A glimpse of the past London Underground through the means of Vertical Archaeology

It’s the glimpse into our past that makes our history all the more appealing.

An Historier's Miscellany

The London Underground has given me high expectations. As soon as I set foot on the platform, I expect the train to arrive instantaneously. Once left the station, the train whisks me to my next destination, where I catch another to take me home. Everything is rushed. I can’t afford to miss that connection and besides, if I don’t keep up, I’ll be swept away with the crowds. This high level of expectation has in turn heightened my impatience. Waiting for a train, be it only a few minutes, feels eternal and my eye wanders around the tube platform. The infrastructure, cameras, mice and recently, vertical archaeology. Over the past couple of years, with major and minor refurbs to tube stations, layers of the walls, have been pealed back revealing their predecessors: previous rendering, tiles, posters even. This has entertained me no end.

I had never considered that what we…

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Best laid plans, and all that nonsense.

I don’t often plan my life, it rolls along quite randomly. I might suddenly decide to go shopping, or I might suddenly decide to go out for a sneaky drink with my poor long suffering husband.

Not today. On the way to work I said – ‘I’d love to go for a drink tonight, a cool cider would go down a treat. It’s a hot day, and the  local watering hole Woodies Freehouse would be just the kind of place to stop’

OK he said. So a plan was hatched.

The problem is – I’m now the emergency baby sitting a sleeping granddaughter, and not holding a cool pint of cider. Things sometimes don’t turn out as you plan do they?

Perhaps next time I’ll stick to the randomness of my life.

 

 

 

 

Purple balloons

Each year on your birthday

We will send purple balloons skyward
Filled with love and loss.

The breath of loved ones

Floating to meet those perfect hands

And everlasting youth.
You will be forever in our hearts

And your name will be on our lips

And in our minds and dreams.

Skye Lilly darling baby.

David Russamano Launches his first Poetry Collection!

Source: David Russamano Launches his first Poetry Collection!

New life

Such turmoil and sadness

Such devastation that lives will never be the same again

But hope that things can get better

And they will

With trust and faith

Determination and love.

 

Shattered Glass

Shattered glass,

like shattered dreams

thrown in frustration,

how do we ever go back to the way we were before the argument?

 

Accusations, silly and petty

opening old wounds.

love never gets easier

however long we languish in it.

 

Its hard to say sorry

 

Dear Thumb

Dear thumb

I’m sorry I have treated you so very badly. I wouldn’t have done that for the world! You have been a very loyal thumb for many years, you have travelled with the rest of your digit chums through thick and thin, through warm and cold. And now look what I’ve done to you!

I caught you in a door, and not a glamorous door of a Maserati either. No, a humble toilet door. In fact a very very heavy, humble toilet door. The wind caught it….and slammed it on you, you poor little thing. Not so little now though. You’re turning the most glorious purple and black colour. Regal and chunky on the corner of my hand.

It’s not so easy to put socks on when you’re not helping. To do ones bra up, is impossible. And I thought I was right handed, but now I’ve realised I’m right handed, but with the support of you, my left thumb.

Get better soon, please.

So go and run free

Source: So go and run free

Pink & Blue, Blue & Pink

The stereotypical style of a girl/woman especially in the media is often pink and girly, bubby, and dare I say long blond hair. A little shallow for today’s audience don’t you think?

On the other hand the idea of a boy/man is blue, muddy and dirty, muscle bound and good at men’s things – DIY, cars, building and business. Good grief – where do they think all the other men have gone!

But the picture drawn by a student at Astor College Dover UK, encourages the viewer to think differently and to question how the rules can be broken. It was part of the exhibition held at the Tate Modern in April 2017. The theme was politics. And this was a reflection of just what some of modern politics is all about – identity, gender, sexuality and equality.

‘Which side would you choose?’ was the question asked of the viewer. It gave you the opportunity to stop and think how can we challenge what we are told is the norm? Look around you, feminine women with short hair, an air of grace and carrying themselves like they own the place, and they probably do. Women firefighters, and pilots, working alongside the male cabin crew. Roles that were once seen as part of a woman’s ‘domain’ including midwives and house husbands. It’s harder to see where the edges are these days.

We can all hide behind our clothes, the language of description we use for others and what is perceived by the masses as the norm – but do any of us dare to step out of the shadows into the light and show our true colours? To be brave and fight for our rights and the rights of others. Far removed from the suffragettes who chained themselves to the railing to fight for women’s right back in the 1920 we do it our own way today. As women we move up in politics and sit at the head of the table in business. We make ourselves independent, we don’t need someone to validate us in a relationship, we need someone to equal us, and move forward with us in our own right.

Some work places are more accepting of diversity than others and shamefully some religions are scarily narrow minded and bigoted. But of course people too fall into the same category, they carry these ideals with them because this is how they were educated by family and life. It’s time to break out though isn’t it?

I wonder which category you fall into – the good, the bad or the indifferent!