How sad. Esbjörn Svensson, a third of the fabulous Esbjörn Svensson Trio , has died in a scuba accident . So I guess I won't be watching them again live at the Sage next spring. Was worth the queue to meet him the first time though. Listen to some classics on MySpace or watch some live footage on YouTube (of When God created the Coffeebreak).


It's not generally allowed to take pictures inside the Cathedral, and so usually you get to see the standard shots. But sometimes, even when you're so familiar with the place that you almost could imagine one day taking it for granted, your breath can still be taken away by a new angle or style. I was looking this evening to see if I could see a single sectional part to try and build in secondlife, and I found these. One, some panoramas taken inside and outside the cathedral (scroll down a bit, enjoying the other Northumberland ones on the way), and the other, an image which would make the most beautiful stained glass window I wonder it's not already been done. Beautiful.
Today I have put out not only my last lot of unsorted rubbish (well, sort of) and my new bags of recycling. I've actually had recyclable stuff piling up all over the kitchen in anticipation of the start of the new collections, so I've put out lots, but am really quite excited that not only can I recycle plastic, but all plastic, along with plastic film. And tetra pack, and the cardboard I have already been taking up to the recycle centre. About time too. 2008. Anyway, it's here now. If that's the only change/benefit of the new unitary council, it will do for me. Recycle now . Indeed.Whilst researching for the essay I've just had to write on my theology course, I've been touring churches in secondlife (yes really). I was directed after I'd finished to the
Basilica of St Francis at Assisi . Frankly, it's worth creating a secondlife acount for. The 'pictures' I took are in Facebook, but I think I'll move them to flickr so everyone can see - or better, go and look yourself. It really is the most stunning recreation. I've not been to Assisi, more in a sec, but to be able to walk around the Basilica(s) in secondlife is just amazing. There is, I've discovered a virtual tour available at the Institute of Digital Theology , so I feel slightly sorry for them, but perhaps in fact secondlife will increase their sales, not depress them. I'd not heard of the IDT before either, but anyone knowing how I got into technology will realise I'm very pleased they exist. Their demo on youtube is very good, and maybe more professional than secondlife, but since it will basically be the same images, I can hardly imagine much difference, and in secondlife you can put yourself in there via your avatar. Last night we were wandering round admiring it, and I went to look on the web because I felt sure the virtual one is from before the earthquake. Wikipedia has a great page on the Basilica , which can act as a perfect tour guide for your secondlife visit (I so need to get into machinima!), but only a tiny mention of the earthquake, saying one fresco by Cimbue was lost and 2 years reconstruction was needed. This needled me, so I looked further. I haven't been to Assisi, but it was one of the places in the world I was desparate to visit. When I was 18 we took my grandmother to Pisa and Florence, and having queued for ever to see David, mum and I had to literally sprint round the Uffizzi gallery, hardly seeing anything carefully, but saying one day we'll come back. The following year many treasures were lost in the fire, so I never did get back to see them. What you want to do, find a way of doing today. Don't put it off. I was devastated watching the TV coverage of the earthquake that hit Assisi, and felt I'd totally lost my chance. I've never been back, and actually, I've not really heard much about it, though I think I do remember a small news item saying it had re-opened to visitors. But I remember it being a disaster, so to read 'one fresco lost and 2 years' reconstruction' seemed a bit minimal. To practise your italian, and realise a) just how important the work of the IDT/churches/individuals is in documenting our treasured heritage in case of -I hate to say- act of God, or worse, b) just how impressive it is to be able to walk round the place in SL (though I still haven't established whether they had already taken all the photographs - I need to log back in and look carefully at the vault that went), and c) remember just how devastating the earthquake was - those poor people who ran the wrong way into it, rather than to safety by coming forward down the nave really only needed showing once, must be a different cultural sensitivity in Italy, please watch the video. This is why I do what I do. Not so much what I do now, but what drew me into the world of technology. We might argue over the Lindisfarne Gospels living here or in London, but if something destroyed them, we'd at least have the facsimile somewhere. You might also want to say a prayer for those four people...
See the BBC page and links for more info, and be grateful that a photographer was cataloguing the cathedral immediately prior to the earthquake. I guess it's his photographs we have to thank. And here's a temptation to book those tickets.
I seem to have been away a lot recently, without having been away at all. I've been writing an essay (felt more like a novel) for my theology course, for which I've spent lots of time on the web and in second life, and lots of time writing. No sooner was that done, dusted and printed, toddled I off to Ushaw College (all of a quarter of a mile up the road, so not very 'away') -the catholic seminary now making ends meet with conferences and a lot of work for the diocese- for the midway point residential for my theology class. Slightly trepidatious, I confess, as it was exploring creativity in spirituality and theology (with Revd. Robert Cooper , diocesan chaplain to the arts), and my right-brain activity is somewhat limited! Anyway, it was fab, if tiring. Great conference, better than trying to fit in the other Durham colleges, and amazing grounds, views and buildings. One of the main activities was exploring and photographing things, taking into account the reason you took the shot. To be fair, I and everyone else took a minimum of 50 that were just pics, but I've uploaded some of the ones I took to flickr . now I've got my essay out of the way, with any luck I'll have time to be blogging again, and perhaps even start getting my entries out of here. Continued apologies for the dreadful look in the meantime!oh dear. where does the time go? this time last year I was arguing with blog-city about not being able to keep my blog, and learning more than i ever wanted to know about building my own blog in my webspace. then dad went into hospital and everything went upside down. blog-city (I don't think it was just me that complained) allowed blogs to remain as they were for the time being, but now it's back to my subscription date, and I can't resubscribe unless I change blogs. Since I never finished learning how to build my own, I'm stuck with wordpress or bust. I reckon I know enough about wordpress to run a blog from there and gradually make a look that I like, but I don't know if I've time between now and saturday to individually download all my posts, as I can't just get them. So I will have to change to blog-city's new stuff and pay again while I try and get them to let me at my things, but it will be a dog's dinner while I do. Also, there's no longer a basic version, so if I don't pay, it all disappears, so keep watching carefully for an address change.....
you have been warned
Well, whaddya know. I took - especially for me - lots of nice photos of Boston in the sunshine, but for some reason, the one I took in the cloud of the library has been included in a Schmap web guide. Not of the library, but of the Old South Church behind it. Ah well, no accounting for taste, and I appear to be a published photographer!!
'm sure there must be someone out there wanting to make a Turner Prize out of it. Surely the Baltic would leap at the chance to display it. Jo and Andy and I were just talking about how to reuse/recycle/pass on old computer bits/cables and the difficulty in trying to get glass milk bottles these days, due to our collected rubbish being made up majoratively of milk bottles. They showed me a book someone has given them on ethical living, and I might have to achieve a copy of my own. If we can't have glass bottles, why can't we have tetrapack milk like they do in Sweden? At least some supermarkets (even in Durham) are now collecting tetrapacks for recycling. Looking at a period of time's worth of rubbish would be an illuminating lesson. I keep a lot of my rubbish in hoping to be able to recycle it, so I can see months where I've had more plastic trays from ready meals / pizza boxes than I have composted vegetable scraps, but also I can wonder whether it's better to buy eg washing liquid in plastic bottles which I can't recycle or cardboard boxes that I can... the maths of Full Environmental Costing making a big difference. There simply is no such thing as "away" or "dispose" - and that has to change. Nappies was the other example we happened to discuss at dinner - is the energy and detergent used in washing real nappies eventually going to be overtaken/replaced by a better designed degradable disposable? I think Jo's hoping that there's an improved effective & environmentally friendly solution by the time she has kids!
Or rather, I'm not anymore. Instead of spending xmas at home conscious of Dad not being there, Mum wanted to cruise away somewhere sunny. So I've been rained on in several caribbean islands now. We took the first part of a P&O South American Odyssey, an 84 day trip all round the coast of latin america which finishes in March. To track where the boat currently is, click here.
So what would I do with a no-fuel day? I'd be happy to have an excuse not to do housework, but not not to bake, or make coffee to spend quality time with people. I could wrap up warm and warm myself up walking into town. Then I could spend a whole day appreciating the peace and tranquility of all the silence and services in the cathedral - until it got dark, as although the cathedral is enchanting by candle light and the division of some candles by many people would be more efficient than many by many at home, it would still be fuel. So then we'd have to depart and head home again - to an additional four sweaters, fifteen pairs of socks and early bed. Hungry, most likely, unless we'd used fuel to cook... Makes you realise how much we take for granted, doesn't it? Building a fire provides heat, light and cooking capacity - how many of our AAA rated appliances do such combining?!
Not buying petrol tomorrow is easy to succeed at. I hope it makes each of the 166 thousand people who joined the group think a bit more about it though, and be thankful that they aren't setting themselves a sterner test. Whilst they object to extra pennies on petrol, winter has begun, and thousands of old people have to choose between heating, lighting and cooking. May we be thankful for what we have and can afford, and look to fight for those who haven't and can't.
Had an exceptionally nice evening out last night, and have just been naming the new Flatbread Cafe as definitely a contender amongst my favourite restaurants in Newcastle. Right next door to my number 2 favourite, Pani's , it's a new persian spot, with a nicely exotic ambiance and some great food. And some lovely staff too. Worth a try, though be warned, think about your attire - when they say you only have flatbread to scoop up your food, that's all you get... white shirts probably a no-no
. Not quite El Coto , but that is my number one fave - the restaurant is sublime. And apparently opening soon a Durham branch. Woo. There'll soon be almost as many spanish restaurants in Durham as italians... Anyway, Flatbread Cafe is recommended for an evening out. Matched, obviously by the very lovely company of Genevieve, Dorothy and Anna .
"And we now take a moment of relative quiet to offer our own prayers for the bride and groom" adlibbed the vicar, as the child who had screamed and kicked the panelling all through the service continued to do so, but even still, it was a lovely service. Gibside Chapel, apparently quite recently restored, is a beautiful place to get married, even in October, where the greyness held off enough for champagne outside afterwards. And yet again, a core of Sage Chamber Choir stalwarts beat the A1 traffic accident nightmare to perform at a service for one of our members. Obviously the beauty of the place and of the choir's singing only came close to the beauty of the bride, who seemed to be having a fantastic day. As it should be. And I hope her mum was rightly proud the the exceptionally pretty dress that she made for her.
So though attempting to cut short a frankly grim week I was more aiming for a tiny bit of clear water to get my head together before heading off for my first proper class on the theology course. Having taken 2 hours to get home I had precisely no time to reboot my head and heart toward God, and fell in through the door (thankfully not quite last, Stuart having taken longer to get from Teesside even than me) with my brain playing catchup. Some people found Saturday's study day quite hard going - I found it deceptively easy, bearing in mind it was mostly study skills, learning styles etc. I should have been able to ease myself in tonight as well, with one early 15th C icon (brain explorer > medieval art & iconography, degree yr 2 > knowledge) and one metaphysical poem (brain explorer > english lit A level > knowledge), and looking back I suppose I might have dusted off a neural pathway or two, but they sure took some finding :o It will be lovely to dig out some of those skills and reuse them in new ways.
