-
The Lune through Lancaster.
Skerton Weir. The last weir on the Lune is at Skerton, between John Rennie’s aqueduct (1797) [Lancaster Letter 23], and Thomas Harrison’s Skerton Bridge (1788) [Lancaster Letter 7]. Built to power a corn mill, the weir created a two mile lake between it and the next weir upstream, at Halton. William Bradshaw objected to the…
-
Walking the River Lune from its Source.
The Source of the Lune “She just jumped in, disappeared – it’s deep, no one knows how deep, dangerous, that’s why we’ve fenced it off now. Then popped up, her head and face covered in bright green weed, and set off swimming – well, paddling actually – towards Glasson Dock.” He’s squatting outside his greenhouse, cutting…
-
‘The Shaftesbury Chronicles’, Vol. 1: ‘The Flow Restored’
The Shaftesbury Chronicles is an alternative history of Shaftesbury from 1989 to 2000, in which the town succeeds Glastonbury as a New Age centre. This is made possible by a revival of the ancient Byzant water ceremony, and the removal of the Town Hall. Led by a philanthropic foundation, the town develops as both ecologically…
-
Anselm Kiefer at La Ribaute, Barjac
I am cycling from Vallon-Pont-D’Arc, the village at the head of the Ardèche Gorge, remembering the Ardèche trout I ate last night, accompanied by a pichet of too much/just the right amount of white wine, outdoors, in the excellent company of a cosmopolitan Austrian couple, retired, who come here each year, towards the village of…
-
Swans on the River.
I don’t know where they came from.I saw the last one arrive, descending with an easy parachute grace, its great wings cupping the air as its splayed feet touched the water, entered it, so that it landed with barely a splash. It folded its wings, settled with the others, afloat.There are twelve, dazzling as light,…
-
The Chauvet Cave : Into Prehistory.
Cycling up the tree-clad Ardeche valley, as the motor-cyclists speed past around the many curves (this is a tourist road, opened in 1960), canted over, hanging their lives out over hundred-metre drops, depending on the adhesion of a few square inches of rubber, I am imagining the painters of the Chauvet Cave watching the passing…
-
William Blake & The Art School Ball, 1966.
p40 Dionysos’ Island. ‘On the day of the Arts Ball I read The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.It is impossible to convey the effect of reading that firework-box of statement and contradiction, directness and ambiguity, celebration and subversion, all carried along on a juggernaut of certainty. Line after incandescent line of it could be the…
-
Jacks, Bob Dylan, and ‘One Song Jukebox Number 1.’ 1971.
p78. Dionysos’ Island. ‘On the overnight train down the length of Italy we take down the luggage and Simon and I use the netting racks as hammocks, leaving more sleeping space for the others. I look down at Jacks sleeping, sprawled and open-mouthed, then I’m rocked to sleep. I wake to a red dawn, the…
This is where I archive my writing, and blog as I go.
Use the dropdown menus above to navigate Pages, scroll down for Posts.
