Chris Lamb

Summer time begins in late March – according to my Diary. This is unusually early for us to see much sunlight in Scotland. It is – more accurately – when we change to summer time.

The winters seem, in recent years, to last far longer than the summer months. I have no images in my head of trees in leaf or sunny days spent lazing in the sun. We seem only to have grey. Not particularly cold. Just grey.

Fingers crossed this year is a warm and bright summer. I want some colour. Some light and shade. Something to differentiate the seasons and make the passage of time noticeable.

At this time of year I scarcely notice the passage of night and day

I sometimes like to add a poem onto the site – poetry is very under-represented in our cultural lives. There is a lot of rhyme in our world but not much poetry. I was reading this week, yet again, how all the “best minds” of a generation moved into banking or advertising with the result a lot of the stuff that generation created was shit. There is still much good stuff being output. We do not suffer an “embarrassment of riches” however.

I find, increasingly, I like things to be a bit of a challenge. Sometimes a struggle with a poem or a book is a positive thing. Sometimes close friendship and trust comes from people we initially rail against.

W.H. Auden is well known. He is well known for the funeral scene in “4 Weddings and a Funeral”. He also achieved some more exposure in tributes to Christopher Hitchens this week. Hitch liked Auden. One comment in the Guardian was simply a verse from Auden – from ‘September 1, 1939′

I decided to add that verse here. Not so much as a deserved tribute to the man who wrote it but to the man who introduced the idea of him to me. Which is how Christopher Hitchens worked. He was a writer of essays. He was another persons view onto the world. It might have been possible to feel a life as an essayist was, somehow, less than being an author of literature. Or a poet. However, as in all things in life, some people transcend the “ordinary” of what they do. Hitchens made essay, criticism, review, oratory – the list is long – seem like it mattered. He often sounded angry. He may have been very difficult to know. However, those who knew him usually comment on his charm and joy for life.

Auden was sometimes criticised for being “a challenge”. Christopher Hitchens seemed to be forever challenging people. For that reason I leave a small tribute to a guy I used to enjoy reading, watching, listening to and who, thankfully, always managed to challenge the things I had taken for granted.

From September 1, 1939

…
All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die
…

The whole poem can be read here:“September 1, 1939″ by W. H. Auden

Christopher Hitchens article from June this year: Unspoken Truths

Funeral Blues – the film poem can be read here (rhyme need not be trite): “Funeral Blues” by W.H. Auden

Christopher Hitchens has died. He was 62. Sometimes errant, usually right, always brilliant.

I took a walk last weekend from Pease Bay to Cove and tried out the new camera I bought as a “carry anywhere” camera. It is very compact and is a 4/3 format camera, a Panasonic GF2.

I was concerned the small sensor would struggle in “contrasty” situations and it was a very autumnal day with big areas of light and shade.

This picture of Cove Cottages on the harbour held up so well I thought it made for a nice image – so here it is – a relatively cheap camera with excellent control and images, I think.

Rip off the global economy, commit fraud, deceit and cause massive destruction and keep your bonuses.

Sit on a path and stage a completely peaceful protest, showing no signs of resistance and this is what happens to you:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15809742

Unbelieveable. The police involved and the head of the University should resign and face the complete revulsion and humiliation they deserve.

Update

The students on campus decided to show their support and register their outrage. The target of their anger was the Chancellor of the University who called in the police. Watch this clip of their silent, peaceful, protest. It is electrifying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8775ZmNGFY8

I have been reading the News this morning* and many are running with the story that the UN is about to announce the world population is now 7 billion people +.

What is odd is the focus on the poor. BBC quote “Too poor to buy clothes but still want a family of six”.

Do they not realise that in a poor country with high infant mortality and no social security or stability that a large family is not a simple life choice? It is insurance policy, social security, retirement contingency and income all rolled into one.

* And I can read it all again tomorrow – in the Metro – if I travel on a bus