To look life in the face

Arrived at Poole on Friday before Terry left work, found my way towards the Quay. Here's the oldest building in Poole, just next to the Tourist information centre:

which is next to the Quay…

And then I met Te Te after he knocked off…

had a couple of drinks with his colleagues (mostly mathematicians) along High Street, and headed off for dinner at The Slug and Lettuce, great food, before a nice (and long) walk home. We saw a porcupine on the road. The poor thing was much afraid, but the motorists stopped their cars and a very kind motorcyclist came to save it. Last I heard from Te Te, it was run over by a car though, yesterday…

We had a nice headstart on the second day, Te Te having calculated the time exactly for us to take the train to Bournemouth. Little did we expect that we'd be held up by the Lifting Bridge…

So we were stranded for a full half hour and were just able to catch the next train to Bournemouth to meet YGG and YSS…

(I look like my mom in this picture!) 

We had lunch near the beach…

before heading for the city center to stop by for coffee…

then we walked the beach for almost 4 hours…

and we saw some very determined people shovelling sand…

and a very cute dog…

and we carried on walking…

until it was almost sunset…

and we finally put on our shoes…

and took a bus back to Poole

where I showed off my uneven tan over dinner…

That was one very tiring day indeed! The next day saw us lazing around until noon where we took a ferry to Brownsea island…

I can imagine Te Te arriving at Brownsea in a suit! He must have look really out of place! The scouts are having their centenary year celebrations, and Brownsea Island plays a huge part in Scouts history. We met an elderly couple at the docks before boarding the ferry, and they needed help with translation. Livia didn't hesitate a single second to help. They were chinese doctors who have been working in Bath for four years now. Embarrassed to say they were as active as us, if not better!

they actually make soup with this…

And that's about the end of our trip down south. We went back to Poole just in time to catch our transport back to London (train/ coach). So it will be another two weeks before seeing Te Te again! 

Terry leading the way (and orientating Cent Cent) with the GPS system on his Nokia N95 

So we finally see Cent Cent

There was a Farm Shop near the entrance to the Park 

where they sold very affordable, cheap produce grown on the farm! 

We carried on walking along the driveway until we saw Osterley House in the distance

and we realised it's a good thing that Terry didn't bring extra bread…

The guys in front of the neo-classical Osterley House

We entered the picnic area and found several logs along the bank of the river 

So we sat down and ate our lunch - a scrumptious M & S picnic meal 

YSS found some blackberries on the way back. Actually, she plucked them and then threw them in the soil later, claiming her role in its life cycle…

And we ended the day with some hot tea and cake (for me) at the stables-turned-cafe. It was here that YGG fell asleep and drooled over his MS Trading notes… 

I'm having an overdose of ideas, of things I want to talk about. It's after reading 'Veronika decides to die'. Will comment when I actually have the strength to sit and think about it. For now, I really should finish that email to Aine.

What is music?

No matter how many times people tell you stories about what music means, forget them. Music is never about anything. Music just is. Music is notes, beautiful notes and sounds put together in such a way that we get pleasure out of listening to them, that's all there is to it. And when we ask "what does it mean, what does this piece of music mean" then we are asking a very hard question.

- Leonard Bernstein, conductor & composer 

I don't understand why people place so much emphasis on exam results. In this time, it is just as ridiculous to judge a student based on exams results as it is defining heroism by the amount of food one consumes.

I also don't understand why some very talented and educated people do not use their gifts for any useful means. These are usually spent on chatting up girls (kao lui) rather than helping people in need or benefiting society in any way. 

My quest to fill time brought me to the gates of the National Portrait Gallery today. The exhibition “Daily Encounters” was on, that depicts the rise of press photography in Britain from 1904 to 1986. It sure is astounding how we take for granted the pictures we see in the newspapers everyday. They tell us more than what is said in newspaper articles – they let us relate to the story. And the same should be said about photos we see in magazines. Even a single solitary photo has a story to tell – what then does the photographer want us to see?

A couple of things that caught my attention today:

1) 'In those early days, the press photographer was regarded as an animal almost beneath contempt' – Hannen Swaffer, introduction to James Jarche, People I Have Shot. (Almost as if photography was considered inferior to writing)

2) A photo of a newspaper boy with a Titanic headline on 16th April 1912, London.

3) During the Second World War, photos were censored by the Picture Censorship Department of the Ministry of Information. These included images depicting the destruction of British cities by German bombs, and images of British soldiers behind the lines. Frustrated, a newspaper published several blacked-out pictures with captions suggesting what they should have shown, together with one single photo of those working in the censorship department, attributing the publication of those photos to “these people”.

4) To overcome the problem above, photographer Fred Morley persuaded his assistant to dress as a milkman doing his rounds amidst a war-torn street. The censors were satisfied as it kept spirits high.

5) There was even a photo of Singapore's then PM Lee in 1965 playing golf with his son (and subsequently missing), alongside then Labour PM Harold Wilson on holiday in the Isles of Scilly. The title of the article seemed to suggest the need of a holiday for effective government. (I have forgotten the exact wording)

I am of the opinion that when the skills of a photographer reaches a certain level, of course with a trained eye, what differentiates him/her from the rest would be the depth of character. Just like an artist with a story to tell, a photographer skilfully picks a scene that depicts most the message he/she wants to bring across. The more attentive a photographer is to issues surrounding him/her, the better a story he/she has to tell.

I know there are at least two of you photographers out there who will be reading this post. What say you?

Sun Aug 12, 12:09am

Report - written, printed, bound, handed in - YAY!

Just gave my presentation today, was third on the list at 11:40am. And then got restless as the afternoon wore by. I realise I need to clear my desk like NOW, but there are just too many things to carry! Perhaps it'll be better getting useful now, because there's just nothing to do. Expected my coursemates to do something, but people just got tired and left. Same for the lab. It's just a bad day, really… :)

So I'll think about something. I was quite surprised to see Bernard Lamb turn up at my presentation (personal tutor for undergraduate degree), but I was prepared and I was quite happy actually! Someone remembered! Yay! Hahahahhaa… Just had a chat with him, and it seems he'll be in Singapore for a few days from 20th of August. Oh how I wish I can go back NOW! Well, it'll probably be lots of travelling around UK for me for the next three weeks. Just borrowed a catalogue for Historic Houses and Gardens from Lamb. That should give me some ideas. :) And I'll get fit, I'll play the piano, I'll read lots of books (chinese and english), I'll brush up on German, try to learn some french, and of course, start on the QuGee chronicles!!! Hahaha… so anyway, lots to do and lots of time to do it. Occupying myself would be good, better than sitting around and wondering about emotional times. :) Yes… emotional times…