Street Light and Chapel

Old chapel down the road from my house. 

Bit of Fun Photography at Work

While we had a quiet period yesterday I took this pic of my colleague busy at work! 

Ison Comet of the Century

One of the things I have been looking forward to most about 2014 is the coming of the comet Ison, the so called Comet of the Century. I have a faint memory of Hale Bopp back in 1996/7 sitting in the Sky for what seemed like months but was probably not that long. I just remember being in complete awe as this visitor from the outer Heliosphere as it cruised past our planet oasis. I want to feel like that again so fingers crossed Ison can deliver!

Ison on the 15th of November taken by Damian Peach

Ison has the potential to be the Comet of the Century however it could also not happen at all. At this moment it it is heading towards the Sun and will swing round it and then come back past the Earth. This is when the real show is supposed to begin for us! If it can safely pass the Sun without burning up completely we will see an amazing sight in our night Sky, shining as bright as our moon. The problem with Ison is that it might be passing the Sun just a little to close. Fingers crossed that its made of hardy stuff and makes it through safely.

Devonshire Arms, Beeley, Derbyshire

Ok so I was sat in a pub after a long walk in and around Chatsworth House and two vintage cars pulled up out side of the pub. It just completed the scene for me! In my mind I was way back in time and it reminded me of the book Remains of the Day. I have edited it abit though to more of what my imagination was seeing than what it was actually like. 

St Michaels Mount, Mounts Bay, Cornwall

St Michaels Mount in Cornwall last year, taken on my phone with Microsoft's Photosynth App. Turned out okay I thought, especially from a free app!

My Top Ten Favourite and Important Songs

Like the vast majority of the planet I enjoy music, in fact I do not think I have ever come across anyone one who does not! So as often bloggers do when your short of anything to write about I have come up with a top 10 list of songs that I love and are important to me. Most of these songs have been around at certain points in my life and thus have a meaning attached. So here goes........

1. Get Myself Arrested by Gomez

This above all songs probably determined what sort of music i would enjoy in the future, this came from the Mercury Music Award winning album Bring It On, the first album I ever bought.





2. Carrion by British Sea Power

Sometime in 2002/03 I bought the now defunct music magazine X-ray which included a CD with this song on it. I went straight out and bought the album The Decline of British Sea Power. This is the greatest band ever in my opinion and have been continuous love of mine. My love of this band lead me to make friends with my now girlfriend as she was the only other person I had met who knew and loved them too.




3. No Culture Icons by The Thermal

One of the most underrated American bands of recent years, again this was another X-ray find.




4. Untiltled by Interpol

What an opening to this track, it gives me shivers every time. Reminds me of my Uni days. The ending is amazing too, its a sunset or sun rise song.




5. Pissing in the Wind by Badly Drawn Boy

Everyone has a song for when your having a bad day, this is mine! Some days you really feel like you are pissing in the wind!




6. Smalltown Boy by Electrelane

A recent discovery this cover of Bronski Beats Smalltown Boy (which is brilliant anyway) has become a favourite. Its an epic cover version. 

7. All the Young Dudes by Mott The Hoople

This is the influence of my dad, I used to think that the 70's was a barren time for music with Bowie being the exception. I love this song because it reminds me of my dad and that his taste in music was not all bad.




8. Don't Look Back into the Sun by The Libertines

Back to my Uni days, a must dance to song.

But when they played that song at the Death Disco 

 It started fast but it ends so slow         

And all the time it just reminded me of you

9. Swallowed by Bush

I was a teen living in Scotland when this came out, Bush are of course a Scottish band, one of a very small number that where any good. Its a song that accompany's my memories of my life and friends there.



10. A Day in the Life by the Beatles

What is a top ten list of songs without the Beatles!? Not much of a list I suppose. Well this one makes it for one reason and one reason only..... it mentions my home town in the last verse,

I read the news today oh, boy Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire And though the holes were rather small They had to count them all Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall I'd love to turn you on

We are not famous for much in Blackburn but it was always nice to know that we made it into a Beatles song.

Wild Swans by Jung Chang Book Review

When I decided to review books on this page, this is one of the books I really wanted to talk about, Wild Swans by Jung Chang. I recently read that this is the highest selling non-fiction paper back ever and was published back in 1991. I found this book in the local charity shop not knowing anything about it and was intrigued by the preface. Since buying it I have seen it several times in various charity shops just in my local village and they all look unread which is a real shame. I had just finished The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami and was looking for more Asian literature so Wild Swans was a good find.

Wild Swans is a History of China over a hundred year period as seen and experienced by three women, the Author Jung Chang, her mother Bao Qin and her grandmother Yu-fang. The story starts with Yu-fang as a child living in the last days of the Emperor, she is from a poor family and her feet are bound. This is an era in China were regions were controlled by war lords and the story relates how Yu-Fangs father wanted to send her to be a Concubine. Of course many things happen (which i dont want to give away here) and the story then moves on to Bao Qin. At a young age Bao starts working for the Communist Party in the midst of the revolution, fighting the Kuomintang and the Japanese.Over time Bao Qin moves up the ranks in the party and marries Wang Yu with whom she has Jung Chang and other children. Soon after this book moves onto a biography of Jung's life and specifically the period of the cultural revolution. Three generations of Chinese history is an epic period of time is covered in one book, as such it is a good thick read.

What makes this book stand out as an account of history is the personal nature of events as seen by Jung and her relations.For lack of a better term it is a view of events from the grass roots level, seeing things from a families perspective and the consequences of actions taken by the leaders of China of which has been so readily covered in many books. However the actual consequences of the leaders actions especially in China over the last century are rarely recorded from the average persons experience. As you might guess from the picture Chairman Mao almost an ever present shadow amongst the pages, no more so than in the chapters covering the Cultural Revolution. These were amongst the most riveting, awful, scary, amazing chapters I have ever read. It was Orwell's 1984 but real. I was not really prepared for the personal and real actions of individuals who lived and conducted the Cultural Revolution. It can be so easy when reading history to forget the human cost, the misery and suffering and just read numbers and names .

Even if you do not like reading about history, this would still be a book I would highly recommend. The history is so well entwined into the story of the three women that you have the same sort of connection with Jung or Bao Qin that you would with any fictional character. The history aspect comes second to a well written and vivid story.

This book is over 20 years old and is a testament to how far China has come but also how far it still has to go. Jung is still banned in China for writing this book, even after the fall of Mao and the demise of the cultural revolution, his cult lives on. Since Wild Swans was published there have been many other books that have followed its format, Red Azalea by Anchee (another exceptional account of the cultural revolution) and Havana Dreams by Wendy Gimble (Cuba) to name two that I have bought since. Both of these are good but do not match the scale and brilliance of Wild Swans.

Best 50 pence I have ever spent! I cannot recommend this book anymore! A Must Read!


Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Possibly one of the best books I have ever read, a full 100 years of Chinese history as seen from 3 womens perspective. From the last days of the emperor all the way through to the end of the cultural revolution! Brilliant!

View all my reviews

British Museum Photo

• One of the best photographs I have ever taken, such an amazing roof on the British Museum, it really blew me away.

Street Lights

I have had a little strange obsession with street lights especially when they are surrounded by trees, I have no idea why. Anyway I sometimes take pictures, they are not great as the Iphone is not made for nights and street lights. They looked far better on the phone. I will just have to get my good camera out at some point.

Borders, Culture and Nationalism.

One of the most defining features of humanity over its history has been the division of its self into communities along the lines of geography, social behaviour, language and a sense of connection between one another. Our entire history has been defined by this, its has been this unit of people did this, that unit of people believe this and did things to that other unit of people etc etc. This over time has formed nations, religions, politics and so on into what we all know today. We relate ourselves and the area we live in, to others and our actions and reactions are a consequence of those relations. From childhood we absorb this and grow up to believe in the divides of humanity, which seem immutable and all important. We all become engaged in the idea of nationalism to some extent whether that be through supporting your nations sports teams, concurring to some historical perspective on your or someone else's nations actions or the most extreme of views that your geographical location and those that inhabit it are for whatever reason superior.

 My own experience of this has been rather mild, like most I have followed sports and supported national teams and have become absorbed into the fervour of nations battling it out. This is the most benign consequence of nationalism and probably exists in most of us, even the most liberal and unnationalistic of people. They may not even enjoy sport but take pride that Joe Bloggs of his nation invented this or said that. We all do this. It is it seems an inherent part of being human, we form communities and take pride in the efforts of our fellow members. Countries are the epitome of human efforts of community, they reflect the shared values, language, religion (sometimes),history of a large group of people and as such this guides a communities interactions with other communities. Sometime ago it occured to me that borders are not a physical thing, they are an imaginary line in the earth or on a map that only exists within the human mind. A border is just a place where some people feel the sense of community end and thus they are somewhere else. What's more these imaginary lines are not immutable, static or forever. They expand and contract with human movement and interaction some of which is natural and some of which is pure human construction of how things should be, the modern nations of the middle east are a perfect example of this. Created by the allies after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the end of WW1.

 But as we all know by now we live in an ever shrinking world, where globalisation is taking it effect and as some would argue homogenising cultural values, language, money, politics and on and on and on. Albert Einstien once said "Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind", and I would tend to agree. When I really look at it and really think about nationalism or patriotism I come to the conclusion that the future of humanity does not need it and I hope grow out of it. Globalisation is starting to do that of course it has broken down some of the barriers of nationhood sometimes for good and sometimes for bad. However we are only on the cusp of what globalisation will do. Many see globalisation as a problem and I am sure that it is causing problems, the growing economic divide between the rich and the poor being one of them. However we are very much still in the early stages of a world changing process that I believe will do more good than bad for humanity. More than anything it will lessen the impact of nationalism as the all defining force of community interaction and build shared values that span the globe rather than one corner of the planet.