Sinister: unfocussed

[Liz Daplyn]

Can't remember who wrote this haiku, but it's great.

  Cold frosty morning
  Sparrows sitting together
  Without any necks

The magnolia trees are in bloom, but I fear for the flowers' future over a 
cold and windy Welsh weekend.  It's only from this time on that one notices 
magnolias, as their bare trunks are a bit twiggy and nondescript, although 
individual branches are nicely sinuous.  Presumably they grow much better in 
the west of *Great* Britain than in the east, as I don't remember seeing 
many when I was living in Kent.  Sweeping generalisation from paltry 
personal experience!  Still, it's more humid here (understatement), which 
might account for it.

  "Scent of magnolia, sweet and fresh;
  Then a sudden smell of burning flesh;
  Pastoral scenes of the gallant South,
  The bulging eyes and the twisted mouths."

    Not very nice, but "Strange Fruit" is a sad and beautiful song, and 
never more so when sung by Robert Wyatt, in my biased opinion.  You may 
mutter of Billie Holiday, but I stick with the old man, if only in homage to 
his version of "Shipbuilding": more tales of social injustice.  Must buy 
some Elvis Costello rather than just listening to covers of it, but I 
haven't got around to it yet.

Kieran said:

<<I’ve been told, too, that if you
take photos from inside a bus, the camera will focus on the pane of
plexiglass in the window, rather than the intended target, which will appear
in fuzzy soft focus at the back of the photo. How sad.>>

  Having made a practise over the past few years of taking photos from 
buses, kindly heed my *wisdom* O People.

1)  Get a decent camera with manual focus!  That is, if you can find one 
that isn't computerised to the nth these days.  I got my lovely SLR some 
time ago second-hand, and it was fairly ancient then.  Weighs a ton, too.  
Still, good cameras age well if you treat them nicely.

2)  Unless you're careful with your angles, you'll pick up reflections from 
the insides of the windows, particularly if it's a dull day.  But sometimes 
that can be good, as you get interesting ghosts of the people on the bus 
superimposed on the exterior view.

3)  Oh, and you should use a fast film, as, well, buses are moving 
moderately speedily in general.  Like.

  Of course, I'm too swanky to travel on buses these days :)  Trains are the 
way to go.  But I do like the National Express for its comfy squalor.  The 
drawback is that on a journey of any duration one is pretty much bound to go 
through or change at Birmingham bus station, which mings like the biggest 
badger you ever did see.

  Was listening to the Catchers in the car this morning.  Early 90s jangly 
pop, gotta love it.  Nearly as fey as the Field Mice, but more, well, Irish. 
  And the REM influence in the vocal lines is almost comically apparent, but 
it's still great.  Ooh, nostalgia for something that I wasn't that aware of 
at the time.  I was more interested in Green Day, tragically.  But these 
things are sent to try us.

  Hmmm why am I so conscious of nasty green small hatchbacks these days?

  Brixton.  Belle and Sebastian IN THA GHETTO, innit.

  Caitlin me duck, pink nail varnish goes with _simply everything_.

  I'm going nowhere fast.

  Love to you all, but especially *you*


    Liz :x


***
97.  Things that give a clean feeling

  An earthen cup.  A new metal bowl.
  A rush mat.
  The play of the light on water as one pours it into a vessel.
  A new wooden chest.

    The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon
**

_________________________________________________________________
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