(picture: 'la reve' by Henri Rousseau, Museum of Modern Art, NY)I have touched elsewhere on our ambivalence about stories and story-related words, in particular that we use a range of them as synonyms for lying and falsehood. The word ‘myth’ falls into the same category, except that its case is perhaps more extreme: for the majority … Continue reading Four Myths
For some time now I have been trying to pin down a thing that troubles me about language - to be exact, the relation between its literary form and speech, and my sense that our perception of how they stand to one another is out of kilter.Here’s a way of thinking about it that occurred … Continue reading One way of thinking about it
Well, maybe... This is an interesting lesson in communication - how can you receive a clear and definitive answer to a question and still doubt whether your question has been answered at all? In the summer, as detailed here, I bought a handsome but anonymous saddle on eBay. Then the other day I came across … Continue reading Saddle Mystery Solved?
‘O wad some power the giftie gie ustae see oursels as ithers see us!it wad frae mony a blunder free us,an foolish notion.’- Burns, ‘to a Louse’The end does not justify the means: you may not do evil that good might come; you may not violate your principles in defence of them. If I had … Continue reading Means and ends, motes and beams
Sometimes, you do not fully appreciate why something is the way it is till you try to do it differently (as a writer and a lover of books, I hope that may be the lasting effect of e-readers such as the Kindle: they will make people appreciate just what a clever piece of technology a … Continue reading Gearing dreams and reality (another one for epicyclists)
(The map for this route can be found here) Well, after a dull morning, the sun came out and so did I. Early on it had shown all the promise of a classic Autumn day - bright sun, a nip in the air, trailers of mist on the hills - but then it all went … Continue reading Autumn circular with brambles, hips & haws
A thought about therapy in relation to art and music struck me after listening to James Rhodes in a TV programme, Notes from the Inside, in which he - a classical pianist and former psychiatric patient - takes a grand piano into a psychiatric hospital to play pieces he hopes will resonate with patients: calling … Continue reading Head and Heart (1)
You find answers in the oddest places*; sometimes to questions you hadn’t thought to ask till you came across them. I have already written about my adventures dismantling the William Newill-designed Sunbeam 3 speed hub; a recent article by Robert Cordon Champ, the Sunbeam registrar at the V-CC and the author of Sunbeam Bicycles & Motorcycles, … Continue reading The Great Sausage Mystery – or why Sunbeam abandoned the Newill Hub
Let suppose a man or woman who, out walking, comes on a formidable crag and has the impulse to climb - not to get anywhere, but just for the joy of the thing. Without even a brief survey of a likely route - since as yet there is no intention beyond just climbing - the … Continue reading The Perils of the Plotted Path: a fable
I have acquired a saddle, a bit of summer indulgence. It's something of a mystery piece. In general design it much resembles the classic Brooks B90/3, but it is of smaller make all round - the cover is not so large, the springs, though sturdy, not quite so stout and of smaller circumference. Its proportions … Continue reading Summer Saddle Mystery
COMPLEAT TROWZER 