Monthly Archives: September 2012
Orwell’s England Number Four: First leaves turning
(To read about the project have a look at this page / Click on the image to see a detailed view) Subject: First leaves turning Location: Verulamium Park At around quarter past six last night a stray cumulus cloud slid out of the sun’s path and Verulamium Park in St Albans was illuminated in warm […]
On book reviews
As a writer I find it difficult to equate the cheerful feelings generated by a good book review. If, for example, I were to be taken out by my closest and finest friends to La Burbuja Que Ríe restaurant in Madrid and made to watch Aston Villa lift the FA Cup while listening to a […]
Orwell’s England Number Three: Heavy dew in the early mornings
(To read about the project have a look at this page / Click on the image to see a detailed view) Subject: Heavy dew in the early mornings Location: Radlett Road Playing Fields, Watford There’s a useful photography tool called The Photographer’s Ephemeris that I used for this. It has a useful variety of features, […]
Orwell’s England Number Two: Pleasure of seeing a fire in a grate again
(To read about the project have a look at this page / Click on the image to see a detailed view) Subject: Pleasure of seeing a fire in a grate again Location: Countryside, Staffordshire Neither of my parents have ever lived in a house without a fire. My mother grew up in an unheated rural […]
Orwell’s England Number One: Blackberries
(To read about the project have a look at this page / Click on the image to see a detailed view) Subject: Blackberries Location: Cassiobury Park, Watford I’m starting this Orwell’s England project off with blackberries, and I imagined that they would be a relatively simple beginning. It turned out that I was wrong. My […]
Orwell Photography Project
A New Project September’s a good month for a new challenge, so I’ve decided to combine two of my interests and embark on George Orwell’s England – a year-long photography project. This idea stems from one of Orwell’s Evening Standard essays, Bad Climates are Best – an 800 word or so article I first read […]
The perils of picking a book title / And a queue outside Waterstones
(Click on the image to see it full size) So I was having my every-so-often Skype conversation with my old mate Luc from Madrid the other night and he told me I should probably use some positive adjectives next time I’m selecting a book title. He sent me the image above to explain what he […]
A Morning Walk – Polish Translation
A Morning Walk – Polish Translation (Kaja Polachowska) Był późny październik roku 1988. Temperatura spadła, zrobiło się chłodno i wszędzie były kolejki: kolejki po chleb, kolejki po mleko, kolejki po papierosy. Najwyraźniej pamiętam właśnie te kolejki po papierosy – to były te nerwowe, nieprzewidywalne kolejki, do których nie śmiałem się przyłączyć. Był deficyt wszystkiego, ale […]
Once Upon a Deadline – Back home from a wonderful weekend in Gdansk
Well, kind of. I’ve actually been back in London for a week but I’m only just getting round to writing up my experience of the marvellous writing event Once Upon a Deadline. Like anything good the event stems from a relatively simple idea. A group of writers are challenged to write a short story of […]