Sunday 3 December 2023

Edgbaston Reservoir by Midland Metro


My latest video - in which we travel by tram from Wolverhampton to Birmingham and walk round an autumnal Edgbaston Reservoir.

The video is here.



Sunday 19 November 2023

A Wander round Wolverhampton

Mostly known for industry and for Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, Wolverhampton goes back further than that. Here we have a walk around and take some pictures. https://youtu.be/L59TaC1mDbk


Sunday 15 October 2023

Steam to Shrewsbury

Recently I took a journey by train.

The “Welsh Marches Express”, from Bristol to Shrewsbury.

Shrewsbury is a town in Shropshire, not far from the border with Wales - at times it has been in Wales, and may have been the capital of the Welsh kingdom of Pengwern.

The video is here. https://youtu.be/zy1PEh1iRpc

 



Saturday 14 October 2023

Language Update

I just signed up for a Welsh language course. Duolingo is ok for the basics but doesn't give you the grammar (which Welsh has a lot of). Duolingo, really: I think it's the equivalent of those little Collins phrasebooks you used to get. So now you can say a few basic useful phrases in whichever language it is, but you can't really speak it. 

And Duolingo Welsh: what's all this about pannas (parsnips)? Apparently it's some kind of injoke but it gets everywhere. 

Also, fluency isn't grammar. I suspect my French is more grammatically correct than my Spanish, but I speak Spanish more fluently. Or else there's a different reason for this: if I'm speaking French to someone in France they'll sometimes reply in English, but if I'm speaking Spanish to someone in Spain I don't get English back. 

This could be fluency or it could be a different mindset - French people: "this person is an English speaker, I'll help them by speaking English." Spanish people: "this person is making an effort to speak my language, I'll appreciate that effort and continue to speak it." I've no evidence for that though. 

I also fell out with the French conversation class I was in because - essentially - while I'm quite fond of France and French culture, it isn't to the exclusion of other, especially European, cultures.

Tuesday 10 October 2023

Appointments, Deadlines ... Manifestations?

This article by Guardian regular Lucy Mangan struck a chord. 



Lucy went shopping for a diary to record, as you do, her appointments and what have you. But what does she find? 

"Every diary (bar the tremendously formal, proper-office stuff that I don’t want because it gives me flashbacks to my ill-advised years as a trainee lawyer) now has space for your Goals. Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, life – all sorts of Goals. And frequently space for dreams, affirmations, manifestations and I don’t know what all else because I’d set fire to them by then.

My only Goal – or Dream – is to manifest a diary that allows me to record appointments and deadlines without being interrupted by drivel. Could someone affirm that this is still possible in 2023?"

I don't know, Lucy. I suspect there is one, but I have hit this phenomenon also. The "Let's Get it Done" diary (not by Letts, as it happens) contains  a calendar and lists of 'Achievements' and 'Goals' at the end of each month. Which adds pages and weight and also, months aren't really a Thing. Time doesn't stop at 23:59 on September 30, say, and resume after a reset at 00:00. It's just a convenience.

Even the smaller A6 diary by the same company has quarterly note pages and a pocket (for what? I don't know). All that and this year they can't even give it a robust cover (quality is definitely down). For the last six years I have owned one of these each year, because they have the layout I like - days on the left-hand page, note page on the right - and get on with it. This year I was all set to return mine when I finally had it in my hand but kept it anyway.

There is, of course, also the long-form diary in which you write down longer detailed notes, but that's another matter and more properly called a journal maybe.

The tall narrow diary is a thing of yesterday because we no longer slip a diary into our jacket pocket, you have a phone for that and it's somehow incredibly nerdy to carry a source of notes and information around with you (apart from your phone. As Lauren Elkin found out on the Paris bus, writing notes longhand in public makes you look sinister, but tapping away on your phone is fine).

Apparently there's now a thing called "Manifestation Diaries" which sounds like something Harry Price, ghost-hunter, would have used. "Tuesday May 2nd. Borley Rectory. Several manifestations of a green glow, a black figure thumping across the hallway, and the same black figure later. Turned out to be Willy Catterall from the village trying to hide the bottles of grog he'd pinched. I said I wouldn't tell if he gave me one. He did and I won't."

But yes, I would like clear design, legible dates, and no flow-interrupting faff with Goals and Achievements.

You need to know where to look though. Waterstones, delightful though it is, tends towards the novelty diary. Trains, birds, poetry, all those lovely things you don't really want if you need to jot down your appointments. Yes, these companies giving you space for your affirmations and the rest of it have 'reinvented' the diary, but sometimes all you need is space for your appointments and deadlines. 

 

Image: "Dear Diary" by Helen Haden

Under Creative Commons v2.0 Non-Commercial

 

Thursday 5 October 2023

Tewkesbury - Land of the Abbey and the Flood


When I started this series of videos, way back in early 2021, the first place I made a specific visit to (apart from videos made in the places I was living - Kingston and then Cheltenham) was Tewkesbury. Watching it back now it has some good angles and shots but could also do with a remake.

So here we are. Filmed this summer while I was visiting my friend Tom who was in the UK for a while (his family are from Tewkesbury so he was staying there).

I'm now working full time so less able to get out and make videos - they've also become less frequent. I don't know how many more I'll make, at least in the year to come. 

So for now, here is my new video:

Tewkesbury

 

 


Saturday 16 September 2023

Rail Town - Swindon


The latest video is of the Wiltshire town of Swindon, best known for its rail industry (then) and its railway museum (now). https://youtu.be/s8CqrhAcM8o