Sunday, 25 April 2010

Stranded

Still stuck in Carribean - on Island of Mustique, so no need to feel sorry for me.

Spent the second week trying in vain to record the mythical green flash when the sun sets on the horizon - for years it has been put down by my family to too many rum punches.

Some success in that Amanda saw it this time - I missed it as I was messing around with the settings on my camera. This is an image from another evening at Basil's Bar,



Not so much a green flash, more you've been Tangoed ...

One of the other highlights was seeing the recent tracks of a massive leatherback turtle on the beach early one morning. Not that we would have even known what we were looking at -but the previous week we had met Mick Jagger's physio on the beach - turns out he's a bit of a turtle expert and a keen conservationist. He said the tracks would like mini tractor tracks ..




He wasn't wrong.

Best I can do for a Stones related turtle track to finish off is 'Beast of Burden' - answers on a postcard please.

Friday, 23 April 2010

Filing in the Thames


From : Roger Miles
Subject : Filling in the Thames
Date : 21 April 2010
To : mayor@london.gov.uk

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr Mayor,
I am an art student at Chelsea School of Art and Design – my current project in on ‘rivers’ and I have been developing an idea that may be of some interest to you.
Traditionally, the Thames has been the lifeblood of the City of London – today, however, it is hardly used for trade, transport or agriculture – in fact it threatens the City through increased sea levels and creates a barrier to efficient transport .
What could we do with the land that it occupies were we to ’fill it in’?
Some immediate benefits would be to                                                                                                             
  • Remove the threat of flooding
  • Solve the Heathrow dispute by building a state of the art airport near the head of the Thames Estuary
  • Improve cross London transport further through a new monorail system
  • Create an amazing new tourism industry based around fantastical developments from the Thames Estuary all the way to Richmond
My initial thoughts on what shape this new tourism destination would look like are
  • Build six of the seven ancient wonders of the world i.e. The Lighthouse of Alexandria, The Temple of Artemis, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia and The Colossus of Rhodes – these are lost to history but could be rebuilt – the one remaining wonder that still exists, the Pyramids of Giza would not be rebuilt but there could be some link to the original using new technology
  • Rebuild the Lost City of Atlantis and the Tower of Babel
  • Create massive lakes – each could have a single purpose and be located at intervals along the route of the Thames , perhaps including
·       A great coral reef
·       A frozen lake for skating and ice fishing
·       The world’s largest underwater art gallery
·       The new Titanic Lake
·       The London waterfalls
·       Flood the town of Slough to create a new reservoir for London – killing two birds with one stone
·       A great lake for the great ships of the past ie the Victory , The Mary Rose and the Mayflower.
·       A witch dunking lake next to Parliament to keep MP’s and Lords honest
Upstream, the river would be diverted to create hydro electric power and for agricultural purposes. The remainder of the project in London could focus on new Royal Parks, real quality social housing and a competition to design new wonders of the modern world – such as a new space station for day trips to the moon.
So imagine turning London from one of the great cities to visit into the greatest city – imagine a day trip that included a visit to The Pharos of Alexandria, a snorkel around the Great London coral reef, visiting the Temple of Artemis in the afternoon and finishing off the day with an evening trip to the moon.
By the way I really like the look of the ArcelorMittal Orbit – in fact it’s not far from a modern Colossus of Rhodes.
I look forward to hearing you thoughts on this proposal
Regards
Roger Miles
0208 876 3866

Sunday, 18 April 2010

Other uses for your running shoes


Worth a look at new Nike advert

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1hNypys7Bs

Currently stuck in Carribean with no confirmed return flight - so making the most of the sun and sea. Having fun with a new Vivitar digital underwater camera - £35 from Amazon -




and swimming with rather friendly Hawksbill turtles ..




We may never return ...

Sunday, 11 April 2010

The joy of air travel

Flying from Gatwick today - didn't start well - got to airport at 6.30 in morming only to find that I had left 1 passport in scanner at home - fortunately I had read flight time wrong and we were a mere 4 hours early for flight - the day was going to be a long one.
Watched normal selection of mediocre films - even the Ian Drury one failed to excite

.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSobvm2nR8I

am more excited to see the new film Oil City Confidential

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSobvm2nR8I

This is Julien Temple's last film in his trilogy on British music of the 1970's. It is a prequel to his landmark films about punk figureheads the Sex Pistols in The Filth & The Fury, Joe Strummer in The Future Is Unwritten and focuses on Canvey Island band Dr Feelgood

My favourite was always 'She does it right' - here is a great video of Wilko explaining how to play it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyr__kGhUC0&feature=related