Stratus/ Cumulus/ Cumulonimbus/ Rain

On Monday I started my mini adventure to Herefordshire to help create and make a mess at the Big Chill festival. This excursion was one full of big hills, rich green fields, ducks, biscuits, tea, wet feet, clouds, rain, sunshine and lots of fresh air. I'm not usually one for grand landscape photos but I couldn't help but want to show off the stunning sights of our homeland. Often it is easy to get absorbed by the notion that you have to travel faraway and spend lots of money and time to witness natural sights of wonder that take hold of your attention. But there is so much to be seen and appreciated at home I am beginning to find it hard to want to spend my time away.

Eden Project

Yesterday I visited The Eden Project site for the very first time and was completely overwhelmed by the whole experience. The Eden Project is an educational charity "conceived when the environment had dropped from the agenda and environmentalists had taken on the mantle of Old Testament prophets, doom-laden and jargon-heavy".

The site of the project is not only rich in vegetation but also education and inspiration. Most widely known for its space-age like 'Biomes', The Eden Project is more than just cultivating tropical plants. The vibe you immediately pick up on as soon as you enter the gates (where you receive a substantial discount if you have cycled or walked) is one of genuine positivity that we, as a team, can slow down and maybe even repair the damage caused by our over-indulgent use of non-reusable fuel. Instead of using scare tactics like many movements attempting to promote are more sustainable lifestyle, The Eden Project does not drone on about the dismal state our world is in, but instead focuses on positive, manageable ways of helping not only the future of our world, but our communities and personal lives as well.

Please check out their website, and if you head to the South West at all, then The Eden Project should definitely be sat near the top of you 'to-do' list.

Hooper and Shaw

Remember remember the fifth of November...as a lovely day. A day that included a blustery visit to St Isaac where I stumbled across the most wonderful Print and Gift shop run by two Illustrators. The cosy little shop is rich in beautifully thoughtful sayings which appear on large limited edition screen prints and greetings cards, as well as intricate paper cutting scenes and an illustrated collection of friendly looking farmyard animals. If you find yourself nearby it is most definitely worth a visit...in the mean time, check out their equally wonderful website.

http://www.hooperandshaw.co.uk/

A little bit disconnected

Having spent a week away from home visiting various places and faces, I returned on Sunday evening and casually threw open the lid on my Mac to see what had been going on in the world only to discover that the bastards at BT had (apparently, for no reason at all) decided to cut our internet connection. Being familiar with the felling of being phone-less due to a long line of misfortunate hydro-accidents, pickpocketers and general carelessness, it shocked me to encounter such feeling of isolation and disconnection. I can only blame my current location and possibly the weather for these irrational emotions. I have spent much quality time over the passed week with people I care dearly about, so why should I feel like I am missing out on something greater just because I cannot write on their virtual wall, or send a pointless email just to spur a response that is not one fueled out of love, but which is purely reactive. My obsessive habit of checking in on the Guardian website to see if I have missed anything that is headline worthy also seems to be superior to picking a trusty old newspaper, or listening to the news updates on the radio which never fail to be broadcast on the hour, if not half way through as well. Surely an hour isn't too long to wait to here what is (or isn't) going on our there?

So, here I am...sat in a swanky bar in Truro, swigging their over-priced g+t's, whilst it howls with terrifying rain outside. Just so I can feel part of the 'real world'. The only thing 'real' about this situation is that I am going to get drenched as soon as I step back outside into actual world.

The Coastguard Watch Tower

Having spent many holidays in Boscastle , the place never loses its sense of mystery and air of discomfort, which I think it is place youcan easily get drawn back to time after time. There aren't many places that get pummeled back to foundations by floods and re-built in exceptional time; who also have a Witchcraft museum, one of the most beautifully situated Churches peeking over the Atlantic and a Coastguard's watch tower that seems to mimic a miniature castle as if it was thrown up the coast by King Arthur.

The Simple Life

Hello again...it has been a little while, but I have been spending much time reading the next chapter. So far, it has been an extremely interesting one in which the prime character has been revisited locations and friends from times past which has provoked a mixed series of emotions to say the least. But the new Cornish settlement has proven to provide much comfort and security in a period of time which has not be particularly smooth and stable. Life in the most western part of the South of England is a calm and nourishing one with inhabitants taking great pleasure in the smallest of things which rub off anyone spending more than a few hours in this wonderfully charming kingdom. Looking at old sepia photographs of the miniature fishing ports shows that very little has changed over the last century, other than that the scenes can now be recorded and recalled in CMYK.

Happy New 'Home' Day

"Cornwall is like being at the window and looking out of England" D H Lawrence

Not living anywhere in particular means not having a space to organise the things that I find, read, see, think, scribble and hear. This shall be that place. If you don't mind?