Fire braziers at St Peters Church

A very busy street party this year which came all the way up New Road with virtually all of the village business owners running street stalls — very pleasant atmosphere.

More photos in my Prestbury, Cheshire flickr group

I seem to have missed my usual pre-Christmas update on here this year so this entry will have to suffice. I’m still running other more ‘business’ orientated blogs elsewhere but have since decided to use the blogger space (may soon move to WordPress) as a sort of overflow for these pages as well as a place to post more theoretical photography and photo hardware related material.

I have had a very enjoyable couple of days with Brother and SIL, a much-needed down shift from the recent nagging worries and now I am back home immersed in the quiescent inertia of these days between Christmas festivities and the New Year. Toby and Lill of course will be over here for the usual New Year nosh up at one of the local restaurants.

The weather has turned pretty drab all of a sudden with rain instead of snow but it is still reasonably cold, of course it is also completely overcast and grey. They have promised more snow for the New Year, not sure if we will get it here.

I do hope this coming year will be OK, I have a few trials and tribulations to get through in January but I am sure I will prevail – I usually do!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all that chance by — quite a few apparently!

The Yule tide is going to be a solitary event (mostly) for yours truly this year, though there will be the usual round of get-togethers with brother and SIL which I am looking forward to as always.

My current employment situation could have been a lot worse if it wasn’t for so much support from ex colleagues, something for which I am deeply grateful. Networking opportunities seem to abound and hope springs eternal plus any other cliches that come to mind. An almost lost university friend has come back on the scene too, just before she is off to Africa on yet another amazing and purposeful adventure. Of course, it all serves to illustrate just how dull my existence is in comparison, but it is inspiring in its own way. However, I can’t think further than another technical job at the moment, though as always, the allusive Broadcast field beckons once again.

The noble ideals of situationism have become something of an obsession lately but now I have the opportunity to engage with other like-minded individuals through various Face Book groups. Situationism offers some form of inspiration and hope in the current circumstances. I think it is a golden opportunity to disengage with the ‘spectacle’ of consumerism and become more creative and truthful. They always say that hardship and adversity lead to enhanced creative insight and I tend to think that there is some truth in this, at least on a personal level. At one time the disengagement with the shallow and artificial concerns of consumerism lead to an enhancement of greater cultural and spiritual awareness on a societal level. Though now I feel that we have become too dumbed down, too automated by capitalism and the notion that you are what you own to ever reach the hights of transcendent living. The notion of creativity has been usurped by the ‘society of the spectacle’ to such an extent that now the idea of creativity is just another form of commerce. Creativity as a business plan, or vomit inducing Christmas TV schedule and not a cypher for the enhancement of natural lived experience.

Who knows what 2009 will bring, but we may just see the emergence of some form of radical ideal, or the development of a new cult idea; but I’m not holding my breath.

Music of the moment:-

Emanative When on Earth and Sun Ra When Angels Speak of Love

Emanative is a relatively new find (courtesy Giles Peterson) and a most enjoyable one. This experimental Nu Jazz outfit from London crosses a range of boundaries but their soulful songs are as smooth as velvet. Dear old Sun Ra is guaranteed to provide the perfect accompaniment to the most enchanted and thoughtful moods, enlightening our existence here on planet Earth long after his return to outer space.

Happy Yule to all my occasional fleeting and chance reader(s)

Looking back at previous entries from this time of year makes me feel a little nostalgic for the decidedly more ‘difficult’ and uncertain times of at least two past Christmases. This year the transition from one year to another promises pretty much more of the same and there is not so much of that sense of ambition, dreaming, or just the promise of an open ended adventure. It’s funny how I often tend to feel uncomfortable with some forms of stability. It is as if I constantly need to be at the foot of a mountain contemplating an expedition to the summit, a need for conquest or a sense of freedom abounds. Now of course, the financial demands and the need and desire to fund a fuller life with a partner ( the sort of life that we have become used too) is of course an overriding concern so I had better get used to the strange sense of — sensible ongoing employment and the still curious routine of commuting. I’m certainly looking forward to an active and varied Yule Tide itinerary with dear Gill, the boys and girls and of course brother and SIL.

The last two days have been exceptionally cold with temperatures in negative figures, the cottage sometimes feels as though it provides little or no real barrier to the outside environment and breath condenses in my living room when the outside temp goes really low. This is all part of the fun of 200 plus year old non insulated solid outside walls, but I now have a nice fire in the grate and things have warmed up significantly. Many repairs and TLC work will be required for Oliver Wood towers next year including new ‘made to order’ oak box guttering and something also needs to be done about a nasty case of penetrating damp from the chimney stack, I also declare that 2008 will be the year when we return to the traditional black paint work on window frames — if next door will follow suit.

I proclaimed that 2007 was to be an excellent year as it had a seven in it — naturally, and of course in many ways it has been a rather good year with advancements a plenty. Gill and I have had a number of very enjoyable trips and I have become a lot more well aquatinted with the rest of her family and I still love my Nikon D80 even though it is being a little under used at the moment. Hopefully 2008 will be even better despite the ugliness of ‘eight’ my least favourite number! 2008 will be the year that I move up to the Nikon D200 and then on to a top level Niki if I can ever afford one. There is a lot of good humoured ‘banter’ amongst some photographic groups regarding the Nikon versus Canon argument most notably amongst the talented ‘amateurs’ in the flickr community. But of course, both are excellent makes, it’s just that I have a certain loyalty to Nikon which may have something to do with age related nostalgia for this make which absolutely dominated the pro 35mm market for more than 30 years. Good old Nikon is still a key innovator in digital thankfully and their cameras still have that unmistakable ‘edgy’ look to them with plenty of unique quality features.

Recent music purchases, three gooduns from Sonar Kollektiv

Dimlite; This is Embarrassing Clara Hill; Folkwaves Deyampert; Shapes & Colors

There has been much tooing and froing on the musical front of late with interests bouncing from classical right back to cutting edge European electronica and jazz tinged mix-ups. The German sister label to Compost JCR known as Sonar Kollektiv is really getting a lot of my attention at the moment not least because it appears to host many stylistic innovators amongst more ‘approachable’ and traditional artists. One of their key innovators is Mr Dimitri Grimm otherwise known as ‘Dimlite’. This Swiss producer has created one of the most interesting albums in the so called Nu Jazz or ‘nouveau soul’ genre heard all year. It is texturally complex enough to be classified as adult orientated music for the post ‘House’ generation who still remain attuned to the post-modern experiment in popular contemporary music and it is of course, the ‘This is Embarrassing’ CD. Like many innovative artists in the genre Dimitri makes music that is impossible to dance too. Deconstructive experiments in style and texture push the mixtures to new levels of tripped out ‘active listening’ fun that appears to address the whole notion of musical structure head on whilst creating something of a clever microcosm of 40 years of jazz and soul. Other interesting finds on Sonar have included a range of more acoustic orientated jazz balladeers my favourite of them all is Clara Hill everything she touches seems to turn to pure gold for ears.

Well that’s the news for this month…….. Seasons greetings ya-all.

Note to self: Total mileage: 8,453.7

I have finally decided that my first objective for 2006 is to get myself qualified as an Electrical Contractor, more as a means of providing a steady “back up” income and some degree of autonomy. I can’t understand why I have never considered this lucrative and opportunity rich transfer (transposition even) of innate technical aptitudes; it would have saved a lot of bother. It’s a fairly straightforward business and appears to be rather undemanding in terms of technical and theoretical aspects though that is relative I suppose. It’s really all part of a general effort to establish a multitude of more fulfilling and lucrative options for these “rainy days” I do need to muster something resembling a sort of coherent “life plan” for 2006 though, and now I do feel very strongly inclined to practical, technical, and artisan, forms of work. It seems to be a good quasi alternative to creative activity. And, it has to be said, that it is all so much more rewarding (for me) than trying to support myself with an endless round of dull clerical jobs. I need to actually do something and to be engaged with a responsible knowledge-based skill again.

Despite current prevailing circumstances, I continue to feel rather happier than of late, full of energy, and I do feel a lot more positive; quixotic delusion is a possibility here mind. What a relief to have recovered from the inertia of recent weeks though! Laurence Armstrong-Hughes’ “musings” inspire a yearning for more enchanted and semi itinerant bohemian lifestyles, there is very little to convey in these “Diary” entries as my own lifestyle tends to be rather fixed in more ways than one. It certainly doesn’t help when this writing activity is undertaken as a means to ameliorate ‘cabin fever’ (sorry no pun intended) and the lack of other activities, which is often the case unfortunately.

Again I must digress. The album (CD) than one simply must obtain by any means necessary and ASAP has got to be the much heralded ‘Summer in Abaddon’ follow up to ‘Blue Screen Life’ by the boys from San Diego, other wise known as ‘Pinback’. In some ways, a fascination for this semi ‘low key’ indie-rock outfit represents something of a sea change or diversion in taste for me. A transient drift from the jaunty bounce of Stereolab. The thing about Pinback is that they really do sound unique (mostly) where as the Lab tend to be ‘unique’ in terms of an off beat structure and sentiment set within a context of fairly traditional arrangements and modalities. It has a hint of something we have heard before albeit in the late 60s, and The High Llamas appear to follow suit of course. Pinback on the other hand do something very odd with ‘downtuning’, vocals doubling baritone guitars, and frenetic crossing counterpoint effects, and they are predominantly acoustic to boot! I will just give due credit to Mark here as he was responsible for introducing me to Pinback as well as encouraging an interest in Zero 7 and I think I could have ignored the latter on the grounds of a handful of chartistic tracks.

Seasons greetings once again!