Welcome to justthoughtsnstuff

I started posting to jtns on 20 February 2010 with just one word, 'Mosaic'. This seemed an appropriate introduction to a blog that would juxtapose fragments of memoir and life-writing. Since 1996, I'd been coming to terms with the consequences of emotional and economic abuse that had begun in childhood, and which, amongst other things, had sought to stifle self-expression. While I'd explored some aspects of my life through fiction and, to a lesser extent, journalism, it was only in 2010 that I felt confident enough to write openly about myself. I believed this was an important part of the healing process. Yet within weeks, the final scenes of my family's fifty-year nightmare started to play themselves out and the purpose of the blog became one of survival through writing. Although some posts are about my family's suffering - most explicitly, Life-Writing Talk, with Reference to Trust: A family story - the majority are about happier subjects (including, Bampton in rural west Oxfordshire, where I live, Oxford, where I work, the seasons and the countryside, walking and cycling) and I hope that these, together with their accompanying photos, are enjoyable and positive. Note: In February 2020, on jtns' tenth birthday, I stopped posting to this blog. It is now a contained work of life-writing about ten years of my life. Frank, 21 February 2020.

New blog: morethoughtsnstuff.com.

Saturday 18 June 2011

wet morning in bampton, dmug, swindon viewpoint, john grierson, aclaiir


Enjoyed cycling this morning, despite it being grey after overnight rain. It's been a long week, what with one thing and another.

The rain started in west Oxfordshire on Thursday and has kept going off and on ever since. Right on cue for the ripening barley. It said on Radio 4's Farming Today this morning that we might see the worst harvest for thirty years after the drought and now the untimely downpours. I have to say the crops do look sick, even when they're turning and should be at their best.

Had the bright idea of filming as I cycled back through the village--blame it on the Digital Media Users Group meeting I attended yesterday. This was the second meeting and both it and the first were excellent. The group is a low-key but really inspiring initiative. One of yesterday's speakers was a colleague who produced the terrific website for the Bodleian Libraries' Shelley's Ghost exhibition.

Years ago I did a Super 8 course at Swindon college of further education and some camera work for Swindon Viewpoint community TV, and I still love the idea of playing around with film. I wrote a script for Swindon Viewpoint based at four locations: the church in Cirencester, the market in the main street, the Crown pub and the bingo hall. It was about commerce and booze and how the church remained serene but empty. It was supposed to be a homage to the documentary film maker John Grierson, whose work I'd got into at a retrospective at the Nation Film Theatre. Sadly--or perhaps fortunately, for the channel's subscribers--the film was never made. When I turned up to discuss the shooting schedule, the guys were packing up. The channel had fallen victim to Mrs T's cuts. Axed overnight.

Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to attending my first ACLAIIR AGM next week at the BL (Advisory Council on Latin American and Iberian Information Resources). Early start, though. Help.

I was feeling refreshed and reasonably fit when I got home after cycling--until I listened to the soundtrack on the video. Talk about last gasp ;-)
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1 comment:

  1. Anonymous5 September 2011 at 22:44

    Hi Frank, Great story! There are lots of things that did get made and plenty that probably shouldn't have over at www.swindonviewpoint.com.

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