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Non Runners

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I’m a non runner. I’ve always been a non runner. I don’t even recall running for a bus and if I did it would be mercifully short before I gave up. Years ago at school I tried to avoid running, athletics being for the athletic, my PE reports a creative challenge for the retired prison guard who was our PE Master, the best being ” Tries hard, fails miserably”. He was wrong again there, I was not in the least bit miserable about not being interested in climbing a rope and witnessing a classmate go head first into a ‘horse’, … Continue reading Non Runners

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RNsPG and Germaine Greer

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It doesn’t make sense really but it stands for Random Non Specific Grumbling or Grumblers. It should be RNG but I like the small s and the extra letter. My idea? Not really it was what my good friend Robin Burton came upon with and he and I are exceedingly good RNsPGers. This means that we grumble about absolutely anything, generally in each other’s company. We’ve never been known to grumble about each other, other than in jest.That would be just too cruel. We’ve never been short of material. Who could be these days? Only today I heard Germaine Greer … Continue reading RNsPG and Germaine Greer

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The Arlingham Curve

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I used to hate walking as a child. Going on a nice healthy walk seemed pointless when I could be running around playing with my friends or trying to get the light to work on my Sturmey Archer powered bike. The light on the front seemed as big as a cars headlight and was powered by a small generator on the back wheel. When it was on a small wheel clicked against the rim of the back wheel and turned to generate the power. This also acted like a brake, so getting any sort of light out of the floodlight … Continue reading The Arlingham Curve

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How did you get here?

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Well, the original idea if you can grace it with that term, was a to find a career in advertising. It seemed glamorous and exciting and involved meeting loads of people, as a gregarious type it seemed to fit the bill. I’d been at art college for the allotted time, some of my fellow art students too were looking in the same place for work as I was, though all of them better qualified, they did better in the results than I had and consequently had much better quality portfolios to drag around the ad agencies. The portfolio was almost … Continue reading How did you get here?

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“Art Bollocks on Steroids.”

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I happened to glance at something the other day from the people I buy my art materials from, Jacksons, who are excellent in providing what I need. They have for some years ‘sponsored’ an art prize and exhibition. Looking at the posting I see the following information: This year, Jackson’s Art Prize received 15,345 submissions from 117 countries around the world. 426 made it to the longlist, and 70 went on to the shortlist. From these 70, 20 artworks were awarded prizes including this year’s First Prize winner. That’s it! 15k submissions, how incredible, and after that only 20 prizes. What an … Continue reading “Art Bollocks on Steroids.”

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Dimmelsdale Freight and brickworks

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Now you might think this is a little strange but apart from being in the Corrugated Iron appreciation group on Facebook, 45k members and growing believe it or not, I have recently joined the UK Brickworks and Brickworks Past group, and have not regretted either. Corrugated Iron is of course a favourite subject of mine when it comes to photography, it degrades beautifully and is in my view capable of being part of a fine work of art. I seek it out on my walks and discovering it can make my day, or my week even. My experience with bricks … Continue reading Dimmelsdale Freight and brickworks

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William Shakesfear

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In need of a rebrand? Tread carefully. A small change to a name can make a difference. In the past week I took a trip over to one of my favourite places, Gloucester. In leafy genteel Cheltenham it’s considered by some to be the ‘dark side of the moon’ despite being only 8 miles away. These genteel folk think it’s full of footpads and rogues. The difference between the two places is quite marked, but Gloucester has shedloads more history. Gloucester’s City Centre has some of the worst housing in the area and is high on the ‘deprived’ list whereas … Continue reading William Shakesfear

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The Coalman

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This is from a series of essays if you are to give it a posh description, about people who no longer exist, or are endangered in some way. I contributed to a book some years ago with my late good friend Gordon, who wrote most of the words. I republished the book on Amazon about a year ago and renamed it “Spotted!”, which I thought was a good idea. I’d like to say I’ve been overwhelmed with Amazon sales since, but that’s not the case, more like underwhelmed. This is one of about four additional people that I was going … Continue reading The Coalman