Elastic Shoelaces? Man still not in Álora
Less than a fortnight to go before we head back to El Valle del Sol. Only four more days at FareShare too. Not much time left to save the world from waste.
"Just bin down to that London. It were all reet but nowt special."
One of the pleasures of spending time in The British Isles is taking advantage of the innumerable cultural activities on offer. No need to travel to the capital city either. Manchester City Art Gallery was a bit depleted but worth visiting just for its Pre- Raphaelites and Birmingham's Sarehole Mill and Museum of the Jewellery Quarter are little gems. Kiftsgate Court Gardens were a first for us; nice gardens, poor food.
Last Saturday we went to the Lowry exhibition at Tate Britain.
Laurence Stephen Lowry came from the North of England. The south never got what he was doing and still doesn't.
'Even when a post-war Labour government had eradicated many of these things, Lowry, a Lancashire Tory, continued to see the poor as unevolved, their by now anachronistic sufferings too useful a subject to sacrifice to mere truth-to-life. Its subtle palette apart, I find his work repellent. As to the people who buy it, well ….'
Charles Darwent. The Independent, 29/6/2013
This is the first exhibition of his work in a public London gallery since his death in 1976. Lowry turned down five 'honours' including a knighthood. He described himself as 'a Manchester man'.
His figures are not 'matchsticks' and, as far as I know, he didn't paint on 'cardboard boxes from the shops' either. The exhibition at the Tate Britain concentrates, not surprisingly, on his urban scenes and industrial landscapes. Two thirds are on loan from private owners, including most those loaned by The Lowry in Salford. Why don't many public galleries own Lowry paintings? There's one ('The Procession') from 'Gallery Oldham' which used to be called 'The Oldham Art Gallery' for some reason.
Self Portrait 1957
Today we went to the Birmingham Energy Recovery Facility at Tyseley. I always thought it was called 'the tip'. It's where we take things we can't get in the bins.
Tyseley Energy Recovery Facility
Mrs. Sánchez arranged the guided visit and it was litterally mindblowing. Eleven of us were greeted by the top man, Steve, who issued us with tea and biscuits , hard hats, safety specs and high vis. jackets. The TERF is just a big incinerator that generates 25-30 megawatts of electricity (enough to power 40,000 homes). It's better than using landfill and burns everything that is put in dustbins including glass and metal (at 950 degrees C) and doesn't produce any nasty gases or smells. Steve says that it will only take 3 people to run the latest plants. Good news for Veolia the French company making the profits; bad news for the workers they won't need. (the pay is rubbish anyway).
Take my tip. Take a trip to the tip
One I made earlier
Yesterday I bought some shoelaces at Timpson's in Kings Heath. When I got them home I found they were elastic. What's the point of elastic shoelaces, chocolate teapots, glass hammers, paper umbrellas, inflatable dartboards etc. ?
August 20th. 2013
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