Benjamy Burgundy Bear

well heres my 12 noon shot hot of the press today

location : Tower Bridge London
what was I Thinking: well i was justabout to go to Starbucks and thinking mmmmm mozzarella and sundried tomato panini and a tall Latte.

im a simple creature and Kapok brains dont hold much information, a bit like the fish dorothy in finding Nemo.... errr what was that again?

Soundtrack: police sirens and tour bus comentary blasting out from Towerbridge road and that bloody van alrm constantly going off

sodding noisy place london

well thats 12 gone onto the next challange..

Pen Friends; now there is something that seems to have faded into the past, in this Tele-communication & Data-communication based world where we Blog, Twitter, Facebook, my space, you tube, Instant messenger, chat and text; all from those little boxes in our pockets. If not those we get online on our lap tops, notebooks, Pcs and palms etc etc. are there still such things as “Pen Friends”?

Does anyone out there still actually write a letter to anyone other than for business or official reasons? Well I got to thinking about this, in a ponderous moment; well one tinged with a bit of delving into the past. You see its like this: I am trying to learn Spanish (have been for quite some time) I speak a little (not as much as I would like or should) but I do understand more (although unfortunately not in the dialect I need), anyway, I started remembering back to my days at the comprehensive and learning French, each of us was given a name of a French counterpart and told to write a letter. The idea being that as our written French improved we would write in French , and the reverse for our counterparts in France. My counterpart Jacques became a Pen Friend and we wrote regularly; general discussions about likes dislikes etc etc but we wrote and I learnt a lot that way, and still can write and speak a bit (lack of use over many many years does tend to loose the knack). The pen friendship lapsed as time rolled on and the 11 year old became the 15 year old at work and no longer in school and finally by 16 the letters no longer exchanged. A bit sad really on reflection.

Anyway snapping back to the present, what I really need is a Pen Friend a Spanish Pen Friend to stop me blogging inane rubbish and assist in my quest to be truly bi-lingual …

And Just because I would like to rekindle the excitement of receiving a letter that is not a bill, circular, postal spam or readers digest offer, or marketing from some obscure company I actually brought a memory stick or something trivial from (oops I was heading for a postal rant there) and sit down and read and learn …

So the search begins …

I came across this ruin, whilst walking in the hills and campos around my village, it evoked a few daydreams and thoughts of its possible history. And coming across the jpeg again this morning it reminded me of another ruin. so I thought mmm I feel a blog post coming on .

The ruin obviously has a history and the valley it lies within has a history, some of the stories we have heard whilst sitting in the bars around town and some we found out by talking to the local historians (ex-pats who know everything about the village etc etc ) maybe in a future post I will weave a blog story around this ruin and what II have learnt of the history of the village. But, for know, I will jump back to the thoughts it provoked this morning…

And back way back, in the seventies on a cold Thursday night; just leaving my college I passed a small record shop, dodging in out of the rain, I began to flip through the LPs whilst listening to the tracks playing in the shop. There an album caught my eye; it looked like the old wall-papered wall of a derelict building with an old picture hanging upon it, no title no name just a picture, open it out and you could see it was indeed the wall of a ruined cottage. Inside a poster style drawing of an old man atop a hill holding a lantern, and far below a young man climbs the hill. (now I know that Eggbod will have the name of the album by now) eagerly I purchased the album and left the shop, just as he closed.

The journey back from Sparkbrook to my home in Alum Rock was by the number Eight Bus (the inner circle)and the wait seemed endless until the buss arrived. There on the back seat of the top deck of the number eight; I withdrew the album and read the lyrics to the song on one side and viewed the cover, scrutinising every inch. I swung by Chrissos on the way back and chatted briefly arranging for him to come and listen later.

Chrisso and I went to the Outdoor and obtained supplies then back to my house to listen, drink and smoke. As the room filled with smoke and we listened in the dim light of the room whilst the rain thundered down out side I heard track after track that would stay with me for the rest of my life, four outstanding tracks I have heard covered over and over, and my love affair with the band continues to this day. There is a track that when you get there you will Know. However, my thoughts go to the final track as I also have the original version on the same memory stick I saw the Jpeg on so tonight I will listen to the original and the re-work by the ultimate band.

I'll name that tune in ?.......

part of a brief discussion/ overheard conversation

so for your merriment i pose the same question

where did the word FUCK come from?

when did it first become offensive?

Just pondering on just how much the mobile phone has become such a big part of peoples lives; how nearly every single person has one and how the use of telecommunications has changed.

Remembering back to my teenage years and how, to make a call I had to go to the telephone box on the corner of Ludlow Road and Alderson Road (we did not have a telephone in the house; as was the case with a greater proportion of the homes around that area) the phone box actually was quite a meeting point; where we could actually call the few mates with phones to arrange the next meeting point. My how things have moved on as I sat there i the car calling ahead (hands free on voice dialling) to say I would be about ten minutes late in !!! and as walking from the car to work noticing the amount of people walking and talking. I actually found myself wondering, just what was everyone talking about, so I listened as I followed or walked along aside heading to the office and of the five snippets of conversation I heard five snippets of life.

One .. a trip to Brighton apparently leaving a t 5:ish should be in the room by 8

Two .. johns coming round… 7ish….get a few cans …. You know what he likes

Three … I don’t care…you shouldn’t have said that …

Four …. Mom said she will have the kids…yes please….seven…okay

Five … can you get me the number….its along here somewhere…say again… sorry the lines bad here

Its like people watching only with a element of being a snoop. Wondering what the other side of the conversation is and what the entire subject matter was..

Voyeuristic ?

Why did i choose this picture?

well the Gaudi dragon in Parc Guell, Barcelona, Spain, is a work of art in its own right, though generally covwered in tourists having a picture taken etc etc, it does represent to me some beautifull architecture and the philosophy of Anton Gaudi, the parc originally intended as a housing area (though only two were ever built) the thought behind this piece and the rest of the areas of the parc is beautiful , the parc , beautifull and i have wonderfull memories of my self and Benjamina on a beautifull day ....

well I said I would so I Did

here we have one of many I have seen dotted around London and it just happened to be in my way as 12 noon approached ... so I took the picture and sat opposite for a while to take a moment and think about my surroundings; people watchings great, then just as I was musing on life and the state of undress of the ladies sashaying past the cafe i was sitting out side of, a work colleague walked past so i called her over and we talked work instead so

Picture - as above
Location - just behind Oxford Street London
Thoughts - nice legs (no not refering to my colleague) quickly turning into hows your training going!

and for Eggbod - the cafe was actually playing a track by Bebel Gilberto which i was quite enjoying ... from the Tanto Tiempo Remixed Album as i recall (I have it just cant recall the track title )

Now did anyone rise to the Challenge??

Our world, our daily journey, our time at work, play, etc etc etc ; we go about this in a matter of fact way, but do we stop to take a moment and take in the surroundings?

Not to long ago following a post by Usky, I stopped and took a picture, and put up a post. BDA took the time to post pictures from around her. Today in the Metro as I went about my journey in, there was an article, a review of a theatre production. A line caught my eye, can’t remember exactly but it was along the lines of we do not notice the world around us.

So Today I’m going to pay a bit more attention and at midday (give or take a second or two) take a picture and take the time to think about and take in my surroundings.

So here is a challenge to the few readers and possible blog droppers who happen upon my little slice of ether. At 12 noon today Take a picture (or just take a moment) and do a post about that few seconds of your day .

nowt better than lying in bed as the sun rises and dawn turns into day; that slightly sleepy time where there are no worries and every day is new and a fresh challange... so what shal we do today ???

Its been a reflective month, many memories sparked by the simplest of things, and just as im coming to the last weekend , i get an email from a old school chum, upshot, School re-union..... now thats interesting