New levels of stimulation [357]

Greetings from Anglesey...

Yes I’m back in Wales. And it’s beautiful. I hope you don’t mind me rushing this out. The guys I am with are opening bottles of wine faster than I can drink them.

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#TheAction

Since I last wrote I left Warwickshire and all the fun and frolics we had there and spent a couple of days on the south coast having more. That might now be the end of the family holidays as they are back home and after a brief spot of packing and getting the bike serviced I’m now in Wales with friends. Here is one of them (Adam) performing said service and ensuring my bike is still way faster than his bag of bolts.

The other guy with us is Jake. I’ve not known him that long but as his panniers are mostly wine plus he is medically trained and the perfect addition to the team. We have wound our way through traffic and tribulations into Wales with no real plan other than to camp out. Twisty roads, interesting places and epicurean antics are what we are looking for and this campsite at Tre Dryw is a great start.

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#ThePictures

Thanks to @TopGold for reminding me about this lovely little camera and how it can be used.

Always wanted an Olympus Pen ee3. They can be found but I can’t really justify one right now.

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#TheWords

While in Worthing I found myself at 8-10, Gratwicke Road. The home of Badgers Books. Ray Potter the proprietor has been running this shop for 40 years.

It specialises in second hand and antiquarian books and I found it easy to get lost in amongst the 25,000+ books across it’s five rooms. One rooms was dedicated to kids books, comics and annuals, but elsewhere topics ranged from the arts, history, transport, local topography and there was a huge range of occult, magick and other esoteric titles.

I decided to read something I would never normally read and the moment I thought that, this book not only leapt out at me, but I found myself at the till, money in hand.

Walking Backwards: The Magical Art of Psychedelic Psychogeography is not only a strange title, it’s a strange little book. [link on amazon]

It explores different ways of seeing, enjoying, and participating in the landscape. Weirdly it touches upon some story seeding practises I can very much relate to. Especially after playing with things like audiocaching.

I’ll have to take the book into the wilds and try out some of the exercises.

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#TheSound

Gotta love the #TheRemoaners. A friend made this…

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When I was a kid my Mum used to sing a particular song and our little jack russell used to join in howling her little heart out. Both me and my brother learned the trick and would regularly spontaneously break out into song should we want to cause chaos.

Up until last week I thought that song was called. All for the wings of a dove. Until I googled it.

Here is a documentary about the boy who sang the original song and made it famous.

Pretty sure my Mum knew the original. I wonder why she never corrected us.

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#TheConsumed

Pasta. One of the most popular meals of the modern world. It’s been around for over 2000 years in one form or another and in 2008, it was estimated Italians ate over 27 kg of pasta per person. I might not be far behind that. We certainly have it at least once a week. And I always make more than I need.

Mostly, spaghetti, fusilli, rigatoni, conchiglie, tagliatelle, farfalle and tortellini. There is so much more to try though.

Sometimes a simple sauce is all you need. Try just, a half cup of decent olive oil, thinly sliced garlic, plus chopped parsley and chilli flakes. Heat the oil, add the garlic and cook till golden. Then once the pasta is cooked, drain but while still damp toss the pasta in the oil adding the parsley and chilli flakes. Add parmesan to finish.

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#TheThings

Just as I was pining over the Olympus Pen ee3 I found an Olympus OM10 while tidying the garage. Complete with a manual adapter and 50mm f1.8 lens attached.

It’s like finding treasure. Especially as this camera was a gift from my photography mentor Graham Wiseman. As I was busy shooting film on Nikon and Leica bodies I’m ashamed to say that I never got to run a roll through this. It’s quite compact and light compared to other SLRs I have handled. I’m looking forward to running a roll through it. Might be some quality bonus content for supporting subscribers. ;-)

Here is a review of the OM10 from 11 years ago.

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#TheThanks

I must thank the subscribers that pay $5/month to get all the content I share into this feed. If you are able to do so please hit the upgrade button.

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#TheWeb

• Emily Maitlis has said a BBC board member is an “active agent of the Conservative party”…

• Even the coastlines near me are not immune to sewage.

• Thank you for adding yourself to the Documentally community map.

• In praise of bewilderment.

• Need to understand the molecular composition of your tattoo ink. Check out what’s in my ink.

• Looks like Twitter’s ‘podcasts’ tab might happen.

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#TheEnd

There are geese running around the campsite and pigs munching leftover brewers waste just a stones throw away. A fighter pilot called Kieran has just rocked up in a camper van. Never a dull moment. Excuse me if I have to leave things here. I’ll be back in a few days or so. And then the ‘work’ begins. I’m going to write a book. At some point. I’m only telling you this as i’ve had a drink or two. I have no idea what it might look like. But as a thank you to the supporting subscribers I will be serialising the no doubt painful journey from idea to physical object in the bonus emails you have yet to sign up to. ;-)

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“If you see a campfire as just a fire, your imagination is very weak, because it is not a lifeless warmth, but a mysterious friend who came to visit you in the darkness of the forest and shared your food, dreams and life!” ~ Mehmet Murat ildan

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Sleep out.

See you out there.

Over…