Category: Uncategorized

Street lights in Spain

For this week’s Monochrome Madness, This week’s host Brian of Bushboy’s World has asked us to consider Street lights. I assembled a clutch of them, and realised that they all come from Spain.

The featured photo was taken one evening near our hotel in Seville. This next batch all come from Cádiz.

… and one of them is merely a shadow of a streetlight.

Off to Málaga now, just after Christmas.

Another one from Seville …

And the city I know best, Barcelona? Well, not a single night time shot. Instead, here are two taken in broad daylight.

Near the Arc de Triomf
Near the Cosmo Caixa Museum.

I’m away for a few days, so this post, and the next few are scheduled. So – sorry – I may be slow in commenting, and even slower at reading your posts.

Geometry: A Nice Rectangular Box

Do you know the children’s story book My Cat likes to Hide in Boxes? My children loved it, and this morning, we learnt that the message of the story is entirely true.

Today, Reyes – in the Spanish-speaking world – the Three Kings delivered all their presents in the wee small hours (they have a magic key to get into every home), and – not a lot later – excited children were busy opening them.

And in this house, Archie proved that it’s quite true that he likes to hide in a (rectangular) box in which a present was recently contained.

GeometricJanuary

Everyday Objects Enjoy Five Minutes of Fame

This week, Ritva has proposed Common Objects for this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge. I’m offering a few, such as these coffee shop cups and saucers in the feature photo, served to us by a barista who clearly thought we were Baby Bear, Mummy Bear and Daddy Bear out to enjoy a morning coffee.

Back home, here’s our washing line: featuring the underwear of a colourful guest. And then the washing line itself – or rather its shadow- on the ground below.

Here are common objects put to less common uses. Like these cutlery items re-purposed as decorative works of art in a restaurant in Premia de Mar.

Then there are pillar boxes. I do like the first one, transformed into a slightly surprised face. And the second, from Ripon, reminding us of the D Day commemorations earlier in the summer.

Then there are the everyday things that have become display items. The garden tools in a display of Edwardian gardening implements at RHS Harlow Carr; the padlocks re-purposed as love tokens in Liverpool; and the toilet bowl that’s become a planter in Saltburn.

Let’s finish off with a clutch of jolly handbags parked by the dance troupe 400 Roses as they entertained us all in Masham during the last Sheep Fair.

I am joining Becky and Brian on a mission to get rid of that subscription pop-up box that appears every time someone leaves a comment on your posts. Can you go to ‘Newsletter Settings’? You will find it listed in the main Settings menu on the Dashboard. Then unclick the one that says ‘enable subscription pop-up for commenters’.  You may not even be aware that you have this feature enabled – I didn’t. But it’s an irritation we could all do with getting rid of.

Moving Forward – to Spain

You won’t get much out of me today, and those of you who read yesterday’s post will know why. I’m on my way to Spain – just me – to go and stay with Daughter and Family to do a spot of Post-Maternity Leave childcare for them.

It’s been worryingly un-snowy over the Pyrenees this last winter, so this is unlikely to be my view from the plane’s window.

For Becky’s #SquaresRenew: Burgeoning – Move Forward – Reconstruct – Renew.

In Which I Appear in ‘Reading Matters’

Mine is not a blog about books: my sole regular contribution is to the monthly discussion about books : ‘Six Degrees of Separation‘. But I’m an avid follower of some book reviewers, and one of my favourites is Kim of Reading Matters. She writes ‘Book reviews of mainly modern & contemporary fiction‘, she’s one of a select band whom I rely on to direct me towards much of what is best in recent writing.

This week, she chose me – me – to feature in her Triple Choice Tuesday. You can read all about it here.

Triple Choice Tuesday: From Pyrenees to Pennines

Thanks Kim. I had to think hard about my choices for this post. I’ve enjoyed reading about some of your other featured bloggers, and look forward to more in the weeks to come.

My featured photo is by Ciao, from Pexels.

The Big Plastic Count

Honestly, we do try. Our weekly vegetable shop is a seasonal organic veg. box from Riverford, which arrives in a re-useable cardboard box and nowt else. We supplement this with a trip to the market, taking our own packaging. Household and bathroom products such as washing up liquid and shampoo come from the refill station at our local GreenHouse. But still plastic packaging enters the house – every time we visit the supermarket actually. The cheese that’s packed in plastic: the odd box of blueberries: the package of pitta bread … and so on and so on.

This week The Big Plastic Count invited us to join in and count all our plastic waste for one week only. So we did. It was tricky, because the family from Spain was here, and spending our time with our three year old granddaughter and her two month old baby sister was the priority. But we bunged everything in a sack, and with the family now gone, made our inventory this morning.

And it was shocking. The smoked mackerel we can’t buy loose; the toothbrush pack (I haven’t embraced the bamboo toothbrush); the pizza bases bought for an easy supper that three year old Anaïs could help create … and so on. Here’s what we learnt.

Like almost everyone who took part, I imagine, we do try to think about what we buy, and avoid packaging where we can. Yet our plastic footprint is huge – larger this week no doubt because of our visitors. What about those who because too busy or lacking motivation have an even larger footprint? Shops – especially supermarkets – and manufacturers don’t make it easy for us. Who, for instance, needs to have their bananas packaged in plastic? Why can’t supermarkets sell us the number of apples we actually want, rather than supplying them packaged in units of six or so?

We take any plastic bags we do acquire to a supermarket recycling point, but that’s a faff too. It’s usually full to bursting point.

And here’s what happens to it.

But even that’s better than this horribly common sight, a tiny proportion of the result of an urban litter pick. …

The Big Plastic Count is being conducted among individuals like us, and in some schools as a project, as a means of raising awareness among children. And the results are being fed to the Government. Individuals and groups, however well meaning. really can’t effect much-needed change alone. And we have an election in the offing. I can’t imagine lobbying by The Big Plastic Count will make an impact on a dying-throes government chaotically falling apart. Another year of inaction. Another year wasted.

The Back Streets of Tournus

Tournus is a lovely little mediaeval town in Burgundy that we happened upon after a difficult day dodging the farmers’ blockades across the roads of France. Sitting in queues was the order of the day.

I could show you the fabulous abbey dedicated to Saint Philibert. But that’s for another day, maybe. 

Instead, I’m choosing to go low-brow. I’m just offering a miscellany of street art and of enjoyable examples of whimsy that we discovered as we loitered along its ancient streets.

And finally, one curiosity. These doors used to open to reveal the parish pump. You can spot the water pipe on the right, with its handle at the bottom. You’ll find it in Rue de la Pompe. Obviously.

For Dan’s Thursday Doors,

and Natalie the Explorer‘s Public Art. Though whether domestic post boxes count as public art is certainly debatable

and not forgetting Jo’s Monday Walk.