Welcome to my life in Casares

Fifteen kilometres from the Costa del Sol, stands a rock – shaped like half of a Christmas pudding from which somebody has, bit-by-bit, pinched morsels from the middle. From one side it appears rounded and whole; from the other, hollow and rather unlikely. Protruding from the rounded side are mismatched white boxes. Inside of the boxes are dark brown people.

Forestlife

Cerca de Casares, España.

Inside Out

Human Retronym

Oxford English Dictionary definition of a retronym:

“A neologism created for an existing object or concept because the exact meaning of the original term used for it has become ambiguous (usually as a result of a new development, technological advance, etc.).”

Varanasi

River Ganges, taken January 2007, Varanasi in India.

 

बनारस

As the Mother Ganga sprawls
pyres burn without death’s usual cry
Ashes reign, and embers glow
mirrored in pearlescent hardened eyes

Lies, Statistics and The Damned

I’m not usually one to write politically, yet I have been thinking about two sets of figures I have been made aware of, which although are not directly related, still seem to create a disparity in my mind. In an attempt to avoid being shrugged off with sentiments similar to Disraeli’s quote about “three kinds of lies” I shall simply offer the two figures:

Idiot

 

 The reasoning behind this post is really only me marvelling at Dostoevsky.

Sevilla

On a Convent wall, Sevilla.

 

Possibly Duende

The weekend previous I was privy to a Flamenco show in Sevilla. I have been told since about the concept of Duende, a somewhat undefined term which broadly translates as the soul of the performance. I also heard about the book titled Duende: A journey in search of Flamenco, by the author Jason Webster, which I intend to read.