Today I was the University of Manchester’s representative at the graduation ceremony of our partner, the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences. Like all graduates these guys have worked very hard. Like all of us they face an uncertain future, but hey, that’s what futures are. Good luck to them all. This was a good day.
Day off today. I went to see some excellent art in the Pushkin museum, including a Caravaggio exhibition. Now I don’t know a great deal about art but Caravaggio seems to me someone who really knows about lighting and movement. His paintings are 400 years old but look like they could be freeze-frames from modern movies. He’s a long way ahead of his contemporaries. However, for most of the time after his death in 1610 he was forgotten.
This, on the other hand, is Tsereteli’s monumental statue of Peter the Great by the Moscow River. It cost millions of roubles and can be seen for miles around. it looks like something my 8-year-old son would draw and every Muscovite I have spoken to about it, hates it. Tsereteli is a big mate of the mayor of Moscow, Mr Luzhkov, which may, or of course may not, explain why this monstrosity exists.
Somehow I suspect that in 400 years’ time, only one of these artists is going to be remembered.
I do own a tripod, but I’m not lugging it to Moscow on the off-chance that I might need it for a night shot. So I did my best to get this one without too much hand-shake. The ‘mountain’ in the distance is the ‘Monument to Corporate Failure’ depicted also on this blog post. Can’t argue with this view of it however. It’s been a beautiful winter’s day here (unlike the weather at home, I’m led to believe) and so it went into the evening.
A full day travelling. Today’s photographic challenge then: make airports/air travel look interesting or attractive. Here’s my best attempt.
The Juke Box Is Your Friend.
This one’s pretty good. There’s no Joy Division, Spiritualized. Ministry, Santana, LCD Soundsystem, Pink Floyd, Lard, or Can. But there is plenty of Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Stones, the Doors, Bowie, and occasional outbreaks of the Temptations, the Sex Pistols, Primal Scream and other positives. I invest three or four quid a week in it. It’s money well spent.
Doug is my friend and has been using a wheelchair for at least 10 years due to an autonomic disorder. What amuses me slightly – but I also think it says a lot about stereotyping – is that because his legs are in full working order he often propels himself around using his feet (kind of like you’d move a kids toy car). But you’d be surprised how many people look askance at him for doing this, as if they can’t balance the equation ‘in a wheelchair’ + ‘can use his legs’ = ? Many look at him like he must be a faker. After a while you get tired of pointing out that only a small minority of wheelchair users are paraplegics, and just start finding their confusion amusing.
So called because all contestants were supposed to go round in a pair of novelty antlers and a flashing red nose. Except that anyone taking it remotely seriously, like these two guys (who finished 3rd and 4th I believe), ditched the accessories before they even started: though the guy in front does appear to still have the nose strapped to his forehead. Maybe it’s even still flashing.
It was damn cold today. And muddy. I know I am in no position to criticise, having spent Friday 3,000 feet up in the first snowdrifts of the winter, but you’ve got to be pretty dedicated to have run round 10km on this rather fierce December Sunday morning. Joe & I said ‘sod it’ after about 15 minutes and waited it out in the car. It was the wife (and assorted in-laws) who took the plaudits today.
Another effort today by the Whitworth family to sell various forms of artwork (home-made and otherwise) to a mildly interested public. Better than three weeks ago: we made a reasonable amount for two hours’ work.
This blog is now 100 days old so I’ve put some more photos up on the ‘Best of the Rest’ page. Of the 100 photos I’ve used here are some stats – the numbers don’t quite add up because sometimes I’ve just had to classify them in more than one category:
Do I need to add any commentary, really?
I’ll just make an observation – don’t think the whole country is like this. In fact, this was about the only bit of the Lake District that was like this. There are several more photos up on the 214wainwrights blog, which will give you the full flavour.
Also, tomorrow’s the 100th day of this blog so there’ll be another ‘best of the rest’ selection going up.
December 2011 dawned pleasantly mild – rather different than the 1st December 2010, the defining characteristic of which will be clear from a quick look at this Facebook album. The light this morning was really good: a good sign of that is when you pass a scene you see two or three times a week, on average, and see it in…. well, see it in a new light. As here.
Being 42 