Mental arithmetic

Gordon Brown, Prime Minister:

"I am determined that Britain will be at the forefront of the transition to low-carbon societies. Not only because it is our moral duty to future generations and because climate change, caused largely by the richest nations, hits the poorest and most vulnerable hardest. But because this new approach will underpin our push towards economic recovery - providing new growth, new jobs, new industries and new opportunities."

Isle of Wight:

Unemployment is double the average for the south-east of England.

Vestas, manufacturer of wind turbines on the IOW:

Vestas announced it expected to lay off approximately 1,900 employees, primarily in Denmark and the UK.  As a result of current market conditions in Northern Europe and the planning process in the UK [my emphasis], the company has decided not to move forward with plans to convert the factory in the Isle of Wight.

Car cash-back scheme

The Chancellor announced in the Budget on 22nd April 2009, a voluntary discount scheme under which motor dealers will give motorists £2,000 or more towards a new vehicle if they trade in a car or van over 10 years old for scrap.  The scheme is intended to provide a boost to demand and immediate support on a short-term basis to the car industry and its supply chain in the wake of falling sales.

Somewhere, something doesn't add up.  If they can support the car manufacturers and dealers, why no help for manufacturers of clean energy?

The shape of things to come

My weekend exploring a part of the world which I hope I will eventually call home. It was perhaps not the best weekend to have gone exploring, but there haven't been too many good weekends this summer.

I tried to take a few pictures between showers, or between downpours in some cases. I'm not delighted with them but they're all I have for now.

The Barbican gate in Sandwich, the entrance to the medieval Cinque Port.  It continued charging tolls until 1977.

Sandwich quay.  Before the river silted up it was deep and wide enough to take large sailing ships.  If you enlarge the picture you may be able to see that even the ducks were sheltering from the rain.

On the Canterbury, passing the old tower of St. Mary Magdalene Burgate.  The original church was 13th century, demolished in the 19th century.  This tower dating from 1502 remains.

Christ Church Gate, the entrance to Canterbury Cathedral.  It was raining.  Again.

A walk along the prom prom prom tiddly om pom pom.  That phrase will be understood, I imagine, only by UK readers.

The harbour at Dover, part of the reason we are looking at this part of the world.  Easier and much faster links to France by ferry, by tunnel and by high-speed train.

PhotoHunt: utensils

I'm away this weekend, so once again I offer a hastily put together post.  Hastily put together, rather like my hastily assembled utensils.

No chaos, no creation. Evidence: the kitchen at mealtime. ~ Mason Cooley

There is a peculiar burning odor in the room, like explosives. The kitchen fills with smoke and the hot, sweet, ashy smell of scorched cookies. The war has begun. ~ Alison Lurie

If you want to see how other people have treated the subject, visit  TNchick's site, where you can join in and find other players.

After the rain

We've had a great deal of rain this week, in fact for most of the summer. I haven't been able to get outside with my camera very much at all.

Hypericum with raindrops and berries.

Oxalis, also known as the Good Luck plant

 

Welsh poppy 

Mr Toad, still sheltering from the rain and....

....his next meal beating a hasty retreat.

Le Havre rebuilt

I've spoken before about Le Havre when I discovered a piece of its history, which I should have known but didn't, about the bombing it endured - 132 air raids during World War II. The necessity of liberating the area for the allies combined with the destruction of the port by the Germans before they left meant that the centre of the town stretching for 2 kilometres was completely destroyed along with virtually all of the port's quays. "We could see all the way to the sea"

35,000 people were left homeless. In 1945 plans were started for the rebuilding, plans to be developed by Auguste Perret, one of the outstanding architects of the day, "a poet in concrete". It took 20 years to rebuild and, sadly, Perret who was 71 at the start of the project died before it was completed.

When you approach Le Havre by road from the south or the east, you pass by what feels like mile after mile of chemical works and oil refineries. It's a rather dpressing sight. Even on the way to the docks, there is little inspiring about the place, so I was amazed when I first heard that it was a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I was determined, this last time we crossed the channel, that i would see it. A worthy antidote to the riches of Versailles.

The tower of St Joseph's church, seen above the trees and shops

The tower of St Joseph's church, the icon for Perret's redevelopment, dominates the skyline from almost everywhere.

St Joseph's church.

Although the church is impressive when you're there, the area seems jaded and neglected. It's a little to one side of the rest of the town centre, which seems better loved, for want of a way to describe it.

The shopping area and St. Joseph's tower again

A glimpse of the Town Hall tower

The Town Hall seen across the square

The Town Hall, the Hotel de Ville, is another well-known landmark, situated by a very attractive square filled with greenery and modern fountains.

After Perret's death in 1954 his collaborator finished this civic centre with the seventeen-story tall tower. Though built of reinforced concrete, the building is classical and symmetrical. It was extended in 1987, but has maintained the style of Perret's architecture.

Part of the Town hall square

More fountains in the square!

There seemed to be easily as many fountains in the square per square metre as there were in Versailles, but the style somewhat different!

View of Le Havre from the cross-channel ferry port

The cathedral was previously a parish church dating from the 16th and 17th century.  It is the oldest and one of very few buildings that did survive the war. It became a cathedral in 1974.

Some quotes from an unofficial World Heritage Site made me think about the reason for including Le Havre on the list, or indeed anywhere.

"As a World Heritage sight it did not rate at all, I can see the argument of celebrating and retaining a type of architecture may be but the overview of the city is dull and nothing stunning."

"Sad, grey, severe, and angular, and the materials looked shoddy. Now, I wasn't expecting a tourist venue oozing quaintness. But I wasn't prepared for this. The whole town seemed to weep."

"I didn’t really feel that I was viewing something exceptional."

The official reason given for including Le Havre:

"Le Havre is an outstanding post-war example of urban planning and architecture based on the unity of methodology and system of prefabrication, the systematic use of a modular grid and the innovative exploitation of the potential of concrete"

is just one of a number of criteria that can be used. The one most people seem to have in mind is the first: "a masterpiece of human creative genius".

I wonder if everything has to look great, be stunningly impressive, to be deserving of preservation.  My own view is that Le Havre is well worthy of inclusion even though it is probably not be the first choice for a postcard subject. And I would further point out that it's not the only such site. It may not be in the same category of beauty as many of the other places on the list, but I believe there is a place for protecting alternative aspects of human endeavour. It seems I am very much in the minority.

PhotoHunt: rocks

Rocks shaped by nature.

Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. ~ Lao-Tzu (600 B.C.)

Rocks shaped by man.

A pile of rocks ceases to be a rock when somebody contemplates it with the idea of a cathedral in mind. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery 

Rocks shaped by man, returning to nature.

I do love these ancient ruins. We never tread upon them but we set our foot upon some reverend history. ~John Webster

If you want to see how other people have treated the subject, visit  TNchick's site, where you can join in and find other players.

My favourite waste of time

There is such a thing as a sacred idleness - the cultivation of which is now fearfully neglected. ~ George MacDonald.

Once upon a time I used to keep chickens. They had a large run at the far end of the garden, backing on to woodland. Every day after I had prepared our meal, I would take them any titbits I could find. They soon got used to the ritual and would come rushing across their small paddock to see what delights were in store.

The rooster would be there first. He would stop and call his ladies over before eating anything. Then the hens would arrive. The mother hens would stop and call their chicks over. They all had their share, and life was good.

Photo from Flickr/David Turner

I would always lean over the fence and watch this scene, and sometimes time would drift by without my noticing. I could quite easily while away long moments enjoying the company of my chickens, and I always came away feeling relaxed and happy.

So it couldn't be called a waste of time, could it?

You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by. Yes, but some of them are golden only because we let them slip. ~ Sir James Barrie.

Now, I have to agree, there are some, even many, occasions when wasting time doesn't have that desired effect. High up on my list are times like waiting in for a delivery that doesn't show up, or sitting at the end of a phone while a recording repeats, ad nauseam, "All our agents are busy, so please hold the line".

Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen. ~ Jerome K. Jerome

We all need our stolen moments for a little regeneration, recharging, to allow ourselves to be ready to face the world again.

PhotoHunt: garbage

I haven't been able to get out and about this week, so wasn't at all sure whether I'd be able to put anything up for this theme.  However, my mind came back into action last night, and I remembered this, from photos I took last January.

Once upon a time in a small town called Uzerche, in the centre of France, they had recycling bins in a car park by the river.  It was convenient to have the bins where people could park easily while they put their rubbish in the appropriate bin.

But there was a problem.  There was also a beautiful view of the town from the same car park.  And the waste containers were not beautiful.

So one day the teacher from one of the local schools asked an artist to help the pupils hide the horrible rubbish bins which were spoiling the beautiful view of the town.

The children visited the site, had ideas, made plans and drawings, recycled some unwanted objects, which some would call garbage - and hid the bins in a decorative way.

You can just get a glimpse of the town behind the bins.  If you step to one side, you can see better.

If you want to see how other people have treated the subject, visit  TNchick's site, where you can join in and find other players.

Balm for the soul

I am feeling under the weather today, to put it mildly, so I decided to look through my photos.  Looking through pictures will always soothe me when I don't feel well.  Listening to some familiar music will have the same effect, or a few kind words from a friend.  

A sign - borne Michelin

Like it or not, you're getting the sign I thought I was giving you for the PhotoHunt on Saturday.  It's a polite sign after all.

The photo of this unusual road sign was taken in March when I was out and about.  I had no idea what it was apart from the fact that it looked old and I had never seen one like it before.  I arrived home and headed for the computer to do a little research.

Michelin is of course the French company possibly best know as a tyre manufacturer, but also as a producer of maps and restaurant/hotel guides.  The complete motoring experience.  Included in the early years of the motoring experience were road signs. 

As early as 1908, the company produced signs at the entrance (Please slow down) and exits (Thank you) of towns.  These bore the name Michelin and were installed free of charge.  After the first world war, the company started to produce direction signs consisting of enamalled plaques on concrete.  They experimented with a number of different shapes, and in 1928 came up with the design illustrated.

It wasn't until 1931 that the format was officially approved but by 1948 everything had changed, and they were no longer allowed to add the company name to the sign.  Michelin continued to make them, but the four-sided signs with plaques gave way to plaques shaped like arrows.

The date of the sign I found must then be between 1931 and 1948.  Fewer and fewer can be seen around - Michelin ceased all production in 1971 and the few that remain are gradually being replaced.  Some have ended their lives as flower containers.  Whether this is a fitting end to a once-proud road-sign, I'm really not sure.

Those of you who are as interested in odd trivia as I am, can see more of these on a French site dedicated to Michelin signposts.

PhotoHunt: pink

A confession:  I got the theme completely wrong for this week.  For some reason I thought it was "sign".  I have absolutely no idea why, but fortunately I checked at the last moment.  So, a very hastily put together post for pink, but I managed to resist reposting the same pictures from the last time.

I am not particularly fond of the colour pink but I do love roses.  There is a very small and rather neglected house near us which needs a great deal of care and attention, but in the garden there are the most magnificent roses.  I'd be happy to buy the house for the roses alone.  And fortunately for me this week, some of the roses are pink.

If you look at the enlarged pictures (if you click on them) you will see there is non-rose foliage.  A climber, it looks like a clematis, has almost strangled the bushes.  I do hope someone will take care of them soon.

It just leaves me to say, a very happy 4th July to all my American friends.  One of the great rewards of the internet is making friends around the world.

If you want to see how much more imaginatively other people have treated the subject, visit  TNchick's site, where you can join in and find other players.

The dangers of water

We probably all know that many people in Africa, usually women and children, have to collect water from rivers, several times a day. Not only is it incredibly time consuming, the danger is that the river water is often contaminated and can spread diseases.

But there is another danger - wild animals.   Agnes, who lives in Malawi, has a terrible story to tell of the day she was attacked by a crocodile.

Photo from flickr/Ramy Alaa

"When the crocodile caught me, I started screaming as it was trying to pull me into the water, and then my two sons rushed into the river – they had a spear in their hands and they put this into the crocodile's mouth so it eventually released me.

"Then they rushed me to the hospital as my hand was broken. I had a deep wound here, so I had to go back to the hospital three times to try and get them to repair it."

It has left her with a terrible injury, unable to work, and terrified of fetching water.  Fortunately her village is one where WaterAid has installed a safe water point.  Not only are the risks of disease reduced enormously, people no longer  have to risk meeting a rogue elephant along the way, or a crocodile by the water.  Children now have time to go to school, and women can work.

Agnes' story from WaterAid