After catching Front Row on Radio 4 the other evening I just had to follow their advice and see the Twilight exhibition at the V&A, a collection of images from international photographers http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/photography/twilight/index.html. So I visited yesterday. The theme of twilight, was a reference to the special properties of the light, and the special feeling it invokes. Some of the photographers did their work using the natural surroundings, others staged and manipulated to produce the twilight feel artificially. I obviously liked some more than others, check out the link for yourself.
After that, I walked through Hyde Park on my way to see Big Al, and the sky was perfect, twilight, clear skies, with planes landing in the west a Heathrow, vapour trails set off in the setting sunlight, and calm walking through the park in a tree tunnel, but with the noise of the traffic not far away, and the bright lights of the road and buildings just visible. Beautiful man!(do you think I might get a slot on Front Row?)
Cyclical Change
For all the unseasonal weather, overly warm and all that, today as I wandered in Battersea park to see the leaves falling. Change is a coming. It looked a significant sight I guess because it is the first time I have seen it in four years. Autumn and leaves falling off trees does not happen in the same way in NZ.
An English Style Weekend
A while since last put cyber pen to paper, must be working too hard.
Working in Moseley on Friday and today, so in Alcester for the weekend. How better to start than with a trip to the “Holly”, with real ale choice and a musical duo with much talent. A fine guitarist and another who played bass, clarinet and flute-though not all at the same time. Out ’til late watching KC experiment with his alcoholic taste, including putting ice in that famous Irish cider!
Up late next day but afternoon golf-only 9 holes as we are not good enough to play more. Had killer form on the range before hand-going for miles and perfectly straight. However, when it came to palying on the course I could not connect with the ball until the 6th, then fine. However, it meant KC beat me!
Fine home cooked curry in the evening and just managed to stay up to watch MOTD, thought the quality of games did not warrant the effort.
After chat with man upstairs on Sunday and witnessing the draw for the 200 club it was off down the pub for that traditional sitting in front of the telly afternoon with pints of lager to watch wall to wall football on Sky.
Then not unexpectedly…..early to bed.
Search for the stars
I know it is not news to many, but this week I found out that the Planetarium has closed. I wondered why I could not find the entrance when I was up there a few weeks ago!
Further investigation shows that it has been closed so that Tussauds can put on a show about celebrities instead.
Says alot about current priorities. Hmmmm.
Getting in touch upstairs
So
today was a slightly different experience at one of the venues of the club.
Today I went to mass at `Westminister Cathedral. It was only the second time I have been there, the first being two weeks ago when I happened to be walking in the area.
Today I went to Vespars first. I have never done this before. It a a short service with prays sung in Latin and with a reading.Certainly different.
Then mass, which was attended by about 300 people. Not bad for 5-30 on a Wednesday, though admittedly it is a prime venue. The style was quite different from what I have been used to, especially of late. Lots of incense, Latin components, choristers involved and altar helpers.
A candle also lit for Patrick.
NHS
Working in out of hours at weekend was a returning eye opener.
I was working on telephone triage, phoning back people who had called the service, to ascertain their needs. Certainly busy on Saturday, especially in the morning with a backlog of punters. It was interesting though the number who were after prescriptions, either had forgotten to order their regular medication or ran out of painkillers sie recent operation, or on hoiliday and left their meds at home.. Unbelievable that they could not sort themselves out, but end up using the convenient urgent service at no cost to themselves. Then their was the parent who did not attend an appointment made for their child and hour before!
The system is complex to organise and expensive I am sure. However, it seems wasted on some people. Some do not appeciate the value. Maybe they need something to focus the mind.
Hmmmm and humphhhh.
On Yer Bike
Another item with a mention of past political heroes on someone.
As I am now allowed to work, and the availability of work is not on my doorstep I have been on my travels.
Last week saw me in Grantham overnight, the town of Councellor Roberts and his well know daughter. Also, I noted on a plaque at a school, it was also where Isaac Newton was educated.
At the weekend I had a couple of days in Bridgwater,Spomerset. Manning the phones for the Out Of Hours service. A nice spot but with an underbelly of roughness, as evidenced by the youths and older supping from tinnies and brown paper bags in the middle of the afternoon in the local bandstand. Sad.
Norman Tebbit would be proud of me. And I still pass the Cricket team test……for now.
Bureaucratic Treacle in the UK Adventure
The message in blogspace has been that things have been quiet.
As far as the blogging is concerned thay have, but life has not been quiet. Time has been spent fighting through the red tape; criminal checks that take 5 weeks in the UK that take less than 24 hours in NZ being the predominant hurdle, as well as showing all concerned the same pieces of paper that some other agency has verified. The GMC being happy that GP vocational training has been demonstrated is not good enough for the next empire in line, and the locum agencies are as bad, being staffed concrete thought obsessed dorks. Makes me sound like a Tory candidate standing on the same platform as Boris Johnson.
Anyway, the official ” I am a GP”piece of paper has been obtained, so the next stage of finding some proper work beyond medical record updating(“isn’t that what medical students do in the summer holidays’“, as an eminent O&G doc commented this week) is currently active.
The whole CRB thing is an eye opener. It appears to be the ultimate plan to keep the country safe from the bad people, by so many proving thay are not one of the bad people. And when an adverse event occurs, as in recent press report regarding builder working in school, the next step will be to widen the net. How long before everyone will have a current CRB certificate pinned to our jackets along with our national identity badge. How many weeks will they take to process by that stage?
Anyway, must dash……. off to lunch with Boris.
Doctor Who based on truth
If you can remember the Cybermen episode(I still have only seen the first half), the people all had huge ear pieces in both ears. Well out and about in London they are all mimicking the TV-or is it the other way around?
It is obviously the new thing to have your ( I assume) Bluetooth ear device, so that yopu do not have to actually lift the mobile phone all the way from your pocket to your ear-would not wish to suffer a strain.
If it’s not a phone in your ear then everyone else is plugged into their iPod or eqivilent. The world going around in oblivion.
And to think in the not so distant past, people would refuse to wear hearing aids becuase they were too conspicuous.
Welcome back to London
Time to write again. My foot has been off the pedal.
I have been backm in UK for a while, and today I did the big journey form commuter Surrey/Berkshire to Battersea in the car, via M3, and south circular via Barnes and Wandsworth. Anyway welcome back to my old world! Two hours later I arrrived, feeling like I had already done a days work. Today, being the school holidays should not have been too bad-I did the same journey in an hour last week. However, little did I know about the train strike on South West Trains.
I can quickly remember why I decided to move to the West Midlands.