Monthly Archives: January 2017

For Sergio Lorrain

Posted on January 29, 2017 by Brian

‘Wandering around.  (KATH GROUNDED).  In your hands the magic box.  You walk in peace; aware, in the garden of forms.  Undistracted, surprised enjoying the living sculpture of reality.  A glimpse!, you stop.  You have the entrance, the veil is out.  … Continue reading →

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Red Runner

Posted on January 27, 2017 by Brian

With the possible exceptions of robins, Father Christmas and Chelsea Pensioners I’m not at all sure about red as a fashion statement.  It’s just too loud and rarely does anyone any favours.  But to generations of seaside postcard printers red … Continue reading →

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Fenscape 26

Posted on January 26, 2017 by Brian

“Cambridge Research Park is an exciting, self-contained community capable of providing office, laboratory, hi-tech and industrial accommodation. The quality of the park and its ability to support enterprise provides an unrivalled environment for business in Cambridge.”  Cambridge Research Park website.  … Continue reading →

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Fenscape 25

Posted on January 25, 2017 by Brian

Early morning walks in recent months have revealed new places – Bottisham Lock, Carr Dyke, Baits Bite Lock, the Lazy Otter and the Landbeach Research Park.  The Beechwoods have been revealed anew.  New landscapes, new wildlife, new ways in which … Continue reading →

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Fenscape (?) 24

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Brian

The Fens are all about space: the soaring skies, the huge fields, the far horizons and the lack of features in this underpopulated landscape.  Where there are features they tend to both emphasise both distance and the flatness through the … Continue reading →

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Fenscape 23

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Brian

Yesterday’s early morning walk started at the end of Fen Road, a little way downstream of Baits Bite Lock.  Ice covered the channel feeding into the Cam and two cormorants flew over in salute.  At the lock mallard, mute swans … Continue reading →

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Fenscape 22

Posted on January 22, 2017 by Brian

Today’s early morning walk from Bait’s Bite Lock probably the coldest yet, -5o C or lower.  Frost on the fields greying the landscape; leaves fringed in white; lightest touch of ice sliding slowly down the Cam.  Fishermen and mufflered runners … Continue reading →

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Fenscape 21

Posted on January 19, 2017 by Brian

View over Chear Fen Farms from the embankment of the Great Ouse, Chittering.  ‘Chear’ appears to be an archaic (18th century?) spelling of cheer.  What was it about this piece of Fen that evoked a sense of cheer?  Or is … Continue reading →

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Fenscape 20

Posted on January 18, 2017 by Brian

The eastern sky from the bank of the Great Ouse near Streatham this morning was extraordinary, a mass of orange and gold scribbles against the purple-blue.  In cloud spotter parlance they are ‘contrails’ (condensation trails) formed in the cold air … Continue reading →

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Beechwoods – A Hanger?

Posted on January 16, 2017 by Brian

Woods have a magnetic quality.  Folk tales tell of being drawn into woods with their conflicting sense of refuge and menace – Robin Hood and Babes in The Wood.  Trees with their superficial similarity become a maze; thickets emit disembodied … Continue reading →

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Bury St Edmunds

Posted on January 15, 2017 by Brian

At the end of November DaveR and I went to see RoyH at his new home in Bury St Edmunds.  His address, Churchgate Street, roots it unmistakably in a historic town.  Pevsner says: ‘The architectural character of Bury in predominantly … Continue reading →

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First Snow

Posted on January 13, 2017 by Brian

First snow of the winter this morning.  Not very much, but with the cold and wind too miserable to cycle into town, so took the bus.  A snowy windscreen on the upper deck a screensaver for the sights of Cambridge.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Urban Ephemera | 4 Comments

Fenscape 19

Posted on January 12, 2017 by Brian

Walked at Wicken Fen yesterday (11th).  Parked at the Maid’s Head, followed Back Lane to Lode Lane and into the Reserve.  Took the path past Wicken Poor’s Fen, then down a long straight drove past Baker’s Fen, left onto Harrison’s … Continue reading →

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Informal Beauty

Posted on January 11, 2017 by Brian

Last week I bought a copy of Informal Beauty – The Photographs of Paul Nash (Tate Publishing 2016).  Nash’s small photographs, at first inconsequential seeming, seek to explore a new way of looking at the world, of scrutinising found objects.  … Continue reading →

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Fenscape 18

Posted on January 8, 2017 by Brian

I’m drawn to the landscape of the Fens.  They are a place of humbling, yet mind-expanding, soaring skies and distant horizons.  Their very flatness and the ruler-straight dykes, roads and power lines give them a strong and simple graphic quality.  … Continue reading →

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