The anthropomorphication of the abstract in Nature

Found Bosch and Dali looking for sand on the beach. Well at least Hockney wasn't there.





... and all this next to a great steaming pile of lava ...

The end of the road or a jurassic lark ?

The great, wise dialectical endormi has had plenty of time to meditate at the moment. It is raining and it has been raining a lot. So much so that the beaches have been turned to mud and are closed due to pollution. Pollution ? The papers say it is caused by all the vegetation and mud washed down out of the ravines that abound. The truth is more likely all the crap that people throw in the ravines. Whatever, I shan't be going to the beach as the road has got there before me and is adding to the debris ...


Still, it is interesting to be reminded that at least we cannot control everything and Nature reclaiming a bit of tarmac seems just.


I was wittering somewhere about photography and light. Thinking aloud that water is perhaps light and Thales is a candle.


Whatever, the endormi is making a great effort to cross the mudflats ...

Extinction and the two fingered sandal

Sometimes, life is all about having your head on the right way up. Perception should be prior to interpretation although, unfortunately, gestalt is a form of fascism which reverts this process. I read something the other day which implied that photography was not so much about form but about light. The form is imposed, culturally, egoistically or otherwise. The beauty is in the act of perceiving ...


The joy is in the act of perception. Of course this is all nonsense and is what one gets from staring too long into limpid pools of one's projected ego. Still, it is better than banal political waffle ....


Which brings me to the great environmental catastrophe debate - if a debate it is. Extinction is the absence of light and is pretty final no matter how one perceives or interprets it. Even for geckos ...

Writing on the wall or the thin red line ?

With the visit of Sarkozy a fading memory - unlike the hundreds of flags that still adorn his route to the hotel - I was going to moan about something else. Tags, or graffiti as it be known in the anglophone world. Tags are everywhere, rather like free t-shirts with banal sycophantic political slogans. Those that are jolly I fail to understand (see above) and those written in English display a thorough understanding of the vernacular - "fuck the police"


However, being of a certain age means that I moan about everything I can't or won't do and I must say that Sarkozy spoke a reasonable amount of sense during his "best wishes" monologue. Except ...

Things may fall apart, but they also have a strange way of coming together. Haiti is suffering and has been suffering since its inception. Haiti was a French colony - yes the place where certain French historians insist the "gas chamber" was invented, obviously not wanting to be outdone the Brits invented the concentration camp, so don't feel too smug. Réunion is a French "department" - please bear in mind the difference between a colony and a department.

Haiti suffers more today because of its history and because it is poor. Reunion is rich because it is a French department, is this why there is no viable independence movement?


No one really talks about independence on Reunion but Sarkozy wanted to preempt any such thoughts during his speech :

"Avec une seule ligne rouge dont je n'accepterai jamais qu'elle soit franchie, celle de l'indépendance"

. "L'Outre-Mer est français et restera français".

Sounds all very nineteenth century colonialism to me. Makes one wonder what one would think had any other head of state uttered the same phrases - Britain with Mauritius for example ?

It is said that when the sun sets below the horizon of the Indian Ocean on a clear day one can perceive, for a split second, an illuminating green line. I can imagine where the red line of Sarkozy leads, but where is that green line going ...

Sarkozy arrives for supper ...

... and what value do you place upon your freedom. That of a blue t-shirt ?

Good news bad news ...

Tis not often that I have some cheery news from the isle slowly sinking under the weight of its human population and attending detritus. Well, I haven't ...


But Kew Gardens have. Apparently, one of their researchers on the island has discovered a very benevolent sorta cricket that instead of devouring plants (orchids in this case), it pollinates them. Now if such wonders can be found on a small island crammed with 800,000 greedy souls what more rests in the great out there beyond ? Even the BBC found it interesting ! It is strangely named the Raspy Cricket and a scientific name has yet to be found - Criketus Lastus Hopeus ?


Oh, why such cynicism ? Well, it might have something to do with the fact that during the night of Sunday last fast clouds of deltamethrine descended upon the isle in order to combat the "nasty" mossie. Of course, insecticide is not selective and as this is highly toxic too all but warm blooded (read cold hearted) species there may not be a lot of hope for the Raspy rascal.

So just what is the volcano up to ?

Actually, it is still huffing and a puffing but I haven't the time to go and observe. Darn ! So, if youse are wondering what it is like and if the rain has held off long enough here are a few snaps taken by the OVPF :