Looting, arson and robbery

I'm really not sure where to start.

First up I’m sickened by what is happening. Clearly this is opportunistic lawlessness not purely a reaction to the shooting of Mark Duggan particularly when you hear two moronic girls boast about stealing wine and claim it’s showing the police they can do whatever they want. Claims of poverty are stupid as the perpetrators wander the streets fully clothed, well fed and organising themselves through twitter and facebook using high-end mobiles. Whatever lame justifications you hear these people are hurting others in their community and I have no words for the people who burnt families out of their homes.

I don’t think anyone is going to be able to answer the question, but we have to consider what is fuelling this nationwide criminality. Looking back over the last couple of years we have seen some of the toughest financial times in my lifetime not just here in the UK but across the globe and that is always going to bite down hardest on those with the least.

Unfortunately this has been matched with a wave of political decisions that have destroyed trust in the government and no, I’m not just talking about the current coalition. As a result we have a feeling among some that they have no future and that there is unlikely to be any meaningful punishment for their actions. We need appropriate penalties for those who break the law but also true opportunity for everyone.

The police have been working incredibly hard to handle an impossible situation despite massive cuts to their numbers and budgets so all respect to them, but without taking extreme measures they cannot physically enforce law and order on the streets and I for one am glad they haven’t gone down that road.

As a society we need to say NO not rely on the police to take care of it. I have nothing but praise for those taking a stand either by walking the streets this evening or helping with the clean-up. We all need to do a little less hand-wringing and step up.

Done with driving lessons

That's right - I now have my driving license, for those keeping score (as if this was some kind of test between us) this was my first test and I had 8 faults.

I am obviously massively happy for a number of reasons; I can now think about getting my own car, I'm moving on with my list of things to do for this year, I'm not gonna have to pay out for lessons anymore and this should provide me with a whole bunch of options I haven't had before.

On the flips side: car insurance, road tax, road rage and I can be the designated drive, but I guess everything has it's price :-)

Bournemouth Art Collective

Just back from the BIC and the Bournemouth Art Collective's exhibition, a very mixed group but some real talent was evident. I'll cover each of the four artists on display in the order I saw them.

Matthew Cohn

From the brief bio available it's clear that Matthew is well travelled, but this is pretty evident in his artwork as some of the style echoes Japanese work I've seen while retaining some strong European influences. I also felt a sense of innocence and dreams to his work with a recurring delicate girl and a blending of colour that gave me the impression of impermanence. My favourite among the displayed works was Vanquished, the image to the left is another of his that he has kindly allowed me to publish here.

Gail Bannister

Gail's work is very different and at a distance they could be mistaken as photographs. Covering some very well known images the multi-layered paintings create a softness to the images that in no way detracts from the quality. Though mostly done in black and white the few that include other colours are equally skilfully handled. Personally I felt her 'Photopop' style was very effective. I particularly liked Times Square, Lemmy and the Godfather.

Dean Harold

Dean previously worked in oils though he is now working digitally. I had the opportunity to speak with him at the exhibition and it was great to have the chance to hear his thoughts about his work. Some of his abstract work was a little too controlled for my taste but among them I liked #18 which has a wonderful feeling of chaos in a very clean lined piece of work. Among his portraits #36 and #40 caught my eye with a sense that the colours were bring out the aura or personality of the subjects. Finally I should highlight #41 which I spent quite a while looking at. The odd colours and deep black eyes in this one make the whole thing feel slightly sinister, almost as though the colour was bleeding off and corrupting the painting, the result was quite startling.

Stewart MacArthur

Different again were Stewart's works, a blend of pen, watercolour and collage to create some very distinctive work. The blend of watercolour and collage included in the works contrasted starkly with some very precise pen work and text which was excellent. In other places such as with Persuassion the pen work felt slightly overwhelming, though I suspect that was intended. By far my favourite was Under Clear Blue Skies.

Cultural Wednesday

I had this Wednesday and rather than sit around the house I thought I'd get out and do something cultural.

First on my list was visiting Lighthouse, Poole's Centre for the Arts. I had hoped to see some works by Hazel Evans, but serves me right for not paying enough attention to the website as she is still working on pieces to be displayed later in the year. I was however fortunate to see two other exhibitions.

The first was a display of photographs from a local college course: the students had each been given a rubber duck and were under instructions that upon receiving a shout (presumable email or text) they had 30 seconds to pose and photograph their duck. Several of the photos were obviously spur of the moment place and shoot giving an interesting insight into some of the students lives, but equally others had been cleverly prepared.

Secondly I saw a local art group's works, if I'm being honest the quality of these varied greatly, but there were some that caught my eye, my favourites where the Jester and Family (above) and Fire and Ice (right).

I had planned then to go on to the Peacock Gallery to see the 3 Dimensions photographic exhibition, unfortunately the bus to get me there ran every four hours (man I can't wait till I've got a licence and my own car) and I wasn't sure I'd be back in time to visit the last stop I had planned for the day.

I'd only heard about the Russell Cotes museum recently thanks to Listed which is surprising considering it sits just outside the town centre and is such a fabulous place. When I read up on it I was immediately reminded of Sir John Sloane's museum in London which it resembles in many ways. They are both the former homes of voracious Victorian collectors of artefacts from what seems to be most of the world. The major difference I saw was in the organisation.

While Sloane's house was gradually transformed into storage space for his ever expanding and seemingly disorganised collections the Russell Cotes seems to have retained a sense of order.

You enter from the gardens and after the reception area you can head up one floor and you're first presented with a collection of items from Japan that are stunning in both the diversity and quality; swords, statues, pots, tea ceremony kits and pipes. In the centre of all of this stands a full suit of armour. on the next floor up you begin to enter into the house proper.

Firstly you notice that in each of the rooms all the walls contain paintings, that various stands and pedestals contain sculptures and that every table is filled with little mementos of the Russell Cote's travels. Then you realise the whole room is frescoed and that the ceiling either contains a stained glass window or is exquisitely painted. The rooms flow into one another with the curators managing to keep rooms distinct. You can also wander upstairs and enjoy the continuing splendour and the amazing view from the bedroom down onto the beach.

One other thing that I think is amazing about the Russell Cotes is that even with the seemingly endless supply of historical curios they have managed (at least on my visit) to set aside two rooms for contemporary artists. In the midst of so much traditional art the change was refreshing and I particularly liked the works by Diane McLellan and those of Paul Amey.

If you're anything like me a visit to the Russell Cotes museum will find you wandering back and forward trying not to miss anything, inevitably you will but that just strikes me as a good reason to visit again.

Life Changing

Okay I know the title suggests I'm gonna talk about something earth shattering so I'll admit straight up that I didn't win the lottery, discover the fountain of youth or become a superhero through some strange alien crystals I found on the beach. What I wanted to talk about was how I've changed so many things in my life over the past year and how many more are coming up over the next.

Over the last year:

• I've moved back into an office environment after a year and a half working in a pub
• I've quit smoking
• I'm loosing weight
• I'm learning to drive
• I've finally cleared the last of my student loans
• I'm learning SQL
• I'm making sure I've filled in any gaps in my self taught statistical knowledge

and coming up over the next year...

• I'll become debt free
• I'll pass my test and have my own car
• I'll maintain this blog
• I'll get laser eye surgery
• I'll finish one of the novels I've started

As odd as it sounds all these changes have largely been a matter of choice, simple choice. Not thinking 'Wouldn't it be great if...' or 'If only I could...' or 'I'd do x if I had...' but just making the decision that I would change my life. Oh and taking every bit of help I can find.

Some people reacted critically to the fact that I was taking advantage of the NHS's stop smoking service and telling me about people they had known who just went cold turkey which struck me as odd, why would I make it any harder than it has to be?

Now the new job has helped with my finances and learning to drive, but these are things I could have been doing anyway. I've downloaded apps to keep track of my money and dug out an old set of dumbbells to help me exercise, I'm talking to friends and family about what I'm doing so they're asking me how things are going and encouraging me.

I guess what I'm trying to say is if you want to change something, stop making excuses and start changing it, you'd be surprised how many problems you think are going to occur don't and how much easier it is to be the ones that do materialise are to handle once you've got some momentum.

Missing in Action - 2009 / 2010

Wow so time to get back to writing a blog (among other things).

So you've missed my time in a pub and then my joining RIAS (an insurance company), seeing the T20 cricket finals and walking the southwest coastal path.

I've also finally given up smoking for good - six months and not a one, that's the good news. Unfortunately I've put on some weight between not smoking and moving back to an office job.

So 2011 will be about getting back into shape. I also need to get my career back on track and I'm planning to visit Egypt.

RIAS is still a temporary position so on the job front things are a bit unsettled, but I'm still hoping to secure something permanent.

My home life is pretty messed up as I'm living with my parents at the moment. I know 34 and living at home - the lonely hearts add almost writes itself huh? It's the result of a combination of factors, first when I arrived back in the UK I had no job, no money and nowhere to live so home was really the only option.

Since then I've got myself back to a position where I can afford to live by myself but my parents have been put in a very awkward position where they can't afford to live in the house so I'm now taking care of all the bills. They should be back to square by mid 2012 when my Dad reaches official retirement age and some additional pensions mature. Till then I've committed to helping them out.

In the meantime however I'm determined not to just sit about doing nothing so this Easter I'm heading to Egypt to visit the pyramids!

That was a quick update on the last two years, I'm planning on weekly updates so hopefully you won't be in the dark for so long from here onwards.