| More pinhole fun |
[Apr. 9th, 2009|11:52 pm] |
I wanted to take a landscape photo to see how it came out. If I found this at a bootsale I'd probably think it was a shot of the Somme circa 1916, which is great.
I think what I want to do next is try to fake some ghost pictures - anyone up for helping me?
I'm really enjoying a bit of photography, I'm not very good at it at the moment though. Earlier I went to Jessops to buy some supplies, except they don't seem to sell any actual photography stuff anymore, it's all SD cards and digital cameras, which you can buy from Tescos. No wonder all these stores are going bust. |
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| First attempt at pinhole photography |
[Apr. 6th, 2009|05:44 pm] |
I had my first go at pinhole photography today. I really enjoyed it. Taking photos, like everything else nowadays, has become so easy that it has lost its magic. Even when I was a kid, it was exciting to not know what pictures would come out like until you got them developed weeks or months later.
I like pinhole photography because it's not immediate, it takes time to capture the image and to develop it. Also it's quite exciting to me the idea that if you fuck it up, the image is lost forever. There's no retrieving it from anywhere. It also makes anything look instantly old. I'm going to practice with some tin helmet and great coat poses tomorrow.
There's also something really magical about developing the picture. Not knowing if it is going to come out at all, and then gradually seeing it fade into existence before your eyes.
So yes, the picture is nothing special, but I think i may have found a new hobby.
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 4th, 2009|10:58 am] |
If anyone knows someone who is looking for a cheap place to live, there are four rooms becoming available where I live in New Malden. One is a small but decent room for £300 which i shall be vacating for one of the other rooms, one is a large £400 room, and other two are larger still for more.
House is really big Edwardian place with massive kitchen, two bathrooms, a little outdoor area for BBQ and a conservatory.
Motspur park railway station is at the end of the road, which goes straight into Waterloo in about 15 minutes. There is a 24 hour Tescos about 100 metres from our front door, and the A3 is about a 2 minutes drive away so easy to get in and out of London. N87 from Trafalgur square also stops right outside.
All in all it is a nice place to live, so let me know! |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 24th, 2009|07:40 pm] |
My life sucks at the moment, I always knew this course was going to be hard but it is ridiculous. Cramming three years worth of study into 8 odd months of teaching is the problem. I haven't had a day off in about three weeks, every single evening I have had to spend working and every weekend.
I find it stupid, because it's not like being a teacher. Although teachers are overworked, they don't come home after a long day at school and spend every evening and weekend planning lessons. At the moment I have so much to do, and my evening was looking pretty gloomy as it was, but then I get told at the last minute I've got to teach an additional lesson which leaves me even less time to deal with the other shit.
Can't wait for this course to be over. It's Easter in just over a week which will be good but I will have to spend a goodly part of that working.
Still, last day of teaching is May 22nd so not that far away. Sigh. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 3rd, 2009|11:16 pm] |
I think teaching is the hardest job I have ever done by about a million miles.
I'm really tired and would like to sleep, but instead I am trying to get three lessons planned for tomorrow.
What people don't understand about teaching, myself included before I started the course, is that it isn't just a matter of standing up in front of some people and talking at them. If it was that simple it would be relatively easy for me.
The problem is, there is a difference between 'teaching' and 'learning'. I could babble on at people at day, but unless they are doing something, they won't learn anything. I'm sure we've all sat in millions of lessons, meetings, lectures etc and completely switched off to what is being said.
So, what you need to do is come up with activities that led the kids find the information out for themselves. Which would be easy enough if all the kids were the same level. Instead, I plan one lesson on evacuees for a Year 9 class. A quarter of the class understand the work and get on with it. One quarter can barely write a sentence, let alone compose a coherent answer to a historical question. Another quarter tell me 'sir, we covered this in Primary school, it's too easy', and finish the work in about 2 seconds, or just sit there staring blankly into space. The other quarter are probably making fart noises while I'm tending to the other 3/4.
To make matters even more difficult, I have two classes with a pupil in each who speaks no English. So basically, whatever I have to plan for the upper, middle and lower English speaking kids, I am also supposed to do seperately for the kid for speaks no English at all.
This is why it is nearly midnight and I'm still up planning lessons, and will be in school at 7am tomorrow doing more of the same. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 1st, 2009|10:47 pm] |
I've been neglecting livejournal a bit as I have to write a restricted blog as part of my course, which is sapping most of my stuff i might normally blog about on livejournal.
But anyway, the course is going pretty well at the moment. I started this year not at all sure I was cut out for teaching, and with extremely low confidence. Happily this placement is much better. My mentor is a really funny, cool, chilled out bloke who I have a lot of respect for, and in this school it's not like I'm a student teacher, I'm just part of the department. Plus the way this school works suits me much better. In the first one, I was expected to have lesson plans ready about a fortnight in advance. I don't work like that! In this one, even the teachers quite often don't think about what they are going to be teaching until about 5 minutes before the lesson starts. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, in fact I think I am getting a much more realistic view of what teaching is like; it is a bit chaotic, and you have to think on your feet. It's not all lovingly prepared lessons, it's turning up in the morning and being told you have to take over someone's class with 5 minutes notice.
So yes, it's hard and it's still going to be tough, but the end is actually looming into side alarmingly quickly. My last day of teaching will be about 22nd May, so I only have about 11 weeks of the course left, including two weeks of Easter holiday.
I've just started applying for jobs. It's difficult though, as applying for teaching jobs isn't like any other job. You can't hedge your bets, apply for loads and then just decide which one you want best. Normally, the school will offer you the job straight after the interview, and you either have to accept it immediately or turn it down more or less immediately. You can't say yes and then change your mind later on, or you can but might find it hard to ever find another job.
So I've got to make a real difficult decision about where I want to work. Jobs aren't that plentiful at the moment. I've applied for one in Harrow, one in Rochester (where I always quite fancied living, but don't actually know anyone although it would be a lot closer to my parents), and I'm going to apply for one which is about 200 metres from my front door.
One of my main worries at the moment is that if I have to move far away I will hardly ever get to see Peggy. I know it's silly letting a pet have such an influence on a life changing decision, but I am extremely soft hearted when it comes to animals and their little faces.. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 15th, 2009|09:47 pm] |
Musical ability is such a relative thing. A few weeks ago, I played some guitar with my housemate, who sang, and her friend, who played guitar. Her friend was ok but could only strum a few chords, so compared to her I felt really confident and a bit like Jimmy Page.
Today, I met up with a girl who is into similar sort of music to me with a view to starting a guitar. It was a really embarrassing experience, as she was miles better than me and I felt like I had been playing guitar about two minutes. She started playing something and said 'off you go then, jam along in E minor'. I was like 'err...' ..
So yes, doesn't look like I will be joining her musical ensemble, but it has at least given me the impetus to become better at guitar. I've started lessons with a new guy, who looks like a viking but is very professional and seems to really know his stuff. He also works me like a bastard, which is just what I need. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 3rd, 2009|12:26 pm] |
I've spent ages trying to find someone to form a rockabilly band with, posted loads of adverts, contacted loads of people, and had jack all success so far.
Strange then that two people should contact me on the same day. One of them sounds like exactly what I am looking for - she wants to learn Johnny Burnette (which I am obsessed with at the moment), Let's Have a Party by Wanda Jackson (which is brilliant), and 'hoy hoy' by the Collins Kids, who I had never heard of before but it is the most ridiculous and the most excellent thing I have heard in a while at the same time. Just check out the video, it cracks me up.
Now I just hope we do actually get something going.. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 19th, 2008|07:00 pm] |
I've become obsessed with this song. It's the greatest song ever to listen to as you walk along. It is so versatile too, look at all these different versions! And look at the size of the mans banjo!
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| Remembering today |
[Nov. 9th, 2008|08:39 am] |
Percy Livermore of the Essex regiment, killed September 19th 1918 in Palestine (my cousin, twice removed)
Ernest Albert Garrett of the Middlesex regiment, who fell at the battle of Arras in France in 1917 aged 21. He was Percy's brother-in-law, married to Percy's sister Gertie. He has no known grave. Percy, Gertie and Ernest all lived together in the same house near Harold Wood station. Hard for her to lose both her brother and her husband within a year of each other.
Also William Guy (on memorial below). Not a relative of mine, but his serial number was 200088. Percy's was 200089. This probably means they joined up on the same day and probably were next to each other in the queue, so it is quite possible they knew each other.
Charles Sidney Ashwood, my great-great-uncle from Kennington, who emigrated to Canada in search of a better life but joined the Canadian artillery when war broke out. A few months after arriving in France, he took part in the later stages of the battle of the Somme. On 25th October 1916, he was spotting for the artillery with an officer when his trench received a direct hit. Both him and the officer were killed and they lie together today in Bertrancourt cemetery on the Somme. He left behind a widow in Canada.
All were forgotten in my family until earlier this year, but I think of them today when I attend my local memorial service and aim to ensure they are never forgotten again.
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 7th, 2008|07:08 pm] |
My favourite picture
This looks like such a jolly 1940's/50's day out. I want to be there, where we would tuck into ginger ale and cheese sandwiches on the beach, go for a whirl on the dodgems before nipping in the Dog and Duck for a swift ale.
The man in the sailor outfit is my grandad Colin Edney, and to the left of him is my great-grandmother Charlotte Cann, and her husband Jack Edney, my great-grandad, who survived four years in the trenches of the Western Front so is alright by me, Jack.
I wish he hadn't the cheek to have died thirty-five years ago so I could have had a chat with him. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 7th, 2008|12:33 am] |
The ukulele is the ideal instrument for me. It's small, it's cheap, it doesn't require much time for practice and is the easiest instrument ever to learn. Plus it suits WW1 tunes much more than a guitar.
I've liked it so much I thought I'd upgrade to a slightly better model, so the other day after winning an ebay auction I drove all the way up to Braintree to pick up my new banjo ukulele.
I'd got it at rock bottom price, so I was fully expecting a real piece of shit. Instead, I was stunned to pick up a really beautiful banjo ukulele. I couldn't wait to get it home. I had a lot of difficulty tuning it, but I put that down to new strings.
Normally new strings settle down after a few hours, so when I still couldn't tune it I wondered if there was something wrong with it, and a quick google search indeed found the solution. The problem being, that it isn't a banjo ukulele at all, but in fact just a plain old banjo. To the uninitiated the difference may seem slight but they are in fact completely different instruments with a completely different tuning and a whole new way of playing to learn.
I was a bit miffed about that, but in fact what I'm more miffed about is that I really like it, but now that I've got into the ukulele I don't want to have to learn a completely different instrument. If I had a bigger house and more disposable money I might keep it, but sadly it has to go.
If anyone is interested in buying a nice tenor banjo at a very cheap price let me know.
In the time I have had it I did of course manage to learn the duelling banjos riff from 'Deliverance'.
Instead I have bought a bona fide new banjo ukulele. It's really nice, I'm looking forward to it coming. If anyone requires the services of a actually not too incompetent ukulele/banjo player in the future let me know. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 3rd, 2008|05:47 pm] |
Generally there's nothing more tedious than other people's family trees, but I would recommend a spot of genealogy to anyone. However I find that the more I delve into my family history, the more I am dwarfed by my own unimportance in the grand scheme of things. As a child and surly teenager, I was sure that I was destined for great things, and that I would be lifted above the morass of faceless, unremembered people that litter our history. However, I can now see that I am mistaken, and that instead I will become one of those for whom my distant ancestors may say 'ah yes, here's Darryl - born in 1981 - student in the 2001 census - teacher in the 2011, 2021 census - then he died in 20-- . Very interesting. Now let's move on to the next person..'
I find genealogy fascinating and frustrating in equal measures. It is fascinating to find that my great-great-great grandfather was a Peeler in the mid-Victorian East End, famed for it's vice and decadence and depravity. After some 16 years of service, he died in 1875 at the age of 43. I'm sure he must have seen some fascinating sights, but now it is all lost. However I like to think of him as some mutton-chopped, stern faced, waistcoated bruiser.
Generations of my family come from the East End - Hackney, Mile End, West Ham. They lived there for 200 years until they moved out in the 1930's. They could have been living there for hundreds of years more as far as I know.
Some interesting thoughts that my family history throws up:
Other than my mum, I am probably the only person in the entire history of the various branches of my family that ever made it to university. As far as class can be said to exist, I have probably clawed my way further up the class ladder than any of the thousands of my ancestors managed. Up until the last 50 years, the story of every branch of my family has been one of grinding poverty. The bloke mentioned above who joined the police appears to have been in the workhouse for most of his childhood after one and possibly both of his parents died before he was a teenager. So far I've found about 20 other people in my family who ended up in the workhouse.
I quite often find myself wondering, as I walk around London and see the various comings and goings and happy smiling faces and people engrossed in their ipods and mobile phones, if people know and care how close must of us are in terms of history to being in miserable poverty. This is why, although undoubtedly the 'credit crunch' may mean that we may have to forego getting a new plasma TV, or shopping at Lidls instead of Waitrose, I find it hard to get too worked up about the prospect of impending economic woe as compared to the lives of our grandfathers and before we live in complete luxury. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 19th, 2008|12:12 pm] |
Actually scratch what I've written before, I think we'll go to Mother Mash instead as it's cheap but nice. All those other places are too expensive. Instead we'll go to a good boozer afterwards and get pissed.
http://www.mothermash.co.uk
If you are coming for food, I will need a definite answer soon as the place gets packed and I have booked a table. I've booked for ten at the moment but if you are not on the list below can you let me know and I'll book a bigger table.
At present these are going:
Me
Ciaran
Jason
Keith
James
Michelle
my workmates)
Laura
Calum
Phil
Martin
Jen
And these as maybes:
Rachel
Lynn
If anyone felt like going to a club there is this on:
http://www.timeout.com/london/clubs/events/752056/love_me_do.html
http://www.myspace.com/lovemedoclub |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 17th, 2008|10:02 am] |
Wilton's Music Hall last night was GREAT. It was one of the most atmospheric nights I've ever spent anywhere.
The last time I visited, it was completely empty and so was hard to imagine as a bustling music hall. This time, it was packed with people, and a haze seemed to hang in the air which gave everything a sense of unreality. Some people dressed up as Victorians which added to the occasion, including Jason who looked like a SWELL in a waistcoat with a pocket watch.
Once the music started, seeing a buxom wench on stage singing, and the flamboyantly dressed chairman announcing each act, it was easy to find oneself at peace with the past as 120 years of disuse and neglect seemed to melt away and Wilton's was a place where people went to get pissed and listen to music again.
I particularly enjoyed seeing the hall turned momentarily into a Great War recruiting opportunity, and the strains of 'Keep the home fires burning' echoing off the papier-mache fittings.
Unfortunately Michelle had a migraine and so had to miss almost the entire performance, so today I will play my entire 4 cd boxset of Music Hall tunes so she doesn't feel left out. Lucky her eh!
If you get a chance, you must visit Wilton's. It is simply one of the most atmospheric and spectacular buildings in London. There is no where else like it. |
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redorchestra's journal
