Category Archives: personal

memes, personal, photography

05-02-10 Meme


05-02-10 Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

Here are the 12 questions, and my answers, to this week’s Flickr meme:

1. What was the last movie you saw in the theatre? None; in England you don’t watch movies in a theatre; it’s called a cinema!
2. Which parent do you think was the easiest for you to talk to when you were growing up? My mother
3. What shoes did you wear today? Trainers
4. What is your favourite season? Summer
5. Gum or Candy? Chocolate
6. When dismantling a bomb, do you cut the black wire or the yellow wire? The pink wire.
7. Do you whistle? Only when I snore
8. What is your favourite flower? Roses
9. Queen, The Beatles, or Rolling Stones? Late Beatles
10. What languages do you speak? English, maths, science, logic, common sense
11. Which chocolate company do you like the most? Divine
12. Top thing on your “to do” list? Make an appointment with my piercer

1. THE DOME, Cinema Worthing., 2. All About My Mother, 3. Inky trainer, 4. Hot, Air, Balloons … composite, 5. Chocolate heart on a pink gerbera daisy flower for you! (square), 6. Barbed Wire Pink, 7. Snore Graffitti, 8. Shades of ‘Marianne’ (hybrid gallica), 9. 170 – 1969 – Beatles, The – Abbey Road – UK – late 1970s, 10. another day., 11. The Heart Of Every Girl, 12. NEW LABRET PIERCING

As always the photographs are not mine so please click on individual links below to see each artist/photostream. This mosaic is for a group called My Meme, where each week there is a different theme and normally 12 questions to send you out on a hunt to discover photos to fit your meme. It gives you a chance to see and admire other great photographers’ work out there on Flickr.

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys

nudism, personal, thoughts

Are children traumatised by nudity?

1 Comment

This question is posed by Vanessa Woods in her blog Your Inner Bonobo.  As an anthropologist Woods, an Australian living in America, clearly doesn’t understand the default American assumption that the answer to the question is “Yes”.

This is something about America that puzzles me. What do children stare at for the first year of their life? I think it’s a female breast. Did [male student] think at the sight of naked breasts, every child under 5 would be lining up for a feed, like at an ice cream truck?  What is it, exactly, about breasts, that would be so terrifying to children?

[…] at no time have I seen a woman in public pull down her top and breast feed her child – which is totally common place in oz. And my friends here have told me it’s not socially acceptable.

Can someone explain it to me? Why is a wardrobe malfunction [as per Janet Jackson] a threat
to moral authority?

I fear that the explanation for America and the UK lies in the puritanism of the religious right. And of course as I’ve blogged before (for instance here) this seems to me and many others to be the root cause of the high rate of teenage pregnancy etc. in these two countries.

But what is the real answer to the question?  Are children really traumatised by nudity?

No, of course they’re not! Isn’t it daft just to suggest that they are?

In a recent-ish article in British Naturism’s magazine (BN, issue 182, Winter 2009; I’ve naughtily put a copy of the article online as it isn’t otherwise freely accessible to non-members) Roni Fine

explores the issues that surround the presumption from the outside world that simply being nude means a lot of saucy goings-on.

Yes a large part of the article is about the erroneous perception that the naturist movement is, by its very nature, merely a cover for “adult” activity.  It isn’t, and there’s the problem. Roni Fine goes on …

Too many people […] just cannot differentiate nudity from sex. If only they would visit a typical naturist club […]

The times I have heard people say it is “disgusting” to be undressed in front of children. They use [children] to warrant their own outrage […]

Outrage, I might add, which the same people cannot articulate when asked. Fine continues …

Children are not associating what they see with anything remotely sexual; they just see bodies. They grow up with a realistic attitude to the human form. I envy their upbringing.

And further on here’s the crux of the whole problem at an individual level: basically people don’t think things through:

[…] something is only “rude” if you perceive it to be so. How can the natural body be deemed as rude? We all have one, it is how we are made and it isn’t “rude” until someone tells us it is … so who are they to decide? And why let them dictate their own hang ups onto other people?

As BN’s researched briefing paper Children and Nudity says:

Young children are completely oblivious to their own nudity. Consider the archetypal nude toddler in the supermarket with a trail of discarded clothing behind them.

As they get older they are taught that clothing must be worn but until about age 10 or 11 it doesn’t really take hold. They will quite happily go naked when the circumstances are appropriate.

As children enter their teens they become more body conscious and unless they have prior experience of naturism they are usually nervous about participating.

Many naturist children become more reticent as they enter their teens but then teenagers are notorious for not wanting to do the things that their parents do. They do usually continue to participate, at least for activities such as swimming, and many return to naturism when they become more mature […]

There is no evidence that children are any more at risk at naturists events than at equivalent textile events. Indeed in some ways they are safer.

Let me end on a personal note …

I admit I had a somewhat bohemian upbringing, back in the 1950s and 60s. So it should be no surprise that when I was about 9 or 10 my parents were foresighted enough to organise a couple of summer holidays at a nudist club in Essex. I was totally not bothered by this; indeed I enjoyed the nudity and running round in the sun all day. Yes I realised that little girls were constructed differently to me; just as there was a difference between my parents’ anatomies. Beyond that I couldn’t care less; if anything I was more amused by the size and shape of peoples’ bums (typical small boy!). And that was the point; it was all part of my education to make me aware that people were all different and to be comfortable with nudity. It succeeded. I have retained that comfort ever since, even (as I recall) through the embarrassed teenage years.

So there we seem to have an answer.  Are children traumatised by nudity? Absolutely not – unless the adults they’re with tell them they are.

Adults … get a life!

memes, personal, photography

4-18-10 Meme


4-18-10 Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

Here are the 12 questions, and my answers, to this week’s Flickr meme:

1. Night Owl or Morning Person? Neither, but slightly more lark than owl
2. What is the one thing that will make you happy? Beer
3. If you could be someone else for a day, who would it be? God, except he doesn’t exist so I can’t
4. If you somehow became the opposite sex, what is the first thing you would do? Have sex; like probably most men I want to know what sex is like for a woman. Oh I’ll do all the other thigs as well, but let’s start at the beginning!
5. What time is it right now? Later than I’d like
6. Random word. Go Vespiary
7. What is the plural form of “Starbucks”? Poisoning
8. If you won 40 Billion in the lottery, what is the first thing you’d do? Faint
9. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Of course but you will never know
10. X-men or Spiderman? Xanthene; makes as much sense as the choices offered!
11. Sword or gun?Penis. Remember “Make love not war”? Or to put it another way: “The penis mightier than the sword”.
12. What do you do for fun on your day off? Be depressed

1. NO ONE LOVES ME & NEITHER DO I, 2. Adnams, 3. nothing, 4. Stephanie1, 5. Beware the Moon, 6. vespiary – under construction, 7. Poison Midnight, 8. faint pink lips, 9. You’ll never know if he’ll have body hair!, 10. The Secret to Cloning — Revealed!, 11. Penis_girl, 12. Soul

As always the photographs are not mine so please click on individual links below to see each artist/photostream. This mosaic is for a group called My Meme, where each week there is a different theme and normally 12 questions to send you out on a hunt to discover photos to fit your meme. It gives you a chance to see and admire other great photographers’ work out there on Flickr.

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys

memes, personal, photography

4-4-10 Meme


4-4-10 Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

So here are this week’s 12 questions and answers:

1. In your opinion, which country produces the best wine? France
2. What is your current favourite song? Oh, for today, let’s choose the Moody Blues, “Nice to be Here”
3. How would you describe your sense of humour? Eccentric
4. Adidas or Nike? Neither
5. Audrey Hepburn or Marilyn Monroe? Neither have ever done anything for me
6. Lemon or lime? Today it’s lemon, but it’s marginal and depends what for
7. How many megapixels on your camera on your phone? No clue; don’t care; don’t use it; I have a camera!
8. What do you think God looks like? As he doesn’t exist he can’t look like anything – probably
9. Do you like Pirates of the Caribbean? Only if barbecued
10. What’s your favourite pasta? Seafood linguini
11. Apples or oranges? Apples
12. What is the best airline company? Whichever has magic carpets

1. Sarlat – Frankreich – Le Moyen-Âge – france, 2. Corfe Castle, 3. Winnebago DaVinci, 4. WILD DIVA, 5. We Can Do It!, 6. Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet, But the fruit of the lemon is impossible to eat., 7. i don’t care., 8. righteous blasphemy, 9. Pirates of the Caribbean – HMS Interceptor makes way under a Full Moon, 10. Linguini Pescatore, 11. Clouds in my apple, 12. magic carpet ride

As always the photographs are not mine so please click on individual links below to see each artist/photostream. This mosaic is for a group called My Meme, where each week there is a different theme and normally 12 questions to send you out on a hunt to discover photos to fit your meme. It gives you a chance to see and admire other great photographers’ work out there on Flickr.

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys

memes, personal

ABC of Me

I found this one ages ago and keep meaning to do it.  So at last here is an ABC of me …

Age: 59
Bed: King size; if the bedroom was bigger we’d probably have a bigger bed
Chore you hate: all of them except cooking
Dog’s name: Sue; went to the great kennel in the sky 40 years ago
Essential start your day item: Tea
Favourite colours: Red, yellow, green
Gold or Silver: Silver; it’s a pity is is so soft
Height: 1.8m
Instruments you [wish you could] play: I always fancied the trombone, or something odd like a serpent, or a jazz-style double bass
Job title: Resident Idiot
Kids: None; phew!
Living arrangements: A house that looks like a jumble sale
Mom’s name: Dora
Nicknames: None that I’ll admit to 😉
Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Not many, actually: sleep clinic a couple of times, appendectomy, sinus operation
Pet Peeve: Politicians and the religious
Quote from a movie and/or book: “It’ll pass, Sir, like other days in the Army” [Anthony Powell; The Soldier’s Art]
Right or left handed: Right and only right
Siblings: None
Time you wake up: 0630 hrs on swimming days
Underwear: Boxers, when I have to; nothing if I’m at home or wearing shorts
Vegetable you dislike: Sweetcorn
Ways you run late: Travel delays are about the only thing which ever makes me late
X-rays you’ve had: Mostly dental; but there have been others: sinuses, bowel, kidneys, foot
Yummy food you make: Curry
Zodiac sign: Capricorn

Make of that what you will.

arts, history, personal, photography

60 Years Ago

In turning out some papers at my mother’s bungalow, I came across a couple of pages of badly typed text characteristic of my father. Reading the text it turns out to be the start of (I feel) a slightly romanticised version of my parents’ experiences of the garden etc. on moving into my childhood home in September 1950. My father must have written it in 1967. I’ve tidied the text up and am reproducing it here for posterity, should he be interested.

When we moved to Waltham Cross in September 1950 it was like moving to the country. After living in a flat in Camden Town, it was wonderful to be able to walk out of the house into the garden, although it had been neglected for more than 6 months.

I resolved to keep (some sort of) an account of the wildlife that came to visit us, for although only 12 miles from London we were on the edge of the northern suburbs and open country was not far away.

Over the years this has changed. More and more people have come to live here, and during the last 8 years, since a second station was opened and the line electrified, the population has increased enormously and we are now well in the suburbs.

Our small garden, 16 feet wide by 80-100 feet long, was cut in two by a central path. Immediately outside the kitchen door there were several ramshackle sheds. And a wire fence divided the small patch of grass from the so-called kitchen garden, which contained most of the soft fruits, a very well pruned pear tree, and one enormous sunflower.

It was several years before the pear tree fruited properly, and when we found it was a Conference pear we were overjoyed. It has grown to a beautiful shape and is a joy to behold when it blooms in April. In autumn it normally sheds its leaves without much change of colour, but it sometimes surprises us and in November 196? [the year is unreadable – K] was more beautiful in gold leaf than it was in flower in spring. It held these golden leaves for several days and shed a sunny light over all the garden. Then in two days it was bare and the ground beneath was almost knee deep in gold. It is one thing I would be very sorry to leave. [See above for a painting of the pear tree by my mother – K]

During that first winter we were busy with the house and having a baby [that was me – K], and the garden was left to itself. I hung up cheese for the tits to feed on and they came to feed, lifting the cheese up to the branch on which they were standing and pecking away at it. The one enormous sunflower was a fine bird table, and tits, Wrens and Greenfinches all came to take the seeds. I was sorry when it became empty, it was such a feeding place for birds.

We made small excursions from the house and discovered that our lane led to grassy marshes bordering the River Lea. This lane is an old British track which comes from the hills of Hertfordshire. Once across the marsh there are corresponding tracks leading into the hills of Essex.

By April the weather was wonderful, and on the 26th there were swallows over the house, in the evening. On the 29th I heard a Cuckoo for the first time that year at 6 AM. There he was again the next morning at 6 AM and again at 3.45 in the afternoon. But the good weather was short lived and in May we had a second winter. In spite of this cold weather the hawthorns were in full blossom. And Yellow Deadnettle, Herb Robert and Holly were in flower in Theobalds Lane.

The summer was spent reorganising the garden. First the old sheds had to come down. Then once they were cleared and burnt, we were able to take up the central path and relay it. We decided that it should be straight at the bottom of the garden, for convenience of growing a few vegetables. But where we were going to make a lawn, a sweeping curve of crazy paving should follow the line of the flower border. This irregular border gave added interest to the long narrow garden.

We transplanted the fruit bushes to a bed between the lawn and the vegetables, and planted rambler roses along the fences. Now in the summer time when they are all in leaf, we have a green enclosure where we can relax in the sun.

In September that year [1951] I was doing some chores at the kitchen sink when a sudden disturbance caught my ear. Looking up I saw 12 Long-Tailed Tits in the apple tree. We had only once before seen long-tailed tits and that was in a Sussex copse. I hoped they had come to stay, but in a trice they had gone. In the next January they came again, but only to pass through. In the 17 years we have been here I have seen these birds only on these two occasions.

What my father doesn’t mention in this are the coldness of the house, the regularly frozen pipes in winter (and his temper in having to deal with them before going to work), hot water thanks only to an Ideal boiler, open wood (or coal) fires, keeping chickens and the wonderful acres of rose nursery opposite our house which were sadly grubbed up for housing in the late 1950s. He does, though, hint at the delightfulness of the blackcurrants and raspberries from the garden.

Quoted text (c) Robert Edward Marshall, 1967

beliefs, nudism, personal, thoughts

Naturist Belief

Having mentioned naturism (again!) in my previous post, I thought it might be wise to reprint here the Naturist Beliefs, as documented on the British Naturism website.

Naturist Belief

Naturists believe that nudity is an enjoyable, natural and moral state which brings benefits to themselves and to society at large.

Decency and Shame
The human body in all its diversity is an object of intrinsic beauty of which the owner should be proud.
Simple nudity is not indecent, shameful, or immoral.

Children
Bringing up children to respect their own and others’ bodies improves their well-being and fosters more responsible sexual behaviour as they grow up.
Children have a right to know what humans really look like.

Social Division and Respect
Naturism engenders self-respect and respect for others regardless of shape, age, gender, size, colour, or disability.
People should be accepted for who they are and not for what they wear.
Communal nudity discourages social barriers but clothing accentuates social differences.

Clothing
Clothing can provide needed protection but often it is unnecessary and it can be harmful.
Naturism transcends fashion.
In a tolerant society what to wear is a matter of personal choice.
Governments should promote toleration and not impose unnecessary restrictions on freedom.

Environment, Nature, and Quality of Life
Naturism encourages respect for, and harmony with, the environment.
Naturism can add to the quality of life through the enjoyment of simplicity.
Naturism can reduce impact on the environment.

As the BN page says in it’s preamble:

Not every naturist will agree with all of it … but that is no different from any other belief system.  For some naturists it will form part of a religion but for others it will be part of their philosophy or life.

I’ll go along with the “philosophy of life” bit but not the “religion”.  I’ll also go along with 99% of the beliefs, even if I wouldn’t weight them all equally.

memes, personal, thoughts

What is this Thing Called Life?

I’ve stolen this meme from both My Life Inside and Bringing up Charlie mainly because I thought it might be a bit of harmless fun.

I’m not going to tag anyone – but anyone is welcome to do this meme and tag others as they see fit.

OK, so …

I collect … all sorts of dross, but mostly books.  Just books, books, books.  Interleaved with the occasional bit of technology and music and dross.  It’s no wonder really our house is a good emulation of a distressed jumble sale: I buy new stuff and Noreen doesn’t throw anything away.  Anybody got a month to spare to come round and sort it all out for us?  If so, bring a skip!

I can’t live without … well let’s be honest we could all live without everything except occasional food and water.  But there are things without which we would struggle to feel life worthwhile.  For me this would include, but may not be limited to, Noreen, cats, good food, beer, books and access to the natural world.

My guilty pleasure is … I don’t have guilty pleasures!  Why are pleasures always supposed to be guilty anyway?  But I do have a few pleasures: sex, beer, erotica, cats, nudity.  If you think any of them are guilty, then that’s your problem, not mine.  Guilt, like obscenity, is in the mind of the beholder.

Our house is filled with … dross.  Piles of it.  And books.  See above.

I treasure my … mind.  I am able to think; logically.  I was trained that way.  It saves me from all forms of Devil worshippers.  And as Noreen has said in the past “mind the size of the Albert Hall and he runs around in it”.  Slight exaggeration, but flattering nonetheless.

Right now I can’t stop thinking about  … well being a bloke the obvious answer is: sex.  After all aren’t all men supposed to think of sex every 4 seconds or something daft.  More prosaically I’m contemplating all the useful things I should be doing instead of this.  Boring!

Currently I am reading … the pile of books about 6 feet high beside the bed.  Books on science, mythology, Chaucer, Anthony Powell, Romney Marsh … it’s all there!

My favourite item of clothing is … nothing.  Yes, that’s right, I’m happiest in the nude.  Well I did have a Bohemian and naturist upbringing!  One of my underlying philosophies is: Nude when possible; clothed when necessary.  Sadly the necessary is all too frequent.

The last thing that really inspired me was … Oh My God, That Britni’s Shameless.  Whether you agree with the young lady or not (and it happens I do agree with a lot she says) she is so outspoken and tells it as she sees it, that she has made me question not only what I believe but also the extent to which, and how, I communicate this.

My comfort food is … errr … food?  Quite a few things fall into the comfort food category: fish and chips; sausages; almost anything in good cheese sauce, beer.  All of them hideously bad for one – but that’s the point isn’t it?

On my desk are … PC, screen, keyboard and mouse; laser printer; backup disk array; filing trays; phone; piles of paperwork; pens; keys; mobile phone; rubber stamps; half a dozen CDs; teddy bear; fax machine; tissues; vase of daffodils; and a large mug of tea.  Yes it is a large desk (aka. worktop).

This weekend I will … catch up on some sleep; try to empty the spare bedroom ready for house guests.

Tonight I must … take delivery of the supermarket order.

I love what I do because … as I’m retired I can do whatever the hell I like!!

So there it is.  Do with it as you will.  After all, it’s free!

memes, personal, photography

3-28-10 Meme


3-28-10 Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

I haven’t done the weekly Flickr meme for a while, for no reason other than it just hasn’t happened. Anyway here are this week’s 12 questions and answers:

1. Do you zip or button first? Button, but only if there’s no Velcro
2. What are you listening to right now? Nothing
3. Which band did you last see live? An Elastic Band
4. What book are you currently reading? A pile about 4 feet high
5. Give one reason why you would hate a person. Stupidity
6. What is your favourite type of music? Medieval Latin Church
7. What food do you dislike? Egg custard
8. Would you rather be a vampire, werewolf, or zombie? Vampire
9. Have you ever smoked? Yes
10. If you were rich, what is the first one of these you would hire: Personal Chef, maid, masseuse, chauffeur, or trainer? Maid
11. What defines you? Y chromosome
12. What do you think of Africa? Boring

1. Belly Button Cow, 2. ‘garden of dreams’ original ink brush pwn sumi-e drawing/painting, 3. A random selection of scattered elastic bands with experimental post-processing, 4. Pile of Books in Prague Library, 5. Stupidity Sign, 6. The 15th Century Ranworth Antiphoner, 7. egg custard tart, 8. София, България. Събота, 25-ти юли, 2009., 9. Yes / Close To The Edge, 10. Sexy Anime Maid, 11. Phalluzoïde ou l’Origine du Sex (Please do not touch, lick, stroke or mount this artwork), 12. www.flickr.com/photos/crustydolphin/2430434405/

As always the photographs are not mine so please click on individual links below to see each artist/photostream. This mosaic is for a group called My Meme, where each week there is a different theme and normally 12 questions to send you out on a hunt to discover photos to fit your meme. It gives you a chance to see and admire other great photographers’ work out there on Flickr.

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys

history, personal, photography

What Cannot Speak Cannot Lie …

1 Comment

When I was with 94-year-old my mother last weekend, helping her pack up to move into residential care, she gave me a fairly awful black and white photograph of the parish church in the town in which I grew up.  The church is St Mary the Virgin at Cheshunt, Hertfordshire.  Recognising the style of the print I know the photo was taken by my mother, probably in the early 1970s, from the park opposite the church.  What’s more she printed it herself on her home-made enlarger.  Just the fact that she made the enlarger and got semi-decent prints from it is in itself amazing!  But that’s my mother: at one point over the weekend I asked her if there was anything she hadn’t ever made; she had to think and finally the only thing she could come up with was canework.  If it’s anything much else to do with art and craft she’s tried it – I salvaged from the bungalow a box full of her pottery and several portfolios of paintings, many dating from over 60 years ago!

Anyway here is a straight scan of the totally nondescript 11x16cm print …

Not being one to waste a good image having scanned it, I played around with it in Paint Shop Pro (which for most things I find easier than Photoshop).  Here is the scanned image dressed up as an 1840s Daguerreotype and then as an 1870s Albumen print.

What a difference five minutes work makes.

When I’ve got my new photo printer I shall have to send, or take, my mother copies.  Knowing her she will then frame them!  Having moved her into the care home last Monday afternoon, I went to see her at 10am the following morning.  I found her with a small table already set up, a Stanley knife in her hand, in the middle of reframing a photograph of her late dog.  Yes, she’s 94!