Simon Robinson

Fuji Wabi Sabi

March 13, 2020 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

13 Mar 2020 – 19:48 GMT – 6°C Light Rain – Co. Dublin, Ireland

I plan to bring a camera towards Rome. Weight is a major consideration and things have improved in that regard. In years gone by, I brought an iPhone on my walks because my DSLR kits were too heavy and unwieldy for use by brain tired, wet hands. So I’d bought iPhone battery extenders, lens kits for telephoto and wide angle options, specialty tripods and my favourite, a grip that also acted as stabiliser. These all coupled nicely with iPhone earphones, cleverly designed so the volume control also acted as a remote shutter release. Except I’d walked the batteries dead with Walkmeter and other mapping apps on iPhone versions 3, 4, 5 and 7 and wouldn’t you know, the camera kits tended to change from one generation of phone to the next.

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India and Illness

March 12, 2020 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

12 March 2020 – 07:11 GMT – 3°C Mostly Sunny – Co. Dublin, Ireland

I found a travel book on the beside table in a friend’s house. We were visiting Offaly where another guest had left it behind, judging from the stamped but unsent postcard bookmark. I read the first chapter and was hooked. How could you not become fascinated by the rescue of a gay leper? Or want to know more about an immortal Yogi? And my architectural hero Lutyens features in the story when in Delhi.

A great birthday card from the grandkids

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Vegetarianism

March 11, 2020 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

One of the few disappointments in relocating to Dublin is the lack of decent vegetarian restaurants. That’s possibly because living in London has spoiled me. In London, it seems that vegetarians and vegans cook for vegetarians and vegans. In Dublin, there are just a couple of such places, Cornucopia the best known. Let’s not name many names but once you get out into the suburbs, the vegetarian still needs to select several vegetable dishes in order to eat with their carnivorous friends.

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Sorry We Missed You

March 10, 2020 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

The legacy of Ken Loach at the BBC is well demonstrated in ‘Sorry We Missed You’. ‘Up The Junction’ and ‘Cathy Come Home’ changed politics, bringing the gender issues of unwanted pregnancies and homelessness into every home in the UK. Can ‘Sorry We Missed You’ do it again for modern zero-hours contract slavery?

A family is ripped apart by cruel employment abuses, both in the private sector delivery business and also in the government’s carer business. A woman leaving the cinema commented that we should be grateful for our lives. And yet, I thought, we still want someone (else) to deliver packages on demand and someone (else) to remove the soiled clothes of the elderly. The gig economy is based on exploitation, easily sold to people who aspire to controlling their own destiny: perhaps suitable in the short term, there are longer term consequences that start with mental health issues and get worse from there.

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Haiku Way

March 9, 2020 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

9 March 2020 – 16:28 GMT – 10°C Light Rain – Co. Dublin, Ireland

the sound of the bat
flying in the thicket
is dark

A haiku I really like by Masaoka Shiki who in a short TB-curtailed life is credited with rescuing the poetry form of haiku. He urged poets to seek inspiration from the beauty of nature. He advised that we ‘encounter beautiful scenes and copy them realistically.’

In the bright room where I like to read, not just poetry, the rain is gently tapping the window glass.

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Inequality

March 8, 2020 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

8 Mar 2020 – noon GMT – 7°C Mostly Cloudy – Co. Longford, Ireland

Ireland had a general election recently. Moribund policies in discussion that brought about the election include housing, healthcare and pensions. The twelve-year economic recovery is not perceived as benefiting the majority of society that are working so hard to sustain it. And now an electorate desperate for change has voted into a position of strength a group that we suspected are run by an army council of shadow players.

However to focus on these issues is to miss a point. These issues may not be as important as one fundamental problem.

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Simon Robinson

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