Sir Nicholas Winton and Stewed fruit,

If I was looking for an example of how to lead a good life I believe I could do a lot worse than take Nicholas Winton who died this week at the age of 106 as an example.

It's not just in longevity that he excelled,  he was I find  on reading about him a man who left the earth with a positive legacy being instrumental in preserving lives by his work around assisting the passage of young Czechoslovakian  refugees ahead of the UK's involvement in the Second World War.

Beyond this he was modest and carried out other charitable works - a life to be greatly celebrated.

Stewed fruit

Mini Cucumber

Odd that this year we've done so well with Gooseberries, Blackcurrants are performing too but unlike the Gooseberries these did well last year as well. Strawberries are looking okay but somewhat tasteless and with a very very short shelf life.

Strange that Gooseberries are so named but a quick research indicates that it is in probability as a result of them being found where the Geese were kept (or perhaps as they were used as a sauce to accompany the cooked bird)?

Apples and Pears are looking promising and have picked some broad beans - it's great having an allotment - always more to learn and finesse.

New crops include Mini Cucumber and Peppers from plot 198 seeds and have just planted out a row of Aubergines which I'm optimistic about.

More Gooseberries than we can eat

A row of Aubergines

Summer and Another of those Ealing 'Pictures of The Week'

Summer fun on Ealing Green

Well I have pretty much lost count of the number of pictures submitted by me that  the Ealing Gazette has chosen to publish - thanks Steve Bax  and also before him to Michael Russell for looking at them favourably .

But I note that this one is a year after a somewhat similar submission by me illustrating the bright colours at work on Ealing Green for the Midsummer Festival (last week and a year ago last week).

with a 'Y'

It's been a hot and dry summer so far and watering on the allotment is a daily task (which is getting more controversial too).


Is this sort of sign needed on Allotments?

I know that some climate change concerns are highlighted during the times that  temperature extremes are experienced but I also note that summers in the UK have seen very high temperatures in the past too.




As you can see hardly any cropping has been done - so my framing might be better (or worse)

In fact summer in the city as well as a great pop song  sung by The Lovin' Spoonful  (with evocative lyrics) is a fine thing to celebrate.




[Hot in the City by Billy Idol's good too.]

Architecture along with Koons and Co.

Earlier in the week I was anticipating more from OPEN Ealing's 20th Century Design lectures  on the subject of architecture imagine my delight when Nick Pearson used much of this weeks session to highlight developments in 'Modern' architecture influenced by the style and materials of the time.

The chair seems central to talk of modern design

Featured architects starting in the early part of the century included the US doyen Frank Lloyd Wright the significant Le Corbusier  and figures associated with  the Bauhaus school like  Mies Van de Rohe  and Walter Gropius - of course, as with almost any exploration around design 'Chairs' featured heavily too.

Koons

My first recollection of a real encounter with the world of Jeff Koons would be about 25 years ago when I was working near Lyon in France and I think it was via a book that showed some of his high Kitsch art he had produced- in the time since then he's popped in and out of my world (in fact I saw some of his work quite recently)  and I was therefore intrigued to find that this week's Imagine (BBC1 TV) was all about Jeff.

I mentioned the challenges around confining and keeping pure the subjects of Philosophy and Art within a boundary yesterday and mentioned Marcel Duchamp as a reference well today I watched the Jeff  Koons  TV  programme and it seemed most  timely as the  it referenced Duchamp, what the observer brings to 'Art' and obliquely (of course) what is Art?.

The programme revealed much of Koons progress as an artist influenced by many including Duchamp, Dali (who he met when Koons was just a young man) and Warhol - his work puts the viewer at the centre of the works (by reflectivity) and it can be viewed as  strongly nostalgic encompassing much of his 60s childhood.

Jeff Koon's work often enthrals and bewitches

Koons runs a studio employing more than 100 people and knows his work intimately - including the physics behind the suspended Basketballs shown here.

Much as Warhol was a strange disarming dichotomy of stupidity and lucidity so too did Koons appear to be at turns both charming innocent and also a spectacularly skilful entrepreneur.

Koons seems eminently likable but sometimes has something of the insincere sheen of a TV evangelist when he's speaking about his art .


It was interesting to see just how  Koons who is categorised as a Neo-Pop artist is so conscious of media and marketing

Mobile Pone Deals, Philosophy two great minds meet (and frustratations of the spread) ..

Modern consumers are expected to search for the best deal and I'm increasingly drawn into what can be a game to find the 'best deal'  that produces little in the way of satisfaction and much in the way of frustration.

My phone - is it smart?

I'm currently struggling with the move from one energy supplier (former one Ovo)  to an new supplier (Scottish Power) as a result of my CAB involvement I feel that it is somewhat obligatory for me to make this effort - it is though proving frustrating and my intention is today to seek OFGEM input on my odyssey.


I was very unhappy with how Carphone Warehouse reacted to my earlier dissatisfaction on  my phone deal and subsequently moved to O2.




The BT deal - is it smart?

Well yesterday I was called by O2 who asked me about my 'Upgrade' plans - I wish that they weren't labelled as such, chances are that in days gone by I would not 'shop around'  but the fact that BT who I have some 'loyalty' to are offering something like a 50% cheaper option and that O2 had revealed their hand  means  I've decided to go the BT way - we'll see how it progresses with the provision of my new Micro SIM and PAC (a code required for the number transfer to take place) - perhaps it'll be a smooth as my current account banking change was.

Philosophy Struggles

Yesterday we reviewed some clips from a near legendary session between Foucault and Chomsky - this might not mean too much to you or it might mean a lot - in fact for those with an interest in modern  Philosophy it's the equivalent for Chess fans of a match between  Fischer and Kasparov or for boxing aficionados a contest between Ali and George Foreman.

Now I wasn't comfortable with how it was staged or the editing of the clips we analysed (and it's not just because of the various fashion faux pars it  revealed amongst the audience) - I know that my struggles to even appreciate the ideas that are discussed make me something close to that unreliable witness of the car accident at the roundabout where there's some broken glass and confusion but little else.

But were they even discussing the same issues - let's face it we're all involved in such situations in  probing, tentatively the  meaning of the question and when this is being conducted in a language that isn't our mother tongue can we get close?

 One of the struggles noted by a somewhat  irritated  member of our group  in the endeavour to find more about Philosophy is the defining of the limitations/boundary of the subject - what are these anthropologists and Eastern Mystics doing  rubbing shoulders with Kant, Aristotle and Plato?

I believe that it's always been the case but the stretching of the subject is even more to the fore in these days of massive quantities of accessible information  - it's both a blessing and a curse to be able to go off at so many tangents and the challenge is not confined to Philosophy, other studies that I've undertaken have shown the same issue in multiple guises - 20th Century Design  is currently providing the same question - along with the issue of when 20th century design started.

What I would say to answer the frustration is in two parts:

I think of Marcel here

1) As Marcel Duchamp (I think and I hope I paraphrase with some value)  pioneered in Art is that 'Art is what we look at in Galleries and speak about in discussions on Art' - he did I reckon do far more than divorce  Art from Aesthetics and perhaps free it (again) from an elite group of consumers and producers - we can, should and are doing this across many topics from Music to History.

If you want to check out a short item on this  legendary and under appreciated cultural  hero - look here.

2) It's a big subject- get over it and join the debate (if you're so minded).

Ealing Anti-Wheelie Bin Petition

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