Walking Commentary

Thoughts and cycling from Manchester to Rome in 2023

Fake Memoir

’20 Favourites Short List

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The Shard First Night 2019
50 time lapse frames on tripod
Fuji X-T3 with MTO 11CA lens
1600 mm f/10 ISO 6400 1/4 sec

It should be a simple thing, to know which is my favourite book that I have read this calendar year.

Because I keep an idea of my favourite books over time, a relative assessment always brings with it the question of absolute best. Absolutes refer to testable truths but what is truth?

I tend to read a lot of books about science. The extraordinary thing about reading recent books on science is the number of times that you read phrases like ‘no one knows if this will prove to be the case’. I find this uncertainty very reassuring. The demand, indeed the onus, on us all is to keep reading to keep learning.

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Mondrian Outing

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We went to an art exhibition today. While it was the first ever exhibition of Piet Mondrian’s work to be held in Ireland, it was also a jewel of an exhibition, a worthy treat after ten months of isolation from what are today considered unnecessary activities.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Mondrian because it was through his art that I came to appreciate the path of deconstruction from realism to abstraction, something my father pointed out to me. This show featured early landscapes and a progression to his abstracted geometric paintings. I suspect that it’s because of Mondrian that my favourite items to photograph are reflections and other distortions of reality.

Snippet from Piet Mondrian Composition in Brown and Gray 1913
(from MOMA as seen in 2007)
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Fog Rises

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We could see that the weather was the story this morning. One degree C yet bright which in a temperate oceanic climate often creates a steaming sea. So we went for a walk on Dun Laoghaire pier and took several photos of the fog affected views. I’m not a professional photographer but I’m passionate about photography so I was carrying a 600 mm lens just in case.

I particularly liked that the rowers were themselves taking photographs as they rowed through the steaming seas between the pier and The Muglins lighthouse. There was an ageless, painterly appearance with a technological twist. It was almost impossible to keep focus with the huge lens without a tripod so I set the aperture to f/18, the shutter to 1/1250 and let the ISO vary as the lighting changed.

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Addicted to Delusions

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The winner!
16 carried at The Varsity game in 2007

Let’s think about delusion for a few minutes. [It gets a bit ranty below but it’s a daily journal not paid journalism.]

I heard that people in English pubs are throwing away the food they must buy in order to purchase alcohol. If we aren’t surprised, shouldn’t we wonder about addiction? And the motives behind opening the pubs?

Or perhaps it’s just the cost of meeting your mates when stress needs some relief. To the punter, the discarded meal is just the cost of a pint. Why not have two rather than three? Job done.

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Bad Cards And Worse

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I don’t think my father was particularly good at cards but my mother was a fearsome opponent on her day. She’d win at whist and only competed to win in bridge rather than gamble on poker. I mean win as in nearly always win, card counting presumably the sub-liminal talent that enabled her triumphs.

Holland & Holland, Northwood March 2018 (iPhone)
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