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, 17 August 2013

best part of the day, post summer school, bill's, a conscious englishman ebook, notting hill, walker evans at moma, spider, moles


















Enjoyed the best part of the day when I went out cycling--fresh and bright, if overcast. After that it got darker and darker before the drizzle set in.

I've been at a bit of a loose end since the summer school finished, although I needed some space. Work at the libraries has been good meanwhile, particularly the preparations for the coming term and the start of the new academic year.

On Thursday, there was a leaving drinks party at the library hosted by the graduate trainees, followed by supper at Bill's in St Michael Street. A good venue and a really lovely evening!

Today I've been working on the ebook edition of A Conscious Englishman, which will be out soon.

I'll be having some time off over the coming weeks, which I'm looking forward to. I hope to catch up on reading and some of my own work.

During the week we watched Notting Hill. I'd never seen it before. I did enjoy it--very much--although its world seemed pretty dated. Before the recession and all that.

A friend posted a link on Facebook on Tuesday to an article about an exhibition of photographs by the pioneering photo-journalist Walker Evans at New York MOMA. Walker Evans American Photographs celebrates the 75th anniversary of the first exhibition that the museum devoted to a sole photographer and includes 60 of the original 100 images. Check out the amazing selection of pictures accompanying the article.

At the risk of bathos, the top photo above is of a spider and its web in a lime tree near the Oxford canal.

Oh, and moles in west Oxfordshire tend to be slightly bigger than their cousins elsewhere in the British Isles.
Posted by at

1 comment:

  1. Margaret Keeping18 August 2013 at 09:17

    I think the photo is remarkable, Frank, corny or not.
    So true about the best part of the day. I am up at 6am now every day to let the puppy out - an improvement on getting up at 1 and 4 am as I was doing, but we can't go for walks yet (vaccinations etc) and I'm getting cabin fever. Good to see photos of further afield.
    Interesting Saturday Guardian article - a publisher begging for all writers to stop writing for a year!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)