told not to run our hands along the walls because they would end up covered in soot. Yes, its true that just about every structure, every building bridge and wall was black in my memory. It was accepted as part of Industrial Britain. Now that I am completely grown up I find these blackened walls just as fascinating, although this time from a photographic perspective. They are an endangered species. Ever since the early 1990s Halifax has turned the pressure washer on itself and street after street has emerged as golden grown sandstone and blinking in the sunlight. The transformation is remarkable. Thus these grainy monochrome images from twenty years ago show historical traces that are becoming scarce and hard to find these days.  Furthermore, there is also another technical problem. How do you photograp...