Tuesday, 21 August 2012

Mundane

Bla, bla bla. Da da da. A lot of talk and no real analysis. Simple analysis without the verbiage or benefit of hindsight. The people who work in banks aren't corrupt. They just have access to a lot of money. And take it. I don't think it´s quite the same thing. People who live in the West earn a lot of money and we accept it. Nobody generally questions why a malodorous halfwit in Europe earns more than a scientist in Africa. People, just like banks don't question how much they are paid unless they happen to think it's too little.  Governments have a moral obligation to regulate banks and they still haven't bothered to. So, I'm sure that once the balance sheets are healthier, there'll be another crisis to send us back to the stone age. I hope Jacky knows how to grow potatoes and mend socks.

Gilty is angry about the crisis

 This is a photo of a Galician wolf. Not taken by me I hasten to add. There are lots of them round here and not all of them work in politics.

Walk on

 This summer has been very special for me. This time last year, Jacob was only 8 months old, and, although he was an angel it was a difficult period. Right now, I feel like my whole life has been worthwhile. Undeservedly so of course. He is an inexhaustible source of energy, vitality, fun, and that unfathomable intelligence that small children have which adults scorn and don’t really understand, some kind of magical intuition.

What are we eating? and very nice too!

The Shell-fish paradise of Coruña has recently been home to a tall ships race. More than 300 ships I believe. Tall.


What I found in the sails

 Above boats, below sleep.

The art of sleep, part two

 He adores music and dances with enthusiasm and style. Perhaps it’s my imagination but I think that there might be elements of kung Fu in there as well. The list of likes includes, flowers, food, animals, but especially dogs, all people whether friendly or not (by the time he’s finished saying hello they become friendly!!), reading stories (“Jackie, would you like a story?” – “Yeah” – “What about Mr Chatterbox?” – “Yeah”), blackberries, standing on manhole covers, hugs, If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands, muppets. I could go on.  Apparently, I often do. He is a gift from God, an angel. Of course, I have no experience as a father, except for the production phase. But Loreto says that he is miraculous and special. If all babies were like this, I'm sure the birth rate would soar.



My wood. Where I go to talk to the fairies

Walking by the beach with friends

The school where I work 

 This is the place where I work most. It looks like it should be in Havana but is simultaneously in the middle of Coruña and by the sea. It's subsidised by the regional government which makes it a kind of direct grant school. There's no entrance exam or anything like that though, but some nuns and children and the odd teacher. Emphasis on the "odd" naturally.

Poem of the day:


The Sunlight on the Garden

The sunlight on the garden
Hardens and grows cold,
We cannot cage the minute
Within its nets of gold,
When all is told
We cannot beg for pardon.

Our freedom as free lances
Advances towards its end;
The earth compels, upon it
Sonnets and birds descend;
And soon, my friend,
We shall have no time for dances.

The sky was good for flying
Defying the church bells
And every evil iron
Siren and what it tells:
The earth compels,
We are dying, Egypt, dying

And not expecting pardon,
Hardened in heart anew,
But glad to have sat under
Thunder and rain with you,
And grateful too
For sunlight on the garden.


Sunday, 12 August 2012

sumday



I am a negative silhouette

I am going to include a slightly older video which you will be able to see below. It's only a couple of months ago, but time is an implacable sculptor and a ruthless mirror.








Just been checking the date and its 06/04/2012.


Wild Strawberry on our walk this morning


We find the strawberries because we know where they are. There is no mystery. Jacky is usually sitting in the backpack perfectly content to be a passenger. When we come to the strawberries we always have a mini-feast.




Plum job

More fruity stuffs on out regular short walk with the dogs.

The return of the Siber-Galician wolf whose camouflage hides him in the half light of the forest


 Don't ask me what day it is! I don't know. Jacky is simply delightful at the moment. Lots of hugs and kisses are the order of the day. Leaving cafeterias and other public places he waves to everybody as if he were the king. Public exhibitions of one's dancing ability are also very popular.

Selves portrait


 Not easy taking this photo. Not easy dancing like this either. Nice walk though.


progeny


 Next day on the beach and with Mario too. A bit taller, a bit different and speaking to me practically the whole time in English. Pretty impressive. Mario is very well, optimistic and happy-go-lucky. Top marks in everything, sensitive, but not neurotic.

Why so serious ?





 Polyhedron: In geometry, a polyhedron (plural polyhedra or polyhedrons) is a geometric solid in three dimensions with flat faces and straight edges. The word polyhedron comes from the Classical Greek πολύεδρον, as poly- (stem of πολύς, "many") + -hedron (form of έδρα, "base", "seat", or "face").





               
 I digress. Any road up, here is the regular object thingy put together proper, like.



Manhandled buggered box
Buggered box

 I didn't find out what the right name for it is though. I shall call it a;

   sexyboxyhippyhedron



Ok, so it's just a puzzle.

More Breaky. Horizontal, life is more beautiful.  

Jacky worked out that some Scottish bloke won a tennis match. This is his homage. We aren't really following the Olympics. It seems to be 95%e ennui and 5% something of not implacable tedium.
Will try and catch the women's beach volleyball though.

Hallucinogenic surfing

 On the same beach a little earlier in the day.....















And I'm receiving a lot of hugs these days so this is how I feel:

You can tell it's me by the haircut




Today's poem:


Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

Saturday, 4 August 2012

moanday agin

Impossible to do

 this using just your imagination

These are two bits of wood. They are identical in shape but photographed from a different angle. There are six of them all together. What do you think they look like once the puzzle has been symmetrically assembled? and more to the point, Why would you care?

I haven't been in communication mode for a few days and the main reason for this is that I have a 9000 word translation on the boil. The uninspiring working title is; "Firm Sector". Here is a sample to set the nerves jangling: " In spite of the potential applications for strategic analysis arising from the postulates of I.E., this study looks only at the most immediately relevant factors (threats and opportunities) and their influence on strategy and performance." If that doesn't set the pulse racing (over the edge of a cliff possibly) I don't know what will.


Life's a Beach 



 Of course, if you live in a seasidy kind of place you should expect to spend a fair amount of time on the beach (eating sand, falling over, running away from incoming waves etc.) 

Graze anatomy

And, as you can see, diving onto a hard floor is good training for an incumbent stuntman, but the beach is kinder to one's skin.


Some concentration required for having a good time

And even more




This video is not so recent perhaps a couple of weeks ago or more. 


You may have heard that here in Spain there is a crisis.



More than half the population under 29 out of work, old people back to work, in 1 out of every 10 households nobody is working, half of the unemployed are long term dole fodder


 This is what the paper says. And the printed word cannot lie. We went out briefly a couple of nights though and the city centre was throbbing with holiday vibe. But this may have been because I was wearing my summer shirt.


A good shirt

This is an anti-crisis shirt.


This is the centre of the city. Not too sure if it's crisis-proof though

More soon.


Poem of the day:


You and me we were the pretenders
We let it all slip away
In the end what you don't surrender
Well the world just strips away
Girl, aint no kindness in the face of strangers
Aint gonna find no miracles here
Well you can wait on your blesses my darling
I got a deal for you right here
I aint looking for praise or pity
I aint coming round searching for a crutch
I just want someone to talk to
And a little of that human touch
Just a little of that human touch

Aint no mercy on the streets of this town
Aint no bread from heavenly skies
Aint nobody drawing wine from this blood
Its just you and me tonight
Tell me, in a world without pity
Do you think what Im askins too much
I just want something to hold on to
And a little of that human touch
Just a little of that human touch

Oh girl that feeling of safety that you prize
Well it comes at a hard hard price
You can't shut off the risk and the pain
Without losing the love that remains
Were all riders on this train

So youve been broken and youve been hurt
Show me somebody who aint
Yeah, I know I aint nobodys bargain
But, hell, a little touch up and a little paint...
You might need something to hold on to
When all the answers, they don't amount to much
Somebody that you could just to talk to
And a little of that human touch
Baby, in a world without pity
Do you think what Im askins too much
I just want to feel you in my arms
Share a little of that human touch
Feel a little of that human touch
Give me a little of that human touch