The Siberian Blast continues in the UK

London – It’s now three days into the big Siberian Blast and things look to be getting rather serious in  certain parts of the country. We’ve taken a fair battering in London (and I expect there’s more to come), but not so much that I’ve stopped enjoying it just yet. I was strolling in the …

Morewell

Keep the Aspidistra Flying – George Orwell (1936) After my review of George Orwell: A Literary Life last week, I decided to Google-up on what’s going on in the Orwell universe as of late. One link follows  another and, as these things tend to play themselves out, I am now registered to attend an all day conference on the author’s work…

To hold the world in the palm of your hand

WordPress tells me that I have now used up the entire 3Gb of storage offered on my plan. This means that if I wish to continue maintaining this site then I’m going to have to make a decision on what to do next. I can either fork out for a premium plan or transfer everything onto a…

Music plays somewhere in the distance

More than three quarters of the Greek population list their religion as Orthodox, and if you find yourself there during one of their religious celebration, it is an almost certainty that you will find yourself involved in the pageantry of the occasion in some way, shape or form. I spent this year’s Easter holidays in the Northern…

No one is busy in this world

I didn’t post anything last week as I was in Greece for their Orthodox Church’s Easter celebrations – of which I will write about soon. I took around 1,000 photographs and am currently weeding my way through the best of them. Until then, here are the travel notices from Camden Road station this week. You…

Everybody needs a hobby

Sometimes beautiful, often puerile, but always interesting, I have been photographing the street-art around London for a couple of years now and I’m constantly surprised by the ingenuity and originality shown by artists across the city. We went to Brick Lane at the weekend and I decided to use the visit as an opportunity to…

A Very Quick Story

I’ll tell you a quick story while you’re here and I have the time to spare. I have a good friend who worked as a barman for the years he was seeing his way through his tertiary educational commitments. No-one who knows an honest day of work would ever challenge you in saying that tending…

A Greek Easter in London

The Greek Orthodox Church celebrate their Easter a week after the rest of us Roman Catholic types. They call it Pascha and see it as the most important holiday of the year – more important even than Christmas. Herself is as Greek as they come, so last Saturday night, she took us to St. Sophia’s…

Disturbing Moments in Animated Cartoon History

As a young teenager I was obsessed with weirdness. I surrounded myself with the bizarre. I embodied the odd. I watched horror movies compulsively, read extensively on the abduction techniques favored by different serial killers and studied the indoctrination methodologies of cult leaders (I could tell you more about the Manson Family than I could about members of…