There was a sense of loss, a sense that belonging had been forgotten years back. The shell was there, but the heart had been ripped away and buried deep miles away.
And yet The Watcher kept guard. He knew not who or what he was guarding against, but he was there. The one sense of permanence left, while life crumbled around him.
The worst element was the silence, the complete lack of noise. When the wind blew, and if it was in the right direction, the rotting boards creaked ever so slightly, but even their muffled cries echoed with a sense of obligation rather than any commitment, any passion.
But beyond that there was a deafening silence, that unnerving calm that always came before the storm. But the storm had been anticipated for months, for years, and yet it had still to break. So the silence, the absence, remained.
Another quick reminder about the May’s Mass Observation Project!
Take a photograph based that sums up the theme COLOUR to you, however you want to interpret it.
Email the image to adayinphotographs@outlook.com by Thursday 30th April 2020.
Images should be a maximum of 650 pixels wide.
Include your name, website/blog address and a short note about the image, including where it was taken.
With everything that’s going on at the moment, connecting with people, keeping up communication with friends, family and loved ones has never been more important.
I will be honest, I am quite introverted. I am more than happy with my own company and I find social events (you know, the type we used to have, seeing people face to face in restaurants, pubs, bars or at their houses) tiring.
But you can always have too much of a good thing, and online socialising was the way forward. It’s not something I have ever tried, but, in these unprecedented times (how common a phrase is that now?), new adventures and experiences await!
It’s an odd feeling, sitting in your lounge chatting to other people in theirs, as you ‘share’ glasses of wine, beer or cups of tea. Once you’ve made it past any technological hurdles and connectivity, I found you can quickly see beyond the screens.
We are getting used to a new normal, but doing so with a glass of something nice from our own sofas, chatting with friends who are doing the same isn’t a bad way of doing that!
Another quick reminder about the May’s Mass Observation Project!
Take a photograph based that sums up the theme COLOUR to you, however you want to interpret it.
Email the image to adayinphotographs@outlook.com by Thursday 30th April 2020.
Images should be a maximum of 650 pixels wide.
Include your name, website/blog address and a short note about the image, including where it was taken.
The lockdown in the UK came within a couple of weeks of me moving from West Sussex to Somerset. (Editor note: Oh really, CKPonderings? I hadn’t realised you’d moved, given all of the Glastonbury photos you’ve posted of late!)
There was plenty to do on the house, but the restrictions put in place by the UK government meant that we were unable to get anything started as quickly as we would have liked.
Back in West Sussex, with us both working full time, we were not able to spend as much time on the garden as I would have liked, and one of my missions for the move (and the eventual change to part-time work) was to enjoy and make the most of the new patch of land.
Glastonbury is known for its Bohemian, back to nature lifestyle, and I had in mind that I wanted to have a go at growing some vegetables and fruit, but the lockdown gave me the opportunity to speed that process up a little.
The back garden has a strip of decking across it which, even when we came to view the house, we knew had seen better days. It would need replacing or landscaping at some point, and my “Good Life” plans provided an ideal opportunity for that.
So, armed with nothing more than an idea floating around in my head, I decided that a section of decking could come up, and compost could go down and a veggie patch would be born!
Take into account, however, that I am not necessarily used to building projects, and the small tinkerings that I have attempted up to now haven’t always ended in glorious success.
The positive for this was that, whatever the outcome, the decking would ultimately have to go anyway, and, if push came to shove and the vegetables came to nothing, I would have a nice new flower bed to fill!
The decking proved to be a harder foe than I had anticipated…
As I mentioned, it had seen better days and, quite frankly, it was quicker to count the planks that were not rotten than the ones that were. However, it put up a valiant fight.
Surprisingly, it was the crumbling piece of wood that proved harder to lift than the solid ones, but, at the end of my first day of heaving, shoving, swearing and sweating, I had managed to clear around half of the 7ft x 8ft section I was planning on.
One of the things that the lockdown has taught me is to pace myself, rather than going hell for leather, trying to get everything accomplished in the quickest possible time. So, after a day off, I got back out to the project.
This time, it seemed quicker to achieve what I wanted to; the remaining planks came up a lot easier to lift, and soon I was down to the bare joists.
Mother Nature had taken its toll on the wood, and the first joists crumbled at the merest hint of a saw. Time had been ticking on, however, and I left it there for the second day’s work.
Day Three of the project and I was definitely into the swing of things by now. I had a plan: there were three joists to cut and a number of battens to remove, and if I was able to do that, I would be happy!
Again, however, six cuts with my saw and a bit of brute force meant that the decking was no more!
I had kept a number of the planks – as much as anything, the more solid ones would allow me to replace some of others that had rotted – and used five of them to edge the hole I had created. They would be no good for standing on, but they made it look a lot tidier!
God Bless Click & Collect!
A week or so ago I had ordered some compost from my local B&Q. (Well, I say ‘some’, it turned out to be nearly 1200 litres of the stuff!)
As much as anything, getting this from the shop before I started any work gave me the incentive to get going – it would be a complete waste of money buying all of that compost without then making use of it.
So, decking lifted, compost ready, the last stage of the project was in sight!
Filling the hole began, then! After the first few bags, I admit I did panic a little about whether I had, in fact, purchased enough of the black stuff, but I needn’t have worried. It turned out to be almost the perfect amount!
So, the vegetable patch is ready, and there remains only the small matter of putting some actual plants in it.
Again, with the lockdown, there are no physical shops open, but online stores are there, and I have placed an order, which should be with me at the beginning of May!
As I have already suggested, I have never undertaken this sort of project before; I am not a manual person, and, while I am not afraid of hard work, I do have a tendency to get bored easily and give up if things aren’t going the way I want them to.
I am personally impressed, therefore, at how it has turned out; it’s not perfect, but it will suit its purpose for the first year, anyway. Who knows, this could be the start of big things to come!
More, I am sure, to follow!
Another quick reminder about the May’s Mass Observation Project, then!
Take a photograph based that sums up the theme COLOUR to you, however you want to interpret it.
Email the image to adayinphotographs@outlook.com by Thursday 30th April 2020.
Images should be a maximum of 650 pixels wide.
Include your name, website/blog address and a short note about the image, including where it was taken.
Some more spring colour now, with some photos I took last year in Switzerland.
The town of Rapperswil, on Lake Zurich is renowned for its rose garden and, at the time I visited, the blooms were out in full force. Summer was beginning to ebb away, but the weather was still definitely on my side as a tourist, and it was a pleasure to spend time wandering amongst the blooms, colours and scents.
Colour is also on the cards for the new Mass Observation Project, so get snapping!
Take a photograph based that sums up the theme COLOUR to you, however you want to interpret it.
Email the image to adayinphotographs@outlook.com by Thursday 30th April 2020.
Images should be a maximum of 650 pixels wide.
Include your name, website/blog address and a short note about the image, including where it was taken.
Set a few weeks ago, before a quarter of the world’s population were told to stay indoors, this seems more poignant a post than it was ever intended too. Many thanks for all of you who took part and enjoy the photographs!
Note: Probably a little overwrought as a metaphor but the idea kinda got stuck in my head, plus I had a packet of peas in the fridge! I wanted to convey that humans are ultimately social creatures and, while most of us need to be alone from time-to-time, being away from other people for too long can feel alienating and lonely.
Note: Isolating the daffodil from others close by and also from the ground (using shallow depth of field) has managed to produce an interesting shot of an obvious subject for spring. What I didn’t notice while composing the shot was that I had also isolated a rainbow in an out of focus water droplet. While it’s only a small detail, I really enjoyed that I had captured this chance moment. With any photograph our eye might naturally be drawn to the main subject in a photograph but it is always worth exploring the whole – to see what other surprises may be lurking! I think this is a positive image and I thought for this months submission we need a few things that give us a smile right now. Take care out there, PC
Isolation by Doctor Ken, Gin Sop
Name: Doctor Ken, Gin Sop
Location: Somerset
Note: I wasn’t thinking about the Mass Observation at all, just taking my daily constitutional with my camera in hand. There was a tent on the other side of the field, and it looked so lonely I felt the need to photograph of it!
Note: I was having a wander on the one walk a day we’re currently allowed, and went a bit off the beaten track. There were a handful of other people escaping the lock-down by having a walk, and saw this woman. She was staring wistfully across the fields, and looked quite lonely ( even though her friend/boyfriend/husband was just along the lane). I loved how her poise was echoed by the steeple on the Tor and snapped a quick, candid pic!
Isolation by Cooking-Post Nerd
Name: Cooking-Post Nerd
Location: Somerset
Note: High above us, in the sky, a buzzard circles, searching wide.
Isolation by Cap Does Craft
Name: Cap Does Craft
Location: Bolsover Street, South Yorkshire
Note: For many people right now isolation is not a choice but a necessity. This photograph looks at the other end of the spectrum when it comes to self isolating. I’ve often thought that tower crane operators might actually enjoy being isolated in the cabin. High above the town or city, away from the noise and dust of the building site. Views that many would pay money to see and no boss leaning over their shoulder. Photographically this image also has a nicely isolated silhouette of a street lamp nicely adding a little more value to the shot.
A nice number of submissions for this month’s Mass Observation Project. Keep an eye out on this site for May’s theme.
In the meantime, in this mad and crazy world, stay safe and stay sane.
What will be the first thing you do when the isolation is lifted? Where will you go? Who will you see? What will you do?
For me, not being able to get into the great outdoors is the big frustration at the moment. Yes, my posts have included daily walks around Glastonbury, but I want to get properly out and about. Having moved to Somerset seven weeks ago, I am itching to see more of the local area, the countryside, the seaside resorts.
My National Trust and Glastonbury Abbey passes are sitting in my wallet, going unused because all are shut. The countryside is very apparent from here. Looking out of my office window, I can look across Butleigh Moor to the Hood Monument, knowing I cannot, in all good conscience, get out and visit, climb the hill and see the Tor from another angle.
We are all of us in limbo at the moment. It seems like someone pressed the Pause button on 2020 back in February, and nobody seems to know how to get it kick started again.
Limbo is a dangerous place; we run the risk of becoming lethargic, or apathy setting in; things we would normally crack on with no longer seem important because, as I alluded to the other day, we can always do it tomorrow.
We run the risk of becoming a society of procrastinators, holding off, pacing ourselves, because if we end up doing something too quickly, we will have nothing to do tomorrow, or the next day or the next.
We are stuck ‘in-between’, a world waiting for something to happen, but not sure when it will, or what it will be.
In this time of restrictions and “one walk per day”, what better use of that time outside than to undertake a “9-in-45”?
The idea of the project is to set out on a walk with a phone/stopwatch and your camera. Set your stopwatch for five minutes and start walking. When the five minutes is up, stop walking. You have a minute to compose and take a photograph. Set your stopwatch for another five minutes and start walking. When the time is up, stop and, within a minute take and compose your second photo. Keep going until you have walked for 45 minutes and have nine photos.
So, the nine photos…
31st March 2020 – 08:58
It was a crisp, bright morning, and I had an idea of where I wanted to go. Living in Glastonbury now, I am fortunate enough to have the Tor virtually on my doorstep (as you will see, 15 minutes or so from the summit!).
Walking up to the main road, I pass the Rural Life Museum – currently closed, as with most other places at the moment. I have seen the bicycle sign on numerous occasions, and it just happened that, when my first five minutes were up, I was close enough to it to include it in my set of nine photos!
31st March 2020 – 09:04
At the base of the Tor are these two stones. There are a lot of pieces of stone in and around Glastonbury – half of the town was built from pieces of the Abbey when it was dissolved in 1539. The thing that has always caught my eye, however, is the symbol on the one on the left. I think it’s military, but I’m not sure…
31st March 2020 – 09:10
I will be honest, I am not as fit as I once was, or as I should be. I may well have not walked continuously between taking the 09:04 photo and the one above… In my defence, however, the Tor is blooming steep, and it’s only fair that I sat down on a handy bench on the way up the climb…
A fair proportion of the planet may be in lock down, but here in the Northern Hemisphere, Spring is continuing unabated… This shot, of some cherry blossom, turned out better than I thought immediately after taking the photo. (I had intended a smaller aperture, but when I had taken the shot, I realised the camera was set to f/8. However, the depth of focus turned out to be pretty much what I was aiming for!)
Right, I’d better continue my climb, then…
31st March 2020 – 09:16
Mr C’s strict rules state that selfies should not be included in the 9-in-45, but halfway up the Tor, my options were limited. I wanted to avoid the bulk standard countryside views, but the sun was still fairly low in the sky and my shadow was too good an opportunity to miss!
31st March 2020 – 09:22
In recent weeks, the summit of the Tor has been distinctly devoid of visitors (a combination of isolation and the weather). However, at other times – at the height of the tourist season or on pagan celebratory days – it can be teeming with people.
I will be honest, I prefer it quiet. With its 360° view of the levels, it is an ideal space for reflection and meditation, as you can see!
31st March 2020 – 09:27
I awarded myself a five minute sit down before moving on, but the 9-in-45 had to continue unabated. The image of perfect calm belies the fact that is was blowing an icy gale and, to be honest, I was more than happy to start moving again!
31st March 2020 – 09:33
Unsurprisingly, while it took nearly 20 minutes to climb the Tor, it only took five to walk back down again!
At the base of the hill, in a sheltered, sunny location, is the Avalon Orchard. Another place for reflection and contemplation, these old fruit trees hold decades of history in their gnarled and twisted branches.
Rather than a wide shot of trees, I thought I would close in tighter, and this fungus caught my eye as soon as the timer on my phone alerted me to the end of the the next five-minute window.
31st March 2020 – 09:39
Time for the money shot, then; I’ve talked a lot about the Tor, but not had a photo of it yet!
31st March 2020 – 09:45
The wind may still be fresh, but the sun has been in full attendance over the last few days, so one final shot to show that spring has definitely sprung!
The photos and the route in more detail:
I have completed the 9-in-45 project a number of times now – click on the links below to see the results:
A lot of what is going on in the world at the moment is weird. I mean plain WEIRD. In four short weeks, society has been turned on its head and it’s taking us a long time to get used to it.
There are lots of high impact, big things going on, but often it’s a combination of smaller changes, little side effects that build and build to screw with our minds.
While I know it’s not life shattering in the grand scheme of things, time of one of the elements I have noticed has changed.
I moved to Somerset from West Sussex in mid-February. It’s a move I’d been planning for a number of years, and everything had fallen into place for it to happen in the early months of 2020.
I was moving down here without employment and lucky enough to have a financial buffer to be able to not worry about working for a while. In effect, I have been in the fortunate position to be able to semi-retire.
The thing I have found since the move is that time loses its meaning. Days and weeks have quickly merged into one, and weekends have become almost meaningless. For the first time in about twenty years, I have had to keep a mini diary to enable me to track what I have been doing each day.
This has ramped up even more over the last week or so, since the lock-down really kicked in here in the UK. With shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants closing down and other places to visit – National Trust properties, museums, etc. – being extremely limited, the complete freedom we once enjoyed has been (understandably and rightly) restricted even more.
What I have found this has led to can be summed up very simply:
“I can do that tomorrow.”
For me, someone who very readily would look to ‘do today’, this has been really frustrating. I find myself running the risk of putting off simple things; well not even putting off, but delaying, ‘spreading the joy’ of confinement.
Trying to find structure in the time of coronavirus is increasingly becoming a challenge. Routine is disappearing, commitments have little meaning, time passes quickly, with little or nothing to show for it.
To take part in the current Mass Observation Project post on ISOLATION:
Take a photograph based on the theme of ISOLATION, however you want to interpret it.
Email the image to adayinphotographs@outlook.com by Wednesday 1st April 2020.
Images should be a maximum of 650 pixels wide.
Include your name, website/blog address and a short note about the image, including where it was taken.
Come back and see the results on Sunday 5th April!
One of the things about the current situation we are all finding ourselves in at the moment are the changes that are happening to the way we do things, the way we work, the way we live.
Shops – the few that remain open – are opting for card payments, rather than cash. Businesses are finding ways to work with staff working from home. Television and radio channels are streamlining their workforce (BBC Radio sharing news reports, rather than having individual ones, for example) and using classic television (repeats) as a focus for their prime time programming.
While we are in an emergency situation, I do wonder if the new normal will be a permanent replacement for the old normal when this is all over. Will these emergency changes become commonplace post-Coronavirus?
To take part in the current Mass Observation Project post on ISOLATION:
Take a photograph based on the theme of ISOLATION, however you want to interpret it.
Email the image to adayinphotographs@outlook.com by Wednesday 1st April 2020.
Images should be a maximum of 650 pixels wide.
Include your name, website/blog address and a short note about the image, including where it was taken.
Come back and see the results on Sunday 5th April!
CKPonderingsToo 