PhotoHunt: furry

Two things that look furry, but aren't, followed by two things that really are.

Moss on a wall, a picture I took just a few weeks ago.  It looks furry, and I love the vivid green when there is little other colour about.

Yesterday I saw a tree looking furry, but on closer inspection it turned out to be covered in lichen.

A butterfly from last summer, showing its furry body.

And nobody can deny that this sheepish looking couple really are furry.  They came to inspect me during a walk about a year ago.

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Paddling pines

This is a shot I took two days ago after several days of heavy rain, on the same river but further upstream than my ususal haunt. The flooding wasn't too bad and, in fact, if you look at the level on the tree at the front, you can see it had gone down already.  But there is a large yellow sign - I carefully avoided getting it into the shot - which warns people not to hang around in the area because the level can rise suddenly and dramatically.  There is a large hydroelectric dam nearby and if they decide to let more water through, the valley can rapidly become flooded.

An appeal for humanity

The Disaster Emergency Committee in the UK was set up in 1963 in an effort to coordinate appeals in response to major disasters.

It is made up of 13 member agencies which provide relief during humanitarian disasters:

• ActionAid
• British Red Cross
• CAFOD
• Care International
• Christian Aid
• Concern
• Help the Aged
• Islamic Relief
• Merlin
• Oxfam
• Save the Children
• Tearfund
• World Vision

Additionally it is supported by a Rapid Response Network made up of broadcasters, the press, banks, the Post Office, British Telecom (BT), and others, to publicise and raise funds.

During the last few days, the DEC has launched an appeal for the humanitarian crisis now existing in Gaza. They have prepared a video to be shown on television, but the BBC, and now too, Sky News, have refused to show it on the grounds that it might compromise public confidence in their impartiality.

This is the video.



The Archbishop of York said, "There is the wonderful story of the Good Samaritan. The Levites walked away, the priests walked away, and one guy took the risk to help the person who was injured. I don't know if you can be partial or impartial when somebody is in need. I've a feeling it is humanity and nothing else."

Ironically, the furore over the refusal to screen the appeal has probably done more to bring it to the public's attention than any brief screening would have done.

We've been having some turbulent weather here recently, and it has meant I've had to stay indoors much more than I like. It feels like enforced idleness, if I can't get out to walk and take photographs.

When I had babies and then small children at home, I used to rush around in a whirlwind of activity, almost all centred on the boys. I rarely had a minute to myself. When they were older I was able to return to work, so spare time continued to be at a premium. By the time they were leaving home, I was looking at a career and invested all my energy in that. All those years went by, and during them all I used to indulge wishful thoughts of what I would be able to do when I had more time, all the hobbies I could take up, all those things I wanted to do but couldn't fit into my busy schedule.

Since December last, I have no longer been employed, and I should be putting my wishful thinking into practice. There is no whirlwind activity any more, in fact there really isn't any activity worth talking about, so I can do anything I like. But I haven't been able to remember all those "things" I wanted so much to do, they no longer seem compellingly interesting.

I had only a month's warning that I would be losing my job, so no time to prepare, and now that the Christmas and New Year's activities are over, I am suddenly faced with a void. Is this something that other people face? As the economic situation worsens, more and more people must have more and more time on their hands.

Today the weather has improved, and a beautiful dawn looks promising. What were those things I always wanted to do? What, I wonder, should I be doing?
 

War crimes against children

The International Criminal Court was set up in 2002 as the first permanent court to prosecute war crimes.  The first trial has just opened against Congolese warlord Thomas Lubang of the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC.  He is accused of recruiting, sometimes forcibly, hundreds of children aged under 15, to fight his bloody wars.

 

Agencies working in the area estimate that as many as 3,000 to 6,000 children may be currently involved since the recent increase in fighting.  The total number of children recruited since the outbreak of the conflicts in 1996, is estimated at 30,000.

Sadly, recruitment of child soldiers is nothing new, and the charity Save the Children say they are now seeing whole schools targeted.  Boys are forced to fight while the girls become "wives" to the soldiers.

"Unfortunately also you'll have the children sexually abused in these groups. Those are clearly some of the worst cases and then yes they are used as fighters, they might be trained as fighters - all sorts of uses. I mean you can only imagine."

Save the Children is active in re-integrating child soldiers with their families and communities.  It is not an easy task.  Rehabilitation is not straightforward.  These children are often severely traumatised and have become used to using threats and violence to get their own ways.  The sudden transformation from normal life into that of a soldier, and then back again, can cause depression, personality disorders or eating disorders.

Rehabilitation programmes provided by CRN, a Norwegian organisation working in this field, involve psychological counselling, basic literacy classes, vocational training, and pre- and post-resettlement visits.  Their latest project is aimed at preventing re-recruitment.  Children who are sent straight home without any help are more likely to rejoin the militias, and the time spent at the training centre means less time in the villages where the recruitment drives are happening.

For the children who do escape and have a chance to be reunited with their families, life is getting better.  They are given a chance to forget.

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• Young fighters

PhotoHunt: chipped

Still limping slightly, but my trusty computer appears to have life in it yet.  So, here goes with a late PhotoHunt entry, all taken last weekend on a short visit to the Corrèze department in France.

A door with chipped paintwork.  The door is the entrance to a tower dating back to the Renaissance. 

Another door, this time the wood itself is chipped.

Chipped and worn steps up to a church entrance. 

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Computer dying or dead

I've had to borrow a computer to post this message.

I have a minor disaster on my hands. My computer is not well to say the least. I will probably limp along until we are back in England in just under two weeks' time. Until then, unless something unlikely happens, I'm afraid you are unlikely to hear from me.

The Big Issue in Malawi

Illustration from Flickr/aheaven

The Big Issue is one of many Street Papers, independent newspapers or magazines that are sold on the streets of cities around the world by homeless and inadequately housed people.  It is sold in several cities in the UK, with different editions in different places.  In other countries the papers may have different names but the underlying idea is the same.

Homelessness is all too often ignored, overlooked, or misunderstood, even in developed countries.  Over 100 million persons are homeless worldwide and over 1 billion in inadequate housing.

The person selling the paper buys it from the publisher at roughly half the price the public pays.  The balance is kept by the vendor.  There are now over 90 of these papers in 40 different countries in the International Network of Street Papers (INSP), nine of them in Africa.

The first ever in Malawi will be launched on 24 January 2009 with over 250 people selling copies every month.  All vendors will complete training in business management skills and sign a code of conduct with strict rules which include no begging, no drinking, no swearing and no harassment of the public while selling the paper.

The project is being supported not only by the INSP, but also by the Scottish Government, and the Ubuntu Trading Company.  The Ubuntu Trading Company produces a Fair Trade cola in the UK using sugar from a Fairtrade cooperative in Malawi.

The idea of the street paper is to encourage self-help and is a project run by Malawians for Malawians.  It aims to give jobless, homeless, marginalized and socially excluded people employment and a voice in the media and raising issues that are overlooked in the mainstream press. It will be a source of information as well as having some articles about the feelings and experiences of the vendors themselves.  The vendors will have a legitimate income and an alternative to begging.

Ethiopia, Kenya and Zambia already have schemes established. Nigeria  will launch theirs in February, and projects are being discussed in Burundi and Zimbabwe.  The illustration is the cover of the second issue in Ethiopia.  The slogan at the bottom reads "Working not begging".

PhotoHunt: hat

I'm very late posting this, although it's still Saturday.  As I'm not a hat-wearer, nor is anyone in this household, I hadn't thought I would have anything to contribute.  Then lateral thinking came into play, as I reviewed some pictures I took yesterday in the Corrèze département in France.  So here we are, a rather hastily put-together entry for the PhotoHunt.

I saw a hill wearing a straw sun-hat.  (Turenne, where its strategic position allowed it to resist Viking invasions and escape royal power from as early as the 11th century.)

I saw chimneys wearing academic mortarboards, and church spires wearing hats that defy description. (Collonges, built almost entirely of red stone.)

And I saw a building in Brive wearing a beanie.

Technorati tags: PhotoHunt, French architecture

A lusty winter

A freezing fog at dawn started to lift when the sun rose.

But a lot of frost and ice remained.

Silent icicles.

By mid-morning it was a beautiful day for a walk, with the sun on my face.

A lusty winter, frosty but kindly ~ William Shakespeare

History lessons

 

Paint by numbers from Flickr/JenniferJune

Over the last year or so I've been publishing quite a few posts which started off being about my travels, trip reports I suppose you could call them.  I've noticed though, that they have veered off towards historical places recently.  You could say my whole blog has veered off from its original intent, several times and in several directions, but that's another story and besides, that's evolution for you.  The revelation, though, is that I am interested in history, more so than I thought. 

Up to the age of about 11, all I seemed to learn about were the stone age, the bronze age, Greeks, Babylonians and Romans, all of which which seemed so remote at the time that my imagination was never engaged.  Besides, I stopped having anything further to do with it after the teacher asked us to guess the period of something .  "Come on, just guess. I won't be annoyed if you get it wrong."  Some poor girl guessed 2000 BC and, yes, the teacher shouted at her.

Then senior school, and all we seemed to do was learn things parrot fashion, all in chronological order of kings and queens of England.  There was a quick side trip into the French Revolution but only insofar as it touched England. And we literally did have to learn things off by heart.  When important exams came at the age of 16, we were given a list of 20 of the most likely topics and were expected to know our set notes so well that we could just write, write, write, for three hours solid, without having to engage our brains at all.

I believe the teaching history in schools has improved over the intervening years, and I sincerely hope this is true.  A friend's child studied the history of medicine for her exams, which sounds to me vastly more appealing.  Painting-by-numbers doesn't produce works of art and history-by-monarch doesn't, to my mind, produce good history.  Do, or did, Americans have to learn history-by-President?  Do other countries do this trundling through the years via their heads of state and call it history?

So here I am, an indeterminate number of years later, finding I enjoy history, that there is so much more involved than dates.  And I'm frantically trying to catch up on all I've missed.  I have just read Paris in the Fifties (not solely about Paris and only incidentally the fifties) and I'm about to embark on a history of South Africa in French.  That should be interesting in more ways than one.

PhotoHunt: aftermath

The aftermath of a flood in spring 2008.

Last spring the river flooded but the aftermath remains. Even by June signs were still there with debris which had been caught in the overhead cable still in place.

In October a tree was still stuck on the weir where it had come to rest after floating downstream.

And yesterday, almost nine months later, the aftermath of two events - the tree, which had fallen gradually into the river after the flood loosened the bank, now showing the aftermath of the recent snow storm too.

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RennyBA's Terella

Some of you may already know my blog-friend, RennyBA.  If so, you will know his great blog all about Norway, the Nordic countries, culture, traditions, history, food and habits.   If not, I recommend you pay him a visit.

He is a finalist for the 2008 Weblogs Awards in category Best European Blog (Non UK).  Do go and vote for him, or pop over and find out what you've been missing (and vote anyway).

Medieval sisters

My "medieval sisters" are sister churches in Winchester, in the south of England. They are both very old, very small and quite unusual. I've known about them for a long time but until just before Christmas, never really explored. They aren't so very easy to find.

If you're walking along the High Street in Winchester you can't miss the Butter Cross (also known as the High Cross or the City Cross). It is an octagonal stepped structure once used to sell goods at market. It still serves as a great meeting place today.

If you step back and look behind it you can see the black and white building which is one of the oldest buildings in Winchester. Looking up there is a tower. If you then walk behind the Butter Cross you can go through a narrow passageway into Great Minster Street and Market Square. Once again, if you look back, you can again see the tower but most people won't be aware of having passed anything other than small shops.

But you will have passed the entrance to the church of St Lawrence in the Square.

From the outside, all you can see is this doorway and the window above.

St Lawrence is the only surviving Norman church in Winchester. It is thought to be the chapel of William the conqueror's Royal Palace, built 1069. There may have been a Saxon chapel on the site before that.

The Black Death came to Winchester in 1348 and the church fell into ruin. It was rebuilt eventually, but during the English Civil War 1645, it was again effectively destroyed when the stones were used to pave the streets and the building turned into a school. In 1672 it was again a church.

The roof dates from the time of Charles II. The church's very simple interior is the result of yet another disaster. In 1978, a fire cased £90,000 worth of damage.

This drawing, from a leaflet produced by the church, gives an idea of what it was like before the fire. The organ is to the side of the altar.

Nowadays the organ is above the entrance to the church. The font, bottom right, is made from Caen stone, from Normandy, dating from 1860.

When a new bishop is to be enthroned in the nearby cathedral, he comes to St Lawrence to be vested in his robes. The single bell (dated 1621) in the tower is rung and the new bishop is led to the cathedral. This has happened ever since 1660.

It is possible that there was once a chancel beyond the large east window because that wasn't installed until the 15th century. The church owns no land apart from the land on which it is built. It has no grounds. At one time there may have been a door through to what was once the rectory but is now the Eclipse Inn.

The sister church to St Lawrence in the Square is St Swithun upon Kingsgate, in some ways very similar, in other ways very different, but it merits a post of its own.

Bridges between: a disappearing "bridge"

Nothing there at the moment, apart from a disturbance in the water as the river flows past, but unless you were looking carefully you would probably not spare it a second glance.

But, maybe a week or two later, the disturbance becomes pronounced. There is definitely something there crossing from one side of the river to the other.

Now we have a real clue, there seems to be a way across, or at least there once was.

Finally it emerges in full, usually during the summer months, when the local boys show off by crossing to the other side. It's not as easy as it might look - the gaps are wider than they seem. One day, when nobody's looking, I will try.

PhotoHunt: hope

Another very difficult week - hope. I could write an essay about it and explain in words, but how do you convey that in pictures? I've ended up choosing two photos taken almost a year ago, two that show objects of very different dimensions, and hopes that are also a long way apart in terms of magnitude.

Hope for the future of the earth.

Can wind farms help to combat climate change? Everywhere I go these days, wind turbines seem to be multiplying. These were at a rest area on an autoroute in France, a windy place, one that I have spoken about before.

Hope for the beginning of spring.

I'm always delighted to see snowdrops in January because it makes me think spring cannot be too far behind.

Whether we make resolutions or not, we all must start a new year full of hope in some way. At least, I hope we do.

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