How far?

How far from Blackheath to Orpington?

How far from Lewisham Orpington?

It all depends.

The distance did not change, but the time required does.

On my Transport for London it was 90 minutes with only buses, and 55 minutes using bus, train and bus again.

Yes, but....

Probably I did not look for Sunday.

Probably I did not look for 9 30.

I waited for the next train to arrive, more then 50 minutes! So, yes, it took a bit more time and waiting outside is getting cooler suddenly and Sunday the wating rooms are closed,

But I did arrive, and it was great once there, I made a long walk, ok, long for me... I have to do it more often!

More interesting

I think, a door near Temple is more interesting with someone passing fast then just the door alone.

It gives it life. Happening.

I think a colourful banana is more interesting than one in black and white.

It all depends.

I think, when one tells some problem we had, frustration or worry, it gives more humour then if we tell what went well.

So, telling my presentation yesterday went well, this morning I see better, I am again optimist, is no fun.

But sometimes, the reverse will come and I will be able to make fun of it!

Wonderful.

The world in black and white

Because of this month's theme, black and white photography, on the Afterclass group, photography Masterclass, now in its 61th month already.

I went out looking at the world around me in black and white.

I knew that my first digital camera had that feature, but until yesterday, I did not know I have it on my latest camera too.

Nothing is completely black and white, as in life either, but many shades of grey.

And sometimes a subject cried for colour, and I gave him, for a moment, changing.

In all, I was stunned how much one can express, indeed, in black and white, grey nuances only.
Forms come out often better, nothing distracting.

But even some portraits worked well indeed, as this free journal I caught abandoned on the stairs near the underground station.

While I was taking photos of it, its pages begun moving, changing, by the blowing wind.

And the young woman, reading on the bus, this is one of the three photos I have taken of her, while the bus stopped a moment. 

Thanks Maz Hewitt, fellow photographer from Zurich, giving us the push to try a bit more the black and white photography, and showing us its beauty in the Afterclass group.

Last minute

I was so tired, psychologically and physically perhaps too, that I almost did not go to the Meridian club Contest.

As I spoke with myself to go or not, and looked who else speaks, I discovered with surprise that we are only two. So I dressed last minute and went.

I found the title on the bus, and I stick to the beginning even if I had second thoughts and other ideas last minute. It worked, I made people laugh from the start, and at least 3 Table Topics speakers put something about it in their speech.

So yes, the workshops of this year have some results, and also the many speeches I give in every occasion. Even more, I felt a good contact with those present, what a wonderful feeling!

The only problem is that now I will represent my Second Club and not the one where I am president, at the next Contest. But they are a dear club to me who seen me grown and gave me a lot of opportunity to speak.

Eurotunnel: j'ose

I dare, I should dare, I will dare.

That is what I was telling myself, three years ago, as I crossed the channel in the Tunnel with my car.

J'ose, I dare like the 5 year or 3 year old kid dared that time, when she was asked to stand up on the box and tell.

I had no idea, that across the Channel, I will stand up and dare to tell my stories. I was just trying to give myself courage, by putting this photo before me as I drove from France to England, where I did not know what will wait for me.

Now or never, I have to change my life, even if it is past 74. If nothing else, I can take photos of London, of people there, they did let me the last time I visited.

This time is not for visit, it is for at least one year to stay, perhaps three. I enter in the 4th year now and just realize how much premonition this photo held.

This will go

No excuse any more, I have now the right to do light house cores.

I have to begin, I already begun, to make some order in my bedroom.

As I knew people can visit, the living room looks nice (I think) and warm, but I left all the mess on two piles (covered) in my room. This morning I realized, I had no more excuses and begun to go through them.

Slowly, of course, but a good beginning.

Sometimes

Sometimes, it is enough of one rotten, to cause havoc, to disturb all the world around.

One fruit, of a whole tree full of them, a family member in a once happy family, or a stranger who arrives with hate in his hart.

Everything can change and nothing be the same again. It is easy to say "avoid" troublemakers, negative people, destructive ones, but when it is in family or company or near you, the ties are not easy to break.

So much thoughts come in mind remembering 9/11, but also remembering the terrorism in the undergrounds of Paris, London, Moscow, and Tokio. There is less commemoration of those, and other similar events, and who knows how to begin remembering all the innocents killed in the glob during last century.

I did not have television 10 years ago, so I learned slowly, understood slowly what happened, reading books about it.

There would be so much to say.