Welcome to my website
Please have a look around - the latest post from my blog is below and you can access older posts, links to my friends, buy some of my artwork or contact me by clicking on the links to the left.
I have chosen stuff for the portfolio on the basis of raising a smile or some sort of Proustian style nostalgia. I shall add to the collection after a second trawl through the archive. If there is anything that is unclear or puzzling , then please get in touch and I shall sort out the problem.
MUCHO IMPORTANTE BREAKING WIND, sorry NEWS ....
I am not based in the Eternal City anymore so the contact section no longer functions therefore please use use the new email address here to get in touch from now on.
Jan
09/11/2011
Head in Hands Time again.
Well it's starting Merkel in SS uniform (though not half as sexy as Erika Steinbach in Wprost magazine , a while back) and coal-scuttle helmeted germans bossing coffee-drinking Greeks. All very Fourth Reich. For those of us who read history the comparison is not that far-fetched at least in one respect – that of the myth of German ordnung. The Third Reich kept order in Europe without too much trouble ( notably by using methods that we all know) , but was hopelessly inefficient and corrupt. The Germans and the French both wanted Greece in the Euro-club , ovelooked the realities of Greek economics and are now using the tried and tested means of the bulldozer to have their way. Plus ca change. Now there's me thinking that the crisis started by irresponsible lending to American who could not afford to repay and now it's going to be resolved by…irresponsible lending to Greeks who cannot afford to repay. How thick am I ? Mind you, everyone will be rubbing their noses in it next holiday, in the tavernas and pavement bistros , if there are any left in business that is.- hubris has its price, you know. That's a Greek concept- ancient rather than modern, but with a smidgeon of relevenace to to today. At the moment of writing the yield on Italian debt is 7% and rising! Oh yes, war with Iran is just around the corner.
If you are ever in the vicinity of Eastern Europe – pop in during Autumn. 'Well worth it. We're having a relatively mild November, plenty of glowing warm sunshine.
Here, the best time is an hour before sunset. Stroll along the Krakow Suburb and you will see the last rays of the sun brushing baroque sandstone facades , endowing them with a top coat of pink and gold .
One of the main criticisms of the Polanders is that they spend too much time dwelling on the past, defeat and death. All this is true , but at least for one day they get it spot-on right. Come here and on Halloween and All Saints' youcan forget the crass commercialisation, the imported trick or treating, theBatman and Zombie costumes and for one day, just one day contemplate for a while your time on this Earth and those who have gone before. Thousands come to pay their respects to loved ones who have died, military heroes and units and place a small light on the grave of their choice. The overall effect is breathtaking- achingly beautiful as in the evening darkness entire necropolae are underlit with a gigantic mass of candle power of golds, reds , blues , greens and violets. Most people probably come just to take it all in . It may be all to horribly Christian for Western tastes, too oldy worldy, morbid and solemn . Certainly Richard Dawkins would have a field –day with it all. Save for one irritating fact- it makes you think just what it is to be human and mortal. How about that for retro chic? Just a thought.
Magpies as big as eagles here in Autumnal Varsovia City. These magpies - they're as big as condors and you can watch them crack open chestnuts by flying up a distance then dropping them onto the pavement. They do this repeatedly until the nut cracks and they can eat . Great fun and very instructive. They're big, are solving-elementary problems and can shit on us from a great height with utter impunity . Evolution is terrible and fascinating. The EU can do two out of the above-mentioned three. I'll give you a clue ( it can't solve problems).