XDR-TB Sharing the story

recent txt conversation with my dad

jess leevin spit! spit! by bus

wye a bus?

dunno

are ew woshin the rugby l8r?

woo's on?

dragins an sumwun

wot channel?

essforsee

mite do if I gerrome in time

unless yew is goin via bangor, yew shood do!

i jess not countin my chickins

yew got chickins onna bus anorl?!

of corse

muss be the west wales servis en?

guzackly

rite shurrup I'm weedin inna garding

yew shurrup, i'm tryin to do a crosswerd

onna em4 at lars, traffic very slow

chickens are drivin are ey?

we've eeten em

oo the hell's drivin en? wossa werl comin to!

the ducks!

bluddy ducks!! oi, yew not avin me on are ew?

no, yew gorra be quackers to drive in iss porin rane!

ah yers, corse yew av

orriten shurrup now

guzackly

Notting Hill Carnival-Batala Band de Percussao

Notting Hill Carnival-Batala Band de Percussao
Originally uploaded by Daniel_C_C

We were at the back somewhere, but we were there! And it was the best.

Braveheart

Braved the market in Brioude this morning, with a view to finding out why this Clermont-Ferrand based samba band got a gig instead of us. Beats me.

OK OK I left the camera in the car, so I'll have to post it later.

Batala Samba Massif

Some recent photos on flickr here
And one or two video clips on youtube here
Alex took some at rehearsal a few weeks ago, and they are here

More window frames

It's a variable activity, blogging, for me. Like other things, there are phases and periods of activity and quiet. Anyway, here's the latest photo window frame project I've been working on. It's been a bit of a case of two steps forwards one step backwards. But with a final revised bit of wood bought this morning at the market we should be ready to see if we're going to keep the glass in the window frames or not. We could keep these original, old, cloudy frames, replace them with new clean ones, or leave them out altogther. Any thoughts? The photo was taken in the village here about 50 yards from the house. It's printed onto canvas, but not mounted onto stretchers because it is going into the window frame.

You wouldn't believe it if you didn't see it

Photos

A while ago I produced my first photos in window frames ... this one as a present for a friend. Since then I've done a few more, mostly sunflowers.



I've just received a commission for a series of my sheep pictures that includes a window frame triptych. It also includes four images printed onto canvas by contrado, who I can happily recommend based on my experience with them to date. Quality, speed and value for money.

The sheep canvasses have come out nicely. What do you think?

Photos, sun and elections

That's a pot pourri of recent days.

Some few years ago, shortly after landing in this corner of paradise, we had a run-in with a local politician. He was arrogant, offensive, and a disgrace to local politics. Since then, his (hopefully) unique combination of charms has led him into other conflicts, some much larger. Well, the recent local elections have brought out all the people he's upset over the past 10 0r 12 years, and they've voted him out of all but one of the three offices he held. Hali %$£$% luliah! We've drunk a toast to the new folks; let's hope they can bring some badly-needed resonsibility, credibility and humanity to their communities.

We've had a fairly wet time so far this spring. Which is a good thing, don't get me wrong. But when the sun came out for a couple of days, the collective rise in morale was everywhere palpable. It's raining today.

But the greatest pleasure has been spending time with l'il lamb out on the bikes, taking photos, sharing them on flickr, and gardening together. Apples ... eyes ... all that.

the best cover song & video EVER. I mean EVER

The Leningrad Cowboys with THE Red Army Choir sing Sweet Home Alabama. Priceless. Anyone remember the cold war?

Robot - in principle

I've had a hard time convincing li'l lam that you can make a programmable robot out of string and wood, but finally proved my point with this video from New Scientist on YouTube.

I can't believe it

So much going on to rant about, and nor franceranting going on. What's the idea!!!

Local elections of a medieval flavour for a start. The bribery through abuse of power in the community of communes over the past few years has ensured a few votes for one of the most unpopular constituents, and despite coming third has elected to go ahead to the second round. What's he got up his sleeve then?

In the local commune, so many of the old (sic) councillors left after soooooo long that the local population were shocked into apathy. It was hard going to get the required 11 names on the list; achieved just in time for the paperwork. But at what cost? No second round here, but the choice of Mayor to be made on Saturday night. There are rumours about how that's going, but I'm keeping shtum for now. Good luck bunny is all I'll say for now.

Our pursuit of a property to buy has already been a roller coaster, and there's no change there. I hate estate agents. No, really.

New Blog or should I say Blogue

A website for one of the new Batala kids on the block last year - Samba Massif - never quite happened. So to make a start I've got a wee blog with an introduction, some photos and video clips, and links to some of the other Batala groups around the world. Have a look. Please. Leave a comment. Pretty please.

Back at the ranch

I've been back for a week or so, getting stuff organised after my trip and straight back into developing plans for a children's environmental activity centre. Snappy title! Anyway, more of that at a later date.

This is just to say that all the free books have gone to good homes; the ones left in the box going to Oxfam in Romsey.

On the road again

Probably quieter than usual here for a week or so as I hit the road tomorrow for a week or so. twittering will continue here.

I used to work out how many miles I'd be doing on these trips, but I've given up. Trying a time-free non-linear view of travelling over the past year or so. It seems to lead to less stress.

Poem 4 - Limerick

Limerick

A limerick's cleverly versed-
The second line rhymes with the first;
The third one is short,
The fourth's the same sort,
And the last line is often the best.

John Irvin

Poetry book 3

Leisure

What is this life, if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

William Henry Davies

French Farmhouse Doors

Our old, lovely, twisted french farmhouse doors have been squeeking for a while, so I thought I'd give them a drop of oil. Worked a treat; no more noise. Only problem is that they are so twisted that it was only a sticky mechanism that allowed us to shut them. Now they're smooth and oiled, they pop open all the time. Ever heard the expression, if it ain't broke don't fix it?

Forming, Norming etc. ...

I don't know if this model is still popular, but it occured to me yesterday during a few issues raised before and at our samba rehearsal. It's a nice idea if it now means we can get on with the music. Not guaranteed it seems from the explanation, but I'm optimistic, as ever.

Poem for a deat poet - Roger McGough

Not that it's about him, but he's one of my favourites. For obvious reasons.

Poem for a dead poet

He was a poet he was.
A proper poet.
He said things
that made you think
and said them nicely.
He saw things
that you or I
could never see
and saw them clearly.
He had a way with language.
Images flocked around
him like birds,
St Francis he was,
of the words. Words?
Why he could almost make 'em talk.

Roger McGough

Another book

To add to the complete list of books here is The Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends by Peter Beresford Ellis, in excellent condition. Only postage cost or call by and collect.

Could be fun if anyone wanted to call by with a swap. It's a way to go from anywhere.

Poetry book 1

Me an Li'l lamb are compiling a poetry book one at a time, and I thought I'd share the first few here. Turn about. Down to you to guess which are my choices, and which are hers...

Warning - Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me,
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandles, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children
We must have friends for dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Books are friends

Parting with books is always a little sad. Rather like parting with friends. But as one friend once said, quoting I assume, friends come into your life for a reason, a season, or for life. Unless it's for life, then let them go when the time comes. Same with books. I've been hanging on to some of these for decades without even being aware of their existence. I still have many, but most are as yet unread. When I've read them, they'll join the list until I can give them away. If there are no takers, it might be to charity shops sometime before the end of January.

Free Books

Surname	Date	Title
Hopkins	1976	Poems and Prose
McFadden	1992	Ancient Voices Current Affairs
Hands	2004	The Handbook of Digital Photography
Black	1979	The Elements of Palaeontology
Collins	1990	A Roomfull of Birds - Scottish Short Stories
Lawson	1992	Unnatural Selections
Ballard	1984	Empire of the Sun
May	1982	The Many-Coloured Land
Wodehouse	1987	Life at Blandings
Peake	1978	Gormenghast
May	1982	The Golden Torc
May	1983	The Non Born King
Peake	1987	Tutus Groan
Peake	1983	Tutus Alone
Lewis	1989	The Volcanoes Above Us
Trueman	1972	Geology and Scenery in England and Wales
Coelho	1992	The Pilgrimage
Richards	2003	Xenophobe's guide to the Welsh
Yapp	2004	Xenophobe's guide to the French
Rowe	1991	Collins Gem Wine
Kennedy	2001	The Rough Guide to the Internet
Twain	1972	The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Van der Post	1967	The Hunter and the Whale
Fitzpatrick	1999	Tanzania Zanzibar & Pemba
Kay	1998	Trumpet
Chatwin	1989	What am I doing here
Vonnegut	1994	Palm Sunday : Welcome to the Monkey House
Suskind	1986	Perfume
Dickens	1974	Bleak House
Austen	1972	Pride and Prejudice
Lewis	1979	My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen … Reverend Sirs
Willmot	1987	Pemulwuy: The Rainbow Warrior
Baker	1972	Christmas Customs and Folklore
Okri	1998	Infinite Riches
Crossley-Holland	1985	Axe-Age, Wolf-Age: A Selection of Norse Myths
Yeates	1962	Selected Poetry
Gatt	1976	Turner: The life and work of the artist (illustrated)
Eichenbaum & Orbach	1983	What do women want?
Sassoon	1940	The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston
Buchanan	1978	The Portable Plato
Neidjie	1989	Story About Feeling
Lawrence	1975	Sons and Lovers
Thelwell	1978	Belt Up
Dickens	1977	Great Expectations
Dickens	1985	Oliver Twist
Swift	1967	Gulliver's Travels
Dickens	1969	Hard Times
Dickens	1970	A tale of Two Cities
Brewer	1895	The Student's Hume: A History of England
Thelwell	1976	Top Dog
Thelwell	1978	This Desirable Plot
Thelwell	1978	Up The Garden Path
Thelwell	1977	A Leg at Each Corner
Thelwell	1977	Riding Academy
Thelwell	1978	The Effluent Society
Thelwell	1975	Angels on Horseback and Elsewhere
Hamilton	1982	Plato: Gorgias
Magorian	1998	Goodnight Mister Tom
Cantlie	1927	First Aid to the Injured
Guareschi	1964	Comrade Don Camillo and Don Camillo and the Devil
Livingstone	1944	Plato and Modern Education
Gwynn	1975	The Gower yarns of Cyril Gwynn
Proulx	1999	Wyoming Stories from Close range
Froude	1886	Oceana or England and her Colonies
Bronte	1986	Jane Eyre
Sayers	1983	Peig: the autobography of Peig Sayers of the Great Blasket Island
Thouless	1968	Straight and Crooked Thinking
Barber	?	Innsegall: The Western Isles
Morton	1945	In Search of Scotland
Hoog	1979	Monet
Allott	1986	English Poetry 1918-60
Godin	2005	Purple Cow
Hays	2004	Marcus Aurelius - Meditations
Banks	2002	Dead Air
Treffert	1990	Extraordinary people
Maclellan	1986	Gaelic Dictionary
Rhys Jones	1986	Living Welsh
Lorayne	1986	Page-a-Minute Memory Book
Liyi	1984	100 Chinese Idions and Their Stories
Charton	1989	Seas and Oceans - Collins Reference Dictionary
Pearce, Markandya, Barbier	1991	Blueprint for a Green Economy
Allen	1943	Guerrilla War in Abyssinia
Dossey	1985	Space, Time & Medicine
Emerson	1990	The Oxford Authors Ralph Waldo Emerson
Packham & Harding	1982	Ecology of Woodland Processes
Robbins	1997	Unlimited Power
Aman	1982	Folk Tales from Indonesia
Marshall & Gabriel	1994	The Great Pub Crawl : A Story of Swansea Pubs
Mackechnie	1974	Gaelic Without Groans
Tredennick	1957	Plato : The Last days of Socrates
Robbins	1992	Awaken the Giant Within
MacNeill	1991	Everyday Gaelic
Blacklaw	1989	Bun-Chursa Gaidhlig
Williams	1999	The Work We Were Born To Do
Knight	2000	NLP at Work
Handly	1979	The Way of the World: Congreave
Robinson et al.	1978	Elements of Cartography
Morris	1986	Intimate behaviour
Acland	1990	A Sudden Outbreak of Common Sense
Hays	1987	You Can heal Your Life
Dobson (Ed)	1991	The Green Reader
Edmunds	1979	The Gower Coast
Maclean & Carrrell (Eds)	1986	As an Fhearann from the land
Clarke	1994	Oz Clarke's Essential Wine Book
Koski & Symons	1991	YOU Magazine Journolists
Swindells & Mason	1989	The Complete Book of the Water Garden
Mitford	1968	Madame de Pompadour

Here's the whole list of books I want to pass on to whoever wants them and is prepared to collect or pay postage & packing.

Happy New Year again and again

One big turn of the year event!

There's little chance of that happening I reckon, but it's a nice thought. Roll the solstice, Christmas and New year into one event, have three or four days of celebration/holiday, and then carry on with life. I'd prefer solstice; since living in the middle of nowhere, I really do notice the change in daylight hours, and I am sooo pleased when the days start to get longer. I'm up for all those new year energies straight away. Only everyone around me is focused on Christmas. OK, let's have a shindig, great. Then let's get into the new year! But no, we all have to wait a week and have some kind of party again! No wonder there are some forced smiles around at most of the new year's bashes I've been to. This year was cool, I enjoyed it. Really. Ok Ok it is a bit baah humbug, but only a bit. Let's get up and at 'em sooner, that's all.

Books for free

Here's the first 30-odd books that are sitting here free for anyone for the cost of postage. Unless of course you happen to be passing, in which case call in, have a browse and take what you want. I'll get the rest of them up here soon, and put a link on the sidebar to the final full list. I'd be happy to hear some suggested swaps, but the point of this distribution is to have less stuff! The formatting hasn't gone too pear-shaped.)

Surname	First name	Date	Title
Hopkins	Gerard Manley	1976	Poems and Prose
McFadden	Steve	1992	Ancient Voices Current Affairs
Hands	Geoffrey	2004	The Handbook of Digital Photography
Black	Rhona M.	1979	The Elements of Palaeontology
Collins	Publisher	1990	A Roomfull of Birds - Scottish Short Stories
Lawson	Gary	1992	Unnatural Selections
Ballard	J.G.	1984	Empire of the Sun
May	Julian	1982	The Many-Coloured Land
Wodehouse	P.G.	1987	Life at Blandings
Peake	Mervyn	1978	Gormenghast
May	Julian	1982	The Golden Torc
May	Julian	1983	The Non Born King
Peake	Mervyn	1987	Tutus Groan
Peake	Mervyn	1983	Tutus Alone
Lewis	Norman	1989	The Volcanoes Above Us
Trueman	A.E.	1972	Geology and Scenery in England and Wales
Coelho	paulo	1992	The Pilgrimage
Richards	John Winterson	2003	Xenophobe's guide to the Welsh
Yapp	Nick	2004	Xenophobe's guide to the French
Rowe	David	1991	Collins Gem Wine
Kennedy	Angus J.	2001	The Rough Guide to the Internet
Twain	Mark	1972	The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Van der Post	Laurence	1967	The Hunter and the Whale
Fitzpatrick	Mary	1999	Tanzania Zanzibar & Pemba
Kay	Jackie	1998	Trumpet
Chatwin	Bruce	1989	What am I doing here
Vonnegut	Kurt	1994	Palm Sunday : Welcome to the Monkey House
Suskind	Patrick	1986	Perfume
Dickens	Charles	1974	Bleak House
Austen	Jane	1972	Pride and Prejudice
Lewis	Don	1979	My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen … Reverend Sirs
Willmot	Eric	1987	Pemulwuy: The Rainbow Warrior
Baker	Margaret	1972	Christmas Customs and Folklore
Okri	Ben	1998	Infinite Riches