This blog is often about music, but actually features very little. So, while the snow falls and we slip-slide and glide towards the weekend, this seems an appropriate anthem… the video is excellent and all shot on location in New York.
Come dance with me…
Filed under Timology
As the more observant of you might have noticed it’s that time of year again when the British transport system grinds to a halt, schools are closed across swathes of the north-east, the number of ‘sick days’ skyrockets, and children everywhere seem permanently attached by their squished noses to to frozen window-panes; yes, there has been an inch of snow somewhere in the Highlands. Time to dig out those scarves and gloves, phone in sick, and head to the slopes with the dinner tray to whizz down the icy inclines.
But what’s this? No, kids these days don’t want a homemade skeleton bob cobbled together from biscuit tin lids, they want one of these: Snow Scooter! Or so ‘Discount Vouchers‘ would have you believe.
Described in the marketing as “The Latest Trend on the British Slopes” [I wonder where the mean.. surely mild inclines/ green and pleasant lands?] they retain at an eye watering £21.99 with another £6 hidden in there for P&P.
The developers seem convinced that “it is important to look good whilst hurtling down a hill and this snow scooter will do just that, as you cruise past sledges and leave them face first in your powder!” Form an orderly line…
Filed under Technology, Timology
I went to have a look at the new Bomber Command Memorial this last weekend. It is right by Hyde Park Corner and the Royal Artillery Memorial. It was built to mark the sacrifice of 55,573 aircrew from Britain and the Commonwealth who lost their lives during the Second World War. There are some wonderful photographs of the memorial here, and you can download a great app with personalised histories, stories, and details, here.
The whole thing is hugely impressive and has been done really well… there is something very real and lifelike about the flight crew that stare wistfully into the middle distance, captured in bronze as they return from a bombing mission. It is a little known fact that British bomber crews through the second world war suffered a more than 50% casualty rate of young men killed and seriously wounded. The memorial is perhaps imposing and grand because of the nature of their deaths… few bodies came home… Quite how and why these brave airmen were not afforded a national memorial before was a subject of much disgrace and heated debate.
The memorial has a strong association with the Canadians that enlisted in the RAF and Royal Canadian Air Force during the war, indeed aluminium from a RCAF Handley Page Halifax that had crashed in Belgium in May 1944 was used to build the roof of the memorial. The heavy bomber was found in a swamp in in about 1997 … tragically with three of the crew found still at their posts. At the time the airmen were buried with full military honours and the remains of the aircraft sent to Canada… it is poignant therefore that the metal has been recycled in such a fitting memorial.
At the foot of the statue there is an inscription, a quotation from Pericles; “Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.”
In a great ‘short’ by the New York News & Features site Kevin Roose points out that Jack Lew is President Obama’s reported pick to replace outgoing US Treasury Secretary.
Lew is known as a no-nonsense backroom negotiator with wonkish tendencies, but he also has a really silly signature… it even was commented about this side of the pond (spoiler alert) on The BBC News site this morning in their ‘Seven Day Quiz.’
This would not normally be a problem, except for in the same way as Chris Salmon’s (The Chief Cashier) signature graces our bank notes if Lew is confirmed as Treasury secretary, his signature will feature on U.S. dollar bills… and that would look really silly!
Indecently, it is actually Salmon who holds that “promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of …” etc, not the Queen or the Governor of the Bank of England… so he must have a bit of cash lying about the place…
Filed under Timology
So, London Underground is 150 years old today… despite the drivers, the striking (get it…) thing about this feat of engineering is still its sheer breadth and beauty.
There is a really good birthday article in today’s Guardian (and it must be good for me to recommend it from the Gurinad) that you can read here. There is also a fascinating website all about those disused stations and odd turnings that trains no longer use here. The site is not brilliant, but the content is really impressive!
However, I can’t recommend highly enough this blog. Basically to celebrate the 150 years of the underground this chap has listed and photographed his 150 favourite bits of the network. Its a really impressive selection and images, and serves to highlight just what a wacky and wonderful creation it all is…
My current favourite image is this one from South Ken Station… it’s so evocative of the museum quarter of london that I love so dearly, and I entirely agree with him that “Everything about this entrance, the layout, the lettering, the curve of the pillars, the curl of the brackets, screams – or rather sighs – breezy elegance!”
Filed under Photography, Timology
Tim Myatt 