Metamorphosis

Just back from the Zagori. This is a picture I still like, from a typical panigyri.

Whenever I buy bread or newspapers in the village of Metamorphosis (19 km from Ioannina, near the turning off to Central Zagori), I always think of the influential short story of the same name by Franz Kafka.

His collection of short stories was truly one of the books "that made a difference". His writings were banned by the Nazis and then by the Communists.

That's a topic for another occasion.

The Myth of Sisyphus, Corfu

Island life, far from the madding crowd.

"La lutte elle-même vers les sommets suffit à remplir un cœur d’homme. 

Il faut imaginer Sisyphe heureux."

Albert Camus.

 I used to believe that Sisyphus was happy, in spite of his fate.

Chinese Calligraphy (2): Mooring at Night by Maple Bridge

Mooring at Night by Maple Bridge

(A version of the poem by Zhang Ji translated, with the help of a Chinese journalist, from a Chinese calligraphy roll bought in Beijing)

The moon is setting; the cawing of crows.

Cold air; frost's coming.

A fisherman's lamp hangs on the boat.

Frosted late Autumn leaves above him,

A stranger fell asleep: sad thoughts.

From Hanshan Temple outside Gusun City

Comes the continuous sound of a bell at midnight,

Reaching the stranger's boat; pitch blackness.

Ethiopian Educational Television

There was a time when television seemed to offer a panacea for the world's educational problems and a partial solution to the shortage of trained teachers. It could support teacher training and curriculum development.

I spent five years in Ethiopia helping to produce programmes alongside Ethiopian and British colleagues. These are some images from a schools TV classroom, from a period before the 1974 revolution. Just a few of the photos I took then (some wide-angle class shots by Bob Neilson).

Images of hope.

Here's an 8 minute excerpt from a documentary film I made in Ethiopia. Please be patient and wait while it loads. Alternatively, view the complete film on YouTube.

Glastonbury Tor

Another newspaper clipping, a photo from the late sixties, long before anyone conceived of the idea of the Glastonbury Festival.

Who's that in the bottom left, walking near the spot where Joseph of Arimathea is supposed to have planted his staff?

A Glastonbury Romance

Greece Vows to Halve Budget Deficit

Just came across this clipping from the Financial Times, which begins "Greece promised yesterday to halve its ballooning budget deficit amid warnings from Brussels that it could face financial sanctions after the true scale of its problems came to light."

Date?  September 30th, 2004.