where art collides philosoperontap

November 17, 2013

The Sunday Chill

Filed under: chinks — Trefor Davies @ 11:27 am

I’ve just sat down with a cup of tea after making a beef stew for tonight’s meal. I make a good beef stew. It sits in the oven on a low heat for most of the day and the result is a rich sauce and tender meat. The kids wolf it down. Quite pleasing. This one has a bottle of Timothy Taylors Landlord in it. Should be good.

The Davies house is at peace. One son is cooking sausages for his breakfast in the kitchen. Another has I think been doing some schoolwork. Good lad. Takes after his mother.

It’s quite nice to sometimes not do anything on a Sunday. Total relaxation. You have to get the balance of online and offline relaxation to do it right. Can’t spend all day stuck in a laptop. That would be just like an ordinary working day.

Last week was busy. Next week is going to be busy. Today is a day for chillin. Before we head out I’m going to clean out the fireplace and set it ready for this afternoon. Nothing quite like a cozy log fire on a Sunday afternoon. Yesterday I bought some crumpets. Say no more…

October 26, 2013

Journey to the far North

Filed under: chinks — Tags: , — Trefor Davies @ 7:41 am

It seems counter intuitive, heading south when I really want to be going north. I’m racing a storm. Heading towards it to escape the expected trail of devastation, before the airport closes and the hatches are battened down.

A crisp packet blows across the car park. Will it soon be a tree? A frisson of excitement tickles my spine.

October 25, 2013

In plain sight

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: — Jim @ 1:13 pm

It once made you powerful,
Now it only makes you feel that way.

Deficient in daylight,
In bunkers sealed airtight,
Strength drained as you cower;
A precious guard around your own weak heel.

Observers, silent, underground,
Huddle around glowing transcripts;
As, with one foot severed,
A new enemy prowls.

Knowledge unshared,
Is power impaired;
Friends become foes,
And adversaries real gorge on your frenzy.

In a parallel world,
Adapted to your thought blockade,
People just get on with it;
And walk in plain sight, unafraid.

October 15, 2013

Gloss

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: — Jim @ 10:26 am

XCorporate social responsibility,
Floats on a soft breeze,
In through a high window,
To land delicately,
Bold and beautiful,
In the middle of a matrix,
Of meaningless aspirations.

Spun beyond substance,
Words betray readers,
Who do not ask questions;
And the buzzwords sit,
Meaningless on the manifest,
A lofty detraction,
From aggregated ambition.

September 28, 2013

;sldfk;ds’

Filed under: ideas — Tags: — Trefor Davies @ 12:05 pm

Kjdfaskkfak’;lk’asd’kk’eq[oij-ekjfjnvpinriun24iguni2gnn24igtnitgitgtgnnitjnlfn,mv sn,dfmv i42-9irrhf-iojjrlfkwnkmdfvnmvnpefnkjernprflknlknfmdkwpn gfbuhi02bg5i1h`09i5jt9ih5ggijenj  2jnb nmv oritjgn2oij1opi

September 18, 2013

Out from within

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: — Jim @ 10:24 am

Shout louder,
Listen less;
A tribe in a bubble,
The other side can hardly hear you, you know…
Step out from within,
Away from the raucous din…
They hate you,
As much as you hate them;
And them over there,
Well, they despise you both.

Outside,
Up here;
You’ve got more in common,
Far more than you dare admit, even to yourself…
Yet you strive to demonstrate,
Differences that separate;
Shout louder,
Die with a sore throat!
The first to shut up,
Must surely win.

September 8, 2013

Lincoln A2Z F15 Swanholme Lakes SirenFM sirenonline

Filed under: A 2 Z — Trefor Davies @ 7:44 pm

I been to Swanholme. More accurately I been to the Swanholme pub which isn’t in scope in this post. F15 is at the South end of Hartsholme Park which is a good place to take the kids for a run out on a Sunday afternoon.

Never been all the way round the park because it’s quite a long way round so the only view I’ve actually had of Swanholme Lakes is from the pub and the pub car park.

It’s quite a nice facility for the locals. Nice bit of nature. We are quite lucky in Lincoln with our bits of nature. After all we don’t have to go very far until we are in the countryside. Unless that is you happen to be travelling down Tritton Road in which case it’s mostly built up for a few miles.

Swanholme Lakes lie between the great artery that is Tritton Road and the sleepy commuter suburb of Doddington Park. Looked at buying a house in Doddo Park once but we ended up not doing so. We wanted to live in walking distance of Uphill Lincoln. More accurately within walking distance of the Bull and Chain, Morning Star, The Victoria, The Strugglers, oh and the shops of course.

We can always drive out to Swanholme if we want. We don’t. The kids are a lot older now and family life has moved on.

If you’re looking for birds Swanholme is the place to be. Splash. Splish. Splash.

Lincoln A2Z R14 – Canwick Pits

Filed under: A 2 Z — Tags: , , , , — Trefor Davies @ 7:04 pm

What do you think of when you hear the words Canwick Pits? Crap innit? Canwick, it’s the pits. It’s not really. The pits are a quarry where much of the stone used in walls around the very ancient village of Canwick was sourced.

Lots of history to Can wick. That’s the cool way to pronounce it by the way. Can – wick – two separate words. The first people to roam Canwick were hunters and gatherers in the Mesolithic period approximately 8500-5300BC. The first settlers arrived in the Neolithic period, approximately between 4500 – 7000 years ago, and then a more structured settlement came here in the Bronze Age, with a Barrow cemetery near the river Witham. I got that historical bit from the internet. Google it. It’s not my own original work. Plagiarised though not in a bad way. I’ve added value to the original copy.

I’m not going to go into any more detail either. There is a lot to read. It’s been around a long time and that is all we need to know for the purpose of this discourse.

I’ve not actually visited the pits at Canwick. Not even sure you can, though it might be one of those “former” quarries where people can walk the dog or ride mountain bikes or just go for a bit of a walk. Usually there is a lot of interesting wildlife to observe – fauna and flora. I’m thinking rabbits and butterflies with the occasional bird flitting by. Then a few flowers in the long grass.

Possibly it is a place where lovers go. Somewhere for a discrete cuddle away from the prying eyes of nosy villagers, curtain twitchers and tongue reporters. Telephone calls made expressly for the purpose of spreading the news. The same people see their husbands out on the drive on a Sunday morning, polishing the car, nipping down to the newsagent for a copy of the Mail on Sunday, maybe.

Gah. I get my stone from B&Q. That isn’t really true. I don’t buy stone. I got a barbecue from there recently but now I’m straying off the subject.

R14 – Canwick Pits. You know it makes sense.

K19 – Witham/Bracebridge Low fields

Filed under: A 2 Z — Trefor Davies @ 6:22 pm

In K19 the River Witham should not be confused with the North Hykeham Pump Drain which whilst being also filled with water is not the same. The Witham is of course a natural feature of the landscape whilst the drain is not.

The Witham will quite probably contain fish though not to my knowledge, salmon. The drain may also contain fish but it is less likely to do so than the river. In any event you should take care when out walking with small children that the youngsters keep well away from the edge of the water. It can be very dangerous especially after a period of heavy rainfall. The banks can get slippery.

I mentioned salmon because I quite like salmon sandwiches. Either smoked or poached with a bit of cuke and mayonnaise. Brown bread not white and butter not margarine. You should eat a variety of sandwich fillings in order to provide a varied diet. Just salmon every day would get a bit boring and you might find yourself short of a specific vitamin. This is guesswork.

I am somewhat digressing here. Artistic license. I did look online to see what information I could find about the drain. I was hoping to find the date where it was cut/invented (delete as appropriate). I couldn’t. At least on the first two pages of Google and I wasn’t desperate enough for the information to look any further.

So that’s it. Not a particularly enlightening article but it’s all you’re getting. Ciao.

September 5, 2013

the last few days of summer

Filed under: chinks — Trefor Davies @ 7:30 am

We are in the last few days of summer. Goodness gracious me an Indian summer. This isn’t summer in its death throws. It’s going to be a hot languid day with movement kept to a minimum but we know thanks to the experts at the met office that Autumn is about to come crashing down on us like an anvil falling through the floor above.

Nothing quite that dramatic really but tomorrow it will be cooler and it will rain. Tonight Hannah is having a barbeque with her mates. Good timing. Likely to be the last one of the summer season at least.

My train is speeding south and it looks like the harvest is in. The fields are stubble and straw bales. There is a haze. The haze that heralds a hot day ahead. The nation awaits in anticipation.

The god forsaken railway line

Filed under: chinks — Trefor Davies @ 7:23 am

The god forsaken railway line. Choose any one. They aren’t built for luxury. Back of the tenement, cement works, coal depot. No mobile signal. The long gaps in productivity a distraction. For productivity read connectivity. Don’t get me wrong. I like the fields. The countryside races by. Hares, deer even. Get up cows. Whadda you know!? Trees and hedgerows blurr. Warehouses clad in unattractive light grey. Golf course. Don‘t ask me where. Annoying private conversation spoken to all. Irritating sounds coming from someone’s mobile phone. I wonder what’s in that field. Cabbages? The harvest is under way. Hay. I hope he is getting off before me. Wondering whether to ask him to turn the sound off. This train is for Stanstead Airport. I’m not going all the way. Leicester. Fwiw. Was easier to drive to Leicester and catch a single direct train to Birmingham than to get a train to Newark, bus from Newark to East Midlands Parkway, train to Derby then one more connection to Brum. Either Brum is difficult to get to or Lincoln is. The bloke is overweight and has greasy hair. My dislike for him wasn’t instant. It has grown. Proportional to the length of time he has been in the same compartment. It isn’t that I don’t like train journeys. Far easier than going by car. There is standing room only in Standard Class. Popular line.

August 31, 2013

Summer draws gently to a close

Filed under: thoughts — Trefor Davies @ 7:45 pm

Today I had the first sense that summer is coming to an end. This morning there was a slight edge to the air when I went swimming at around 6.45am. This evening I put a fleece on to go out and do the barbecue.

It’s been a great summer. Probably one of the best. Great weather-wise and great family-wise. Hannah and I had a few days in Barcelona early on in the summer. Then the whole clan had a few days in North Wales followed by a week in the Isle of Man.

Everything seems to have gone right this summer. The weather, the sport – our Andy won Wimbledon and we beat the Aussies at cricket. Now as summer winds slowly down I have bought tickets to see Wales v South Africa in November. It is going to be a good autumn.

The house has been particularly noisy tonight. The three remaining kids were loud at dinner but then moved to the conservatory to play music – Hannah on flute, Joe on piano and John on sax. I sat on the settee listening, smiling.

Now all is quiet. Two of the kids are sat on the pew in the kitchen, reading quietly. Anne is watching TV. John has just wandered in with the iPad watching some instructional video! Sounds like he is learning how to build a bar! Okay, fine J

Not sure he totally appreciates the scope of the job though. I quite like the idea of having a bar in the house but you need to have lots of space. The bar should either be out near the pool or in the snooker room. We have neither. We have a pool table on the landing! I also like the idea of having a hot tub. We have space for one – provided we got rid of the play house which nowadays is only used to store garden furniture.

The problem is that we wouldn’t really use a hot tub. The idea is great but in practice it would become a very expensive pond with a cover over it that no one actually uses. Of course we could have Jacuzzi parties but we only have parties once or twice a year and not everyone could fit in.

It’s totally dark out now. Twenty to nine. The nights are drawing in. I don’t mind. Like I said it’s been a good summer and nature is quite kind to us in easing us into winter. Autumn is a rather gentle side.

I’m going to pour myself another brandy…

August 23, 2013

Hops hops everywhere…

Filed under: brewing,random,writings — Tags: , , — Dan Lowe @ 6:18 pm

The eagle eyed will spot these as some of America’s best hopvarietals, though there is an obvious contender missing from this splendid lineup.  I’ll save you the googling, it’s “Cascade”.

Hops, those luscious vines of alpha and beta acids and sticky resins, are much line grape vines.  We can’t grow what we like, where we like – it’s soil, weather, conditions and husbandry… our hop growers need to learn to grow world class hops (again?), or to quote Stinger from Top Gun

You need to be doing it better, and cleaner than the other guy.

The National Hop Association is waving the flag, I’ve met some great hop farmers, and things are looking good.

But please, don’t just try to plant what’s selling to the hop-heads right now, grown what grows, and grow it well.

But is it art?

Filed under: opinion,random,the art gallery — Dan Lowe @ 6:00 pm

Giles was keen to know, and the rest of us certainly were interested…

Do we know what’s going on here?

Someone else had spotted it, but kindly remarked

I know, I saw that. I think that was the pressure jet, but pollution will sort it out.

Turns out

He thought he was being helpful by jetting away the debris that  had accumulated.

All is well now, but we still wonder…

But is it art?

August 20, 2013

The jolly man in the red bow tie

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 5:37 pm

 

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