It always makes me laugh reading through the logs for this site.

Here’s a selection of recent arrivals via Google search :

• The person looking to get a copy of “is safely gathered in pamphlet download”
• Someone who mistook me for “Melinda Messenger”
• The person seeking business knowledge in the form of “the do,s and don,ts of operating a gypsy retail garden center”
• Someone who hasn’t seen my waistline and confused me with “tomboy models”
• The person who has seen me and thinks I needs to visit “offline department stores that sell padded male briefs for males”

Posted by Mark at 7:38 PM | Permalink

From now on there’s no sitting back on my small collection of laurels.

Today we all met to celebrate Sophie’s birthday and her first venture into the world of fashion photography, admire Richard and Helen’s new patio, watch young boys play with ducks and dogs and welcome back a very brave woman.

Posted by Mark at 11:43 PM | Permalink

“I can’t eat another thing”, said K as I took the strawberries and brandy from the barbecue.

Unlike last Saturday at the Oxo Tower today’s meal was less formal. Prawns hot from the fire to start with, burger and mackerel. As the stars came out (giving me a chance to impress with my in depth knowledge that the bright one is Jupiter) we sat, watched the fire and toasted marshmallows.

Posted by Mark at 11:24 PM | Permalink

The BBC World Service programme World Have Your Say is covering the reaction from bloggers to their campaign to publicise the plight of Alan Johnston today.

I’ve been interviewed and provided a 30 second clip which should be broadcast today at 18:30 BST.

So, two reasons to listen : hear me stutter my way through (if I make it off the cutting room floor) and hear the reaction to this very worthwhile campaign.

Posted by Mark at 8:49 AM | Permalink

I’ve been spending a little time thinking about photography and me.

Whilst I’m more or less happy with what I’m doing there are a few things I feel I should be doing differently :

• Play around more - there’s no penalty fee for experimenting
• Slow down and wait for the shot
• Use RAW mode a whole lot more
• Ask more questions about my work and the work of others
• Use different angles to take pictures
• Use different formats - use the camera diagonally
• Start to think about the next place I can place pictures for publication
• Use flickr - syndicate my pictures a little more

Let’s see what happens ….

Posted by Mark at 7:51 PM | Permalink

Today Gendun Cheokyi Nyima, who was named as the Panchen Lama aged five, turns eighteen years of age.

For thirteen years he has been held captive by the Chinese authorities who rejected his selection and replaced him with their own “Lama”.

It’s more than likely that you haven’t heard of this person unless you were reading this blog when I mentioned him before but he is (and remains) the world’s youngest political prisoner.

This statement was released from Tashi Lhunpo Monastery :

We wish a very Happy 16th Birthday to Gendun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama on 25th April 2005. We cannot celebrate the day with him, as he is not with us. No one even knows where the Chinese government is holding him.

In 1995, due to the conflict in recognizing the reincarnation of the 11th Panchen Lama, conflict has emerged in the history of Tibetan and Chinese relations. In spite of the commencement of fragile contacts between Tibetan government in exile and Beijing, which took the form of official visits by delegations of Tibetan government in exile during the past ten years, the situation inside Tibet has changed very little.

Despite constant appeals and condemnations from Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, Tibetans (both inside and outside Tibet) and government and non-governmental organizations around the world, there has been no positive reply from the Chinese Government. The issue of Tibet and the His Holiness the Panchen Lama is still neglected and the Chinese regime constantly tries to divert the attention of international community away from it.

The question of the Panchen Lama remains – and will remain – the most difficult problem between Tibet and China, he international community, in its concern for the welfare of a nation and its people, cannot ignore this situation.

It has become crystal clear that violation of the freedom of religion, human rights and freedom for children in Tibet continues, in spite of the false appearance of a good image presented by the Chinese government. The improper handling of the Panchen Lama issue by the Chinese government has aroused doubt and suspicion in the minds of Tibetans and friends of the Tibetan people from all around the world.

We wish H.H The Panchen Lama, Gendun Choekyi Nyima, a long life and pray that a solution will be found to the problems between the Tibetan people and the Chinese government. We pray for a Free Tibet, which can be held up as an example to the whole world as a zone of peace.

Learn more about this issue at or light a butter lamp online here.

Posted by Mark at 8:16 AM | Permalink

According to the instructions which came with my pasta machine pasta was first invented by Vulcan, the God of Fire. Spurned by Ceres, Goddess of the Harvest, he stripped her fields of wheat, ground it and plunged it into the sea in the Bay of Naples. Then he cooked it over the flames of Vesuvius and served it dressed with the fragrant oil of from the olive groves of Capri.

Perhaps this would have been the easier approach. Making the dough was easy enough (8oz of flour - and I even used doppio zero or double zero flour the finest you can get - 4 tsps of olive oil, 2 large eggs, salt and a little cold water).

With the pasta machine securely clamped down I started to roll out the pasta. All seemed very easy. Next came using what the instructions referred to as “the Attachment” I decided on making tagliatelle - had to be easier as it was larger bits to deal with, right ?

I fed in my newly rolled, thin, square pasta into “the Attachment”. Turning the handle I wondered where the pasta was going. A quick look underneath revealed it was slowly forming a yellow lump rather like play dough but with the adhesive properties of Superglue.

Eventually I managed to get it out of the workings of “the Attachment” and rolled flat again. This time something did appear at the other end of the machine - and dropped on the floor.

Back to rolling out the next lump of pasta and trying again. This time things appeared and I managed to catch them, then watch them stretch to amazing lengths, with astounding elasticity, reluctant to let go of “the Attachment”. What had I invented ? This stuff was easily more impressive than the block of Krytonite found recently in Serbia. Fortunately I still had the knife.

Ok the end result wasn’t perfect but it did taste good and I will try it again. I just need a little more practice and a lot more flour.

Buon appetito!

Posted by Mark at 10:19 PM | Permalink

With the return of cooler weather I was driven back inside tonight to watch DVDs rather than stars.

Things seem to be faltering at work and home. A lot of starts and, what seems like, a lot more stops. It’s rather like waiting for a storm to break. Hopefully it will soon.

Posted by Mark at 10:04 PM | Permalink

I headed to the sea today to do a little thinking. Primarily about traveling but also about photography : both need some serious consideration and both need some serious attention in the weeks and months ahead.

“The time for action is now. It’s never too late to do something.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Posted by Mark at 11:50 PM | Permalink

Today at the Oxo Tower K had :

• Pearl barley risotto, cep and chestnut velouté, chestnut tuille
• Smoked haddock soufflé

and I had :

• Smoked Barbary duck salad
• Darne of salmon, fennel, roast baby beetroot, pomegranate reduction

Later at home things were a lot simpler with salad, a glass or two of wine and the fire burning on the patio until the early hours ….

Posted by Mark at 11:27 PM | Permalink

Wandering along the seashore; blue sky and deeper blue sea; miles of empty beaches; fish and chips with a mug of tea.

I could get used to Fridays like this …

Posted by Mark at 9:51 PM | Permalink

Tonight I sat out, pointed knowingly to Jupiter (thanks to a copy of Stellarium on my laptop and watched the bats.

Posted by Mark at 11:56 PM | Permalink

A little while ago I said I received an unexpected mail. That came from Kulaphat Saeteng, the art director of Thai Smile magazine.

They had seen some pictures I had taken at a Thai festival and wanted to use them in their magazine.

Today I received a copy of it in the post. I’m happy to report I still get the same buzz from seeing my name in print : I am, however, a long way away from a book deal ….

Posted by Mark at 10:45 PM | Permalink

If you have a blog, or a Myspace page, or just a simple website go here, get the code for the button shown above and help to publicise the plight of the BBC reporter held captive since 12th March.

Thank you.

Posted by Mark at 7:30 PM | Permalink

I gave up, at least for the time being, on my last book. It was too harrowing.

Instead tonight I sat out and read Vulcan 607 by Rowland White. It’s a boy’s own, real life telling of how the RAF had to press into service the Vulcan and Victor aircraft to bomb the airfield in the Falklands.

What strikes me about this tale is the ‘can do’ attitude the pilots and ground crew had enabling them to turn disaster to success.

We could do with some of that at work at present….

Posted by Mark at 8:46 PM | Permalink

After last night nothing much could really happen today.

I followed Aidan Brooks recent tip for hangover grub (which worked really well and was much needed), picked up a pile of things to read, my Moleskin and the radio and headed out to the patio for a long day’s reading and dozing.

As I sat under the night sky and listed to the radio I promised that this would be the year I did something about learning which star was which …

Posted by Mark at 10:48 PM | Permalink

So, at last, we all came together to see Johnny and Kate for the final time.

In the next few days they will be in a plane heading for a new life in the sun.

As predicted there was more than one farewell drink and we staggered home in the early hours of the morning …

Posted by Mark at 11:55 PM | Permalink

After a trip to Hamleys and lunch at Hamburger Union we headed to the South Bank to wander in the sunshine.

At the Tate Modern we walked along the beach to see what we could find. Pretty soon we had a pile of coconut and oyster shells, interesting bits of metal, stems from old clay pipes, pottery.

Inside the museum we had another exciting discovery, the Carsten Höller slides were still in use. So, those of us who were brave went down them before we headed to the pub for a drink …

Posted by Mark at 10:26 PM | Permalink

Richard making pizza dough for tonight’s meal …

Posted by Mark at 10:24 PM | Permalink

One month on, many protests in the Palestinian territories, as well as the British government meeting a Hamas member for the first time and still no word on the where abouts of Alan Johnston who was ironically in the final weeks of his posting to Gaza.

Today the BBC is holding a day of action to publicise his plight. In London poster sites will be unveiled and a special programme is being simulcast on BBC World, BBC News 24, Sky News and Al Jazeera English. This will go on air from Ramallah at 1430 BST (1330 GMT) anchored by Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s Middle East Editor.

It will incorporate packages from the BBC, Al-Jazeera, CNN, and Sky. It will also have live reports from BBC, Al-Jazeera and Sky anchors and correspondents in Ramallah, Gaza and London.

A recent BBC news online petition received over 8,000 signatures to free Alan. You can leave your message of support here.

Posted by Mark at 7:58 AM | Permalink

In February, sitting in his home office in Northampton, Mass., Eric Reeves pushed the send button on his computer, intending to spread an idea — a modest but potentially powerful idea.

Reeves, a professor of literature at Smith College who has become one of the world’s foremost experts on the humanitarian disaster in Darfur, has concluded that only China, as Sudan’s biggest economic and diplomatic supporter and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, can stop the slaughter that President Bush has called genocide (as many as 400,000 people have been killed in the Darfur region of Sudan since 2003, and more than 3 million others may face a similar fate).

And China, Reeves says, can only be pressured to act by appealing to its sense of national pride and honor — forcing Beijing to choose between its lucrative relationship with the Sudanese government and having its coveted games lumped in the collective consciousness with Nazi Germany’s hosting of the Berlin games in 1936.

Some human rights organizations, such as Reporters Without Borders, are calling for a boycott of the Summer Olympics in Beijing next year, while other activists, including former Beatle Paul McCartney, call for boycotting Chinese products. Reeves is pushing what he considers a more realistic campaign to “brand” the 2008 Games the “Genocide Olympics,” harnessing the energy of a frustrated, disheartened activist base.

“A boycott won’t work, and it would be deeply divisive anyway,” Reeves said. “It’s time to begin shaming China. China’s complicity in the Darfur genocide makes its Olympic slogan, ‘One world, one dream,’ ghastly in its irony. The U.S. government is not going to do anything. The European Union is not going to lead either. It’s time to take the effort private.”

“Which is more important?” O’Shea asked. “The Olympic Games taking place for the greater glory of China, or the lives of 3 million people?”

‘Genocide Games | New Statesman’

Learn more about Eric Reeves and Sudan at sudanreeves.org and more about the genocide in Sudan and how Google Earth is recording the atrocities at The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Posted by Mark at 8:53 PM | Permalink

Back at my desk today I was, for once, actually in a suit.

Just as well as I had to go out for a meeting with one of our suppliers. Luckily for me this was one chap I’ve known for over eight years as we both moved from one employer to another.

We still seem to be in the Easter lull at work and email is scarce and meetings sparsely attended.

At least I had an excuse to finish on time, change into a pair of shorts and sit out and read tonight.

Posted by Mark at 7:51 PM | Permalink

Having tried to pick a winner on form, then on looks and finally on lucky number I watched as my last horse unseated it’s rider at the point to point and headed off across the fields a newly free spirit….

Posted by Mark at 10:11 PM | Permalink

Clear blue skies, lunch outside under the vines, Easter Egg hunts and loads of French cheese to eat.

An almost perfect day but thoughts were somewhere else for many of us …

Posted by Mark at 11:35 PM | Permalink

After all the sea air and exercise of the last few days all I was planning for today was some time sitting on the patio and reading.

I hadn’t bargained on the lack of spring onions in the shops.

So, the day before the tradition of Easter Egg hunts we traveled from shop to shop looking for the elusive ingredient to make potato salad for tomorrow.

Posted by Mark at 10:17 PM | Permalink

One thing’s for sure, come the Autumn we won’t be short of vegetables.

We should have cucumbers, radish, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes and enough potatoes to power a small chippy into the winter months.

With new geraniums planted and some of the pots in the front garden tidied and sorted all that was left to do was have the first lunch of the summer outside in the sun and then head to the Millstone for a few pints of Guinness and a game of football.

Posted by Mark at 6:10 PM | Permalink

“You can’t hear a thing”, said Martin as we all lay on the beach. The still was flat and calm and the sky high and blue.

Miles away people were working but all we managed today was skimming stones, walking by the sea, fish and chips and ice-cream.

Perfect.

Posted by Mark at 10:29 PM | Permalink

It’s been a little hard to type today with all my fingers cross but, remarkably, things seem to have gone a lot better than anyone expected.

There’s a lot of relief all around.

Posted by Mark at 10:33 PM | Permalink

“I think you have a gas blockage issue. This feels very warm - I’d better call a specialist straight away”.

As I walk out of the kitchen I wonder just how serious a gas blockage can be. After all the fridge isn’t that old.

“You’re lucky - some of these the light doesn’t turn off and the roof melts from the heat!”, says the Domestic Coolant Engineering Specialist, clearly warming to his theme, as I walk up the stairs.

I may need to be re-gassed. It could be a faulty circuit board. It will probably take three weeks. I fear another party and the last time the ice man didn’t cometh.

Posted by Mark at 10:40 PM | Permalink

Rachel North nearly died in a vicious rape and thought she had suffered the worst ordeal of her life. But then she boarded a crowded Tube train on July 7 this year…

Rachel’s story-News-TimesOnline

I read some amazing blogs but Rachel North’s story, and her writing, always catch my eye. Her blog Rachel from North London served up a first hand account of 7/7 and provides challenging and interesting political reading from a woman who has already had more than her fair share of adversity to overcome.

Now comes the revelation that she’s another blogger who has had to suffer cyber-stalking. Typical of Rachel she has been (at the correct time) open and honest as to what she has been made to suffer.

It’s unfortunately seen as part of life on the internet these days. But one person went too far, and either could not, or would not stop. I can now finally tell you all the story. And having told it, I would like to draw a line, and never think of it again.

Rachel from north London: Felicity Jane Lowde of Oxford has been found guilty of harassment

I hope so too. Life is way too short, and too precious, to have to spend on dealing with this stuff. I’m looking forward to more incisive political writings and the odd tale of wedding plans from Rachel.

Posted by Mark at 8:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I walk through the underpass, the warm wind blowing past me into the darkness bringing with it the smell of newly cut grass and petrol fumes.

Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed it getting warmer and people beginning to make more use of the parks and spaces I walk through at lunchtime. It started with the occasional book reader in the sun, then games of football behind the college and today children and mothers in all the playgrounds.

I step out of the underpass and back in the sun I look up at the clear blue sky and wonder if this really could be the end. It’s rather like Christmas : work is amazing quiet - people are taking time off and large chunks of the project seem to be winding down.

Could this be the end at last ?

Posted by Mark at 7:37 PM | Permalink

“All you need to do is answer “I do” to every question”, said Sophie causing everyone to laugh again.

Outside the vine leaves are cut and waiting in the sun to be bagged up from the terrace floor. Inside we’re enjoying a relaxed Sunday lunch. Making plans for the summer and, reluctantly, for the days ahead.

I sit and look around the table and wonder just what next week will bring …

Posted by Mark at 11:06 PM | Permalink