A ‘skulk’ of fox pups – Putting in the time to capture wildlife images

Fox pup
What you looking at ..... ?

In April a ‘skulk’ of four fox pups and their parents appeared in a den in woodlands not far from my home on the North Downs in Surrey.  I came across them by accident on a walk with my Labrador pup – there in a field were a frolic of pups playing in the sun who scampered when they saw us but then could not resist peeking back at us.  I took Toffee dog home and returned with my camera to start a series of watches which were each about 3 – 4 hours long – I did eight or nine watches over a period of 2 weeks and captured a great set of images.  These images won the “Editor’s Choice” award in Amateur Photographer Magazine – see the Blog entry. Continue reading “A ‘skulk’ of fox pups – Putting in the time to capture wildlife images”

Dealing with demons – Part 1: Development work – the realities of the long haul.

Rural development in sub-Saharan Africa is a vast area of activity embracing one of the most intractable problems of the 20th – 21st centuries.  Much has been done since the end of the colonial era in the 1960s and a great deal has been achieved and yet the problems remain endemic and a real blight on the progress of human achievement.  In almost all countries there remains enormous challenges in all sectors – health, education, agriculture, housing, financial systems, human rights, and basic services such as energy, water supply, transport and communications.  The great irony is that today – March 30, 2010 – whilst millions of people carried dirty water to impoverished homes all over Africa, scientists celebrated the first successful particle collision in the Large Hadron Collider in Cern, Switzerland in the biggest machine ever built costing untold billions of dollars.  Continue reading “Dealing with demons – Part 1: Development work – the realities of the long haul.”

Dealing with demons – Introduction

The word is mightier than the sword

I am not sure this is very wise – putting it all out there in a blog.  I think that Blogging is somewhat pretentious, the assumption that you have something useful to say to the whole wide world that anybody would be interested in reading.  It reminds me of a radio talk show I listened to in South Africa some years ago – a listener had phoned in and explained in intimate detail her gynecological condition.  When asked by the talk-show host if she had spoken to her doctor she said that she was too embarrassed. . . !   There is a point at which mass anonymity is easier to cope with than one-on-one intimacy.  In a series of articles I will be writing about the experiences of the long-term development worker and depression.  Dealing with demons. Each article will be a work in progress – I will probably go back to each multiple times and edit them substantially over time.

I have decided to do this in the hopes that the exercise may be of help to others if this is not too vain or presumptuous.  It may also be cathartic for me, if this is not too indulgent – boy do we have hangups sufficient to stop anyone from writing anything!

The initial set of topics will be as follows:-

1. Development work – the realities of the long haul.
2. The dark hole – dealing with the demons of depression
3. The myth of “Making a difference”
4. Footprints – the impacts of development
5. Large or small – the dilemma of  scale in development
6. Travel – the Temptress and the Slave Driver

Featuring Cathedrals 2: Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England is the Mother Church of the world-wide Anglican Communion and seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Cathedral, dating back to 597, is both a holy place and part of a World Heritage Site. It is the home of a community of people who seek to make the Cathedral a place of welcome, beauty and holiness.  Visit the Cathedral web site for further information on the history and current activities of the Cathedral. Continue reading “Featuring Cathedrals 2: Canterbury Cathedral”

Getting around in Kinshasa

Congo River - Kinshasa
Congo River - looking from Kinshasa across the river to Brazzaville

If you travel a lot over a long period you will probably have an accumulation of currency which is very colourful but now quite useless.  It will either have been devalued to the point of irrelevance or no longer be in use.  I was looking through my stash the other day and came across a 50,000  Nouveau XZaires note from Zaire before it became the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997.  I have traveled to DRC several times, both when it was Zaire and as DRC.  I recall going to a small streetside shop to get a sandwich for lunch once and noting that the wad of notes it cost was thicker than the sandwich itself.  On one memorable trip to Kinshasa I learned that it is probably better to have a driver than to drive your self …. Continue reading “Getting around in Kinshasa”