A little more night photography

Leaving the port of Kotor, Montenegro, I was able to take advantage of the calm waters of the so-called 'fjord' to try out some more night photography.

The semicircle of light is the Venetian fortifications leading to the Castle of St John

Ropes and boats aboard Star Flyer frame the scene.













The lights of the waterfront.

And "A View From The Bridge."

Star Clippers - Tall Ship Cruising

You can keep your giant cruise ships. Why would anybody want to go to sea in a floating apartment block surrounded by thousands of people you don’t know?

With Star Flyer you can return (almost) to the leisurely days of sail. Unfortunately of course a cruise ship has to run more or less to a schedule and this tends to mean more motoring than you would prefer on days when the wind is contrary, though the fore and aft rig of all but a barquentine’s foremast mean she can sail within thirty degrees of the wind, which is half the angle that can be maintained by a square rigger. Perversely, the wind tended to favour us at night rather than in the day.

The 2,300 ton ship carries only 170 passengers. No fixed places for meals means very quickly you seem to know half the people aboard, even several of those whose first language is not English. I enjoyed one delightful dinner conducted in French, finding words that had lain disused for decades were still there, tucked away in recesses of the brain. Fortunately the Germans all seem to speak English.

The staff are all friendly and attentive, the cabins are good, the food and drink excellent. Especial thanks to the boatman driving the tender to and from shore who was happy to let her fall off course a point or two so you could frame a good photograph of the ship. You can climb the mast, watch dolphins from the bowsprit netting, swim in two on-board pools, relax in the air-conditioned piano lounge or watch the sun go down while you drink cocktails in the Tropical Bar.

Since the ship is small enough to visit lesser-frequented islands, I do have to wonder whether Mykonos is worth inclusion in the itinerary. I think I might have appreciated advance warning that if you aren’t there for the bathing there is absolutely nothing in Katakolon other than the terminus station for buses and trains going to Olympia. Apart from these minor details, the ship itself provides the holiday. It’s just a glorious way to travel.

(NB – I couldn’t easily photograph Star Flyer under sail. The pictured ship under sail is her sister ship Star Clipper.)

Palaiokastritsa, Corfu

You get to pick your own legend here.

Kolovri Island in Palaiokastritsa Bay (above) is:

1. The petrified ship of Odysseus, turned to stone by Poseidon in revenge for the blinding of his son Polyphemus the Cyclops, from which wreck the captain alone was able to swim ashore to be rescued by Nausicaa.
2. The petrified remains of the Pheaecian ship belonging to Nausicaa’s father, which transported Odysseus home to Ithaca after all his wandering but which, on its own return, was turned to stone by Poseidon (see above).
3. The petrified remains of an Algerian pirate ship which, while pursuing a local vessel, was turned to stone by miraculous intervention following the prayers of the monks of Palaiokastritsa’s Monastery.
   
4. None of the above because several other islets claim to be the petrified ship of Odysseus and they can’t all be right.
   

If you look closely you can clearly see the approximate shape of an Ancient Greek trireme. The high, curving forecastle and sterncastle with the short central mast bearing a single square sail would be typical. It’s just suffered erosion in the last 2,200 years, that’s all.

The Monastery of the Virgin Mary is itself well worth a visit here. Some monks still live there; we actually met one. In addition to a beautiful small church they have an interesting little museum of wine-making including a donkey-powered mill (but without a donkey).


The view from the high hill overlooking the bay is spectacular.


Apart from this Palaiokastritsa is famous as a family-friendly beach with good restaurants. 

Santorini (Thera)

The volcanic eruption that destroyed the Minoan civilisation of Crete took place sometime between 1500BC and 1650BC on the island of Thera, now commonly called Santorini. The Italianate name was conferred upon it when it formed part of the Venetian Empire.

The most southerly of the Cyclades, this circular group was once a single island, out of which the eruption blew the entire centre to a width of 12 kilometres and a depth of 400 metres, too deep for our ship to anchor, so that we were obliged to drift or steer in circles. The central lagoon is in fact the caldera of the volcano, and seismic activity is not extinct in the area. The central plug is only about 300 years old if I remember rightly.

The eruption was one of the largest in the history of the Earth and its climatic impact can be dated from tree rings. It is the probable source of Plato’s ideas about Atlantis. Without it Mycenaean culture might not have developed to replace the Minoan.

Probably unwisely, we decided to pass on the excursion to Akrotiri, which has been called the Greek Pompeii. Given the heat, the last thing one really needed was a bus trip, but the excavations there remain on the bucket list.

The town of Fira (or Thira) is poised atop cliffs almost 1000 feet high that overlook the caldera. You can reach the lower town from the harbour by cable car or ‘donkey’ (actually mule). If you make the effort to climb up from there to the upper town you are rewarded with an unparalleled view.


The pottery on sale in the souvenir shops also makes you wish you could find some way of getting it home.

Views from the crow's nest

Ahoy me hearties! Philip's been climbing the rigging again. Once you let him loose on a sailing ship the crow's nest represents a challenge that has to be reached because it's there

It turns out the ratlines of a barquentine are half the width of a full-rigged ship. He was apparently breathing hard by the time he got up there. Fortunately, the view rewarded the effort, because with this rig only the foremast has square sails and you can see past the staysails on the other masts, as you can see in the top left picture.

Anyone who wonders how sharp a lookout's eyes need to be should note how faint the island on the horizon appears in this last photograph, even in good weather like this.

Mykonos and the Cyclades, Greece

It would be hard to imagine a bigger contrast with the historical fascinations of Athens where every corner teems with evidence of the past. Mykonos is a place to go if you like enjoying yourself today.

Provided your enjoyment has something to do with blue water, boats, rugged landscape and haphazardly-arranged little whitewashed buildings. Oh, and sun and beaches and rocks.

The windmills are preserved as a picturesque curiosity. Their canvas sails have been removed and they seem to have been converted into accommodation units.

Apart from this, my impression was of a good place to drink beer and do nothing.

Leaving Piraeus

There is something magical about leaving port at night. Darkness suppresses much ugly functionalism, leaving only an array of lights and illuminated objects. Even a bustling modern dockyard can be a thing of beauty.

Of course for the photographer it helps if the sea is calm and everything moves with studied slow solemnity. I'm not sure if it's compulsory to play Vangelis' Conquest of Paradise on every sailing of every ship and riverboat, but if all the scenery can be persuaded to keep time with those deep, sonorous tones, I'm in favour of it.

Greek Statuary

It should be astonishing to think that depiction of the human form in marble or bronze was perfected two and a half thousand years ago. For some strange reason it isn't. We just accept that the Ancient Greeks were really good at this and then move on. This is to extent a measure of how much the foundations of our civilisation are taken for granted today.


This more than life-size statue of Athena (left) is a 3rd century BC, one twelfth scale copy of the original, sculpted for the Parthenon by Phidias in 438 BC. The naked parts of the original statue were of ivory and the rest filigreed with gold. Sadly of course the original is now lost and this Pentelic marble in the Greek National Archaeological Museum is the best preserved copy.

I've selected it as an example because, although the Greek notion of bodily perfection is associated with representations of the nude, the skill in portraying drapery is not far behind and this is able to give us a very clear idea of how well-to-do people dressed.






The Museum exhibition traces the development of human statuary from the  stylised figures of the early Bronze age through to the idealised forms of the Classical period. For male figures, the athlete came to be seen as the nearest to perfection of development and figures of Apollo, Mars and so on would often be depicted in the same way. Athletes trained and competed in the nude and warriors are often depicted as fighting in the nude, wearing little more armour than a helmet, with perhaps a himation wrapped around the free arm if they weren't carrying a shield.

The athlete on the right is probably preparing to throw a discus, though we might think his arm muscles less finely-developed than his torso and legs. This could be to achieve a better balance of form.

As the goddess of love, nudity or semi-nudity was also the unofficial uniform of Aphrodite, whilst the Amazons, whose invasion looms large in the early history of Athens, also fought in the nude.

It is worth noting that the Greek idealisation of the female figure did not, as modern airbrushed images are all too wont to do, represent an impossible or unhealthy shape. No goddesses are depicted as stick-waisted or possessed of boyish hips.

For me, the remarkable fluidity of movement as well as form is what distinguishes classical sculpture and nowhere is this better illustrated than in a composition involving several figures.

Sadly the temple marbles showing the battle between the Athenians and the Amazons, though full of activity, are also badly damaged.

The group on the right however, showing Aphrodite, Eros and a satyr, is a perfectly preserved small masterpiece.

It will be obvious that I could go on and on about the Greek National Archaological Museum. My three short pieces have only scratched the surface of the wonders to be found within it.

Most people seeking a taste of historical Greece will look outdoors, but it may be worth mentioning I took three times as many photographs inside the museum as I did around and about in Athens on the previous day.

Ancient Greek Pottery and Glass

Pithos jar with rope decor
 Knossos
17th century BC

Although the gold of Mycenae was probably the most stunning of the exhibits in the National Archaeological Museum of Greece, it was the pottery and domestic items that brought home most forcefully the astonishingly high level of civilisation of the ancient world.

bronze age amphorae

I remember looking at one vase and thinking it was almost identical to earthenware produced in Staffordshire around 1750 -1800. Of course I’ve always known Greece was the source of Josiah Wedgwood’s inspiration, but I hadn’t realised quite how closely he followed three or four thousand year old patterns.

 bronze age amphora

 glass vessel, Thessaly, 2nd century BC

Glass Bowl 1st century BC 

It’s humbling to think that the same sort of pottery was in use during both the Trojan and Napoleonic Wars.

Mycenaean Gold

When Heinrich Schleiman excavated the ruins of Mycenae he telegraphed the emotional report: "I have looked upon the face of Agamemnon."

Death Mask of Agamemnon

Well now, thanks to the glorious National Archaeological Museum of Athens, so have I.

If there was one relic of classical civilisation that I always longed to see, this was it. And when I saw it, I couldn't help saying to myself, "I know you. I've seen people just like you."

In this wonderful place, the Trojan War happened yesterday.

Having read The Iliad, I've tended to regard the warlike Mycenaeans as essentially destructive. Here, preserved in the National Archaeological Museum of Greece are a few of the many examples of their remarkable craftsmanship that helped change my mind:

Gold cups and jewellery

Swords, two with golden hilts

Jewellery

Gold decorative items

Around and About in Athens

The Parthenon is presently a giant building site

Although Athens boasts a fine new airport road, it seemed it was necessary for our taxi to leave it and plunge through tangled suburban streets which showed considerable evidence of the city’s current financial hardships. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen so much graffiti; hardly an inch of any ground floor wall seemed without. To the first-time tourist this is disconcerting; what exactly have I let myself in for here? Fortunately that was where the bad impression both started and stopped.

Monastiriki  Square

With just one and a half days to take in the sights, we began as we often do on the top deck of a circular tour bus. Whoever invented the hop-on/hop-off open-top bus performed a great service to tourism. In Athens that meant our first call was at Monastiriki Square (left) at the foot of The Acropolis where we browsed around the Flea Market and immediately encountered the vexing problem of attractive pottery and glass that had little or no realistic prospect of homeward transportation by air.

Excavations of the old Agora

It was surprising to find excavation of the old agora district (right) going on. For some reason I’d supposed central areas must have been explored long ago, but of course the level at which the archaeologists are working is well below the current city and our own country is always finding ancient sites when digging foundations for new developments too.

A tip for EU citizens visiting The Acropolis: take your passport or pictorial ID; you’ll get in for half price. It’s no good saying you left it in your hotel safe and anyway one can always tell an Englishman by the way he talks.

Odeon of Herodes Atticus

On your way up you first encounter the Odeon of Herodes Atticus (left), a superb ancient theatre still in use for modern performances.

The Propylaea, the monumental gateway to the temple area, is a remarkable building in its own right, as is the Erechtheion (below), the older temple at the summit, though of course all the crowds are flocking round The Parthenon (top). How sad that such a magnificent structure should have survived from antiquity only to be blown up in a relatively modern war, sadly an all too familiar spectacle to this day.

Erechtheion

Surrounded by crowds one can only marvel at the colossal remains. I found it impossible to feel the spirit of Ancient Greece while being broiled in the sun on top of an exposed rock. In fact it was hard to feel anything but the urgent need for shade.

Neverthless, from the summit you can see great distances. Amongst the landmarks I picked out Lofos Likavitou, the site of one of my (sadly as yet unpublished) stories, along with the Theatre of Dionysus, the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the Temple of Hephaestus, all of which we had little choice but to pass by in the energy-sapping heat.

By this time we were ready for a rest in our air-conditioned hotel room and a very pleasant dinner in a penthouse restaurant overlooking the Acropolis.

The vexed issue of University Tuition Fees

A long time ago, when I attended university, barely 10% of young people did so. By contrast the Higher Education Initial Participation Rate (HEIPR) which estimates the likelihood of a young person participating in Higher Education reached 48% in 2014/15.

When the government decided that half of young people should go to university, it quickly became apparent that this target could not be practically combined with a continuation of the free university university education of my era. This would impose too great a burden on the taxpayer, particularly the half of each generation that would not receive direct benefit from the scheme.

The idea of so-called ‘top-up’ fees were floated. Ministers justified these on the grounds that graduates earned, over the course of their working lives, a substantial premium compared with non-graduates and therefore should themselves take more responsibility for funding their own courses.

Back then The Times (UK) was obliging enough to publish a letter from me criticising the economics that apparently underlay this thinking. Essentially, my argument was that graduate salaries were then high because graduates were rare and demand exceeded supply. Once the supply of graduates was substantially increased, the maginal wage of graduates would be forced down until the expected wage premium was reduced to zero or even beyond. These surplus graduates would then not be able to afford the repayment of their student loans. What I predicted has now come to pass.

Meanwhile well-trained craftsmen, artisans and technical operatives have not only seen no such government backing for an increase in their numbers, but have in fact seen numerous potential recruits to their ranks diverted into universities. Accordingly the marginal craftsman now earns more than the marginal graduate.

Apprenticeships are usually financed by employers, so there are no fees, though apprentices receive lower than normal wages to take account of the fact that in the early stages of their training their value-added is negative, (because experienced workers are diverted from production into training).

Whereas a graduate now enters adult life saddled with a debt of tens of thousands, a time-served craftsman has no such burden and hence is better placed to take on a mortgage and acquire his own home. He is also better placed to contribute to the necessary re-balancing of the UK economy.

I suggest that the commitment to excessive university education was unwise. Rather than attempt once again the failed past experiment of financing its cost from general taxation, we would do better to reduce HEIPR to a level the economy actually requires.

The Tory / DUP Arrangement

I hold no brief for the Conservative Party. However if I were a Labour supporter right now I'd hesitate to accuse anyone too loudly of friendship with terrorists. Pots and kettles spring to mind.

As an economist I'm naturally concerned about the public finances. On the other hand in respect of the agreement between the government and the DUP we are talking about finding an extra £1b over an extended period as opposed to the Labour policy of finding £50b. Unsurprisingly I'm less exercised by the former.

The inescapable fact is still that the crash of 2008 ruined the public finances and since then we've only partially recovered. The National Debt is unmanageably high and we're adding to it every year rather than reducing it. The so-called austerity policy aims for nothing more dramatic than ceasing to increase National Debt by 2025, in other words we're already allowing ourselves another 8 years of living beyond our means for which we expect our children and our children's children to pick up the bill.

I accept of course that some debt-financed public investment will lead to growth, though usually public investment is less productive than private investment. A certain amount of public investment in NI would have been needed anyway in order to maintain a frictionless border after Brexit. At the moment I don't know whether that's included in the £1b or not.

I don't accept that large scale running up of debt to finance public consumption is a wise course. Like any public body the NHS for one has extended its remit well beyond treating and preventing sickness. When we can't pay nurses properly we have no business providing free fertility care for example. A reassessment of NHS priorities is overdue.

The same would seem to apply to local authorities which neglect basic housing yet seem able to finance all sorts of special interest groups.

We don't need more government, we need better.

HALF PRICE SALE

In the Smashwords Summer Sale you can buy 'The Prophets of Baal' ebook version at HALF PRICE!

All you have to do is follow this link to the book's Smashwords page:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/366676

Enter the Discount Coupon Code: WG78W

And you'll get my novel for the promotional price: $2.50.

This offer Expires: July 24, 2017.

So here's your chance to help me reach the best seller charts.

I mean you would like me to make the best seller charts, wouldn't you?

Plot summary:

Young PI Toby cannot believe his luck. Two beautiful women compete for his affections. But when he falls for the younger one, he is enmeshed in an ancient struggle between occult powers. If the girl is to be saved from death, he faces not just a steep learning curve in witchcraft but a battle for supremacy. And unknown to Toby, both sides have picked him to play a leading role in the fight!

The Devil You Don't Know

I’ve been trying to think back to the old days. Were those of us who were enthused by Gene McCarthy’s ‘Children’s Crusade’ as ill-informed as the youth of today? Did we really think, back in 1968, that you could have everything for free?

Do you know, I don’t think we did. We did tend to remark that we’d rather be red than dead, which still chimes with Jeremy Corbyn’s attitude today, but in those days the Keynesian idea was that you really could restart economic growth by deficit financing.

Around 1976, as I recall, Jim Callaghan announced to the Labour Party Conference that spending your way out of recession only led in the long run to inflation. There are limits. You cannot indefinitely borrow money from your children to finance the living standards of today.

In the last twelve months we’ve seen Bernie Sanders in the USA, Jean-Luc Melenchon in France and Jeremy Corbyn in the UK each enunciate their conviction that these issues have not really been resolved conclusively, and we’ve seen a new generation of enthusiastic youth convinced they have found a new answer rather than a recycled intellectual blind alley.

I do hope I’m wrong, but I have a nasty feeling the dragon of inflation is not slain but only sleeping.

Minority Government Options

I understand the distaste in some quarters for a government to be supported by the DUP. But consider please what Scots would have to endure if Labour were to do a deal with the SNP. 63% of us have just voted against the SNP, sending a very clear message that we don't want another referendum. Would Labour give them one anyway in order to get into government?

So far as I understand it there is no threat of a CON + DUP coalition, the proposal is for a 'confidence & supply' arrangement. This does not involve importing DUP social policy into mainland Britain. Almost certainly, I should have thought, the price they will exact is a soft border with Eire after Brexit.

When eating with the devil, use a long spoon. Of the two deals with two devils likely to be on offer in the short term, I'm inclined to feel one of the alternative spoons needs to be substantially longer.

Fortunately the Northern Irish peace process has two referees not one. The role of the second referee is automatically strengthened when the NI Assembly is suspended and I suspect that any error by referee one would very speedily result in an appeal to referee two.

Secondly the price likely to be demanded by the DUP (see above) is not politically controversial in NI as far as I know. No-one is likely to complain if they extract this concession. Note that it is a big concession. If you must have agreement on the NI border then you cannot carry out any threat to walk away without a deal.

Thirdly, should anyone ask why Unionist Scots are afraid of another referendum given they should win it easily, I reply that no-one who did not experience the gut-wrenching unpleasantness of our last referendum can possibly understand. We are trying vainly to rebuild our community with the threat of another vitriolic campaign constantly hanging over our heads like the sword of Damocles.

Fourthly, as I've said before, referenda settle nothing. The losers never accept the democratic verdict and go on campaigning as though nothing had happened in the hope of wearing down the majority will by sheer importunity. Frankly I'm with Brenda from Bristol. We've had enough!

What we actually need is a grand coalition in which the two large parties come together for the duration of the Brexit talks and sort out a common British negotiating position. 

People who made things to last: An Appreciation

1. 
   Chain Harrows. Probably the earliest form of grassland maintenance implement of the modern era. Still as good as the day they were made back in who knows when. To you, gentlemen, thank you for your skill and work.
2. My Ford 3000 Super-Dexta tractor. Probably produced at the Ford Tractor plant in Basildon Essex in 1967. Gentlemen, your machine has today put in a seriously good shift in the fields fifty years after rolling off the production line. She still runs beautifully and pulls beautifully. My salutations, sirs, you knew how to build tractors.

We hear a lot of complaints when things are done wrong but I don't think we hear enough congratulations when things go right. So my grateful thanks to you both.

A dry spell

My writing output in April was similar to the weather - a long dry spell. However a downpour in mid-May coincided with another burst of writing productivity. I've recently finished my first new story in two months and I received an acceptance from the respected Third and Starlight anthology for a reprint of 'The Waiting Room.'

In the meantime I as usual turned to writing poetry. By this, of course, I mean formal poetry as opposed to free verse. For some reason I find the discipline of metre and rhyme helpful, even though the output is not saleable in today's free-verse dominated poetry market. I suppose the modern fashion really is poetry because the market tells me so, but personally I prefer prose properly punctuated. If you'd like to see some of my recent work, there are some new pieces on this blog's poetry page.

One strange result of the freak weather has been the may blossom blooming in May high up on top of Sliabh Mannan rather than as it more commonly does in June.

camellia (unknown variety)

To my surprise and pleasure a camellia bought cheaply in a car boot sale years ago has produced its first flower (left.) I had suspected it would turn out to be Japonica rather than Williamsii. The former, it seems, just don't flower at this altitude. However it has just about the most sheltered spot on the place, so it does have its best chance. It was anybody's guess as to the variety, so if anybody happens to know, I'd be pleased to hear from you.

The early season butterflies have been out in good numbers, particularly orange tips and green-veined whites. A red admiral turned up in the garden this week.

At least one pair of greenfinches seem to have taken up residence in the garden this year too. We have chaffinch every year and bullfinch occasionally but greenfinch are a novelty. Siskin have also turned up this year and there are grey wagtail down by the burn. Wrens also seem to be on the increase and the local greater spotted woodpecker has also been visiting the garden.

For the amateur photographer a woodland summer is so frustrating. The summer visiting birds are all displaying their brightest colours, but the shade and the leaf cover make it so hard to get a good picture!

I tolerate, you overlook, he neglects ...

I'm the most tolerant person on Earth.

Except that I can't tolerate intolerance. Lots of social media comments are intolerance disguised as tolerance. And I can't tolerate that either. 

And while we're on the subject I can't tolerate people who can't tolerate people who can't tolerate intolerance. 

And I can't tolerate anyone who can't tolerate my tolerance. 

In fact, when you get right down to it, I'm not only the most tolerant person on Earth, I'm the only tolerant person on Earth. 

The rest of you are just so intolerant I absolutely cannot tolerate you.  

Spring Forward

I'm told that the depreciation of sterling following the Brexit vote has compelled consumables

manufacturers to make their products smaller in order to avoid putting their prices up. Well, they would say that, wouldn't they? But what, I wonder, is the explanation for years getting shorter? Almost before I'm certain that winter is over the seasonal migrations are under way.

Last week the over-wintering geese of Sliabh Mannan were packing their breeding plumage and heading for their summer nesting grounds in Sweden. Like normal families they set off on the journey arguing with each other about who should lead the way and what direction they should be flying. Down on the ground we humans just look up and wish them bon voyage.

Meanwhile the grey wagtails (above) have been arriving for a couple of weeks along the course of the Culloch Burn and today I saw the first house martin (left) of the season. He's timed it nicely again, because a cloud of midges were out in the sunshine yesterday evening.

However it's early yet for most of the swallow family and I've noted before that a single martin has arrived a week or so in advance. I'm not sure whether he communicates telepathically with the main flock about the climate or whether he's just determined to grab the best nesting site.