Window into the Past - Brighton Beach, 1896

I've been poking round YouTube a bit lately, as I guess some of us do when we're not looking round, shall we say, more 'serious' sites.

And for no particular reason, I searched 'old film' and turned up this glimpse into the life of ordinary people in late C19 England.

The footage shows average people doing a variety of everyday activities as they stroll along Brighton Beach in 1896.

A myriad of separate impressions.

A young woman on the left in a white blouse trying to control the extraordinary floral construction of her late Victorian hat. Is it a windy day?

Office workers, in suits with bowler hats in hand, walking self-consciously towards and past the camera.

Two middle-aged women arm-in-arm slowly ambling along, probably happily gossiping. Long black dresses sweeping the sand.

Small children digging animatedly in the sand, again on the left.

A working-class man bending over to gently and caringly take the hand of a tiny son.

Periodic parasols, unfurled. Is it a sunny day?

A man in a white jacket with a white suitcase who has been chatting to a group of women and then walks away down the beach. Has he been trying to sell them something? Wonder what? Some artificial flowers? A wooden toy for a child? Did he mange a sale?

And, at the end, two smiling pre-teenage girls flitting across the foreground, quite close-up.

I realize part of the interest is trying to work out what's going on!

The film is a bit grainy but I think this adds to the sense of it being taken over a hundred years ago. And gives it a nice resonance with Impressionist paintings of similar scenes:

Eugene Boudin 'La plage de Trouville', 1865

Eugene Boudin 'Woman with a Parasol on the Beach', 1880

Claude Monet 'La plage de Trouville', 1864

Anyway, I was cyber-chatting to a friend who asked if I'd down-loaded the footage. And I had to confess I didn't know you could. So he told me about the free version of RealPlayer (at www.realplayer.com). Once you have it, you simply start a non-copyright video and a box appears above the window asking if you want to download it. I'm burning most of this stuff onto DVD so as not to kill my hard disc.

Armed with this new software, some (all?!) of you guys might well head off to the more 'serious' sites I mentioned - if you do, you'll be bumping into me, a lot!

Family Flying in August 1920

Aircraft in Flight on 13 August 1920 in Queensland, Australia

My great grandmother must have been one of the first aircraft passengers in Australia.

On the 17th March 1920, she paid the then huge sum of ten pounds (around twenty dollars) for a ten minute flight - hardly time to get up before coming down!

My Great Grandmother, 1900

Happily she saved the ticket issued to her by Australian Aircraft Pty Ltd.

It has two sections: 'This portion to be retained by the passenger' and 'This portion to be given to the pilot'. The ticket indicates the name of the pilot ('Capt. Legget') and the type of aeroplane used ('AW'). I'm a bit surprised by the degree of administrative detail for what was essentially just a very early and short joy ride. But I guess it could have been for souvenir purposes as much as anything else.

The figure '4' top right shows she was the fourth person to try out this new fangled contraption!

But the momento of this occasion that is for me most interesting is her pencil written account of the event - while still in the air!

She records the take off ('the air 5pm 17-3-20') and the landing ('5.10pm going to land').

Then she puts down her sensations:

'Flying near Inglewood. S M White. Sensation great. Paddocks look like garden beds. Motor cars look like dogs'.

And I now remember this was not unlike my own first experience - the fascination with the miniaturisation of ordinary things like houses and trees and roads and so on.

My great grandmother later added in ink down the left hand side that she flew at '1000 ft in air' and 'Travelled 12 minutes'. And down the right hand side that the plane was an 'Armstrong Whitworth Aeroplane 160 HP'.

I'm guessing that the aircraft she took could have been like the one pictured above, flying in Australia on the 13th August 1920.

My great grandmother's experience makes me feel in actual contact with one of the bigger events of history - the accomplishment of flight!

Mystery Object - Elaborated

Obviously, no prizes for guessing we had a male 'chastity belt' in our midst ...


... but what I didn't tell you was that I'd held back my absolute favorite style ...


... which has a kinda Porsche Carrera look ... it's the high gloss and the sleek elegant classic curves ...


... a similarity made more striking when 'a la maison' or 'in place' ...



... just imagine yourself driving this hot shiny 'baby' down to your local gay watering hole ... .

Though perhaps I've stretched the idea one stage too far! What do you think?

Or is this elaboration enough to change your minds about getting one for your 'utilities' cupboard?

Today's Mystery Object

They come in two basic styles - 'the cage' (illustrated above) and 'the desk knickknack'' (below).


Each style is available in a wide range of colours and sizes.

So three questions:

• What is it?

• Do you have one?

• Do you need one? (You may have to consult your partner to get the 'right' answer to this question!)

Well?

Answer to the first question tomorrow, along with photos of the object in use.

As if you won't guess in a nanosecond!

There are Pools .... and there are POOLS!

The pool at home seemed pretty satisfactory - you know, 30 metres long, 2 metres deep, blah, blah, blah.

But then last month, THE pool opened at the Alfonso del Mar resort at Algarrobo on the southern coast of Chile.

1000 metres in length, a 20 acre area and a 40 metre deep end.





Not so shabby - though perhaps a little less intimate!

Has envy done something strange to my judgment? LOL!

Recalcitrant Pumps - Part 2!

I was walking home from the French bakery this morning - armed with an almond and chocolate croissant, and an apple danish - and was savouring the prospect of devouring them the moment I got inside, if not sooner ...

... when I happened upon a pair of mens shoes, out for a casual Sunday morning stroll - quite unaccompanied!


Now you may not strike you as in any way out of the ordinary, but if you check my post of 7th November 2007 ...


... you'll realize I am being relentlessly ambushed by old footwear!

What do you reckon I should do guys?

Should I confront my leathery stalkers? Suggest a coffee to chat about the 'situation'? Embrace the wonderful diversity of surprises that daily rush in on us?

Any suggestions?

The Colours of Nature

No blah blah required!

Size Isn't Necessarily Everything

Just goes to prove that cos you're small doesn't mean you can't exert a big influence on the world around you!

Warri and Yatunngka of the Mandildjara Aboriginal Tribe

Warri and Yatunngka in their camp at Ngarinarri

There are probably only a few stories in a life time that truly move you - and stay with you for the rest of your life. For me, this is one of them.

In the nineteen thirties, two aboriginals of the Wandildjara tribe, Warri and Yatunngka, fell in love. They belonged to different skin groups and, as such, were prohibited by tribal law from being together. Contravening this law could result in physical injury or death.

So Warri and Yatunngka left their settled urban tribal group with its contact with the imposed European culture, and for the next forty years lived a traditional hunter/gatherer nomadic life around the Gibson Desert of Western Australia. Bearing two sons at one of the water holes in the desert.

Gibson Desert in Western Australia

Over the years, there was occasional news of the couple. Tribal elders forgave them. And so with the great drought of 1977 and fearing for their safety, a tribal elder and friend, Mudjon, encouraged Dr William Peasley to detour from his annual exploration of the route of explorer and gold prospector David Carnagie to search for Warri and Yatunngka.

Mudjon, elder of the Mandildjara people and friend of Warri and Yatungka

Peasley was later to write a book of this experience 'The Last of the Nomads' (1998). And there was to be a grainy 16mm film shot by the search party, 'The Last of the Nomads' (1998).

This film was my first contact with Warri and Yatunngka's extraordinary and moving story.

Footage shows the search party finally spotting smoke on the distant horizon. And Mudjon walking across the barren desert towards it.


After an interminable wait, two tiny figures appear and slowly walk ... out of the Stone Age and back into the C20. Shattering. And I'm guessing this scene is what moved indigenous film-maker Glen Stasiuk to say he was 'inspired by seeing footage from the original search party'.

Warri and Mudjon walking out of the Desert in 1977

The couple were emaciated and barely alive - Warri had a leg injury and could not longer hunt.

Warri Kyangu of the Mandildjara

Yatungka of the Mandildjara

In the footage that followed, Warri and Yatungka seemed terrified - on so many levels. They lived back in town ...

Warri, sick and miserable at the camp near Kata Kata

... with Warri dying in 1979, and Yatungka, then refusing to eat or drink, dying shortly after.

Glen Stasiuk's inspiration of Warri and Yatungka's story lead him to make 'Footprints in the Sand' (2008). With the involvement of one of the couple's sons, Geoffrey 'Yullala Boss' Stewart. Who had lived with his parents in the desert till his teen years. It was shown for the first time at the Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival in Sydney.

Indigenous Film-Maker Glen Stasiuk

Of making his film, Stasuik says it was 'a privilege to go to a remote location and share the experience of their spirit and their ancestors ... [it's] ... a reminder ... or who we are and where we come from'.

And, as he says, it's so important for 'an indigenous voice to be heard'.

'A Bracelet at Tiffany's ...'

A lady walks into Tiffany's. She browses around and spots a beautiful diamond bracelet and walks over to inspect it. As she bends over to look more closely, she breaks wind.

Very embarrassed she glances around to see if anyone has noticed her little accident.

As she turns around, her worst nightmare materializes in the form of a salesman standing right behind her.

Cool as a cucumber and displaying complete professionalism, the salesman greets the lady with, 'Good day, Madam. How may we help you today?'

Very uncomfortably, but hoping that the salesman may just not have been there at the time of her little 'accident', she asks, 'Sir, what is the price of this lovely bracelet?'

He answers, 'Madam, if you farted just looking at it, you're going to shit yourself when I tell you the price.'