Lewisham Greenwich London

No, I did not go out today.

For the moment, I just enjoy the snow and snowing from inside.

From inside it is beautiful.

Inside is warm.

And I have what to do and lots to eat also.

And so many pictures I never used!

London center stroll

I discovered those in Covent Garden.

They reminded me the creations of my my friend, Stephanie.

She was not "commercial" and made one by one what she felt, not so much with painting on the stones as carving them, long time.

But I really liked what this stone told me

Do not ask me what, it speaks to me still. Today, I come back to it, after month because on flickr someone has discovered this one and 'favourite' it. Put it between his favourite images.

This is a version where I worked on the original image, made it to look stronger, more like I remembered it.

This is also with memories.

We have first a fuzzy memory then we try to recreate iwhat we felt it happened, in a story. Giving it more outline. Isolating from all the clutter that in real life surrounds an event.

"Old pictures"

Some pictures have to wait their turns.

These were taken around Veteran"s day, before St John's Church square. I took four pictures, one of the four crosses very near and one of the fallen leaves on the green grass only, and the forth one from another angle.

Fallen.

And then, I thought that the trees cry also for the leaves that left them.

Somehow, often the photos I take have more sense to me then just people or nature, they express something I feel at the moment, weather I am aware of it or not.
The fallen multicoloured leaves expressed for me the same sorrow as the crosses, for those fallen in different wars - or persecutions.

London Borough Market last week

Cooking.

I waited, looking from lateral point of view until the steam was rising the highest.

This is not a portrait of the cooker, but a picture of "cooking" outside in cold weather.

Of course, clear could have been ever better - could it? I am not sure that in this image it could have been.

This IS a portrait, and I think it is not bad at all, with my photo-partner who came from Australia, and come with me to visit the Bourough market of London.

First time we met, we visited Butte Montmartre together. Another time the Greenwich's painted hall and market.

And here are two sellers continued to sell while knowing I was taking a photo of them. Photos.

The three images each tell something different. Perhaps together, they tell a bit more then each separately, as my sets too more then each photograph one by one.

Last speech this year

I wanted to tell three poems - and I found them!

Delightful

But the three 'remember' poems could hurt one of the other speakers.

So I had to find something else.

I found it!

It is called "There are too many days" - this Christmas. The tale just good for before Christmas time and so well written too.

At least, not badly and I feel it, like it.

Less sparkling then the poems would have been but at least will not take the sparkle from other speakers. I will tell my poems in January or later.

It is cold outside

The winter is here. Not yet show but soon.

I am well covered in the London flat I rent and I have put the temperature higher this night, when I woke up cold.

This morning, it is nice to be inside.

Even nicer to dream still at my three walks through Dublin streets, and yet again its colours to attract those passing bye.

But some walls were not done specially to attract but to tell "no" do not come here!


or this one

Sometimes, more often, the side streets attract me more then the big boulevards and, of course, there are also more easy to take a photo of, or to find something "different".

Each with its different colours

And then the small bench that made me dream - and still does.

Wrapped warmly inside, also today I'll have to go out in for a few hours later, in my mind's eyes I am still strolling through some nice streets of Dublin that I discovered going away from the boulevards.

More Dublin Colours

20 more colourful pictures from Dublin

Dublin coulours

From a weekend the trip continues through pictures I discover day by day.



And so my trip is prolonged day by day.

Life in Paris

I met first this old bookshop owner / seller towards 1981 but he was already there for some time. He is still there!

Surrounded then as now by lots of lots of books barely someone can pass through them, he has read so many of them. Not so many people go in so sometimes I wonder how he succeeds to make a living.

But he is always cheerful to me.

Once, toward the beginning we did have an argument - I do not remember about what - but then both of us get to speak really to each other and after that we become almost friends!

We both love books and reading.

I am sure, if I go and ask, but I have to go to Paris for that from London; he would give me a release not for this photograph, as the Getty Agency ask me... He would see the humour of it.

It was not easy to make this one because the light was dim and I wanted a photo where you can see the most of books as we enter.

The old book's shop has two aisles, but this one has the best and more recent books, and outside are the romance and detective novels, that 30 years ago could also be changed, now there are only sold. The classic books are on the back, because he has all kind and also in a small box some in other languages.

He does prefer the classic books and knows them well but he never tries to push his taste on the others.

Speaking in Dublin

My small B&B was near the hight pole in centre of Dublin, under it the statue of someone speaking; declaiming.

His body language similar to those of Toastmaster speakers I listened to and, more and more of mine who learned to make larger gestures.

I do not know if this statue was there long time ago and they have put the hight pole recently or if they were both put at the same time. But together they make a declaration, a statement.

I also took picture of the pole but then the statue is almost not visible, the difference in hight is so huge.

There are many funny statues; probably from popular tales, here and there in the city, most of them of human hight and people speaking together or doing something. I have to learn more about the city and its legends.

I also love the Irish humour.

London Borough Market

Great time at Borough market - but I came home too tired!

Perhaps the change of time?

I hope!

more tomorrow

here are the first six images

Dublin small B&b

Near O'Connelly and on the street only to walk, the small B&B where I stayed.

It is clean and not very buzzy and during my stay it was also quiet.

For 35 Euro they bring the breakfast in your room also, probably because there is no dining room, also you can have it also in the big kitchen.

The shower room was near my room also I had to go outside mine for it, but all clean and in working condition. I did not have a lot place to move in my room but when I asked I was given towels and a chair a day later when I needed it.

And whenever I asked I could use their computer and internet.

Near all the bus and in the centre, it was a good find!

A picture can speak

A picture can tell more of a story then many words and when you take a candid one, a moment in time, it could even tell more then a posed portrait or a formal one.

Here is a moment of the Toastmaster conference.

On it our present District Governor laughing, in good humour.

In the background the immediate past governor preparing to speak near the district flag and in the foreground someone clapping hands.

It tells a lot about the mood at that time!

Here is another. The toastmasters speak a lot with their body hands expression and this is also a picture taken on the spur of the moment.

He was one of the Humorous contesters whose performance I enjoyed a lot.

Toastmaster fun in Dublin

Friday night we were supposed to come to diner dressed, costumed in personages from old films - and there were many to have found what to wear or put on.

It was a fun night - even if I did not stay for long. When the dancing begun I went to sleep, to be fresh in the morning.

Others told me there was, after dancing, a sing a long until more then 2 hours in the morning!

I was at a table with many Toastmasters from the Dublin club, as one of them nicely invited me to sit with them; Here he is: you can see how a nice guy he is! He did welcome all who felt alone, I think, or seemed lost...




Across me the President of the club from Dublin.


I am not sure who he did represent, but he did work to get there1

and him too - I asked him if I could take a photo while he went from the buffet to the table

All were happy to pose in their costumes.

It was a cheerful event!
The next day, the Humorous Contest begun, at 14pm and before it we had great interesting workshops; how to find or retain members and 7 steps to prepare a great speech.

What I remember most is that instead of writing then telling and learning, first tell then write it down - then it will sound more natural.

There is beer and there is Guinness

Guinness showcase on seven levels in Dublin storehouse - here is level 1

Mistaken identity - only the voice

Mistaken identity - before.mp3

The experience is different when one listen only to the voice - recorded so well thanks to Spark London - thanks! I learn also only by listening.

Spark London's video

One can now see on Spark London's youTube site the video taken by Spark from another angle, of my performance about "Mistaken identity" and Joanna titled it "the possibilities are endless" - Thanks!

Dublin center a seagull

on the top of the bus waiting

so much variety and lively city Dublin! I am happy to have come to the Toastmasters District 71 Humorous and Table Topics Conference.

Not only they were very interesting - and of course, even funny, but I learned a lot and was inspired by it.

Learned what to do mostly but also, what not to do. Mostly, of course each of us has its style and has to speak most authentic possible. Some with great emphasis or like actors, others like they would speak to you one by one.

I will tell more about the interesting workshops as I return home.

Dublin

So much to photograph and so much seen in only two hours of morning!

Yes, Dublin is a great city and I am already happy having taken two more days to see it.

My small b&b is in the center of the city, the room so tiny I barely can move and the bed are superposed, also I am of course alone in the room. But it was warm and quiet and I slept well.

At 7 I was already on the road towards the river and the Trinity College to find the Conference's Hotel - I never arrived there because I lost way in the huge College with so many interesting to see and take photo of.

But here is the begining of my stroll.

Soon

Limerick a while ago

Soon, photos of Dublin will arrive too.

Please wait, I am not sure I can send them from there, but I will not stay long. Hope enough to discover a bit about that fascinating town.

And it is in Euro zone too!

So I have to go now to see if I still have any left from my last trip this summer to Paris.

This path is near my house.

The child in us

We all have also happy memories of our childhood, and the photographer took his time with me, lots of time, to obtain this one.

Later he made me stand in another dress, and I was really fedup.

The child in us remains in us.

Need of love and protection and the hurts and sensibilities too.

Alas, we do not realise well when we do hurt someone else as we do when they hurt us.


This photo made me remember how seldom my parents were together or, together smiling, and even less with me between them. The photo also tells about how happy I was to be between them.

In the middle of worse shell bombing on the house in Budapest January or February by Russians, my parents standing very near each other put me in the middle, to make the most protection. Instead of fear, I still remember the warm feeling and happiness I felt to have them around, feeling their love towards me.

I know, we are finally alone in the world but we still need, at any age the others and their warmth and, alas, most of time, acceptance.

Edith 16 et Julie 20

My friend was just 16 then still in highschool, living with her father's familly;

Her mother was just released not long before from the hands of the Romanian Secret police Securitate - after two month in an undescriptible shape.

I had seen her mother on the floor when she was just transported back to her ex husband house, as her husband, ex Vice Minister of Finance was still in prison. He was held, for 17 years then told "sorry it was a mistake" in solitary confinment. But his wife, Edit's mother cracked and never was well again;

She would not eat anything not done by herself, refused to recognize her two children; and when I have seen her, she had no more teeth and was slim as a cadaver almost and all white too.

We become friends because Edith needed someone then, and the age difference between 16 and 20 was not so big as she was in many ways more grown up then me.

We liked both poetry and believed; still at that time in the 'party', cried together Stalin's death but also she was the one in 1956 who gave me the poem A phrase about Tyranny that I recopied in my diary.

Three years, after this photo, she let my boyfriend kiss her, that cooled me towards her, so I did not invite her any more to parties - but also as I split with my boyfriend, did not held any more.

So many memories the images I begun to scan bring back to me!

How I got to Manchester?

Someone asked me how I got to be paid Storyteller at the True Tales event in Manchester.

I have send as answer this text, but which is only part of the answer. In fact, all begun at 10 when I begun to write my first diary. I do still write, even not so often, as now I do write also blogs and tell stories.

And, while revising my diary translated - finally published on web - in French, I did read and studies a lot of books about writing - which is also storytelling.

In fact, the first 'success' in public speaking I had when I sustained my pHd work in Pqris in 1977, my friend Stephanie told me after that 'it is what you should do'... it is as if all your ancestors where there to help you tell.

The second time, around 1999, I read the Nose story I have written to an audience gathered in a courtyard at night, and there were at least 16 huge laughters at the time. Alas, instead to being happy, my husband who assisted, was jelous of my success and not nice at all the days that came after it.

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I arrived to live in London when I was 74 years old, and in February 2009, went first time to the Lewisham Speakers Toastmasters Club. As I prepared my Ice-breaker, I read in the CC manual «each project builds on what you have learned». In the first, it is proposed to speak about ourselves and then, «waive them into a story» - I did that by consequence, speech after speech.

A story about my father too, but as I am 76, it was not so difficult to find a personal story for each project. With my Icebreaker I fall in love with the audience, and concentrated all my energy to improve.

Realizing also in the good speeches studied on the web and in the toastmasters the Power of Personal Storytelling, I bought that book giving me advice also how to remember my stories and the Improving your storytelling, then also a great book from Toastmasters International about Storytelling, as well, as the Storytelling Advanced Manual, as I finished my CC last November.

Looking to practice and to listen to more personal stories, I not only went to more then one club, but also discovered Spark London, a Personal Storytelling event held at Canal Cafe Theatre, once a month.

First time I went to listen, Johanna Yates the organizer invited me to participate to one of the next themes, and in November, 2009 I begun with Now or Never, and then during last year a few other stories told with Spark London at Cafe Canal Theatre, 60 audience each time, and at the Chocolat Bar and the Soho, Blue Elephant, and so on.

I was always happy to have new experiences and new audiences, and also to be able to tell my speeches in my two toastmasters clubs. I could fit them in one of my advanced Manuals.

It was there that I told first my tale about the 24 hours in my life when the 2nd world war caught up with me, and then, Johanna invited me to give it also as paid speaker in Manchester Town hall before an audience of 300-400, sponsored by Grant Whisky company.

I just finished CL manual now and also my first two Advanced Manuals and begun now to work for my Advanced Silver, next ten speaking projects, and the 1st of November told a story about Mistaken Identity (video added here before) at Canal Café theatre about how I changed profession at 45.

Any message we want to pass to others is better done through a tale, a story, in my case mostly personal tales that speak more to the emotions and are best remembered.

Cadogon hall

Near Sloane Square, a concert Hall, with interesting illumination.

A single piano Friday on the scene.

The Italian pianist came in: what a presence!

I learned how to come in, and at the end, to bow, profound, then to left, then to right. again and again and waiting, thanking the audience for their applause, accepting the applause and - not running away at the end as I did Monday.

That was a great lesson for me.

I learned also about pacing and suspension and surprises.

I was stunned that some parents came with their tiny three year old but they finally, did behave quite well. She only gave a few kicks on my chair then calmed down.

So long time that I did not assist to a concert!

It made me remember also some other times when I went, last times. In London, F. took my small listening device and never gave me back nor the sounds registered that he gave to his niece. In Paris, P, made faces and altered my pleasure of listening. Neither a great souvenir.

S. enjoyed the music so I could enjoy it too, sitting by and even when I was taken away by my thoughts.

I came home easy but in rain it was not such a pleasure. Nothing special, and I am happy I went. I should go out more often.

Blackheath fireworks from home

From home and with this Panasonic camera as I set it, the images did not come out as I hoped but the fireworks I have seen were great.

I was tired and decided not to go out, then suddenly they did appear from my bedroom window as I was going to go to sleep to makeup for last night late sleep;

It rained yesterday the time was great today - sjust what was needed for a Bonefire night.

Plus, I had a guest to whom I showed the video of my speech and had the pleasure to see and hear her laugh!

Great day in all.

End of fall in November

Just a bit of light and sun illuminating a branch, on the small path I took to come home yesterday.

I had to go back a few hours later, because for once, I did not take my camera with me to the hospital. Back to the path, near my home, discovering - here with the maximum zoom from far - the wonderful presents the nature, fall, light and shadows, and just looking around can give us, did give me.

Here are some others from the photos taken in that short stroll.

The wind was strong, somehow I think I captured it too in some if my images.

Late automn

Now it does change so fast!

From one day to the other, the leaves grow more and more reddish, and more of them are already on the earth,

I was so sorry that this morning did not have my camera.

Here is a picture as it was a few days ago.

Tomorrow I will be able to show the change.

Juli Kertesz Mistaken Identity video taken by Lilly

So much more expressive when you see and not only hear the voice!

Yes, and also one could better judge the mistakes I made, the missed opportunities, but also what went well. For example a certain complicity with the audience that I have not 'seen' before and some great grimaces that I did not rehearse but come just in good moments.

Each time I look at it, I learn and observe something else.

Mistaken Identity told with Spark London

I told the story at the Canal Cafe Theatre of London yesterday - this one is my own recording of it.

Its title is also : When I was 45 years old, only, when a Mistaken identity turned around my life: but was it really a Mistake?

Mistaken identity CCT.mp3

Late automn at Little Venise

Rehearsal yesterday at the Canal Coffee Theatre near the Little Venise in centre London. Tonight at 7 30 we will be 8 to tell a personal story around the theme Mistaken Identity.

The same theme can give such a variety of stories!

The childhood story struck me the strongest, but there are so many different stories and different storyteller styles too, all stunning. We will be eight tonight to tell, me the last.

Still a few hours to rehearse it and change it, as parts of it I have to cut out, when we are many to tell the time is more important. And yes, I have to take out everything which is not the main message and important to understand it.

Cutting out our dear children, creation gems is not easy but I have to think mostly how it will effect the overall equilibrium, curve, of the story.