I could hardly watch tonight’s Channel 4 News report from China; it is impossible to imagine the grief of mothers finding the bodies of their children in the rubble of the earthquake. And now I find it difficult to write about the story of an earlier earthquake in China. Of course it is not my story but it stayed in my memory long after I finished reading The Good Women of China by Xinran. (more…)
Add comment May 14th, 2008
mocking the myth that the motorcar offers freedom…
A good start to the day. Tommy emails to say his print is on sale in an internet gallery specialising in bringing together artists who want to sell and customers who want to buy but don’t know how to find each other. (And this just a week after Tommy and the rest of FOUND featured in the News of the World!) Anyway, back to art.
Add comment April 29th, 2008
I took a second look, “That is plastic isn’t it?” The answer was swift and smart, “Yes, no man was hurt in the making of this display.”
Setting up my stall at the Student Festival of Learning in Edinburgh’s Telford College yesterday I soon realised that I was a bit short of merchandise. Thanks to Tommy I had the biggest and boldest banner in the hall and I had put together a nice display of bright leaflets about intercultural arts events, voluntary work and community gardens. Then I discovered Leith Open Space was sandwiched between Young Scot and Safe Sex and, damn it, they both had a much more interesting selection of freebies. (more…)
Add comment April 25th, 2008
“Ordinary women cannot afford sanitary wear. We are using old pieces of cloth or newspapers. Consequently we’re suffering the loss of our dignity and serious infections, in some cases leading to infertility. Many women are facing violence from their husbands who believe these infections to be sexually transmitted.” Thabitha Khumalo, 2006.
Today, when I signed three petitions in support of democracy and human rights for the people of Zimbabwe, I was thinking of the truly remarkable woman I met two years ago. Thabitha Khumalo was in the UK to raise money and support for a campaign to secure safe supplies of sanitary towels for women in Zimbabwe. The economy was so bad – inflation was then a mere 1000% – manufacturers of sanitary products had left the country. An appeal for help produced a generous lorry load of sanitary towels from South Africa but Robert Mugabe refused to let them into the country.
2 comments April 16th, 2008
Too early, even the blackbirds building a nest outside the window are not up yet. I wake at 4 am with my head full of stuff, odd random surreal sounding stuff but it wasn’t a dream, someone actually said, “It’s time we gave this prehistoric plant a voice,” at one of the meetings I was at yesterday. At 4 am talking plants get mixed up with more prosaic stuff like restoring Great Aunty Ada’s old sofa. Is that estimate from the upholsterer the cost with or without material? Will I get that article written by Tuesday? And, oh god, did I ever answer that email about the meeting in the community garden? This is a sure sign that I have filled my days too full, the only way I get back to sleep is to promise myself I will dump some of this stuff out of my head and on to my keyboard when it’s proper morning. What else are blogs for?
Add comment April 11th, 2008
It’s working. Two years ago with Susie’s help, I planted a B&Q buy-one-get-one-free special offer of miniature narcissus round the stone cairn built by Richard. Moss is doing a great job of covering the stone but the ground was a bit of a problem: too many weeds and it was difficult to mow the grass round the cairn. So we tacked a bit of plastic sheeting round the base, more like dressmaking than gardening, and planted the bulbs into it. And for once one of my planting schemes has actually done what I intended. (more…)
Add comment March 29th, 2008
“Many of the smaller ones perched on my hat, and when I carried my gun on my shoulder would sit on the muzzle. During my stay I killed forty-five all of which I skinned carefully.”
I really wish I hadn’t read that extract from David Douglas’s diary describing the birds he killed during his few days on the Galapagos Islands in 1824. Douglas happens to be a bit of a hero of mine. I get a powerful kick looking up into the huge trees he brought back from his travels in what was then the wild woods of the Pacific North West. He went to such trouble to collect seed without destroying the forest it is sad to discover he was blasting eagles and owls and other grand feathered things off the face of the mountain. But I guess no-one is perfect. (more…)
Add comment March 18th, 2008
Welcome to the first Global Gossip of 2008. I’ve been pestering Dougal for this for ages but he had work to do in Brazil. And Glasgow. As if that was any excuse. Anyway well worth the wait to see why Dougal Perman thinks we should choose Indonesia for a holiday (and remember, for some it’s destination of choice for weddings too). Photographs by Andrea McCarthy of My Talking Dog (see more on Flickr)
“Taxi? For tomorrow?”
A line of men sitting on the pavement try to entice us to rent their cab. There are many taxi drivers here in Ubud, a beautiful world heritage village in the centre of Bali, Indonesia. But not many tourists.
Indonesia is one of the most beautiful, interesting and exciting places on earth yet people don’t visit in the same numbers as they do in Thailand, Malaysia, or Vietnam. In two weeks travelling around Bali, Java and Sumatra, I saw incredible places and met wonderful people. I just wish, for the country’s sake, more tourists would come. (more…)
3 comments March 4th, 2008
“Is that you blogging again?” The tone is teasing but perhaps just a tad reproachful. As if I am always up here blogging which of course is not true. After two weeks away from my blog (been too busy blogging elsewhere) I spent yesterday doing something much more productive.
Home made marmalade. There is really nothing quite like it. I’m not much good at making jam. Getting it to set is the really difficult bit. But last year I actually managed to make marmalade that set well enough to stay on the toast without being as tough as toffee. I decided to have another go this year but nearly missed the boat. (more…)
4 comments March 2nd, 2008
“Certain supermarkets have claimed that we haven’t made much impact on the demand for free range chicken. Yet from all over the country we’re hearing reports that free range chicken is flying off the shelves…But we need proof!” says Hugh.
And here it is:
Last week I finally got round to meeting the challenge from Hugh and went down to my local Tesco to photograph dead chickens. (more…)
3 comments February 15th, 2008