Notting Hill Carnival, Monday 27 August

click on photos to enlarge

Notting Hill Carnival, Monday 27 August

Notting Hill Carnival Sunday 26 August

Notting Hill Carnival Sunday 26 August

today's photos by Jasmine

Lagos Wedding

click picture to enlarge

A Lagos Wedding

the engagement ceremony in Ijebu:

Lagos from the skies above Ikeja en route to Port Harcourt

and a reminder of home:

click photos to enlarge

un universo de objetos cotidianos

see: http://www.setespaidart.com/

for my Valencian friends

Independence Day and the North-East

The younger daughter of the family will celebrate this 4th July working in the Land of the Free, not far from the small town in Indiana which was home to her Geordie grandmother for many years.

It was from the small town of Washington, then a village,in County Durham, that the ancestors of George Washington, the first President of the United States, emigrated to Virginia in 1657; and it was Washington who led the American Army to victory over Britain in the American Revolutionary War aka the American war of Independence (1775–1783)

So quite clearly the north-east of England played a significant role in the founding of the USA, a country that once welcomed, and was home to, the Matriarch and daughter, who schooled in Virginia, and which now plays host to the baby of the family. And she, no doubt, will recognise this bell in a clearing somewhere near Detroit.

Great Uncle George, the Lusitania and the U-20

pic. RMS Lusitania

In 1915, whilst grandfather Charles was in France with the Northumberland Fusiliers, his elder brother George was working for the Hudson Bay Company in Canada, but his decision to return to England in May of that year was to put him right on the front line in an unexpected way.

George's route home was via New York City, leaving from Pier 54 on 1 May 1915 aboard the Cunard Line's RMS Lusitania. She and her sister ship the Mauretania were the fastest liners of their day.

Tragically, the Lusitania was never to reach her destination as she was hit by a torpedo from a German submarine, the U-20, and sank at 2:28 pm on 7 May, 8 miles off of the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland.

Of the 1,962 people on board only 761 survived, including Great Uncle George who was treated in Ireland for a broken rib before returning home, via London, to Newcastle upon Tyne.

Brighton Breezy

Brighton, Sunday 29 April

click on photos to enlarge

A Botticelli, a Rhino and the Portico Quartet

Sunday on the Embankment

http://www.myspace.com/porticoquartet

click on photos to enlarge

Easter: an egg, a blasted beach and a Roman soldier

To Tyneside for a delightful long Easter weekend

an egg by Susan:

a sand blasted beach and Bamburgh Castle

and at a Roman temple near Hadrian's Wall a lone legionnaire

in quiet contemplation:

Tyneside and the Abolition of Slavery

This weekend marks the bi-centennial anniversary of the Slave Trade Act 1807.

Unlike the Atlantic ports of Bristol and Liverpool, Newcastle upon Tyne owed most of its prosperity to the blood and toil of its mining communities rather than the appalling trade in human cargo from Africa, and it was a Northumbrian, Prime Minister Charles Grey, who was responsible for steering the Bill for the Abolition of the Slave Trade through the House of Commons.

The 1807 Act however did not end slavery within the British Empire as slaves could still be owned but not sold. The abolitionist movement continued to campaign against the institution of slavery and in 1827 the Anti-Slavery Society was founded. Like many others around the country, the good ladies of Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead petitioned for Abolition:



and on 23 August 1833 the Slavery Abolition Act outlawing slavery in British colonies was passed.

Martins nets two on International Women's Day

Obafemi Martins scored two goals in an exciting UEFA Cup match at St James Park this evening



Newcastle 4 AZ Alkmaar 2

BIrthday Girl

Key to the Door

siblings meet at airport


Happy 21st Birthday to someone very special in the family.

Volume of Snow hits the New River

a welcome reminder of old-fashioned winters arrived last night

Cedar Tree

Geese in search of food


so that's what Timberlands are for

Volume on Tyneside

According to a recent report about urban noise in the UK, Newcastle upon Tyne is the noisiest city in England, topping a traffic noise table with 80.4 decibels recorded.

Well that's what happens when you locate the sound sensors in the Bigg Market on a Saturday night.

"Volume" at the V & A

2007. " Do unto others....."

Norman Rockwell's Do Unto Others (1961)
Image courtesy of Carol L. Gerten

Farewell 2006

A year of depressingly familiar international conflicts and problems but also a wide slice of life with friends and family.

A welcome:














A sentimental journey:














A reunion:





A lovely wedding:



















A delightful trip to Gascony:


:











some medical attention; with many thanks to all who rallied round:











and a sad farewell:

"O little town of Bethlehem........."

If Joseph and Mary, and indeed the three wise men of Matthew's Gospel, were to arrive at Bethlehem today they would be confronted by the Israeli constructed West Bank Barrier and would almost certainly be turned away.














The West Bank Barrier at Bethlehem

Vampire Rabbit aglow in Newcastle....or is it a hare?

photograph courtesy of Susan Chaplin



Newcastle upon Tyne is currently hosting Glow, a collection of lighting installations and illuminations scattered around its quayside district.

the photo above is of a doorway in Amen Corner near the city's St Nicholas Cathedral. Above the door is the 'Vampire Rabbit' a gargoyle with red fangs and long red nails.





photo by S Ellwood

A recent sojourn in Gascony

two weeks at the end of August spent with delightful company in a quiet corner of France.


the sign for the local village, Castelnau Magnoac.













the morning view










religious tat in a Lourdes shop window









sunflowers near Tillac

This part of Gascony has many roadside memorials to local Resistance fighters, and Castlenau Magnoac is home to a national memorial which pays homage to the irregular fighting force, made up of members of the Resistance and known as the Pommies who were organized by, and named after, General Andre Pommies who was also a member of the Maquis. 511 members of the Pommies died in the fight against Nazi Germany between D-Day and the Armistice.

There is also a small Pommies museum in the village next to the bar/cafe Le Memory (see photo below; click to enlarge)..

Geordie dialect under threat in.........Newcastle.

"Whisht! lads, haad yor gobs and aa'll tell yer aall and aaful story" (*) and this is it:

The City fathers, aka the local Council, have seen fit to bar their employees from using two delightful Geordie words of endearment, "hinny" and "pet" , when dealing with members of the public.

Now it would take a dyed in the wool hard-line feminist to be offended by these colloquialisms but in our modern world of political correctness the Council is clearly running scared of potential law suits from the hyper-sensitive.

* from the Lambton Worm

To a Wedding in the North

a delightful and memorable day uniting the North-West and the North-East

click photo to enlarge

Sunday at Tate Modern

click to enlarge






younger daughter and I visited the superb Wassily Kandinsky exhibition.