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A 1997 built Gulfstream G-IV arriving after the short hop from Olympia Regional/WA. Some icy conditions here which explains the dry chemical visible on the taxi-ways.
Hush now, don't explain
You're my joy and pain
My life's yours love
Don't explain
model: Nathana Machado
photo/retouch: Saulo Mohana
It would be awesome, if you could support me with a like on my facebook page!
Grandchildren playing on a tablet computer while on a birthday visit in Aarhus, Denmark on March 5, 2016.
Ok, this encounter takes a bit of explaining. I saw him briefly over a week ago. He was busking in downtown Toronto and I was hurrying to class. It was such an unusual sight tha I asked him if I could grab a photo and he gave the ok. It was a somewhat cluttered photo and I wanted to do better but he was in the midst of performing and I was running late for class. I also suspected this young man might have an interesting story to tell and I hoped to catch him on my way home to explain my project and find out more about him. It was not to be. He was gone when my class finished. Meanwhile, I googled his website and discovered that my intuition about an interesting story was correct. His background was beyond amazing. I was even more motivated to meet him again and get a better photo along with a chance to speak with him. The next couple of times I looked for him downtown he wasn’t there. Today, on my third attempt to complete the encounter, there he was. Meet Takahito from Japan – also known as Duckman.
What I had learned from Takahto’s website that impressed me so much was his triumph over adversity and his positive spirit which I felt was a message that belonged in the Human Family project for its power to inspire. His story involves growing up in a single parent family with a mentally ill mother. He lost his two siblings at an early age and the unexpected loss of his onlyh friend. He suffered both emotional and physical abuse from mother and was removed from the home to live in an institution. He discovered the power of a smile to make others happy and adopted a false smile because it brought positive responses from others, something which in turn brought him pleasure. You can read Takahito’s version of this story on his website at www.tk-entertainer.com if you scroll to the bottom of the page. I was left with two feelings after finding out about Takahito. First, I was shocked that anyone would grow up in such disadvantaged circumstances. Second, I was filled with admiration that he found his own way to overcome such extreme adversity and not only survive, but thrive – through entertaining and bringing pleasure to others.
Today was my lucky day because when I exited the subway station downtown, I could hear the sound of Takahito’s plastic drumset. I had my camera ready and caught him between acts. I greeted him by name, reminded him that we had semi-met a week ago, and that after reading his website I was greatly impressed by his story and by his personal strength and positive energy. He shook my hand with his yellow-gloved duck hand and said “Thank you for reading it.” I quickly explained my Human Family project and said I had not had time to tell him about it last week, but would he participate? He said he would be glad to. I managed a couple of different poses, chosen by Takahito, and asked him where he got the strength to overcome his difficult childhood. He said “Making other people happy made me happy.” I asked what message or piece of advice he would like to share and he said “Have a bigger cup.” When I asked what he meant he said “It’s hard for me to explain.” I was concerned that our conversation was distracting him from performing for the lunch-hour crowd which is probably when he makes the most income. I did learn that he is in Canada on a 6 month visa so perhaps I will meet this remarkable young man again. I think we all have much to learn from his inspiring story. We exchanged contact information and he was delighted when I made my contribution to his fund and thanked me warmly.
This is my 549th submission to The Human Family Group on Flickr.
You can view more street portraits and stories by visiting The Human Family.
Follow-up:
Takahito was kind enough to write me an email explaining the meaning of his message “Get a bigger cup. It was so nice that I quote it in full.
"'Get a bigger cup'
I think everyone has a cup in their hearts. that can hold stress or sadness.
When I was a kid, the cup was really small. I cried a lot. I was stressed a lot.
then When I got over my past, I've got the biggest cup.
when the cup is full which means that you cannot do anything properly.
All I'm trying to do is absorbing the spilling water from people's cups^^
because my cup is the biggest. And if you can see the way of thinking that you have a cup, It would help people to be optimistic like me."
between ciboule and ciboulette (ciboule is spring onion and ciboulette is chives). Thursday market on bvd de Grancy. The market opened at 5pm, just as it started to rain.
We believe this to be young Chiffchaffs. But they have light brown legs and quite long wings, so perhaps they are Willow Warblers instead? If somebody knows and can explain the difference to us it would be appreciated. Anyway we know in spring there were many Chiffchaffs to be heard around that location.
We don't know but they were very cute and posed for a long time in that bush.
Edit: thanks to Rolf Nagel for the help with the ID, probably these are Reed Warblers.
Seen in Achim near Bremen - Lower Saxony - Germany.
--- End of this little Chiffchaff / Willow Warbler series. ---
Wir glauben dieses sind junge Zilpzalpe, allerdings haben sie helle Beine und relativ lange Flügel, so daß es vielleicht doch Fitisse sind? Wenn jemand eine Idee hat und uns erklären kann, woran man das erkennt, gerne her damit. In dem Gebiet rund um dieses Gebüsch waren jedenfalls im Frühjahr und Sommer sehr viele Zilpzalpe zu hören.
Wir wissen es nicht, aber in jedem Fall waren sie sehr niedlich und haben minutenlang für uns im Busch rumgeturnt.
Edit: vielen Dank an Rolf Nagel für die Hilfe bei der Bestimmung, höchstwahrscheinlich handelt es sich hier um Teichrohrsänger.
Gesehen in Achim bei Bremen.
--- Ende dieser kleinen Zilpzalp/Fitis-Serie. ---
So before explaining the photo - a couple of cool things from recent times on my website.
The results of the International Photography Awards are out and I picked up three honourable mentions - more here
And I was recently invited to take part in the European Photography Google Plus Hangout which you can watch here - it's about black and white photography. (BTW it was my first G+ hangout, was only a bit nervous!).
So, I've not had much chance to get out recently but with the dark nights drawing in and the weather getting changeable I was keen to get out. Rather than head to the beach as I normally do I thought I'd head inland - something I'm keen to do a bit more of.
My website | G+ | 500px | Twitter
OK let me explain, and apologize to Flickr Folks who don't share my love for PLANESPOTTING. I know how crazy this seems. Why all the pictures of the same airline, in this case, FedEx? Well if you look close, you will find a Registration Number that's unique to each airplane. If you type that into Google, you can see that airplane's history, including where it's been flying. I belong to a group Planespotters and they are interested in each individual airplane's history and photographs of it on different days at different airports. So with that, here they are, ENJOY!!!
April 17, 2018
Memphis International Airport (MEM), Memphis, Tennessee
Stand-alone classic vector infographic on the cover of the Health and Science Section about different types of touch screen technology and future developments. Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
Online version: www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/touchscree...
Awww....Daisy makes such a cute domestic engineer. 😘
I suppose I should explain. We had a very nice Thanksgiving dinner with Daisy's mother and sister on Thursday. But it was a small turkey breast, and there was very little in the way of leftovers. So when we popped into the grocery store on Friday afternoon to grab a few necessities, I noticed an open cooler loaded with huge Butterball turkeys that had gone unsold....and they were practically giving them away. So I grabbed one of the smaller ones ("Only" 15 lbs...😯) at a mere $7....and had Daisy cook it up for us yesterday. We still had loads of leftover sides, so we basically had a second Thanksgiving dinner. Yum! 😋
OK, after all this, we DEFINITELY need to go on a diet! 😜
so time to explain lmao
y'all know that doll with the bad hair and the cracked ass blue eyeliner and scratched up eyes that was okay for like the start of 2014 then people got annoyed at?!?!?!?
im still using ha lollll
But more importantly, what this is:
I'm a music producer. I will use some instrumentals from the internet when I really cba, but 99% of the time I spend hours creating instrumentals and music with a variety of different music software. I have made over 150 songs so far for "DJ Dani Creamz (an artist in which I created when I was trying to hard and wanted to be cool lol)" but they're all on my laptop which the hard drive has failed on so pray for me y'all
but one album that I had saved onto a memory stick before my laptop crashed was "Mλgicλl". A bunch of music I created with a "fairy tale" kinda vibe. For those who had no idea about this, this is actually Dani's 9th album. You can find links to all her others on her website, which will be below lol.
But I just wanted to say that since my music is like 99% my own, I am able to get it distributed to several online music stores, including Amazon, iTunes and Spotify! This album, Mλgicλl, is available on August 14th on those 3 platforms, in the USA, UK and New Zealand. The iTunes Pre-Order link is below but it has yet to appear on Amazon or Spotify. The price is the lowest possible (for more than a single) because I know this isn't going to do anything. I'm not trying to make a profit from this, I'm doing it because I like it. I wanted to actually put it up for free but that's not an option, so I selected cheapest. If I can get the rest of the music off of my old hard drive, I will, but as of now, I have 1 other instrumental EP out for Distribution on the first friday of september, available worldwide on even more stores including Apple Music. I hope you guys like the music, and maybe support me? Thank you & i'll post any updates here from now on! Links:
DANI'S WEBSITE: djdanicreamz.webstarts.com/
DANI'S FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/pages/DJ-Dani-Creamz/1501549023399528
DANI'S SOUNDCLOUD: soundcloud.com/dj-dani-creamz-official
DANI'S OTHER MUSIC: djdanicreamz.webstarts.com/gallery.html
Mλgicλl iTunes PRE - ORDER: itunes.apple.com/gb/album/mlgicll/id1016885018
AVAILABLE AUGUST 14TH ON AMAZON, SPOTIFY AND iTUNES.
Explainer: While I wish I could fully dress, wig-up and make-up regularly, those days are rare. So I post these AI renderings. FYI: the photos are AI generated, from actual photos of me, enhanced slightly with FaceApp and then dressed from outfits I see and love on the interweb. Enjoy them or not! I do, that's all that matters! Love, Crystal
We were happy to have our vehicle washed at the Heritage Christian School car wash; students raising money to fund a trip to Vancouver Island
Hey guys! Long time no see, i've been in Spain with my mom for nearly a month which explains my late update. It's so great to be back!
Namie Amuro - Checkmate!
Namie Amuro - Feel
Feel 2:
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Random Access Memories 2:
Namie Amuro - Damage
Britney Spears - Ooh La La
Ciara - Ciara
Perfume - Magic of Love
The HUGE amount of text to follow here is mainly for my own reference (because I'm having some memory issues at the moment and really don't want to forget this, plus I need to work out the order things happened cause my head was in a rather thick fog at the time....)
I'm writing this like I'm explaining it to you, well because I thought it would make more sense than me just talking to myself... And who knows, it may be of some interest to you if immersive theatre is your kind of thing..........
This Saturday saw my return to Temple studios in Paddington for my second visit to Punchdrunks The Drowned Man
On my previous visit, I had no idea what the hell was happening!
We were handed white masks, bundled into a lift, told this was a wrap party for the filming of 'the drowned man' and then the lift doors opened and we were let loose.
As soon as we stepped out of the lift we were greeted with the most chilling music that actually made every single one of my hairs stand up on end.
And there we were...
Alone in a dark hall way....
Not knowing where to go or what to do.
We spent most of the first hour rummaging around the set/studio. Wandering (and wondering) around film sets, prosthetic room, wig rooms, Dr's office, cinema, motel rooms, shops in a town, mirror mazes, pitch black mazes, woods, caravan parks (complete with caravans) a masonic temple, a bloody desert!
(I shit you not, this place in it's self is a farking epic! master piece)
We roamed in and out of dark room, full of objects, scripts and pieces of information.
Information we didn't have a clue about...
But saying that, even as bunch of numpties fumbling their way through the dark, trying to piece together clues to a story we knew next to nothing about, the details and attention taken to create this amazingly intricate 4 store set was not lost on us.
We took in every sight, sound and smell around us. And as we continued on our masked journey we slowly started to run into the members of the cast.
The only unmasked people around...
That trip I took in various snippets of scenes. The fool and Lila, the psychotic seamstress (with a Frankie fetish), Frankie, the evil Dr doing his experiments on people. A fair bit of story line from Ramola, Faye, Dwayne, Miguel and the ill fated Marshall and Wendy.
But with all the exploring we had done I still didn't have a bloody clue what the hell was going on!
And of course when I came out after the finale, where I'd seen just how many characters I'd missed out on, I knew I had to go back.
I had to know more about what the hell was going on in that place!
I started searching the interweb on the train ride home.
I found various bits of information about the story lines going on within temple studio. Partly based on The day of the locusts and Woyzeck. (yep...read em both)
Then I found the spoiler group on facebook. And that was me hooked!
I booked my next show.
Sadly because I got ill I had to postpone until last weekend (which is probably lucky or else I know I would have tried to fit in a 3rd maybe a 4th visit before it closes it's doors next week.... (yes...it's THAT good!) )
And of course because the way I am physically (and mentally) affected at the moment, I now had to take into account that running up and down 3 flights of stairs trying to follow characters would probably fucking kill me (or kick off the paralysis....not sexy at all.)
Running up to the weekend just gone I was on the hunt for information. Without wanting to know too much. But still needing to know more.
In simple terms, the whole story line is an hour long. Then it resets, runs for another hour and resets a final time before the big finale.
That gave me time to work out which parts I was interested in seeing.
Funnily enough I wasn't interested in pursuing the 4 main characters William and Mary (William kills Mary for her infidelity) and Wendy and Marshall (Wendy kills Marshall for his infidelity)
You're given a card at the beginning with their story line on it, so I kinda knew that part all ready.
But there were 2 certain dance scenes that were kind of the main scenes for those character, that also involved a lot of the cast so I figured those were a good place to start.
If I could make it to the Orgy for one loop where Wendy kills Marshall, and then to the hoedown for the second loop I'd see Mary cheating on William as well
Ta da a plan of attack!
(3rd loops just mill around and rest....)
So I went to the 5000 strong group of spoilers (some of whom have been over 30 times!!!!) and asked which characters I could follow that wouldn't be too energetic for me (no way I was I gonna miss this last visit because my damn brain fucking hates me! Screw you brain!!!!!)
And with their help I had a set route and characters to follow.
Saturday arrived and I woke up feeling like shit.
My heart was feeling really tight in my chest (don't know why it does that, but it does) my speech was fucked and my left hand side was not in the mood to function without great effort (and pain)
Great..... Just what I need......
I then spent the rest of the day trying to chill the fuck out.
I became a master of Zen.
I meditated like a bad ass mother fucker!
I became completely anti social and drowned the world out with the most chilled music I could get my mitts on.
And you know what...
I actually worked!
By the time it was time to head to Paddington I was pretty functional.
Ok, so my head was cloudy as fuck. My speech was painfully slow and my left arm still ached.... I owned the underground that day!
I owned sitting on the floor while queuing.
And despite my heart pounding away in my chest (nerves I guess?) I made it in! :D
I have my plan. I'm going to get out of the lift, head to the town and follow the green grocer.
Only the lift takes us to the basement....
DAMN!
That's 2 flights of stairs I need to get up!!!
Rushing is just not an option at this point.
I head into the masonic temple. And there are weird masked people (not with masks like we have on, weird bald headed mask, kind of like the president masks in point break)
And then there is Stanford.
The head of the studio.
If I were such a spaz I'd be following him cause he is pure evil! And dark personalities have always intrigued me...
I may as well stick around and see whats going on.
The 3 masked people have baseball bats and are dancing around the black and white checkered floor harassing Frankie (the studio's up and coming star)
They start beating him, shove an orange in his mouth and as the music reaches it's crescendo Stanford pulls out and gun, shoves it in Frankie's face and.......
They all laugh.
This is Frankie's initiation into the evil that is temple studio.
YAY! I'd actually really wanted to see that scene because those masked characters appear on the guide book(?) thingie. Ha ha ha!
I decide I'll make my way up to the 2nd floor and see if I can play catch up with the grocer who I need to follow for the Hoedown.
On my way towards the town I run into (quite literally as he was storming towards me) a man in a suit (no mask)
No one is following him....
SCORE!
I whole actor to myself!!!!!!!!
(this is hard to find especially later on with the amount of people around)
Now I haven't mentioned yet that the characters interact with the white masked audience. We had witnessed it the first show, when the Dr took a woman into the room and locked the door on all her friends. And when the toy shop owner did the same
Which is why I'm so excited to have this dude (whoever he is) all to myself.
Who knows... Maybe I'll get lucky and land a bit of interaction with him...?
I follow him into the board room
He has a collection of pictures of Frankie with him and spreads them all over the table where he dances and writhes around on top of them.
When he is done he tidies them up and then stares me straight in the eye.
He looks kind of pissed at me, like I'm there invading his private moment.
As he slowly moves around the room he is still holding my gaze (I feel like I'm in a stare out, no way I'm looking away first! Even though he is very intimidating)
He exits and I'm right behind him striding down the corridors.
Holy crap he is bloody fast!
Uh oh....
From this moment on my mind has blurred all the events into a kind of mash of happening, so I'm using a cheat sheet for his loop to help me piece it all back together in order....
We go into a studio and he watches Frankie and Andrea dancing/auditioning, then somehow (and I can't quite remember how) we are chasing Frankie down the stairs, where suited man seems to sexually harass Frankie, who eventually gives in and the pair full on snog at the bottom of the stairs right under a spotlight (perfectly timed and positioned if I say so myself!)
Then we're back in the masonic temple for the orgy. Oh my gosh I LOVED this scene!
The choreography and music are amazing!
It's a good scene to see as it help me figure out the cast members I don't know the names of.
Delores seduces Marshall as Wendy watches on horrified.
When the orgy is done and the other characters have left the suited man tries to seduce Frankie again, and seems to spurn him this time.
So that's that, we're off at a trot again (fuck it, I'm not giving up now!)
He leads us (cause I'm not alone with him anymore. Other white masks have joined us) to a corridor with head shots of the 'stars' all over the floor.
He stops and has a little dance over them, then we're off to a room full of the head shots with their eyes cut out. (cause that's not creepy at all.....)
He's looking really fucked off now.
He find a picture of Frankie.
He comes towards me and places the picture up against my mask and starts to slow rip it.....
When he rips it down past my eye I can see that he is right up against me, his face nearly touching my mask.....
His eyes are intensely staring into mine again and he looks crazed!!!!
Yet again I dare not blink, or take my eyes from his.
He takes the ripped up picture and stuff it in my pocket.
Then we're off again!
By now I am so hyper reflexive that EVERY little noise is making me jump. Even the ones I can see coming (like doors opening and closing. It's mental!)
My heart is BANGING double time in my chest and I'm vaguely aware my left arm hurts.
I'm guessing my speech has fucked off my this point, but that's cool cause we're supposed to be silent the whole time, so who cares!
My head is so fuzzy the whole thing feels like a dream. Like I'm somewhere else watching what is going on.
We're in the snow set now (I forgot to mention earlier there is bloody snow as well! They have EVERYTHING in this place!)
He's watching Andrea dance. (She's Wendy's friend I think)
He goes up the snow hill through an open door and behind a wall where I can't see him.
I honestly thought I'd lost him at this point.
And have to admit I felt a little sad.
But no!
He's still in that little snow filled room, standing in front of a bright light, making the huge shadow of his hand move slowly and menacingly towards Andrea who's laid on the floor.
He comes back down, picks her up and takes her off to the dressing room.
I remember being in the dressing room, seeing the fool from the corner of my eye, but for the life of me can't remember what the hell he did in there.
It may have been where he gave Andrea and Wendy the invite to the orgy (insuring that Wendy see's Marshall infidelity with Delores)
Damn.
Such a shame I can't remember.
Now we're in the casting office with Alice Estee. And finally I learn that he is in fact Claude Estee (her husband I'm guessing)
The pair of them are characters taken from The day of the locust and dropped into the world of temple studio.
They are an evil pair, who are laughing and joking about the fact that they are rooting through piles of head shots dismissing almost all of them.
Until they get to Frankie.
They seem to really LOVE him.
After they have done a very cleverly choreographed chair dance, he heads out into the hall way off somewhere else.
And of course I'm hot on his heels.
He suddenly stops.
Turns and makes eye contact with me again.
He starts slowly moving towards me, holding my gaze all the while.
He pushed me up against the wall.
His face right up to mine.
His eyes burning into mine again
All I can think is 'damn it Elana, unfold you hands, they're going to be touching his balls if he gets any closer!!!!'
I manage to get them unfolded and down by my side just in time as he then pins me against the wall, puts his lips right on my ear and hisses something about me having talent, and that I should come find him later...
Makes all my hairs stand on end.....
Damn!
He pressed himself against me so hard he left a sweat patch behind!
maybe I should have grabbed his balls after all! ha ha ha ha ha!
And just like that he turns away, and we're off again.
This time he's with Stanford.
The pair look so threatening together as poor Faye comes in for an audition (I met Faye a few times last visit and she's quite a big part of The day of the locust)
I actually feel quite sorry for her, which is odd because before I didn't really like her as she was such a tease and rather irritating wanna be (even more so in the book!)
But the presence of the evil, unblinking, poker faced Stanford and the lecherous Claude makes me feel for the poor girl.
yep... I'm getting right into this story line now!
I guess Stanford and Faye leave, cause now it's Claude's turn in the big bosses chair.
He goes straight for me again, with those penetrating eyes
(I swear he could see me blushing under my mask he was staring that hard!)
He motions for me to move into the middle of the room (which is surrounded by white masks most of whom were watching the last scene)
He then motions for me to turn around.
Ha ha ha ha!
Cause I'm not already dizzy as fuck, hyper reflexive and completely fuzzy headed.
I make a rather lame attempt at giving him a twirl (which is more of a shuffle round in a rather lame circle)
He gets up, comes right up to me so his lips are once again on my ear and whispers 'I remember you.... You've got talent'
Seriously, he is such a slimy character and played so well it made me shudder!
While I recover from my public humiliation (damn I wish I'd put a bit more effort into that twirl....) Andrea comes in for her audition.
William is there as well, and Claude (still in the bosses chair) watches them audition for a scene that is dictated by the amazing disembodied voice of Stanford (even when that man's not present somewhere, he still manages to be everywhere.....)
We're in a hallway again and Claude bumps into the Dr and they have a pill together.
(Cause why the hell not I suppose, guess they are all into the drugging thing together)
Then we're off to the dressing room again.
Delores is in there and she and Claude do a little dance number. Which ends in him mocking her and telling her that she's getting old.
Off to another part of the set, where Alice is with Frankie auditioning him.
The 3 of them do a dance number.
I miss nearly the whole thing because there are LOADS of people and I'm way to short to see over their heads. So I sit it out.
After that Claude and Alice ask Frankie if he wants to meet the boss.
They rush down the stairs.
Claude disappears into a room and materialize
wearing the creepy point break mask just as the rest music sounds telling me I've just unknowingly and unintentionally followed his whole loop!
And a hell of a loop it was as well.
I oh so slowly make my way up their two flights of stairs to seek out the town where I know I can go sit and watch the drugstore girl for a bit. (Kinda hoping she'll offer me a drink cause I feel like I'm going to die!!!!)
In the town I finally find the drugstore (totally missed it first time round)
She's there behind the counter so I park my arse on a stool and watch her for a bit.
She's reading a script, I would read it, but my brain is beyond fucked now.
I'd be surprised if I'd manage to read the first line of it!
She heads out of the drugstore, I figure I'll follow. (I've sat down long enough, and if I stop any longer I'll start noticing my symptoms kicking in)
As luck would have it she goes to see the grocer and gives him an invite to the hoe down.
I'm guessing he got ready and went straight there (cause I'm fucked if I can remember him doing anything else)
And there we have the hoedown. Another beautifully choreographed scene with kick ass music!
William see's Mary cheating on him with Dwayne goes a little mental.
I'm wanting low impact after Claude's loop, so follow the grocers back to his store.
Back in his shop he turns to me.
Stares at me long and hard and then hold out his hand for me to take.
He leads me into his back room and locks the door behind us.
Pushes me against the door and fiddles about for a bit, before taking me around the shoulders and leading me through a low dark tunnel.
He sits me down and takes my mask off.
He then hands me a script to read (ahahahahaha! Are you kidding me, My brain stop cooperating waaaaay back with bloody Claude)
I manage to read the first few line.
I could be hallucinating at this point, but I'm pretty sure there is a voice (Stanford maybe) narrating what he is doing and what he is doing is exactly what's in the script....
My mind is fucked anyway so I just give up on pretending to read whats on the script.
He sits opposite me and takes my hands.
He starts to tell me a sad story about a boy who had a dream his mother died and he was left with his cruel father.
He seems really heart broken so I assume he is telling me his story.
He leans forward and gives me a really long sweaty hug.
I feel for the bloke so I give him a hug back and do the whole 'there, there' back pat thing (he's upset, what else was I gonna do, offer him a kleenex from my bra?)
Can't fucking remember the rest of what he said, but as he lead me back out of the dark tunnel he said some more stuff. Told me that his name is Eugene and that this is all a dream. They are stuck inside a dream and not to get stuck too.....
Which ties in with something the fool had said about it all being a dream when I saw him with Lila the first time round.
Fuck me, the old wheels started turning after that!
After he emerges out of the room he lead me into I follow him to the drugstore where he has a script for the drugstore girl.
They sit down and read it together.
They are acting out what is on the script and what is on the script is being said by the voice of (Stamford again) they repeat the scene over and over again and both seem to realize that they are trapped inside this loop.
Both aware yet unable to stop doing what is in the script and what Stanford is saying!
The drugstore girl gets up goes over to the phone box and falls down dead (of an overdoes apparently)
Eugene sadly and knowingly walks over moves her body (as he has done a thousand times before) and leaves.
He leads us downstairs to the birthday tent in the woods.
Where he strips down to his underwear.
Plus out a red sequin dress, wig, heels and red lipstick and starts to dress himself up.
He puts the red lipstick on and takes me hand. Plus me close and kisses my mask.
Just then Delores and Frankie turn up.
It's Delores's birthday and Eugene is the entertainment. Impersonating her.
Wendy and Marshall rock up to the party as well.
Eugene gives them a bit of a show and then pulls Wendy up on stage.
He and Frankie distract her by dressing her up in Eugene's red sequin frock, while Delores seduces Marshall.
Eugene and Frankie finish, Wendy is all dressed up, looking ridiculous and laughing at how funny she looks.
She see's that Marshall is looking very comfortable with Delores, and Delores begins to laugh as well.
A nasty cruel laugh, at Wendy.
From there they all go off and the orgy scene happens not long after.
I've already seen that, so I hang around to see the rest of Eugene's loop.
Alice Estee comes into the tent just as Eugene has put his normal clothes back on.
She looks at the heels and wig and scoffs at him.
She then says she has a part for him.
A grocer!
He seems hesitant to take the role and she tells him that he will be the grocer.
He agrees and takes the script from her and heads back up to the shop.
'Abe's general store.'
Guess that's why he wanted me to know his name. Because he's not really Abe. He knows his real name and is trying to hang on to that before he becomes nothing more than the role he has been given in the script, on a constantly repeating loop in a tragic dream he can't get out of...
This time he takes someone else into the back room, I dig out the script from the draw.
And sure enough, it's his script. All the things I have seen him do as the grocer (he dusts off peas a lot and served some customers as well while I was in the shop) and sure enough, the scene with the drugstore girl is in there. exactly as it played out. So he must know in advance that she is going to die.
I'm curious if the script she was reading when I went in to the drugstore is the same one as this now only with her story inside in it....
Then the reset music sounds again and it's the third loop.
Time to head up to the top floor desert to get some sand in my shoes and see if I can find the dust which, who I have yet to see in any shape or form even during the finale!
First I bump into Mary (who I haven't seen before) she's dancing with someone on a car.
Don't know who it was! ha!
Getting really tired now and not giving much of crap about where I'm heading.
I head up to the sand dunes to find Miguel, who is having a fight with Dwayne.
I already know what's going to happen because I caught this scene on my first visit, so instead I have a nose around to see if I can find the secret tunnel in the sand dune.
Go in there, have a nose around.
No dust witch.
Miguel heads down to the hoedown.
I've already seen that as well so I go into the town to see if anyone of any interest is about.
And sure as shit there is a big crowd around the toy shop because the owner Mr Tuttle is about.
White masks love him!
Mainly because he drags you into the back of his shop for a 1 on 1, much like I had with Eugene, but does a whole load of batshit crazy stuff and then covers your mask in blood (red paint)
This time hes off out on a mission.
He heads to where the car is with his pot of paint and must be finishing off some graffiti he has been doing in his previous loops. 'Beware. the red moon is rising'
No idea what that means (I'll ask the spoilers at some point) I'm guessing there is a shit ton of red moon shaped clues and objects around this place. It's bound to make sense to the folk who have searched for the stuff (in their 30 odd visits....)
The security guard sees him and comes running over and chases him (I'm not fucking running, so I miss what is said between the 2 of them)
Tuttle heads back to his shop and Miguel and Faye come out of the hoedown. I decide to pick up following Miguel.
The have a little sexy, flirty dance and Faye leads him off the a motel room.
He lays on the bed. She starts taking her clothes off.
Something suddenly catches his attention outside so he bolts.
Faye sits and starts to cries. I get the fuck outta there to follow Miguel into the street, where he is holding tarot card. Couldn't see what it had on it though I'm guessing death?
He starts saying 'Mary' over and over. Then leaves the card in the rafters of William and Mary's house before heading up to the sand dunes.
I'm moving at a crawl now so kind miss what hes doing in the shack up there.
My guess is this is usually when Mary get's kill by William, as Miguel was repeating her name a hell of a lot.
But this is the end of the 3rd loop which means that we are discreetly lead away and back down to the wooded area where the finale of Wendy killing Marshall (with scissors) takes place.
I search the entire cast on the stage for the dust witch. Still can't see her!
Oh well.
And that...
Is what I can only describe as another mind boggling final trip to temple studios to see the breathtaking, bewildering master piece that is the drowned man.
I'll be fucking amazed if anyone has read up to here! ha ha!
I guess now I'm going to have to resort to go and read all the spoilers for all the characters, and read all the conspiracy theories that surround this to see if anyone has worked the whole thing out.... ( though I highly doubt it)
From the photoblog Chillimatic
Posting a photo of a shop called "Party World" here is an odd way to memorialize someone. Bear with me, I'll explain further down the page. Firstly a little on how I came to know about Jon Claremont and his work.
The service provider for my photoblog, Chillimatic, is called Expressions. Expressions won't be rivalling Flickr any time soon and perhaps due to the small number of subscribers, or perhaps due to the good work of the people who run it, Expressions is a genuine ‘online community’ (prior to joining I had thought this phrase an oxymoron) brought together by a shared love of photography.
Some particularly high quality photoblogs are nestled alonside my own (frankly amateurish) site. Chief among these is a blog I discovered during my earliest nose around Expressions called ClaremontPhoto - Jon’s photoblog.
The aesthetic of Jon’s pictures was so different to that which currently prevails in photography that it was a shock when I first landed there. My eyes had become too accustomed to the diamond-sharp, perfectly colour-balanced images that digital technology has made possible to immediately accept photos taken with film cameras and developed at the local One Hour Photo. Jon's snaps were often blurry and overexposed with no apparent colour scheme. His subjects rarely sat nicely in measured compositions.
Even when he was photographing the patrons of the shabby café-bars of Montemor-o-Novo, the town in Portugal where he lived - subjects who were in fact seated and immobile - there was always a touch of anarchy, a touch of humanity, his photos were alive. He once remarked in an e-mail to me that he didn’t do “pretty pictures”. He was wrong. His photos were beautiful, and in a way that all those diamond-sharp digital images could never be.
I started leaving comments on Jon’s site, he on mine, and our intermittent e-mail exchanges began. Just as one had to get past the aesthetic shock and look carefully at Jon’s photos to fully appreciate them so he looked carefully at others’. More than once he remarked on something in one of my shots that I hadn’t noticed myself. For this reason his words of encouragement were valuable to me; his appreciation was genuine.
Jon's warmth of character was a further quality as apparent in his photos as his mails. Most of his shots were of the inhabitants of Montemor, a village lost in the countryside 40 miles to the east of Lisbon, a town not pretty enough for tourism nor rich enough for chain store homogeneity.
Similarly, Montemor’s inhabitants are neither charmingly rustic nor the neat, presentable Gap-clad men and women that the global economy has moulded. They're a scruffy lot, spending their evenings sitting awkwardly on bar furniture, drinking cheap beer straight from the bottle, looking up slack-jawed at the football on the telly. In viewing Jon’s photos I was often reminded of Oscar Wilde’s famous aphorism “Work is the curse of the drinking classes”.
Most photographers, I think, would maintain a certain distance between themselves and such subjects, one that would translate into a mocking tone in their photos or a falsely reverent one: ostensibly honouring such ‘salt of the earth’ characters, covertly pitying them. Jon did none of that; the section at ClaremontPhoto compiling his ‘people’ shots is titled “Friends and Neighbours”. Quite right, they were not his subjects, he was one of them. The warmth and camaraderie so apparent in his photography were equally evident in his words to me.
Soon after I was first in contact with Jon he was appointed as Community Ambassador at Expressions, bringing to the members’ attention the work of other Expressions contributors, and continuing to offer words of encouragement and genuine appreciation to so many of us. He was very much the glue in our online community and I know that I am not alone in saying how greatly missed he will be.
I learnt of Jon’s passing on Friday and that same day Shanolyno, a fellow Expressions user, posted a comment on my photoblog. I mailed him to say thanks and told him the sad news. His words in reply voiced my own thoughts perfectly: “Seems strange to mourn for someone that I feel I know so well, yet I never met.”
I never met Jon Claremont either, I never even spoke to him and yet he touched me in some way, he inspired me, and I will miss him. For those that did know this clearly exceptional man, his family and friends, the loss must be very great indeed and my thoughts are with them.
So, the photo of “Party World”. It was taken in July of last year with a DSLR which I’d just bought, on the day I arrived in Sardinia, my holiday destination. During the preceding months I had spent much time on photography: taking photographs, tending to my website, reading about photography, viewing the work of others and occasionally exchanging e-mails with Jon.
Shortly before I left we had a quick exchange about Martin Parr, whose work we both admired. I wrote: “Regarding Martin Parr, yes the man is a genius, but I also kind of hate him because it's become impossible to take photos in certain areas (supermarkets and seaside towns in the UK particularly) without thinking of his brilliant photos. He kind of owns all that now. If I ever find myself in a run down bar in Portugal and I'm unable to take photos because you've taken all the ideas and own that environment I'll let you know.”
When I arrived in Olbia this throwaway comment had transformed into prophecy. Maybe it was the intensity of the sunlight (in Jon’s outdoor shots the walls and streets of Montemor appeared sun-bleached) or maybe it was the slightly tattered look that much of Olbia still has despite a recent influx of tourists courtesy of EasyJet, but I was unable to take pictures of the place, I saw Jon’s photos everywhere.
Thwarted in my attempts to take my own photos I decided to produce some imitation Claremonts. I turned the exposure up a notch to get the bleached look, switched the focus setting to “auto” to lose some sharpness and took a couple of shots of shop fronts which I imagined wouldn’t be out of place in Montemor. This shot was the most successful. I had intended to send it to him but, very regrettably now, never got round to it.
But "Party World", though? Surely not the best way to memorialize someone? Like I say - bear with me. This shop, despite its apparent banality, despite the cheap plastic knick-knacks it displays in the window, proudly proclaims itself “Party World” and this is in keeping with the meaning I read behind many of Jon’s photos. Despite the tawdriness of their surroundings; despite their shabby clothes; despite the cheap beer they’re given to drink every night; despite the fact that they live in a forgotten hinterland, held there just above the breadline; despite the fact that they’re old and working class (both characteristics that were once a source of pride but not so much these days); despite all this and much more, the people in Jon’s photos are mostly smiling. They’re happy.
My favourite of Jon’s photos is of a frail old man who sells lottery tickets from in front of a bar. According to the text accompanying the photo he’s there every week with the same patter, every week he has “the big one”. There he is - leaning against a rubbish bin, an expression of rapt wonder on his face as he eyes the little scraps of paper in his hand which, despite the 10-million-to-one odds, are going to bring in the jackpot. The Don Quixote of Montemor, he is both a fool and a hero.
As summations of the human condition go, it's hard to beat. We are born into a world without purpose or meaning where there is but one truth: that one day, soon, we will be gone from it, obliterated. We have no chance; we are playing a machine we will never beat, which metes out suffering so much more than joy... And yet we still believe, holy fools that we are, that we're going to land "the big one", that “A vida é uma festa!” Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Party World.
So rest in peace, Jon Claremont, and thank you for showing me all this.
If you've read this far I hope you'll click on the link for ClaremontPhoto. Many of his older photos (including the lottery ticket seller) have disappeared but there remain many photos of exceptional quality.
In a previous post, I explained why a “blood moon” eclipse is tinted red… this image of a sunrise might explain it a little better. This was taken at the East Fork Overlook at milepost 418.3 along the Blue Ridge Parkway. On the tripod, the camera was at an elevation of nearly exactly 5,000 feet… that makes the horizon where the Sun popped up roughly 85 miles away from the lens. This was shot fullframe with a 400 mm lens, so the distance is compressed, but it shows the effect of denser atmosphere concerning the penetration of sunlight.
Officially, according to the European Space Agency, Earth’s atmosphere extends to 60 miles straight overhead. The atmosphere consists of gasses, mostly nitrogen and oxygen, water vapor, and dust. On a clear day, sunlight when the Sun is at zenith is not merely white but scattered throughout the color spectrum. The reason a leaf on a tree is green is because that leaf absorbs all wavelengths of light except green, which is reflected. The sky is blue not because it’s reflecting blue, but rather that it absorbs only blue light and is transparent… of all the colors, blue has the shortest wavelength of visible light. All the longer wavelengths just shoot right through.
Looking directly to the horizon as in this image, the depth of the atmosphere is nearly 145 miles… more atmosphere absorbs more light, yet the longer wavelength of red light easily affects the visible light of this sunrise. The red band on the Sun is due to a layer of vapor in the distance which scatters just about all visible light but red. Red pouring off that Sun sitting on the distant ridge looks quite like a beacon… it’s bright enough that the fog between mountaintops is reflecting it a bit. Other than evident vapor in the air to the east, there was no cloud cover in that direction on this morning. There’s a steep cliff to my back as I shot this, so I couldn’t tell about cloud coverage in that direction… but if there were clouds in that direction, they would have reflected the deep red light apparent here, and perhaps even more as they would be even further from the horizon. I hope this makes sense.
Yesterday’s project submission (Imani) will explain how I met Kya. We were in the new Student Learning Centre of Ryerson University in downtown Toronto. Kya had declared herself camera shy and basically threw her cousin under the bus when I made my project request. Once I photographed Imani, however, Kya got brave and gave it a go.
I posed Kya facing alongside the windows of the Learning Centre and Imani held my reflector to even out the light a bit. Kya was not that comfortable in front of my camera so I really appreciated her yielding to my friendly entreaties to give it a try. We took a few photos with her hat on and a few without. In an effort to relax things I asked some questions about the wonderful hairstyles both girls had and found out that it’s a rather time-consuming process that one wouldn’t want to have to redo more often than necessary. I followed up by saying “I hope I’m not being too nosey but I’ve always been curious about that hairstyle and figured here was my chance to ask.” They didn’t seem to mind and I wound up feeling pretty darned lucky to be a man. The money I don’t spend on my hair is available for buying coffees.
After the photos were taken, we returned to the spot where Iman and Kya had been sitting and where I had dumped my coat, hat, and bag. Once I completed my interview of Imani, she had to go to class so I proceeded to get acquainted with Kya. That’s when I learned that they are cousins, not classmates.
Kya is also 18 and attending university in Montreal where she lives. She is planning to go into Social Services which is my own former profession so we chatted a bit about that. She wants to specialize in youth services and I mentioned that I worked for several years in a child and family clinic before specializing in adults. When I asked about Kya’s name she said her mother told her she heard the name in a Bob Marley song and liked it. It is a very nice name.
In addition to school, Kya is an accomplished athlete and plays on two basketball teams. I don’t follow basketball but she is a point guard and clearly takes her athletics seriously. In terms of personality, Kya told me she’s an adventurous sort who doesn’t like staying indoors a lot but is known for always being on the go and really knowing her way around downtown Montreal. Her friends are always surprised when they consult her on urban questions because she usually knows where things are and what’s happening. Her biggest challenge? She said it’s balancing out her social time, her sports time, and her study time. She feels pulled strongly in all directions so she is working on finding the successful balance.
She has been in Toronto for a week to visit her cousin and has been having a fun time but will soon have to return to Montreal to resume school and basketball. Thank you Kya for taking a chance and participating in my 100 Strangers project. It was fun meeting you and your cousin. You are #729 in Round 8 of my project. I’m glad you’ve had a fun time in Toronto and I hope you will return to Montreal a little less camera-shy. You took a lovely portrait.
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by the other photographers in our group at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.
By now it was raining quite hard, so I grabbed a couple of shots from the other side of the road before going in.
Hello I said to the churchwarden, we've come to photograph the church.
Oh I don't know if that's possible, you might be journalists. What do you want the pictures for?
I explained about the website and liking churches and that we had come from Dover to see this church. I gave he my Moo card, and she said it was OK. And then would not shut up, she told us all about the history of the church, the town, businesses. All nice, but I wanted to snap the church.
In the end, Jools took over and I set about snapping. And very fine it is too.
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A huge church that is accessed most days through the coffee shop next door. Saxon in its origins it was extended many times as befits a market town on the main London-Dover road. Today it consists of nave and chancel with aisles and chapels. Much remodelled in the nineteenth century (by Blomfield) and again late in the 20th it may lack atmosphere, but it certainly does not lack appeal.... or its part in national history. The body of Henry V rested here overnight on its journey back from France in 1422. Behind the painting in a medieval vestry, itself a rarity. There are lots of brasses and a large monument to John Spilman who introduced papermaking here in the seventeenth century. In the south chapel is a huge wall painting of St. George - the largest medieval painting in Kent.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Dartford+1
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DARTFORD
LIES the next parish eastward from Crayford, on the high road from London to Dover, about fifteen miles from the former. It was called in Saxon Derentford, in Latin Derenti Vadum, signifying the forde or passage over the river Derent. (fn. 1) In Domesday it is written Tarentefort.
THIS PARISH takes within its bounds almost the whole both of Dartford-heath and the Brent. It contains about 4300 acres of land. The town has about four hundred houses and about two thousand five hundred inhabitants. The upland parts of the parish are but thin and gravelly, the crops of which are greatly increased by the culture of turnips; the vallies are a sertile and rich loam, the northern part of the parish is marsh land, which reaches to the Thames, containing about eight hundred acres, none of which is ever ploughed. The town of Dartford is situated in a valley, between two hills, which rise suddenly and sleep at each end of it. On that at the western extremity are chalk pits, which have been worked underneath to a considerable extent, and have rather a fearful and dangerous appearance to travellers; the opposite hill is a deep sandy loam. Dartford is at present a handsome and wealthy town, still increasing in size and inhabitants, the principal street of which is the great thoroughfare from London to Dover, on which there are built several good inns. From this street southward branches off the high road through Farningham to Sevenoke, in which stands Horseman's-place, now used, with the gardens, by a public gardener; northward from the high street is the Water-lane (so called from the little stream, the Cranford, which rises about a mile and a half southward of the town, at Hawley, which runs through it) and leads to the wharss at the water side, not far distant from which stands the Place-house, formerly the priory, with the buildings belonging to it, now used as a farm house and offices, adjoining to which is a piece of land, inclosed with a wall, formerly belonging to the priory, exceeding rich, which has been for many years been made use of as a public garden ground. The artichokes growing in it are noted for being the largest and best flavoured of any brought to the London markets, and are called, for distinction sake, the Dartford artichoke.
There is a good market for corn and provisions here on a Saturday, weekly; and a fair yearly, on the 2d and 3d of August. The old market house and shambles stood very inconveniently in the middle of the high street, but they were removed some years ago, and the present market place and shambles were built more commodiously elsewhere, by public subscription, to the great embellishment of the town, and the satisfaction of all travellers; at the same time the old uneasy pavement through the town was removed, and a new road of gravel made in its room, with a handsome footway of curbed stone on each side; near the east end of it stands the church, almost adjoining to the river Darent, which here crosses the high road under a handsome bridge. In king Edward III.'s reign there appears to have been no bridge here, the passage or ferry over the Darent at this place being valued among the rents of the manor; however, there was one built before the end of king Henry VI.'s reign, but it was one most narrow, steep, and dangerous for travellers, which continued so till not many years since it was altered to its present more commodious state, at the public charge of the county. A little below this bridge, the Darent becomes navigable for barges; and at the distance of about two miles, receiving the Cray into its channel, at a like distance empties itself into the Thames. On this creek there was formerly a considerable fishery, as appears by the records before mentioned; for so late as king James I.'s reign, the royal manor of Dartford received for the fishery six salmons yearly, a kind of fish now unknown here; and the manor of Dartford priory received a yearly rent of fifty pounds for a fishery likewise here at the same time; but no fishery at this time exists, nor has for many years past.
The trade and manufacture carried on by the several mills on the Darent contribute much to the flourishing state this town is in at present; for besides the powder-mills, first erected by Sir John Spilman as a paper mill, as before mentioned, situated a quarter of a mile above the town; there is a paper mill at a small distance below it, where there was one so early as 1590, erected by one Geoffry Box of Liege, for the cutting of iron bars into rods, being the first supposed to be erected for this purpose in England, and for the more easy converting of that metal to different uses; lower down, at the east end of the town, are two corn mills, and farther below bridge the ruins of the mill, employed as a cotton manufactory, which was burned down in 1796, and now lies in ruins. It was before made use of as a sawing mill, and before that as a brasel mill, for the slitting of iron bars into rods, nails, &c. being first erected for that purpose by John Browne, soon after the death of king Charles I. Near this is the public wharf, to which hoys and barges come up from the Thames. To this wharf is brought the produce of the woods in this neighbourhood, which are of considerable extent, and the manufactures, which are here shipped for the London market, as are the goods for the subsistence of the town and vicinity of it from the metropolis.
In the return of the survey, made of the several maritime places, in this county, by order of queen Elizabeth, in her 8th year, Dartford is said to contain houses inhabited, 182; persons lacking habitation, 6; keys or landing places; 4; ships and boats, 7; three of three tons, one of six, two of ten, one of fifteen; persons for carriage from Dartford to London, and so back again, 14; Sir Thomas Walsingham, steward of the town; Mr. Asteley, keeper of the queen's house; John Beer's; the wardens of Rochester-bridge.
In the reign of king Henry III. the archbishop of Cologne was sent hither, with several noblemen, by the emperor Frederick, to demand Isabella, the king's sister, in marriage, which was solemnised by proxy in this town, and she was then delivered to them, to be carried over. In 1331, king Edward III. at his return from France, held a famous tornament in this town. In the 5th year of king Richard II. a great commotion of the common people begun at this place, occasioned by Wat Tyler's having beat out the brains of one of the collectors of the poll tax, on account of his insolent behaviour to his daughter. The people, who were in general discontented, being inflamed by this circumstance, broke out into open rebellion, and he soon found himself at the head of one hundred thousand men. (fn. 2)
Thus attended, he marched directly to London, freeing, in the mean time, the prisoners detained in the public goals; among these was a priest, in the neighbourhood of Maidstone, one John Ball, vulgarly called John Straw, who, by his seditious sermons, had raised the people's sury to the utmost heighth, insomuch that, in conformity to his maxims, they resolved to destroy all the nobility and lawyers in the realm, for he had persuaded them that all men, being the sons of Adam, there ought to be no distinction; and, confequently, it was their duty to reduce the world to a perfect equality; in consequence of which he preached to the people on these rhymes:
"When Adam delse, and Eve span,
"Who was then a gentleman ?"
The king, hearing they were advanced as far as Blackheath, sent to know their demands, to which, returning a most insolent answer, they immediately marched towards London, and took possession of the borough of Southwark; and the gates of London bridge being thrown open to them by the citizens, they entered the city, where they committed every scene of barbarity that could be expected from such a body, guided solely by their sury. They then seized on the Tower, where they sound the archbishop and the lord treasurer, whom they immediately beheaded. Upon this the king, dreading the consequences of so powerful a body, repaired to Smithfield, with some few attendants, and sent a knight to Tyler, to come there and confer with him, which this rebel, with much deliberation, at last complied with. At this conference he behaved with such insolence, that William Walworth, lord mayor of London, who attended the king, without considering the consequences that would attend it, discharged such a blow at the rebel's head with his sword, that he instantly fell dead at his feet. However, contrary to expectation, the multitude were so terrified, that they threw down their arms, and sued for mercy; and were all, in the space of a few minutes, dispersed, without the effusion of any blood, except of their leader. (fn. 3)
About a mile south-westward from the town is the large plain, called DARTFORD. HEATH, containing about 500 acres of land. It lies high, and on a fine gravelly soil; on it there are a great many of those pits and holes so frequent in these parts. Some of these reach below the gravel as low as the chalk, others no farther than the sand and gravel; many of them have been stopped up of late years, to prevent the frequent accidents which happen of men and cattle falling into them. The occasion of their being first dug has been already explained, under the adjoining parish of Crayford. This heath has been much noted of late, as being the spot chosen by the corps of Toxopbilites, under the appellation of the Royal Kentish Bowmen, for whose use a house has been fitted up at the western side of the heath, not far from Baldwin's, and is now distinguished by the name of the Lodge, being the scene of their exercise and recreation; at which times, on their gala days, butts, apartments, and company, have made the most splen did and costly appearance. It is as delightful and pleasant a spot as any in these parts.
Less than half a mile eastward from the town, the high road to Rochester crossing it, lies another heath, called DARTFORD-BRENT, vulgarly the BRIMPT. This place is famous for the encampment of the army of Richard Plantagenet, duke of York, in 1452, whilst he waited to obtain a parley with king Henry VI. who then lay encamped on Blackheath. In the year 1648 General Fairfax's army rendevouzed here.
The ROMAN-ROAD shews itself very conspicuously on the south side of the high road between Dartford and the Brent, and when it comes to the latter, it shapes its course more to the south south-east, leaving the high road at a greater distance, on the lefthand, and entering among the inclosures and woods, in its way to a hamlet called Stonewood, it goes on to Wingfield-bank, and thence to Shinglewell, towards Rochester.
At a small distance southward from the Romanroad on the Brent, close to the road to Greenstedgreen, are three small barrows, which seem to have been plundered of their contents.
¶The gravel-pit at the entrance of the Brent from Dartford was, whilst the affizes were held in this town, which was frequently, at the latter end of queen Elizabeth's reign, the place for the public execution of criminals; and in 1772, in digging for gravel here, eight human skeletons were sound, lying contiguous to each other; most probably the remains of some of those unhappy convicts. This spot was likewise made use of in the reign of queen Mary, for the execution of those who suffered for religion.
Our HERBALISTS have taken notice of several scarce plants and herbs sound here:
The camæpytis, herb ivy, or ground pine, not only here, but in the adjoining parishes.
Ruta muraria five salvia vitæ, stone rue, or rue maidenbair, on the wall of the church-yard.
Aphaca, small yellow fetch, in the corn-fields about this place.
Buckthorne, in the bedges of this place.
The juniper tree grows in plenty on the downs southward of Dartford-brent.
Mentastrum, horse mint; valde ramosum flore violaceo rubro.
Orchis five tragorchis max. the greatest goat stones, between Crayford and Dartford.
Orchis hermaphroditica, the butterfly satirion; testiculus vulpinus spegodes, the humble bee orchis; orchis melittias, the bee orchis; orchis myodes, the fly satirion; are found on the downs, southward of Dartford brent.
The lizard orchis, has been found in the lane between Dartford and Darent.
Several forts of the orchis ornithophora are found in the meadows adjoining the river Darent, southward of this town.
Trisolium stellatum glabrum, smooth starry headed tresoil, in Dartford salt marshes. (fn. 4)
Charities.
THOMAS AUDITOR, alias BARNARD, gave by will, in 1536, an annuity of 3s. to buy peas, to be distributed among the poor, in the first week in Lent, payable out of four acres of land, called Docklincrost, which bequest has not been paid for many years.
WILLIAM VAUGHAN gave by deed, in 1596, a rent, to be distributed quarterly to the most poor inhabitants of Dartford, out of a house and garden, vested in trustees, and of the annual produce of 13l. 4s.
JEROME WARRAM gave by will, in 1570, for the use of the poor, a house and garden, in the occupation of Mrs. Bugden, of the annual produce of 5s.
MRS. CATHARINE BAMME gave by deed, in 1572, among other charitable bequests, 20s. to the poor of this parish, to be paid out of an messuage and lands in Gillingham, vested in Edward Taylor, of the annual produce of that sum.
JOHN BYER gave by will, in 1572, for the habitation of the poor of this parish, nine alms houses, in Lowfield, adjoining southward to Horseman's-place, and endowed them with a barn and several pieces of land, in the occupation of Mrs. Glover and Mr. Fleet; the former at 17l. the latter at 5l. annual rent, and for the habitation of four poor aged people, and 20d. to be paid quarterly to each of them; now inhabited by paupers; annual produce 1l. 6s. 8d.
JOHN BARTON gave by will, in 1613, the interest of 130l. yearly, to be bestowed on bread, and distributed to the poor by the vicar and churchwardens. N. B. With this money, in 1623, the parish purchased by deed, of Francis Goldsmith and others, thirteen acres of land in Crayford parish, and a house in Dartford, the former vested in William Flint and others, at 12l. per annum rent; the latter in William Nettlefold, at 11l. 10s. per annum; on condition that 20s. should be yearly distributed to the poor on Shrove Sunday, as his gift, out of the rents of the lands purchased of him by Barton's money. He agreed to abate 15l. out of the purchase money; annual produce 1l.
WILLIAM REYNOLDS and WILLIAM HARRISON gave by will, in 1623, the interest of 50l. and 10l. to be laid out in bread, and distributed among the poor every Sunday in the year,
N. B. With these two gifts were purchased a house and piece of land belonging to it, which house has been taken down, and four new houses have been built on the ground, with monies borrowed upon them, which money the rents have discharged. The houses are let to several tenants, at the yearly rent of 5l. each; 2s. worth of bread have been yearly distributed every Sunday, out of the rent of these houses, as was stipulated when they were purchased; the annual produce 20l. per annum.
ROBERT ROGERS gave by deed, in 1629, rent to be distributed among the poor on Easter Monday, payable out of a house and yard, vested in Mrs. Catharine Tasker; annual produce 4l.
JONATHAN BRETT gave by deed, in 1629, for the relief of the poor inhabitants of this parish, four acres of land, vested in Mr. George Hardres, of the annual produce of 9l.
THOMAS COOPER in 1629, gave an annuity, to be distributed to the poor in bread, payable out of woodland in Bexley parish, in the occupation of James Craster, of the annual produce of 1l.
ANTHONY POULTER gave by will, in 1629, an annuity of 20s. to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens on Easter day, payable out of a house in Dartford, occupied by Mrs. Pettit, of the annual produce of 1l.
JOHN TWISLETON, esq. gave by deed, in 1660, certain rent, to be applied, one-third of it to the alms houses, and the other twothirds to be given to the poor, issuing out of three acres of land, in the occupation of Edward Rawlins, of the annual produce of 5l. 6s. 3d.
JOHN ROUND, in 1682, gave an annuity, to be distributed among the poor on Christmas day, payable out of the Bell inn, in Dartford, in the occupation of John Elliot, of the annual produce of 1l.
THE REV. CHARLES CHAMBERS gave by will, in 1745, the sum of 50l. vested in the 3 per cents. the interest to be distributed by the minister on Christmas day, among twenty-four poor persons, twenty of whom to be widows, annual produce 1l. 10s.
JOHN RANDALL gave by will, in 1771, 200l. now vested in the 3 per cent. the interest to be distributed among poor housekeepers and widows, at 5s. each; annual produce 7l. 8s. 6d. and he gave 100l. since, vested in like manner, the interest to be laid out in bread, and distributed to the poor on Sundays; annual produce 3l. 14s. 3d.
A PERSON UNKNOWN gave three houses for poor parishioners, to dwell in, now inhabited by paupers.
A PIECE OF LAND, on part of which the present workhouse was erected in 1728, by voluntary subscriptions; the other part, used as a garden to it, was given by a person unknown.
This land was let in 1720, for the use of the poor at 1l. per ann.
CHRISTOPHER HEATH gave lands to the next of kin of Ellen Sherrington, on condition that they should pay yearly out of them, to the use of the poor, 1l. 6s. 8d. and to the churchwardens and their successors, to the reparation of the church, 1l. 13s. 4d.
JOHN BEALE, of Swanscombe, devised 40s. per annum, towards the maintenance of a schoolmaster in Dartford, to be paid out of a messuage, called Hamanslay's, in Halsted, formerly occupied by William Watson.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the deanry of Dartford, and diocese of Rochester. The church, which is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, stands near the east end of the town, and is a large handsome building, consisting of three isles' and two chancels. In 1793, the whole church was repaired and beautified by the parishioners, at the expence of twelve hundred pounds. The pavement within the altar rails, with the painting and gilding over it, was done at the charge of Charles Manning, gent. in 1702. The tower is at the west end of it, in which there is a clock and a good ring of bells; one of which, of the smaller size, used till of late to be constantly rung, as of old custom, at four o'clock every morning, and again at the time of curfew at night.
The church yard formerly surrounded it, but some few years ago that part of it, which was on the southerin side, was given to the public to make the road more commodious for passengers. There is another burying-ground belonging to this church at some little distance from it, adjoining the high London road at the top of the hill, eastward of the town, of which further mention will be made. It is situated on so high an eminence, that it overlooks even the top of the tower of the church.
Among other monuments and inscriptions in this church, are the following: In the great chancel, on the north side of the altar is a monument for Sir John Spilman, inclosed with iron railing; on it are his essigies in armour and that of his lady, kneeling at a desk, each with a book open, and over their heads, on a tablet of black marble, with an inscription in German text for both of them; he died in 1607; on the top of the monument his arms, Or, a serpent wreathed in pale azure, crested, gules, on a mount in base, vert, two slaunches, gules, each charged with three lions passant, or; beneath, on the tomb, are two coats, Spilman, as above, impaling argent, a man cloathed sable, with a long cap on, holding in his hand an olive branch proper, and standing on a mount, inverted, gules. On the south side of the chancel, an altar tomb, inclosed with rails, and inscription, for Clement Petit, esq. of Joyes, in this parish, whose paternal seat was at Dentelion, in Thanet, obt. 1717. Before the rails of the altar, on a grave stone, are the figures of a man and woman, in brass, under a canopy, with labels from their mouths; round the verge of the stone is an inscription in brass, in part torn away, for Richard Martyn, of Dartford, who died in 14 . . . . she died in 1402. Near it is another stone, which had the figure of a man, with a label from his mouth, and an inscription round the verge, all in brass, now lost; but an inscription in brass still remains, on a plate, for John Hornley, S. T. B. who died in 1477. On another adjoining, are the figures in brass of a woman and six children, that of the man is lost; beneath on a plate, is an inscription for capt. Arthur Bostocke, gent. who married Francis, second daughter of Francis Rogers, esq. he died in 1612. On a grave stone, before the step of the chancel, is the figure in brass, of a woman, and inscription, for Agnes, daughter of John Appleton, wife of Wm. Hesilt, one of the barons of the exchequer of Henry VI. afterwards of Robert, brother of Sir Tho. Molyngton, baron of Wemme; she died in 1454. On the south side of the chancel, a monument for Wm. Burgess, late citizen and salter of London, obt. 1640; arms, a sess sret between three rooks. On the same side, before the altar rails, a memorial for Nicholas Tooke, gent. of Dartford, obt. 1672, æt. 90; arms, Tooke, argent, on a chevton, sable, three plates of the field between three greyhounds heads erased, sable collared, or; but this is cut here very erroneous. On the north side, a memorial for Mr. Mark Fielder, 1753, æt. 91; on the south side, a memorial for Mr. Wm. Tasker, of this parish, ob. 1732; and for Wm. Tasker, jun. their second son, ob. 1733. In the south chancel, a mural monument for John Twisleton, esq. of Horseman's-place, son and heir of John Twisleton, esq. of Drax, in Yorkshire, who was uncle and heir of Sir Geo. Twisleton, bart. of Barley, in that county, the antient paternal seat of the family. A memorial for John Twisleton, esq. late of Horseman's-place, ob. 1721. At the east end an altar tomb, inclosed with wooden rails, and on the south of it an inscription for John Beer, of Dartford, who had Nicholas, Anne, and Dorothy; for Nicholas, who had Clement and Edward, and for Clement Beer, who had John and Clement, who both died, s. p. Edward Beer, their uncle, was their heir, and lived unmarried fifty-nine years, and died in 1627. On the north side, an inscription, shewing, that Christopher Twisleton, esq. of Barley, in Yorkshire, married Anne Beer, by whom he had George Twisleton, who had John Twisleton, and Edward Beer, dying, s. p. gave all his lands in Kent to John Twisleton above mentioned, who erected this monument in 1628. On the west side are two shields, one quarterly, 1st and 4th, quarterly, a canton ermine; 2d and 3d, on a fess, three garbs; the other the same arms, impaling a chevron. A grave stone, having a brass plate for John Beer, esq. of Dartford, and Alice and Joan, his wives, and also for Henry Beer, his son and heir, who married Anne Beer, widow of Rich. Howlett, gent. deceased, and had by her a son, Wm. Beer, deceased, which John Beer died in 1572, and Henry in 1574; above, are two coats in brass, both, a bear rampant, on a canton, five escallop shells. On a grave stone, the figures of a man and his two wives, with children and their shields of arms in brass, all of which are lost, excepting the second wife and four children, and a plate with the inscription, for Wm. Rothele, of Dartford, who died in 1464, and Beatrix and Joane, his wives, and their children. Another on the north side, on which were the figures of a man and woman, in brass, now lost, but part of the inscription remains, for Katryn Burlton, who died 1496, and Rich. Burlton, jantilman, her husband, who died 15 . . . the rest torn off. A mont for Margaret, relict of John Pitt, esq. predent of the S. Sea company at Vera Crux, ob. 1731, æt. 49, arms, Pitt impaling a chevron, ingrailed, betw. three eagles heads erased. In the middle isle, are several memorials of Manning; a grave stone in the south cross isle, having the figures in brass of a man between his two wives, and underneath those of fifteen children, with inscription in black letter, for Wm. Death, gent. principal of Staple's inn, who had two wives, Elizabeth and Anne, by the former he had ten sons and six daughters, ob. 1590, Elizabeth, 1582; above a shield of arms, being death, a grissin passant between three crescents, quartering four other coats. (fn. 46) In the north isle are memorials for the Round's, Woodin, Poulter, Dalling, and Chambers, all of this parish. There are many more memorials and tombs of respectable inhabitants of this populous town and parish, as well in the church as the two church yards, but they are by far too numerous for insertion in this place.
In the 7th year of king Edward III. Thomas de Woldham, bishop of Rochester, caused a new window to be made in the chancel of the church.
William the Conqueror confirmed the gift which Hamo his steward had made of the church of Tarentford, in the king's manor, to the church of St. Andrew of Rochester; (fn. 47) which king Henry I. confirmed, with the churches appendant to it, and the tithes of this parish in corn, pannage, cattle, money, and in all other things, in like manner as St. Austin held the church of Middleton, with the tithes of that parish, in the time of his father, (fn. 48) and also the tithes of his mills in Darenteford.
Gundulph, bishop of Rochester, who was elected to that see in the reign of the Conqueror, having recovered the manors and possessions of his church, which had been dissipated and made away with, separated his own maintenance from that of the monks, in which division he allotted this church, among others, to the support of the almonry, belonging to the convent. (fn. 49) The monks did not continue long in the possession of it, for bishop Gilbert de Glanvill, who came to the see in 1185, on pretence that his predecessor had impoverished the see by his too large donations to the priory, divested them of all right to this church, which he restored to the see of Rochester; however, he reserved and confirmed to the monks their antient pension from it. (fn. 50)
Laurence, bishop of Rochester, in 1253, reserving the tithes of sheaves, and of every kind of hay, demised this church, and all the small tithes, oblations, and obventions, and the tithes of sheaves arising in gardens and curtileges not being ploughed, to the convent of Rochester, at the rent of thirty-eight marcs per annum, on condition that they supplied the cure, and they were to deduct their pension of ten marcs, paid by the rector, out of it. (fn. 51) He afterwards obtained pope Innocent IV.'s leave to appropriate this church, during his life, to the use of his table, which he complained was so slenderly provided for; that he and his family had not at times common necessaries for food; the clear receipts for the bishop's table being but five hundred marcs, which were not more than sufficient for half the expence of it, and the receipts from his manors not exceeding sixty marcs per annum. (fn. 52) This was confirmed to the bishop and his successors by pope Alexander IV. and again by Clement IV. Bishop Laurence, on the appropriation, endowed the vicarage of this church, with the small tithes of it, excepting hay, with two acres of arable, and one of meadow; and also with the tithes of sheaves growing from land dug up with the foot, as well for the support of the vicar, as the discharge of the ordinary burthens of his vicarage, and the payment of the above pension to the monks, the profits of the vicarage being then sound by a jury to be worth forty marcs sterling per annum, communibis sannis; which endowment being lost, bishop Thomas de Woldham, in 1299, confirmed it; and as the vicar had no house belonging to his vicarage, he granted him one standing on the soil belonging to the church, as a vicarage house for himself and his successors; and further, the tithe of twenty-one acres of meadow, called King's-marsh, in Dartford, heretofore taken by the bishop and his predecessors, and he decreed, that the vicar and his successors should keep and maintain the books, vestments, and other ornaments of the church, in a proper state and order, and should sustain and acknowledge all other ordinary burthens of it.
Archbishop Robert Winchelsea further endowed this vicarage with the tithe of hay, to the value of forty shillings, in satisfaction of which the whole tithe of hay, arising from the great salt march in Dartford, (excepting to the bishop of Rochester for the time being, the yearly sum of four shillings, due from the Knights Hospitallers to the bishop, as rector of this church) was decreed to the vicar, by the desinitive sentence of Walter, archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 1315, as an augmentation of his endowment.
Thomas de Woldham, bishop of Rochester, in the above year, granted in mortmain, to Robert Levee, vicar of Dartford, and his successors, a messuage, with its appurtenances, in Overe-street, in Dartford, which the bishop had purchased of Robert de Levee, of Frindsbury. (fn. 53) At the dissolution of the priory of Rochester, in the 32d year of king Henry VIII. the above pension of ten marcs, or 6l. 13s. 4d. was, by the king, in his 33d year, granted, among other pre emises, to his new erected dean and chapter of Rochester, who continue possessed of it at this time. The parsonage and advowson of the vicarage still remain part of the possessions of the bishop of Rochester. (fn. 54)
In the antient valuation of the bishop's revenues, this church was valued at 40l. and the bishop's mill and rent here, at 100s. In the 15th year of king Edward I.'s reign, the church was valued at forty-five marcs, and the vicarage at 100s. In the 33d of king Edward III. the church was valued at the like sum. (fn. 55)
By virtue of a commission of enquiry, in 1650, it was returned, that Dartford was a vicarage, with a house and glebe, all worth, with the privy tithes, seventy pounds per annum, master Charnock then incumbent. (fn. 56) It is a discharged living in the king's books, of the clear yearly certified value of 45l. 5s. 10½d. the yearly tenths of which are 1l. 17s. 1½d. (fn. 57)
This vicarage was, in 1736, augmented by the governors of queen Anne's bounty; at which time the Rev. Mr. Charles Chambers, vicar of Dartford, contributed one hundred pounds for that purpose. (fn. 58)
Bishop Laurence de St. Martin seems to have purchased, in the reign of king Henry III. several of the rents which now constitute the greatest part, if not the whole of the MANOR OF DARTFORD RECTORY, from Robert and Richard de Ripa, John Badecock, William de Wilmington, and others. (fn. 59)
This manor extends over both sides of the Highstreet, in Dartford, from the scite of the old marketplace to the church, and southward, in Lowfield, as far as the house of correction; all which is called the Bishop's liberty. At the leet of this manor, a constable and a borsholder are annually chosen for the liberty. There are several tenants which hold of it in socage, at small quit-rents.
In the 21st year of king Edward I. on a Quo warranto, the jury found that the bishop was feild, in right of his church, of view of frank pledge, and assize of bread and ale of his tenants in Dartford and Stone; and that the bishops, his predecessors, had been possessed of the same beyond memory.
There were TWO CHANTRIES, founded for divine services, in this parish; that of St. Edmund the Martyr, and of St. Mary, otherwise called Stampit. The former stood in the upper burial ground of this parish, which was a cimetary to it, and under this building was a charnel house. This chapel was suppressed at the same time with all other such endowments, and presently sell to ruin; but the cimetary was granted to the parish, as a place of burial for the parishioners, and continues so at this time. The advowson of this chantry was granted to the prioress and convent of Dartford priory, in the 46th year of king Edward III. at their first endowment.
John Bykenore endowed this chapel with five marcs, payable out of lands and tenements in Dartford, for the support of the chaplain of it. This chapel was under the jurisdiction of the archdeacon of the diocese.
¶The latter chantry of the Blessed Virgin St. Mary was subject to the official of the diocese. (fn. 60) It was founded by Thomas de Dertford, alias Art Stampett, vicar of this parish, in 1338, for one chaplain, to celebrate divine offices daily in the parish church of Dartford, in honour of the Blessed Virgin, and for the health of his soul, &c. and he appointed Ralph de Felthorpe the first chaplain of it, and endowed it with several lands and tenements, to the amount of one hundred and twenty acres, (fn. 61) in Dartford, the chaplain paying twelve pence yearly to the vicar of Dartford and his successors; and he gave the patronage of it, and the nomination of a chaplain to it in future, to the bishop of Rochester and his successors; which was confirmed by the bishop and the prior and chapter of Rochester the same year. (fn. 62) In the year 1553, Robert Bacon, incumbent of this chantry, had a pension of six pounds per annum.
Let me explain. I am mildly alergic to Cats, they give me hay fever like symptoms, so no cats at home. All the cats l photograph belong to neighbours or family or l have come across them in the street. A year ago I visited Ashbourne Animal Welfare , a charity that helps rehome stray cats and dogs. They also rescue some very ill cats who will never be well enough to be rehomed, and these can be sponsored by people. l started sponsoring Fruitie a couple of months ago and have now found out she is the office manager. She directs the Chair and Vice Chair in their duties in the office. ! They call her the Office Cat but we know different. We've seen the office. And we know who has most chairs!
They don't know her age , but guess its about 18 . Unfortunately her owner died and it was a while before she was rescued , and she was in a poor state . Ear mites had destroyed her hearing and despite an operation she is totally deaf and is a bit unsteady on her paws. The unusual ears are a result of the operations. Luckily she has ended up with the largest pen in the home and constant company , which is nice as she enjoys a good fuss. She has silky smooth fur , probably from constant stroking.
Have a look at the website www.ashbourneanimalwelfare.org or go to one of their open days if you are in the area.
The work of ESA's 'Mars Yard' for planetary rover testing, part of ESTEC’s Planetary Robotics Laboratory, explained to visitors during the Sunday 4 October 2015 ESTEC Open Day by Gianfranco Visentin, head of ESA’s Automation and Robotics section (far left).
Credit: ESA-G. Porter CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Having explained everything to my Stranger N°91 I was able to get straight on with taking my photos of my Stranger N°92.
Meet Laurence, she's Jean-Louis's wife, she was married before and has 3 children from that marriage. She was born in the region and they now live near Lannion (about 10km from here). They were in Perros for an afternoon out.
Laurence is a nurse and when she was younger she had wanted to be a doctor. When she's not working she enjoys sport, especially "footing" which I think is called "shore walking" in English. Walking in the sea at a depth of about waist height. She also enjoys just walking too.
I took my photos where I had taken Jean-Louis but at least in my main photo of her the red awning hasn't shown up quite so much. I have added a second photo of her too, which I liked as she wasn't looking at the camera. I also wanted to keep her scarf in the shots as I love the colour and that it went so well with her colouring.
I then asked her what she hadn't liked as a child. When I'd asked Jean-Louis I had asked Laurence if she'd walk away a bit, so she didn't hear the question. I found that if I had two people in front of me and both were willing to take part it, I got a better "Don't like" photo from the 2nd person, when they hadn't heard the question. Laurence didn't and still doesn't like café au lait, but loves black coffee.
Before I took my "Don't like" photo I had to stop as I hadn't shown her the results of her main photos as I had to Jean-Louis. Once she'd seen that they were OK I got my last photo, which I had to take 3 of before I was happy with it!
We all chatted about photography, the project and food dislikes before we said our thanks and went our separate ways.
100 Strangers (Round I) www.flickr.com/photos/44506883@N04/sets/72157627810663376/
100 Strangers (Round II) www.flickr.com/photos/44506883@N04/sets/72157632333365533/
100 Strangers (Round III) www.flickr.com/photos/44506883@N04/sets/72157634454644547...
100 Strangers Group www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/
Merci beaucoup Laurence.
Thank you for your favourites. :O)
Danielle Paterson and Harrison Cole in 'Guy Fawkes It Up!" by Laughing Mirror theatre company, at this year's Edinburgh Fringe.
The play was directed by Chad Porter. I know both Harrison and Chad from last year's Fringe when they were in 'The Baffling Adventures of Question-Mark Man'.
I cannot explain why there is a brick wall in our house. This is the front entrance to the house. I like it, but don’t get it! I actually got to meet the man who built it 25 years before I moved in. Wish I had thought to ask him. ODC: brick