Diversifying…

It’s been a while since I posted an update on Wingate & Finchley’s matches in the Ryman Premier Division.   In truth, I have hit a bit of a block when trying to get up the enthusiasm to produce a match report.    This is due to getting a couple of matches behind when the league was playing catch-up after the bad weather set in back in February combined with a set of major releases to our applications at work.   It reached the stage where I either didn’t have the time or was too tired to sit down and do a lengthy match report.   As I got further and further behind, I frankly reached a point where I really didn’t see the point!   Anyway, I hope to bang out a catching up post to bring the situation up to date this weekend.

Whilst the football has suffered, my photo blogging has gone along fairly well – I’ve missed a couple of weekly photo challenges where I didn’t have anything to hand and didn’t find the time to produce something new but all-in-all I’ve been pleased to take part as often as possible.   I’d like to thank all of you who pop by from time to time to offer a kind comment, press the like button or just to take a look.   Makes it all worthwhile.

However, I’ve been feeling a little jaded recently and perhaps it’s time to explore pastures new.   That doesn’t mean moving on and ceasing to post here – far from it.  But I have really felt the need to expand into other art forms besides photography.   So, given that my son is learning the Clarinet and recently passed his first grade with a merit, I’ve treated myself to a Saxophone  – even if I can’t play it… I’m sure it’ll make some cool photographs!    The other area I thought I’d have a go at is digital art and possibly also the occasional cartoon.   To that end I’ve purchased ArtRage and spent an enthralling couple of hours this afternoon playing with the tools.   I can see this being an excellent remedy for stress!   Anyway, here’s a first effort…

Mango Glass

…Presumably things will improve with practice and with the use of something more suitable than a mouse!

Kohinoor- It's time to change the history!

Reblogged from Being Arindam..:

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Do you have any idea about Kohinoor? If not, then first let me give a brief idea about it.

Kohinoor is a 105 carat (21.6 g) diamond (in its most recent cut) that was once the largest known diamond in the world. The Kohinoor (Koh-i Noor) was originated in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. Kohinoor means “Mountain of Light” in Persian.

Read more… 737 more words

I recently had the pleasure of reading Arindam's impassioned plea for the return of the Kohinoor diamond to its original home. It was taken by the 'gentlemen' of the East India Company and presented to Queen Victoria way back in the 1800's. Of course, it's history isn't as simple as that - it would appear that various other people had stolen / borrowed it on numerous occasions in the past and it perhaps illustrates one of the difficulties faced by those of us who would like to see stolen treasures of antiquity returned to their rightful owners. Items like the Kohinoor diamond have been trophies of war, occupation and oppression since the birth of mankind. Originally tribes fought each other over short distances and captured the neighbouring tribe's artifacts as symbols of their superiority - in some cases these artifacts took the form of their enemies severed heads, dried and shrunk for posterity - so it's a little harsh to just lay the issue at the door of European colonialism. Over time and probably driven by a combination of necessity and the need to respond to other discoveries by neighbouring groups of people, for some reason Europe seems to have made significant technological advances which resulted in the growth of sea power and the ability to travel way beyond the old inter-tribal boundaries. Quite why this happened in Europe and not in, for example, the Southeast Asian area is something that I suspect will always be a challenge for historians, but happen in Europe it did. From that birth of sea power came the challenges of seeking supremacy over the other European countries for each of those involved - the British, Dutch, Germans, Belgians, French, Portugese and Spanish. This was achieved by a mix of war, piracy and dodgy deals. The British, French and Dutch were especially involved in India and the surrounding region. It also heralded a time when science was applied to history - archeaolgists suddenly appeared like vultures circling over a corpse. This is where the crime that Arindam's post refers to truly occurred, for some of these archaeologists were honestly seeking to salvage and preserve the treasures of antiquity for future generations and some were merely seeking to make a fast buck. Those who were genuine supplied their items to major museums - they only wanted the kudos of being named as the discoverer. And those items criminally obtained often made their way into collections as well. Either way - many items important to the local people were sequestred in the interests of gaining / preserving knowledge. There remains the dark side outside of Arindam's request - and I'll use the valley of the kings in Egypt as an example. Many of the 'serious' archaeologists who sought to find artefacts there found that the graves had already been looted by locals who didn't give a damn about the importance of what they took. I dread to think how much history has been lost in this way and I'd ask Arindam to ponder on that question, because when you take that into account you should really consider the fact that there is still a Kohinoor Diamond to return as a positive - Had it been taken by criminals rather than misguided colonialists it would almost certainly have been broken down and fenced to many buyers never to be seen again! This is the one positive of what the colonialists did from a point of the treasures of antiquity... They put the items in museums for future generations. At least the items are there to give back! Now we need to find a mechanism to achieve that. Quite what that mechanism will be in the long term is open to debate but I believe it will be much more along the lines of a sharing arrangement to enhance everyone's knowledge of the past rather than a straight give back. I also believe that it will only happen when the necessary safeguards are in place to protect the items from the 'grave' robbers. I understand that the UK and Egypt are working together on this kind of arrangement and it may well be a good model for the future.

Hope Unites Globally – HUG Award

I must admit to not being very good at responding to award nominations… I generally find myself busy doing and writing about other things to pick up the baton.   However, I feel that the HUG award deserves a prompt response as it clearly has intentions to improve the world we live in by encouraging understanding and compassion amongst people of all races, colours, creeds, etc.   So firstly, I would like to thank my friend The Island Traveller” for nominating me for this award.   I always enjoy the adventures with his son that he shares via his blog.

I note that the award only allows a person to be nominated once and several of those who I would have nominated have already been chosen.   Hopefull I won’t be duplicating with the two nominees that I name below…

Tony McGurk – Tony’s comics always cheer me up no matter how bad a day has been.

Spirit Lights The Way – Nancy’s writings about the human brain and about ways to calm you mind contain so much helpful guidance.

… I don’t doubt that I shall find more to add over the coming months

Information about the HUG award can be found at http://ahopefortoday.com/2012/01/14/hope-unites-globally-hug-award-guidelines/