Out here you can see for miles
We've just moved to a place that's a little less inhabited. Here's the view as I walked out this morning. One of our neighbours was also enjoying a wander.
Mark Higginson
staccato signals of constant information
Filed underphotos
Catatonic
Cats are polyphasic sleepers
The Long Man...
We took a walk to the Long Man of Wilmington over the May Day weekend and experienced pretty much every kind of weather in the course of a half hour. Down below next to Wilmington Church is a yew tree reputed to be 1,600 years old. It stands supported by beams and bound in chains like some mythic creature erupting from the ground.
Update: my wife has written a post about the wonder that is the yew over on her blog.
An introduction to earthships...
Last week I attended the excellent Self-building an earthship course run by Brighton Permaculture Trust. I've long had the idea I wanted to build a home with straw bales and have been inspired by my friends Simon and Jasmine whose amazing work I blogged about back in 2006. They're now an instrumental part of the Lammas project, have constructed another roundhouse and will be building an earthship for themselves. This form of construction is one I've found more and more appealing as, if approached correctly, is environmentally responsible throughout the build and subsequent years of habitation. It safely locks away used tyres, a material that would otherwise be considered hazardous, is a passively heated design requiring no energy input other than that of the sun and allows for the recycling of water and waste, turning this into food as a component of the design.
I regard the term 'eco' when appended to building work with the same jaundiced eye I apply to the notion of being 'green'. It's thrown around casually in mainstream discourse on programmes such as Grand Designs as part of the aspirational pornography that underlies the message of the show. Usually each project is underpinned by tonnes of concrete with a mere nod to efficiency in the form of a costly technologically controlled heating system or other expensively produced components. Environmental credentials are worn as a direct display of wealth and privilege dressed up as a courteous modesty, the very antithesis of the ethics that need to be at the core of modern construction if the embodied energy of the building is to be brought into anything like a sustainable frame of reference. Earthships can answer these considerations in both the short and long term if insulated properly, cement is avoided when more suitable alternatives will do and if materials are chosen carefully, always adapting to local climatic conditions.
There is a difficult balance to strike here between wanting to see this kind of design become the favoured form of dwelling but without seeing the values that make it a viable alternative become co-opted and reduced in significance. Earthships are intended to be a philosophical outlook as well as an efficient, practical and enjoyable part of our habitat.
Read Wikipedia's definition of an earthship.
You may also find the books Building with Straw Bales and the 50 Dollars and Up Underground House Book of interest.
White blanket...
Perhaps my memory is incorrect but for the first seven years I spent in Brighton it never, ever snowed. Now this year and last year we've had a thick fluffy blanket. I just looked outside and this is what I saw....
Porsche Experience Centre
Good day out yesterday. I travelled to Silverstone for a work related meeting and visted the Porsche Experience Centre; it has a great collection of historic cars on display and I also had the opportunity to take out a 911 with one of the instructors. The 911 is an amazing car, not nearly as intimidating to drive as I assumed it to be, even with driver aids switched off. Perhaps I'm stuck in my ways but I think you need a manual box to properly enjoy a car like this but can certainly see how it would be a good fit with the Panamera. Gear changes are super smooth and responsive and I can see how under normal driving conditions it would make for a more relaxing journey. However, this is a 911 and I want to physically swap the cogs to feel as involved as possible.
Cultural, innit...
Brighton has a 'cultural quarter'. Who responsible this?
Bodiam Castle
The last weekend of a particularly gloriously sunny September saw us visting this archetypal castle. Ironically I don't think it was constructed for serious defensive purposes; there's more on the history of the place over on Wikipedia.
Bodiam Castle
Red Arrows over the beach...
Friday started well. We all stood outside on the roof terrace at work and watched the ridiculously amazing Red Arrows perform over Brighton. So low I swear they were flying below the level of the taller buildings in town. A stunning display of skill.
Red Arrows over Brighton
